By Jenn Sussman aka DJ Belladonna

Howlin' Wolf

1. Loretta Lynn & Jack White “Portland, Oregon” – The coal miner’s daughter is still alive and kicking, recording some of the best work of her career well into her seventies. In a move reminiscent of Johnny Cash’s collaboration with rock/rap producer Rick Rubin, Lynn teamed up with White Stripes singer-songwriter and garage rock revival hero Jack White in 2004 to record Lynn’s career-resuscitating Van Lear Rose album, which White produced in a stark, atmospheric way that’s akin to Neko Case or the old Son House recordings that White so adores. Lynn and White’s duet “Portland, Oregon” is not only one of the best country songs I’ve ever heard, it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever heard period. It’s country music for hipsters and those who abhor them, for folks who glory in the sounds of the early outlaws of the genre, and especially for folks who meet in dive bars at some wee hour, and who understand sentiments like, “Well Portland, Oregon and sloe gin fizz /If that ain’t love, then tell me what is, uh-huh…”.

2. Howlin’ Wolf “Howlin’ For My Darlin’” – Put simply, Howlin’ Wolf was the man. Best known to legions of fans as The Wolf, it’s impossible to overstate the contribution of this man to American blues music. A Chess records legend, raised on Delta blues and one of the architects of the Chicago blues sound, The Wolf’s style was gritty, nasty, and unapologetically rockin’. He was an early adopter of the electric guitar in the ‘30s and ‘40s and possessed a trademark growling vocal style, like broken glass soaked in Jack Daniels and honey. His Chess cuts have been covered by some of the biggest rock bands in history, among them the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Doors. I got to know The Wolf’s music via a radio show produced by one of the foremost experts on garage music and its deep roots in the blues, Little Steven Van Zandt (Underground Garage), and this track became my favorite Wolf cut after hearing it on Little Steven’s Halloween A Go-Go compilation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZnrVCAmaVo

3. Motörhead “Stay Clean” – In the midst of what was known as the “new wave of British heavy metal” in the 1970’s, Motörhead emerged with a groundbreaking sound that set the tone for generations of metal musicians. Loud and fast, with the aggressive energy of punk and the denim-and-leather fashion sensibility of biker culture , Motörhead literally created the speed and thrash metal genres. Singer, bassist and lead songwriter Lemmy Kilminster has long been a metal legend, with an instantly identifiable grating and semi-monotone vocal style that nevertheless works perfectly with Motörhead’s music. I finally saw Motörhead in concert for the first time in 2009, and the experience was unlike any other show I’ve been to; the whole audience was galvanized by the pure energy of the music. Bands like Motörhead are the reason why rock n’ roll will always be the love of my life, and songs like “Stay Clean” will always get me high.

4. Mike Watt “Against The ‘70s” – This song has made me want to jump around (slam dance style, not House of Pain style) since the first time I heard it, which was right after the release of Watt’s 1995 album Ball Hog or Tugboat?. Watt, an incredible bassist and founding member of seminal indie-punk outfit The Minutemen, has such a laundry list of projects he’s been involved in that it’s impossible to list them all, but most notable are post-Minutemen band fIREHOSE and his work on the first Porno For Pyros album. Ball-Hog or Tugboat? is a great snapshot of the alternative music landscape in the early ‘90s, featuring performances by members of Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Soul Asylum and Beastie Boys, with single “Against The ‘70s” featuring vocals by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and drums by a post-Nirvana/pre-Foo Fighters Dave Grohl. Mike Watt is the kind of musician who isn’t well-known, but who is idolized by those who know him. This guy’s bass is definitely in your face.

5. Fela Kuti “Shakara” – A lost legend whose greatness and impact still reverberate throughout his native land of Africa and the world in general, Fela Kuti was truly a force to be reckoned with both musically and socio-politically. A Nigerian native and the father of the Afro-beat genre, Kuti was raised in the 1930’s and 1940’s amidst the effects of a terroristic military regime in Nigeria that brutalized and killed thousands and mercilessly oppressed the poor. Kuti’s schooling in London and later his travels to America to record would lead him to the writings of Malcolm X and to the concepts of Black nationalism and Afrocentrism, which, combined with his own personal experiences in Nigeria, would help to develop within Kuti a music-based activism so powerful and beloved throughout Africa that the military regime would literally hunt him and force him into exile. Aside from his socio-political legacy, Fela Kuti’s development of the style he called “Afro-beat”, derived from Ghanian high-life music and jazz with grooves reminiscent of American funk icons like James Brown, is a legacy unto itself. I offer up my favorite Fela groove for readers to get down to.

