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Vinny Marino is the Executive Producer and Head Writer for “The Donny Osmond Radio Show.” He has worked on-air and in programming at radio stations in NYC and Chicago, as well as Music Correspondent for ABC News Radio. Vinny is also Music Editor for Dial Global’s prep services and “The Ross Brittain Report.” Since 1999, Vinny has taught media studies and radio production as an adjunct professor at The College of Staten Island in New York.
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Proving this business truly is cyclical, we seem to have gone back to the pre-Beatles days when the charts were filled with jokey, cutesy female pop singers.
Sure, every decade seems to have one or two like Cyndi Lauper in the 80’s, or, dare I say it, Meri Wilson’s 1977 classic, “Telephone Man,” but there appears to be a whole lot of them today.
Katy Perry, Ke$ha, and Lily Allen are all throwbacks to Dodie Stevens, Marcie Blaine, Lesley Gore, Annette Funicello and other girl singers who ruled the charts from 1959 until The Beatles led the British Invasion in 1964. Is the way Ke$ha sings about her dude in “Your Love Is My Drug,” really any different from Dodie Stevens’ description of the guy who wears “(Tan Shoes) And Pink Shoe Laces?”
Granted, Annette would never dream of brushing her teeth with Jack Daniels, but you can bet she wanted to pitch some woo with “Tall Paul.”
In the coming weeks, you’ll be hearing more of these tongue-in-cheek chicks. There are two in the UK who will soon be splashing over here in a big way. Look out for Marina & The Diamonds and, my current fav, Eliza Doolittle. You will not be able to hear her unnervingly catchy single, “Skinny Genes,” and not want to hit the repeat button about 20 times.
These ladies may not be making any grand artistic statements like Lady Gaga, but sometimes a silly, happy tune is enough to make you smile. So lighten up, ok?
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