Last Song Syndrome: Technotronic - Move This (1989)

OK, so I saw the Bob Odenkirk-directed “Let’s Go To Prison” last night on HBO. Yeah it was a little half-baked, but still, I’m a huge fan of Will Arnett- the dude who played Gob (pronounced Jobe) on the brilliant comedy series, “Arrested Development”.

The end credits showed the three lead actors- Will Arnett, Dax Shepard (from “Without A Paddle”) and Chi McBride (the principal from “Boston Public”)- all crammed into a car singing to this trippy Technotronic song.

“Move This” came out on the same Technotronic album that spawned the massive hit “Pump Up The Jam”. Later on, it was featured on one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies (no big loss, if you didn’t watch it).

Technotronic almost pulled off a Milli Vanilli: Belgian producer Jo Bogaert and Manuela Kamosi came up with the album, but needed an “image model” to push them commercially- so they got Zairian-born fashion model Felly to serve the purpose (that’s her on the album cover).

You actually get to see Felly singing on the video of “Pump Up The Jam”, but when the album became an unexpected hit, Technotronic suddenly found themselves booked for live performances and guest TV appearances. It was a smart move on the group’s part to reveal Ya Kid K as the real singer of Technotronic- and it’s Ya Kid K you now see on the video of “Move This”

So here we have it- Ya Kid K and Technotronic with “Move This”. Enjoy!

Technotronic
“Move This” (1989)

Yo, come on move this

Shake that body
Shake that body

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Many different flavors
And the spice is strong
Get into the hot stuff
Let me pour a little song

Baby lemme show you how to do this
You gotta move this
You’re doin’ fine
There’s nothin’ to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me…

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Many different flavors
And the spice is strong
Get into the hot stuff
Let me pour a little song

Baby lemme show you how to do this
You gotta move this
You’re doin’ fine
There’s nothin’ to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me…

Shake that body for me
Shake that body

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Can you feel the mellow crawlin’ fast
Drum on baby, rhythm blast
Pump it, pump it, pump, pump it up
Nothin’ can make this one stop

Oh yeah
You gotta move this, groove this, move this on
Shake your body for me

Shake that body
Shake that body for hmm
Shake that body for me
Shake that body

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Can you feel the mellow crawlin’ fast
Drum on baby, rhythm blast
Pump it, pump it, pump, pump it up
Nothin’ can make this one stop

Toes be tappin’
Fingers snappin’
Hands clappin’ and my mouth rappin’
Talkin’ ’bout how cold lappin’
Shut up and do the walk
Use what you got show me
You’re on the floor so let me see
Don’t say nothin’ ‘less i saw
And remember I like it raw

You gotta move this
You gotta move this
Oh yeah, you gotta move this
Aw, aw shake that body for me

Baby lemme show you how to do this
You gotta move this
You’re doin’ fine
There’s nothin’ to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me…

Raised on Radio!

I was an avid radio listener when I was a kid- as early as 8 or 9 years old, if I could remember it right.

For me, it was a great way to connect with the chicks! Of course we all had childhood crushes back then (man, I couldn’t even remember their names…), and well, if you wanted to have some common ground for interaction, there was always music on the radio.

High school was no different. The ladies also loved getting their tunes on the radio. And dudes get points if they can play guitar to whatever song was hot back then. Yeah, so I also got into playing guitar for the chicks, big deal :).

By mid-high school, I remember having the radio on while I studied in the early hours of the morning (yes, I actually studied when I felt like it). 24-hour radio stations were new back then- which was how I discovered 99.5RT- and it was the coolest thing for me since sliced bread.

For the most part, I was a Top40 dude. I think it started earlier on back when it was on 93.9 WKC. After casey Kasem left and Shadoe Stevens took over, it was still alright, but WKC was already starting to play less of the pop that I wanted, and more of the designer music that wasn’t at all cool.

Hahaha- Viktor Laszlo? Silver Pozzoli? Modern Talking? Yikes.

Soirees and dance parties were the hugest thing then. So if you wanted the cool chicks, you have to be into New Order, or The Cure, or even Depeche Mode. For the more pop-oriented? There was Rick Astley, Expose and Paula Abdul.

Heck, I even tried to join a radio station back in my third year of high school- coz I thought it was probably the coolest thing to do so. Haha it didn’t work out then. (Sidenote: It did work out many years later, when I finally got in 99.5RT in 1994.)

I had the radio tuned in day in, day out back then. RT was my station at night, and the radio was on even while I was sleeping, so you get the morning show on while you were getting ready for school. Not knowing what 24K was back then (RT’s trademark oldies show on Fridays, playing nothing but RT classics)- I tuned out, and switched to another station. Usually it would be Magic 89.9, NU107, or WLS-FM.

LS was the coolest on weekends with its Great Music Jam- that was 1988 til 1990 I think- and they were playing songs from the early part of the decade. Lots of Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Wham!, Madonna and Spandau Ballet back there.

