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Brian A. Wilkins Posts

Janet Jackson: “Come Back To Me” peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 18, 1990 – stayed on charts for 23 weeks

Published November 6, 2021

BrianWilkins.org
November 7, 2021

“Come Back To Me” was #2 for two weeks, as it couldn’t overtake “Vision of Love” by Mariah Carey (which frankly isn’t even in my top five Mariah songs). The final week for “Come Back To Me” on the Billboard Hot 100 was October 20, 1990, when it was #90. That’s a little over 31 years ago – my sophomore year in high school.

The video was filmed in Paris, in November 1989. “Miss Jackson’s” love interest in the video is Mexican songwriter and director René Elizondo Jr. They secretly married on March 31, 1991. In fact it is said to be Elizondo’s hands covering Janet Jackson’s breast on the September 1993 cover of Rolling Stone magazine. read more

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38 years ago today, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth and final week

Published October 18, 2021

BrianWilkins.org
October 18, 2021

I implore every child to keep calendar journals starting right now. Because I couldn’t write these stories without my own journals from childhood.

1983 was a great year for me as an 8-year-old. I was making “good” money from my paper route (about $30/week) and another $5 to $10 per week from golf ball hunting/selling during the summer months. Sure I mostly bought Star Wars action figures, Legos and comic books (the first Transformers toys didn’t come out until 1984). But one of my paper route customers held a garage sale on July 8, 1983; and I bought a used walkman and a tape recorder. At the time, walkmans were still too expensive for an 8-year-old kid to buy brand new with his paper route money. read more

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39 years ago today, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts was #1 for the fifth of seven weeks in 1982

Published April 15, 2021

BrianWilkins.org
April 15, 2021

Damn I’m getting old! I remember so vividly playing Pac-Man at the bowling alley down the street from my house in Marshalltown, Iowa when I heard this for the first time. I got the quarters to play the arcade game from selling golf balls. We used to go golf ball hunting across the street from the golf course, and golfers would buy them. That’s Gen X economics for kids.

Some argue “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” is the greatest song of the 80s. Billboard ranked it #56 of all-time in 2008. It’s a classic for sure, with lots of childhood memories tied to it. But many people don’t know that Joan Jett neither wrote the song, nor originally performed it. Those honors go to 1970s glam rock band The Arrows. Lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker wrote the song and first performed it in 1975. read more

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PODCAST – Hip Hop and the negative effects on African Americans

Published May 19, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
May 19, 2020

This podcast was recorded on November 10, 2006 for Arizona State University (ASU) radio. It’s about 14 minutes long and may take a few moments to load, depending on your connection speed.

“Hello everyone and welcome to my podcast for Nov. 10, 2006. I’m Brian Wilkins and in today’s podcast, we will discuss the cause (in more ways than one), the effect, and the impact hip-hop is having on young African Americans.

I will quote from my interview with Dr. Chouki El Hamel, a professor of history at Arizona State University, who specializes in African studies, to get his take on hip-hop and its effect on African American youth. We will go over the history of music in black America, how hip-hop started, and why hip-hop now needs to be used more responsibly by those who control it…meaning the rappers, the record companies, and the media conglomerates.” read more

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The NeverEnding Story: the most influential film of my life

Published May 18, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
May 18, 2020

Atreyu and Falkor the luck dragon.

The summer of 1984 was a banner time for movies. See Ghostbusters, Sixteen Candles, Revenge of the Nerds, Karate Kid, et al. The Orpheum theater in Marshalltown, Iowa had a new movie playing called “The NeverEnding Story” (NOTE: last movie I saw at the Orpheum was Caddyshack II in 1988). I had $5.52 in my pocket from my paper route job. That was enough for a movie ticket, popcorn and pop in those days.

I watched “The NeverEnding Story” by myself, with only 40-50 other people in the theater. It shaped me forever. All I wanted from that point forward was to save my Childlike Empress (aka Moon Child). read more

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George Benson performed “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” in 1985, before Glenn Medeiros

Published April 30, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
April 30, 2020

In all fairness, neither George Benson, nor Glenn Medeiros wrote the song. That honor belongs to co-writers Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin. Masser wrote several hits for Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole and many others. Goffin wrote several number-1 pop hits including “The Locomotion” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.”

George Benson performed the song in 1985. It was on his 22nd studio album 20/20. The album peaked at #45 on the Billboard 100 album charts on February 15, 1985. But “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” was only released as a single in Europe. It reached #29 in Belgium and #43 in the Netherlands. It’s unclear why the single was never released in the USA. read more

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Beauty on Earth – by Brian A. Wilkins

Published April 30, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
April 30, 2020

Snow-capped mountains, majestic waterfalls,
A monarch butterfly, the coast of Senegal,
The Great Barrier Reef, an eagle in the sky,
Machu Picchu ruins, a woman’s pretty eyes,

Love songs from the 80s, a tiger and cubs,
Abstract paintings on the walls of pubs,
A shiny gold nugget, a ballerina with grace,
A righteous loving woman with a smile on her face,

A child and their toys, a great white shark,
The zebras and giraffes at Serengeti Park,
A letter from a friend, trees glazed with ice,
Activists and advocates asserting civil rights, read more

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The Mammon Malady – by Brian A. Wilkins

Published April 29, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
April 29, 2020

Some want money,
Some want sex,
Some want power,
To be corporate execs

Mammon is celebrated,
Piety is fraud,
Millionaires are heroes,
The poor need god,

Trump is MAGA,
Obama is saint,
Both are evil,
Benevolent they ain’t

People are wicked,
Malicious and vile,
It’s time to enlighten,
Not conform and beguile.

Brian A. Wilkins
January 14, 2018

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The Angry Nigger – by Brian A. Wilkins

Published April 29, 2020

BrianWilkins.org
April 29, 2020

I have been manipulated, I’ve been caged,
None of the bullshit improved with age,
I expose dirty cops, I help those in need,
I hate evil people who do dastardly deeds,

You sound too white, your speech too lucid,
We need more ghetto, we need more stupid,
Come be a liberal, join the GOP,
But you ain’t doing shit without one of us indeed,

A black man is chattel, a black man’s a slave,
He cannot be himself, just an insect in the cave,
Don’t love the white girl cause her dad hates your guts,
The black girl thinks you’re lame, a totally useless putz, read more

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