The BIG PAYBACK: Thank you, Aaron!

"But you won't fool the children of the revolution!/ YEAH!"
-T-Rex, 1972

Music can change your life. Here's two music players and a story to prove it.

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A A R O N

This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.


A friend is a door to more. They open up your life.


The two tricky things in life are money and access. A lot of times, without one you don't get the other. I spent much of the '80s reading about albums I couldn't hear, flipping through LPs in record shops that I couldn't buy. The library, the radio, and music videos were my best friends (being free and all), until I started working at record stores to feed my habit.

In the early '90s a record store amigo named Aaron started giving me mixtapes. He was pulling together lots of stuff I'd heard tangentially or just heard about. They came with great titles like "Far Out In The Red Sky", "It Used To Be Alright But Things Got Strange", and "Trailing On Next To Sick". Cornucopias of Agitfolk, Garage Rock, Dream Pop, Psychedelia, Glam, German Prog, Punk, PostPunk, Shoegaze, Grunge, Neo-Psyche, and Noize.

Aaron had that core understanding...that everything was related, interconnected and ever-evolving through hybrids. In pinball fashion the songs linked the '60s through to the '90s. They were new universes looped through plastic and magnetic tape.

Aaron drew gothic Beardsley-esque covers for each, and wrote extensive liner notes in pencil. Another born culture maven and archivist! His knowledge for a young person was astonishing, guided of course by his boundless enthusiasm. Thank god for those folks.

Whenever I hear The Creation, Captain Beefheart, Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, The MC5, Marc Bolan, Mudhoney, Bikini Kill, or Jon Spencer, I give a silent thanks to my friend for the gift.

Aaron's mixtapes opened up my mind and expanded my life. I want to thank him for that on his birthday, and pass the songs on to you here. Listen to the music player above and free your mind.

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In The Spirit Of
A A R O N

But every door leads to windows!

Here is another music player of bands and songs that I then explored on my own over the years to the present, all in the sonic spirit of the vistas Aaron opened my doors to.

They are in basic order from the '50s to now: a howling blow-out of Rockabilly, Merseybeat, Garage Rock, Girls In The Garage, Psychedelic, Dream Pop, Glam, Funk Rock, Punk, PostPunk, Paisley Underground, College Rock, Grunge, Riot Grrrl, Noize, Neo Garage, and Brian Wilson disciples.


A splendid time is guaranteed for all! Open up a friend and pass it on...


This is a Spotify player. Join up for free here.

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"You heard the words of Aaron
He spoke the truth in these things
Both great and small"
-The Move, 1971


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Thank You, Greg!, with Music Player!


• MUSIC 101: The 1960s, with Music Player!

• MUSIC 101: The 1970s, with Music Player!

• MUSIC 101: The 1980s, with Music Player!


• Revolution 1950s: The Big Damn Bang of Rock'n'Roll!

• DON'T TREAD ON ME: The Original Punk of 1960s Garage Rock, with Music Player!

• HERE IN PURPLE VELVET NOW: The Psychedelic Revolution, with 2 Music Players!

• BEATLESQUE Songs: 1968-esque, with Music Player!


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "Think!" - 5 Royales > James Brown > Marvin Gaye > Lyn Collins > DJ Rob Base

ROCK Sex follows a train of thought.

This is a culture relay where one song ends up very different on the other end, splicing with others through various styles.

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"It takes two to make a thing go right /
It takes two to make it out of sight!"

Let's put our mental mettle to the pedal.

"Think" was first done by The "5" Royales in 1957. (The "5" was a joke because there were actually six of them.)

Typically, this Rock'n'Roll band was catagorized/segregrated as R'n'B because they were all black, but Lowman Pauling's fiery guitar leads tell the real tale. Just check out his driving and stinging leads in songs like "Say It", "Slummer The Slum", and "Messin Up". Steve Cropper of Booker T And The MGs sure did, and he credits Pauling as the main man who inspired him to take up guitar.

THE "5" ROYALES -"Think" (1957)



Another label mate of The Royales at King Records was the young James Brown. James' remake of the song completely transformed it, revving the tempo and intensifying the shuffle into a precision tap workout. This rhythmic lockstep of syncopation became the first blueprint of the Funk to come later on.

JAMES BROWN -"Think" (1960)


James' version is so definitive, it is routinely thought of as his song.


In the mid-'60s, Marvin Gaye had a run of classic duets such as "It Takes Two", with Kim Weston. Soon after, he made the best duets ever with Tammi Terrell, who was a former protege of James Brown.

MARVIN GAYE And KIM WESTON -"It Takes Two" (1966)



Never one to be left out of the action, James re-remade "Think" as a duet with new ingenue Vicki Anderson in this slinky revamp. Notice how Vicki's tough repeats of the title will anticipate the next song.

JAMES BROWN And VICKI ANDERSON -"Think" (1967)



Then things start to intersect.

James' new diva, LYN COLLINS The Female Preacher, made a different song called "Think (About It)". It takes the sentiment of the original "Think" and puts a female empowerment upgrade on it, while calling up Marvin And Kim's "It Takes Two" in the bridge.

After the 30 second intro, you'll recognize it immediately as one of the most sampled songs in HipHop history.

