Sunday Easy Listening

 

Sunday Easy Listening Party

Pop Stars with Rock Souls

Sunday. A day for slowing down, putting your feet up, opening the windows and letting the music do the talking.

For some people, Sunday easy listening means soft rock, gentle melodies and songs that don't demand too much from you. Nothing wrong with that.

But what if we turned the volume up just a little?

Because some of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s and early '90s had a serious rock side. Behind the polished production, the power ballads and the radio-friendly hooks were crunchy guitars, big drums, attitude and, occasionally, enough rock 'n' roll to make your Sunday afternoon considerably louder than intended.

So today, we're taking it easy.

Just not that easy.

When Bryan Adams Turned Up the Volume

Let's start with and Kids Wanna Rock.

The title rather gives the game away.

Adams may have become one of the biggest names in mainstream rock and pop, but this is a reminder of just how much straight-ahead rock lived inside his music. It's energetic, guitar-driven and gloriously uncomplicated.

And that's exactly the spirit of this playlist.

Then comes Kim with Water on Glass.

Wilde is often remembered for the huge pop singles, but there was always something sharper lurking around the edges. The guitars and attitude give this one considerably more bite than the phrase "pop star" might suggest.

Sunday easy listening?

We're getting there.

Eventually.

Pop Stars With a Little Dirt Under Their Fingernails

Richard Marx is probably an unlikely name to find on a rock playlist.

Until you listen.

Don't Mean Nothing has guitars, muscle and a distinctly tougher edge than the polished image that later came to define much of his career. And Should've Known Better reminds us that Marx wasn't simply the guy who turned up with a piano and a power ballad.

Then there's Rick Springfield.

I've Done Everything for You is exactly the sort of song that makes you wonder why Springfield is sometimes filed so neatly under "pop".

There's nothing particularly gentle about it.

It's rock 'n' roll dressed for radio.

The Women Came to Rock

If there's one thing this collection makes abundantly clear, it's that the women of the era weren't merely pop singers.

Take Bonnie.

Faster Than the Speed of Night doesn't exactly whisper its intentions. Tyler's unmistakable voice could turn even the most polished production into something enormous, dramatic and wonderfully over-the-top.

Then there's Pat Benatar. Hell Is for Children.

That's a very different kind of song, carrying considerably more weight than the average Sunday playlist. But it belongs here because it demonstrates the depth behind the pop-rock image.

And then we have Joan Jett.

Victim of Circumstance doesn't need much explanation.

Jett was never pretending to be anything other than a rocker.

A Little Heart, A Little Fire

Heart give us Mistral Wind, another reminder that the women at the top of the charts could deliver something considerably heavier when they wanted to.

Meanwhile JenniferRush, brings Heart Over Mind into the mix.

Rush might be remembered primarily for the giant ballad, but this track shows another side—one with considerably more movement and rock flavour.

And then there's Belinda Carlisle with Summer Rain.

It sounds like sunshine, nostalgia and summer driving.

But listen beneath the melody and there's a surprisingly muscular arrangement keeping everything moving.

That's becoming something of a theme here.

The Pop Stars Get Their Rock Faces On

Robert Palmer had one of the coolest voices in popular music, and Addicted to Love needs no introduction.

But its rock credentials are impossible to ignore.

The guitar riff. The drums. The swagger.

It's the sound of someone who knew exactly how to make rock music work on a pop audience.

Then comes John Cougar with Paper in Fire.

Mellencamp never really needed permission to be a rock star, but his success on mainstream radio sometimes makes it easy to forget just how earthy and gritty his music could be.

This is Americana with a spark plug attached.

Sunday Becomes a Road Trip

Now we're getting somewhere.

Chris Rea gives us The Road to Hell, which sounds like exactly the sort of song you should be listening to while driving somewhere with no particular destination.

Then arrives Billy Idol with Blue Highway.

Idol is another artist who effortlessly crossed the line between rock and pop without ever losing his attitude.

And that's one of the great things about this playlist.

It doesn't really matter where the genre boundaries are.

We're Sunday listening.

The only rule is that it has to sound good.

Even the Dance Floor Gets a Rock Injection

Gloria Estefan might seem like an unexpected inclusion.

That's precisely why she belongs.

Live for Loving You brings a different flavour into the party, proving that the idea of a "rock soul" doesn't necessarily mean sounding like a guitar band. Sometimes it's about energy, rhythm, confidence and knowing how to command a song.

And then comes Tina Turner with Steamy Windows.

Now we're talking.

Turner had one of those voices that could make almost anything sound bigger, tougher and more dangerous.

Pop star?

Absolutely.

Rock soul?

Without question.

The Forgotten Corners

Some of the best moments in a playlist like this aren't necessarily the obvious choices.

Save Up All Your Tears from Cher is a perfect example.

Cher's career has travelled through practically every corner of popular music, but the rockier material often gets buried beneath the giant hits and the spectacle.

Then there's Don Henley and The Boys of Summer.

It might be remembered as one of those quintessential songs of the era, but listen again and you'll hear something much darker and more sophisticated underneath the polished surface.

And that's really the point of today's Sunday session.

Sometimes the songs we think we know deserve another listen.

Twenty Reasons to Turn It Up

Put all twenty tracks together and something interesting happens.

This isn't really a collection of "pop songs with guitars".

It's a snapshot of an era when the walls between rock, pop, adult contemporary, new wave, soul and dance music were considerably less rigid than we sometimes remember.

These artists could cross those boundaries because they weren't worried about fitting neatly into a genre box.

And perhaps that's why the playlist works so well as Sunday Easy Listening.

It's familiar enough to be comfortable.

Rocking enough to keep you awake.

And nostalgic enough to make you reach for the volume control.

The Sunday Easy Listening Party Playlist

Bryan Adams – Kids Wanna Rock

Kim Wilde – Water on Glass

Richard Marx – Don't Mean Nothing

Bonnie Tyler – Faster Than the Speed of Night

John Mellencamp – Paper in Fire

Belinda Carlisle – Summer Rain

Rick Springfield – I've Done Everything for You

Jennifer Rush – Heart Over Mind

Robert Palmer – Addicted to Love

Pat Benatar – Hell Is for Children

Chris Rea – The Road to Hell

Joan Jett – Victim of Circumstance

Tina Turner – Steamy Windows

Billy Idol – Blue Highway

Heart – Mistral Wind

Gloria Estefan – Live for Loving You

Rod Stewart – Lost in You

Cher – Save Up All Your Tears

Don Henley – The Boys of Summer

Richard Marx – Should've Known Better

Put Your Feet Up. Turn It Up.

Press Play (Add it to your playlist)

So there you have it.

Twenty songs for a Sunday that isn't quite as quiet as it planned to be.

Because easy listening doesn't have to mean boring, and pop stars don't have to leave their rock souls at the studio door.

Sometimes the best way to spend a lazy Sunday is to rediscover a song you haven't heard in years, turn it up a little louder than you probably should, and wonder why you ever forgot how good it was.

Sunday easy listening?

Absolutely.

Just keep the volume turned up.