Rate-A-Record: News Songs by Joan Jett, Rick Springfield, and Dolly Parton with Rob Halford
Listen and then tell us what you think about them!
My original plan for this installment of Rate-A-Record was to highlight three songs from the early 1980s that weren’t big hits on radio stations, but they had very popular videos that were played frequently on MTV.
The idea was partially inspired by these two groovy recent Rate-A-Records from, respectfully, Paul Combs and Arpad Nagy:
However…
While I was writing my article with my song choices of somewhat-forgotten songs from long ago, I was listening to a playlist on Spotify of New Music releases, featuring songs released in June 2023. I heard several songs on it that I liked a lot, so I changed my mind and decided to feature three of them here instead of the three old songs I was originally going to write about. (I’ll do that one next week!)
In a nice coincidence here (at least in my eyes), all of the new songs below are by artists who were popular in the time period I was originally going to write about.
Give the songs a listen and then, if you’d like to, tell us in the comments section what you think about them. An especially easy way to do that is by rating them on a scale from 35–98.
“Why 35–98?” Some might ask.
Well, that’s how Dick Clark used to do the Rate-A-Record segments on the old TV series American Bandstand — and that’s how writer and all-around cool person Terry Barr asked us to rate songs when he started up these fun ‘challenges’ for music lovers on Medium, a year or so ago.
So, let’s get to it, shall we? Turn up your volume and check these new songs out!
(Make The Music Go) Boom — Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
This is from Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ rocking new EP, Mindsets.
She Walks With The Angels — Rick Springfield
This is from Rick Springfield’s upcoming album, Atomic, which will be released later this year.
Bygones — Dolly Parton (featuring Rob Halford)
This will be on Dolly Parton’s Rockstar album, which will be released in November 2023. The album will be filled with songs that feature Dolly rocking out with famous musicians who are known for their works in the rock-n-roll genre. In case you’re unfamiliar with Rob Halford’s name, he is the lead singer for the legendary band Judas Priest.
What do I think of the above songs? Well, my ratings of them (which, as a reminder, will be between 35–98) will be in the comments section.
How about you? What do you think of the above songs? Please let us know!
Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the Gotta Pop podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.