LYN COLLINS -"Think (About It)" (1972)



The first Rapper to sample it was Roxanne Shante, but this song a few months later stole the show on that, using whole sections of it in one of the biggest breakthrough Rap hits ever.

ROB BASE & DJ E Z ROCK -"It Takes Two" (1988)



MTV was, as was their conservative custom, skittish about Rap music in the '80s. It had barely played any black acts at all in its first two years, despite angry pressure from artists like David Bowie. They finally caved in when the monster successes of Michael Jackson and Prince forced their hand.

Though hit singles by RUN-DMC and The Beastie Boys brought Rap into the radio mainstream by 1986, more political acts like Public Enemy still scared the video network. It was the parallel outbreak of HipHop acts with intensely dancable tracks based on samples that turned the tide, such as MC Hammer, Tone Loc, and Young MC. Bending to the changing wind, in 1988 MTV alotted 30 minutes to "Yo! MTV Raps". It became the biggest hit show they had ever had.

(The other) Doctor Dré, Fab 5 Freddy, and Ed Lover
Rap became a dominant part of the mainstream for the next three decades. Nowadays every dance-pop hit by anyone is a child of that breakthrough. But as usual, synthesis and mutation is the creative path that got us here. It transcends all imposed barriers.

Think about that.

(Rock Sex, baby!)



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• FUNK, The True History: The 1960s, with 3 Music Players!

• FUNK, The True History: 1970-1974, with 3 Music Players!


• "Fame" - James Brown > David Bowie > James Brown

• "UMBABARAUMA!" - James Brown > Jorge Ben > Imperial Teen > Soulfly

• SLICE TONES: Sly Stone & His Infinite Influence!, with 5 Music Players!


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "Walk On By" - Dionne Warwick > Isaac Hayes > The Stranglers > Hooverphonic > Mono > Pete Rock

ROCK Sex dishes the dirt on the clandestine liaisons of music.

Some songs are so resonant that they reverberate beyond any time or style. "Walk On By" is one of those.

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The original was the breakthrough hit for diva Dionne Warwick and her write-hand man Burt Bacharach:

DIONNE WARWICK -"Walk On By" (1964)



Covered immediately by everyone, it took a radical left turn when Isaac Hayes turned it into a 12-minute funk-rock masterpiece. It's my unhumble opinion that the epic build of strings and psychedelic guitar is one of the greatest intros in Pop history:

ISAAC HAYES -"Walk On By" (1969, long version)



Later it came full circle when Dionne and Isaac performed it together on their live album:

DIONNE WARWICK & ISAAC HAYES -"Walk On By" (1977, live)



The Punk band The Stranglers put some fuzzy edge back into it:

THE STRANGLERS -"Walk On By" (1978)



And El Michels Affair brought back the hot buttered Funk to it.

EL MICHELS AFFAIR -"Walk On By" (2006)

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The fantastic beat of Isaac Hayes' version became a sampler's paradise, crossing the intersections of TripHop and HipHop.

Here's the Belgian alchemists Hooverphonic with their debut hit:

HOOVERPHONIC -"2 Wicky" (1996)



Taking a subtler tact, the British duo Mono played to the cinematic qualities of TripHop by synching it with the moody keys and guitar of Roy Budd's GET CARTER soundtrack, as seen this creepy David Lynch-ian video:

MONO -"Silicone" (1997)



The beat has figured in samples by Compton's Most Wanted (1991), Notorious B.I.G. (1994), Slick Rick, DJ Shadow (1996), MF Doom (1999), The Wu Tang Clan (2000), Ludacris (2003), J Dilla (2006, using The Undisputed Truth's version), and Pete Rock:

PETE ROCK -"Walk On By" (2001)



And Dionne's version has been homaged in songs by Ashanti(2002), Alisha Keys (2003), and Joss Stone (2007).



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• SHAKE AND FINGER POP! Soul Music and the Interior Truth, with Music Player!

• FUNK, The True History: The 1960s, with 3 Music Players!

• "Time Is Tight!" - Booker T > The Clash > Elvis Costello > Squeeze

• "I Thank You" - Sam And Dave > ZZ Top

• "Sour Times" - Lalo Schifrin > Portishead


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: John Barry > Fatboy Slim

ROCK Sex cues you to how one song jumpstarts another.

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John Barry scored his first film with the driving theme for BEAT GIRL. The signature surf guitar and dynamic horns earned him the job to do the theme of a movie spy called Bond the following year.

JOHN BARRY -"Beat Girl" (1961)


"BEAT GIRL Opening Cridits" (1961)



Here's the vocal cover version by The Damned...

THE DAMNED -"Beat Girl" (1985)



Big Beat DJ Fatboy Slim sampled the original riff as a crucial piece of his breakthrough hit...

FATBOY SLIM -"The Rockafeller Skank" (1998)



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• JOHN BARRY: The Influence Of The JAMES BOND Sound On Pop Music, with 2 Music Players!

• 20 Most Badass JAMES BOND Women!

• Shock Waves: How SURF MUSIC Saved Rock'n'Roll!, with 2 Music Players!


• "Walk On By" - Dionne Warwick > Isaac Hayes > The Stranglers > Hooverphonic > Mono > Pete Rock

• "Sour Times" - Lalo Schifrin > Portishead


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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