[VIDEO NOT FOUND]

6. A Tribe Called Quest “Oh My God” – I’ve mentioned Tribe and its members in this column before, but I haven’t directly profiled them until now. Slap my hand, because I should have shouted them out long ago. It’s tough to pick a favorite track from Queens, NY natives the Abstract Poetic (Q-Tip), the Phifer (Phife Dawg), and Shaheed (DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammed), because above all others A Tribe Called Quest was undeniably my favorite hip-hop group when I was growing up in Queens, NY. Aside from breaking musical ground by sampling abstract jazz grooves, classic soul and even the Velvet Underground, Tribe also broke lyrical ground in hip-hop by focusing intelligently worded lyrics on diverse topics affecting the black community and typically untouched by rappers, such as date rape, knowledge, and the use of words which convey black stereotypes. The rhymes traded by Tip and Phife are always a thing of beauty, and “Oh My God” from their 1993 Midnight Marauders LP features one of my favorite Tribe rhymes of all time – “My man Al B. Sure is in effect mode / I used to have a crush on Dawn from En Vogue / It’s not like honey dip would wanna get with me / But just in case I own more condoms than TLC”.

7. Trammps “Rubber Band” – Best known for their 1977 hit “Disco Inferno”, Trammps is an otherwise little-known band with roots in ‘60s soul and a brief career in ‘70s R&B and disco. Sample fiends will recognize sections of the guitar and horns under the main melody as the basis for The Game’s 2005 hit single featuring 50 Cent “Hate It Or Love It”, a sample whose source I could not locate and that drove me crazy until one particular gig, after I had finally given up on finding the original song, when my frequent Grooveskool collaborator DJ Johnny Storm popped this Trammps track into the decks and I nearly fell over. This song is like a found treasure to me, and it embodies everything I love about soul music from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

8. Bobby “Blue” Bland “Honey Child” – A few months ago, I got my hands on the latest Lost & Found compilation from DJ and record connoisseur Keb Darge; this time, the Scotsman had moved on from rockabilly and jump blues with (co-curator Cut Chemist) to a double-disc offering of rare soul and R&B, with co-curator and mod music legend Paul Weller (Lost and Found: Real R&B and Soul…highly recommended). I was already familiar with the music of Bobby “Blue” Bland, another blues/soul legend from a completely different background than Howlin’ Wolf, but “Honey Child” completely blew me away. Blue’s voice is pure emotion, his style a mixture of gospel, soul and Southern humidity over blazing horns, and this track is just shy of three minutes worth of Blue at his finest.

9. Dinosaur Jr. and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien “Missing Link” – Before modern day metal bands co-opting hip-hop into their musical styles became commonplace, a few forerunners tested the waters by collaborating while staying true to their own styles. Everyone’s familiar with Aerosmith’s legendary pairing with Run DMC on the 1986 redo of “Walk This Way” and Public Enemy and Anthrax throwing down on their 1991 version of P.E.’s “Bring The Noise”, but one of the best collaborative efforts between metal/rock bands and rappers can be found on the soundtrack to the 1993 film Judgment Night. The most amazing thing about the album is that every collaboration works, whether it’s Biohazard and Onyx, Cypress Hill and Sonic Youth, or Faith No More and Samoan rap crew Boo-Yaa Tribe. My favorite track is “Missing Link”, a groovy and unusual joint by an eclectic pairing of two artists already considered to be eclectic by the standards of their own genres; J. Mascis’ noise punk leaning Dinosaur Jr., and one of the most hailed conscious rappers of all time, the incomparable and intellectual Del Tha Funkee Homosapien.

10. Olivia Newton John “Magic” – This week, I end the playlist on a simple and poetic note with a triple haiku that will explain my choice of this beautiful song from the soundtrack of the 1980 film Xanadu: If I had to choose /The song that I love the most / This would be the one. / Ask not why, my friends /Trust in Belladonna, peeps / Go put on your skates. / Besides, dear readers / You know you love Xanadu / Do not try to front.