Saturday Night Tunes: 7/17/2021 Edition

Doing a little flashin’ back tonight, so to speak.

I don’t know how, but Wolfman Jack came up during family discussions this week. That reminded me of Burt Sugarman’s The Midnight Special, a television series on Friday evenings, which Wolfman Jack hosted. 1973 through 1981? Yeah, that would be my age 3-11 years, and I damn well watched plenty of these episodes.

Ohio Players

The only good version of “Love Rollercoaster” is by the original writers of the song, the Ohio Players. Like everything else they touched, the Red Hot Chili Peppers version is straight trash and should be deleted forever. The Ohio Players on The Midnight Special.

Blondie

Unlike other shows, you had to go on The Midnight Special and actually, you know, perform. Here’s the absolutely incomparable Debbie Harry and (We are) Blondie performing “Heart of Glass.”

Linda Ronstadt

For you youngs out there, there are few vocalists, if any, who are as diversified with their talent as is Linda Ronstadt. From country to singing with Toots and the Maytals to opera to mariachi music, I don’t think anybody can match her range. Heck, she was even in the “Mr. Plow” episode of the Simpsons! Here’s her Wikipedia page to see just how amazing she was.

Sadly, her voice started deteriorating in 2000, and she’s mostly fall off the proverbial map since.

Again, tonight is about The Midnight Special because of some weird reference to Wolfman Jack in the bfd household this week, and here’s Linda Ronstadt (introduced by the amazing Jose Feliciano!) singing “You’re No Good.”

That one’s for you, dad.

What y’all been listening to recently?