Lesley Gore’s & Lily Allen’s Greatest Hits

Today would have been singer Lesley Gore's 73rd birthday if she hadn't died four years ago. Today is also British pop singer Lily Allen's 34th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, I have compiled a set of both ladies' best and/or most well-known songs. If you're not familiar with either artist, you should totally take a listen. Completely different eras and styles, but both are great singers and their songs are chock full of exceptionally empowering themes. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  “It’s My Party”

2)  “Smile”

3)  “Judy’s Turn To Cry”

4)  “F You”  (Fret not, listeners with sensitive ears! This and all other Lily Allen songs in this post are the squeaky-clean versions – “potty words” removed, replaced, or merely muted.)

5)  “She’s A Fool”

6)  “LDN”

7)  “You Don’t Own Me”

8)  “Littlest Things”

9)  “Off And Running”

10)  “Who’d Have Known”

11)  “I Don’t Wanna Be A Loser”

12)  “Alfie”

13)  “Maybe I Know”

14)  “22”

15)  “The Look Of Love”

16)  “The Fear”

17)  “Sunshine, Lollipops, And Rainbows”

18)  “Somewhere Only We Know”

19)  “California Nights”

20)  “Air Balloon”

21)  “Hey Now”

22)  “Hard Out Here”  (This one is heavily edited and loses some of its punch in the translation. But the themes of female empowerment and anti-misogyny come through pretty strong nonetheless.)

23)  “All Of My Life”

24)  “URL Badman”

25)  “My Town, My Guy, And Me”

26)  “Lost My Mind”

27)  “I Won’t Love You Anymore”

28)  “As Long As I Got You”

29)  “We Know We’re In Love”

30)  “Chinese”  (To the best of my knowledge, this song was neither a single nor a hit song. But it’s always been one of my favorites of Lily’s, so I’m including it here.)

Luther Vandross’ & Iggy Pop’s Greatest Hits

Today (April 20th) would have been Luther Vandross' 68th birthday. Tomorrow (April 21st), Iggy Pop will celebrate his 72nd birthday. To commemorate "The Velvet Voice" and "The Godfather Of Punk"'s birthdays (and because it's really weird but kind of fun to pair two COMPLETELY different artists' work in a single post), here's a selection of the most popular and best-known songs from each of their storied careers. Enjoy!  ~  JH

BLOGGER'S NOTE:  I didn't bother putting the artist's name alongside the song title of each, because I figured it would be self-evident who's singing when. But just in case you get confused, if you're seeing a skinny white dude with no shirt dancing around wildly onstage and singing somewhat unintelligibly, you're experiencing an Iggy Pop song. If sparkly suits and swooning women are present, it's Luther Vandross.

1)  “Never Too Much”

2)  “I Wanna Be Your Dog”

3)  “If This World Were Mine”  (with Cheryl Lynn)

4)  “I Got A Right”

5)  “How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye”  (with Dionne Warwick)

6)  “Nightclubbing”

7)  “Superstar” / “Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)”

8)  “Funtime”  (with David Bowie)

9)  “'Til My Baby Comes Home”

10)  “China Girl”  (with Queens Of The Stone Age)

11)  “It’s Over Now”

12)  “Tonight”

13)  “Wait For Love”

14)  “Success”

15)  “Here And Now”

16)  “Lust For Life”

17)  "Give Me The Reason"

18)  “Passenger”  (with Queens Of The Stone Age)

19)  "Stop To Love"

20)  “Some Weird Sin”

21)  "There's Nothing Better Than Love"  (with Gregory Hines)

22)  “I’m Bored”

23)  "Any Love"

24)  “Cry For Love”

25)  "She Won't Talk To Me"

26)  “Real Wild Child (Wild One)”

27)  "For You To Love"

28)  “Cold Metal”

29)  "Don't Want To Be A Fool"

30)  “Home”

31)  "The Rush"

32)  “Candy”  (with Kate Pierson)

33)  "Sometimes It's Only Love"

34)  “Well, Did You Evah!”  (with Debbie Harry)

35)  "The Best Things In Life Are Free"  (with Janet Jackson, Bell Biv DeVoe, & Ralph Tresvant)

36)  “Wild America”

37)  "Power Of Love (Love Power)"

38)  “Mask”

39)  "The Closer I Get To You"  (with Beyoncé)

40)  “Bang Bang”

41)  "Endless Love"  (with Mariah Carey)

42)  “Livin’ On The Edge Of The Night”

43)  "Always And Forever"

44)  “Little Know It All”  (with Sum 41)

45)  "Your Secret Love"

46)  “No Fun”

47)  "Take You Out"

48)  “Gimme Danger”

49)  "Dance With My Father"

50)  “Corruption”

MC Hammer's & Céline Dion's Greatest Hits

Today, two iconic artists are celebrating their birthdays. So I thought it only fitting to put together a retrospective of their best and most well-known hit songs in one post. Never mind that these artists have completely different styles. Without further delay, it's Hammer Time! And it's also Queen of Pop Time. So...enjoy!  ~  JH

BLOGGER'S NOTE:  It seemed redundant to put the artist's name before the title of the song here as I normally do. But honestly, if you can't tell whose song it is you probably need to get both your hearing and your vision checked.

1)  “U Can’t Touch This”

2)  “Beauty And The Beast”  (with Peabo Bryson)

3)  “Pray”

4)  “If You Asked Me To”

5)  “2 Legit 2 Quit”

6)  “When I Fall In Love”  (with Clive Griffin)

7)  “Addams Groove”

8)  “The Power Of Love”

9)  “Pumps And A Bump”

10)  “To Love You More”

11)  “Here Comes The Hammer”

12)  “Because You Loved Me”

13)  “Have You Seen Her”

14)  “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”

15)  “Turn This Mutha Out”

16)  “All By Myself”

17)  “Pump It Up”

18)  “My Heart Will Go On”

19)  “They Put Me In The Mix”

20)  “I’m Your Angel”  (with R. Kelly)

21)  “It’s All Good”

22)  “That’s The Way It Is”

23)  “This Is The Way We Roll”

24)  “A New Day Has Come”

25)  “Don’t Stop”

26)  “Taking Chances”

27)  “Sultry Funk”  (with VMF)

28)  “The Prayer”  (with Andrea Bocelli)

29)  “Goin’ Up Yonder”

30)  “Loved Me Back To Life”