My appreciation for new wave, punk and rock in general, I got from NU107 (aw man, remember Ethnic Faces’ Golden Boy? Man, I gotta find that song) and Power 105 (the frequency is owned by 105.1 Crossover now). The Smiths? Flesh for Lulu? The Clash? R.E.M.? Man, those were the days.

College was a little different. You meet all kinds of people- and I remembered this one dude who had this massive collection of casettes and CDs of (what I could remember) Crossover music- he had Spyro Gyra, Kalapana, Stephen Bishop, Mike Francis, Yutaka, Angela Bofill- looking back, it was one of the coolest collections I have ever seen.

No, I didn’t quite appreciate it for what it was back then. I was still a pop-boy parading as a new-wave chong. Easy listening and smooth jazz wouldn’t be my thing until much much later.

Monster Radio was the new Magic 89.9. Grunge was the new new wave & punk. Everyone had a Mellow Touch 94.7 or a 96.3 WRock love song collection on mixed tapes, and the hopeless romantics tuned in to Lovenotes (sappy sometimes, but it made for great listening!).

I remembered discovering 105.1 Crossover in ‘93 or ‘94. If everyone was into love songs, the cooler kids were into a more sophisticated kind of love songs. The ladies then were a little classier, a little more emotional, and sometimes, a little angstier (high school was rough, I imagine…). There were those who were into Julia Fordham, Swing Out Sister, or Lisa Stansfield, or Everything But The Girl.

I joined 99.5 RT as a DJ in 1994, and I distinctly remember my roommate was very much into Crossover. He’d have it on while he was studying. I forgot his name though, but I’m sure he’s a doctor by now.

Thirteen years later, I’m still in the radio industry. I’ve gone from DJ, to dude in charge of audio production, to events guy, to dude in charge of sales and marketing, and finally Program Director.

So as a radio executive, what can we learn from all that?

A lot. Radio appeals very much to the young- even as young as pre-teen. While your friends and peers have a strong influence on what you listen to, ultimately your personal taste dictates your choice of music.

Radio can be a declaration of independence, but at the same time, it’s also an instrument for socialization. Also, pop culture influences radio, in the same way radio influences pop culture.

Radio has a very personal connection, and therefore a strong association with parts of your life. Your musical preferences generally persist throughout, which is why most people you know are “stuck” in a certain decade or era- nothing’s wrong with that- it’s really just a matter of personal preference.

Make an effort to learn more from your market- listen to their stories, observe them in their natural environment, take notice of how they use other media, and how it affects their interaction with their peers.

Used with other research available to you, what you glean from your observations are key to the kinds of strategies you form for your marketing plans.

Re-education for the Masses!

I live in the Philippines, and for a small little country, I’d like to think we have a rather diverse set of radio stations. We have NU107 for rock n’roll. CHR/pop from stations like Magic 89.9, Jam 88.3, Monster Radio, Max FM and Hit FM. A variety of easy-listening from Mellow 94.7, 105.1 Crossover, Wave 89.1 and 92.3 XFm.
While we do have a lot of ground covered in terms of music, I think we need a venue for music-maniacs like myself to learn new stuff. I was already into music early on in my life, collecting some 45s, even bought an LP of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, then went on to cassette tapes (ha! I think some of my first buys were Heart, The Bangles, Rick Astley and Debbie Gibson!). Haha now that I think of it, I was such a pop-boy. My education in cool didn’t come ’til much later.
I think it was in 2nd or 3rd year high school when I was introduced to 99.5 RT, new wave (via NU107 and Crossover), A to Z records (in Anonas), XB102, the local punk scene, N.W.A. and Eazy E, and other stuff. I would study (study?! who studies?!?) at 2 or 3 AM and it was then I discovered the music of 99.5 RT. It was pop/top 40 stuff, but not entirely the kind of stuff played on other radio stations back then. And for some reason, I liked it: “Walking On Ice” from Devonsquare, Paul Carrack, 38 Special, Expose, Tracy Chapman, some Lita Ford, even classics from China Crisis, The Pretenders and The Little River Band. (looking back, that was some pretty diverse adult contemporary stuff!)
Anyway, I thought I knew a lot about music til I actually JOINED 99.5 RT as a lowly DJ in 1994. It was cool playing all the music you enjoyed so much, but what I also enjoyed was hanging out with all the other DJs, and they’d even go far as saying, “Hey man, you should play this stuff next week,” and hand me over an album of Roxy Music (Avalon- which contained “More Than This” and, well, “Avalon”). Also, hanging out at RT’s massive music library was such a treat- and there would always be somebody around who’d tell you a little something about any song you were curious about.
These days, you don’t HAVE to join a radio station to have a kick-ass education on music and music appreciation. You have the internet, you have music video channels, you have wikipedia, and countless other sites online that offer all kinds of information on all kinds of artists from all over the world.
My current favorite? Yahoo Launchcast. You can pick just about any kind of genre there is, and immerse yourself in some new and familiar tunes from your favorite kind of music. Lately, I’ve been immersing myself into lots of 80′ rock and alternative, 90’s big hits, today’s big hits and lite office music. Great stuff, really.