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You're listening ad free on Amazon Music.
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Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy Caught in a landslide?
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Hey, everybody, this is Chris Mullanfi, host of Hit Parade, Slate's podcast of pop chart history. Welcome to the Bridge.
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I'm just a good boy I need no sympathy Because I'm Easy come, easy go Little high, little low.
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That, of course, is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Not only a legendary rock classic, but also one of the best selling British singles of all time. It was the UK Christmas number one in both 1975, the year it was recorded, and 1991, the year Queen frontman Freddie Mercury died. As such, it served as a bridge between the start and the end of Mercury's career. And as always, these mini episodes bridge our full length monthly episodes and give us a chance to catch up with our listeners and enjoy some trivia. This month, I'm delighted, as always, to be joined by my frequent partner in bridgedom, Slate podcast senior producer, TJ Raphael. Hey, tj.
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Hi, Chris. Thanks for having me on.
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C
Absolutely. And happy New Year to you.
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Happy New Year to you. Before we jump to today's topic, which you know is all about the Grammys, I'm so excited to talk about that. I really want to quickly talk about the last full length episode of Hit Parade because, oh my God, you really left us with a cliffhanger like who won that coveted UK number one spot.
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C
So it probably feels like ancient history to everyone now since we're recording this in mid January. But yes, there was a very exciting cliffhanger at the end of the last full length episode of Hit Parade, in which we had to finish the episode, finish producing the episode before we knew who the Victor of the UK Christmas number one was for 2018. And at the time I had a very dour downbeat prediction which was that a song that had been number one since basically the middle of November, Ariana Grande's song, thank you Next, which I actually like very much. But it was just going to continue at number one and that the Christmas number one was not going to be special. I am happy to report that I have since called that episode of Hit Parade the Dewey Defeats Truman of Hit Parade episode, because I got the ending wrong and I've never been happier to be wrong about something. In fact, the song that I ended the episode with, that I said stood almost no chance to be the UK Christmas number one, actually eked out a win. And that is the song We Built this City on Sausage Roll by Lad Baby.
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We built this city on sausage roll.
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This city Come on, Lad Baby. Of course, a gentleman who was born Mark Ian Hoyle. Lad Baby is his Internet pseudonym. He's from West Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire, and he basically was trying to get himself a UK Christmas number one. He wanted to give it as a gift for his wife, whom he refers to online as Lad Baby Mum. Basically, we were finalizing that episode, which this is an important detail. We released the episode on Friday, December 21, a little earlier than usual because we wanted to get it out before Christmas. And as late as December 18, when we were recording the episode and, you know, producing it, we still really didn't know, but there was a tight neck and neck competition between the Ariana Grande song, the Loud Baby song, and then a Dark Horse, a song called Sweet but Psycho by an American artist named Ava Max. All three of them were like within a few hundred streams and sales of each other in the British charts. And then in the final analysis, in the final couple of days, just before the holiday, it was announced literally the same day we dropped the episode that Lad Babies, We Built this City On Sausage Roll, had eked out a win. So it was kind of delightful because We Built this City on Sausage Roll. It's kind of terrible, but kind of awesome because it's part of the tradition, the great British tradition of random left field novelty cheesy, to use a British term, naff songs taking the UK number one crown at Christmas. So I was delighted.
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Well, yeah, I mean, lots of drama with, you know, the twist there and, you know, thinking about drama, you know, I want to chat with you about what is possibly the biggest event of the year for the music industry that, you know, can sometimes draw some drama. The Grammys. It's coming up February 10th. And, you know, I really wanted to know, who are you betting on this year? I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with Cardi B this year. I mean, she's nominated. She has had such an incredible year already. I mean, the Internet can't take their eyes off of her, really. And I wonder if all this popularity that we're seeing with her in just the general culture is going to actually translate into an award. And, you know, she's up for Record of the Year and Album of the Year. If. If I'm a betting person, who should I be putting my money on?
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Courtney B. Is up for two of the frontline prizes. She's up for Record of the Year with her collaboration with Bad Bunny and J. Balvin. I like it. Which is that wonderful Latin flavored record that was a number one hit last summer and is a remake of the old 60s boogaloo. I like it like that. As well as her album Invasion of Privacy, which I put in my top 10 albums of the year. It's a terrific album and made many, Many critics top 10 list for the year. Now here's the bad news. The Grammys Narus again. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has a checkered history with hip hop, particularly in the frontline categories. In fact, we should talk about one other wrinkle in this year's Grammys, something that's brand new. There are now eight nominees in each of these categories. Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the year. That is new. It has been five since time immemorial. Since the Grammys launched in the 1950s. They are increasing the number of nominees basically as a diversity move to try and get more types of records, records into each category, more country records, more hip hop records, more R and B records. And at least at the nominee level. And Cardi B is a signature example. It has worked. Arguably, Cardi B is such a big artist, it's probable that she would have been in these categories even if it had only been five, as it has been for many decades. The question is, will she win? I am dubious, I am skeptical, and I don't say that with happiness because it has been observed many, many times that particularly in the Album of the Year category, which is typically the last award of the night, in the frontline category, hip hop almost never takes that prize. Literally, two albums in Grammy history have taken the Album of the year Prize. One in 1999 was Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. And the other in 2004 was Outkast's speaker box, the Love Below. And frankly, in both cases, and I don't want to slide either album because they're both amazing, especially the Lauryn H. Album. The, let's say bones of those albums were just as much R and B as they were hip hop. The Grammy voter picture somebody considerably older than you or me has a problem with hip hop recording values, if you will. The fact that it's often based on samples, the fact that it doesn't feature a whole lot of traditional instrumental chops. This tends to punish hip hop in the final analysis. Last year, for example, when the nominees came out, many people praised the nominees a year ago, saying, wow, these are among the most diverse nominees, particularly in the album of the year category that we've ever seen. Kendrick Lamar was up for album of the year. Not his first time, by the way, Jay Z was up for album of the Year. