The Rhythm and Beat of Chicago
Published June 12, 2006 by Thomas | E-mail this post
Was
WBMX the greatest radio station ever? Quite possibly - and thanks to the 'net, you can judge for yourself. Seriously
hotttt. Not only are there streaming channels of all their various variants (from old-school hip-hop to '90s dance crossovers to freestyle), but there's a live365 station of their bread-and-butter,
real black music from the late '70s and early '80s (right
here's the spot). This ain't no "jammin' oldies" "Ladies Night" over'n'over rhythm and bullshit, oh no - this is deep cuts like Chaka's "Move Me No Mountain" and Raydio's "It's Your Night," alone with classics along the lines of Teena Marie's "Square Biz" and Maze's "Joy and Pain" To hell with crossover, this is REAL BLACK MUSIC. And if that's not exactly your thing - say you want to relive the days of WBMX's classic Hot Mix 5 -
here's loads and loads of fierce Saturday Night Live Ain't No Jive Chicago Dance Party mixes - I caught Stephanie Mills' "The Medicine Song" in one of Ralphi Rosario's mixes (9/01/84, #18 under "G-Man Presents" on the
Deep House Page front page). (If I may be so bold, I think WBMX synches up nicely with my February post
"Whatever happened to R&B radio?" - but I'm biased, of course.)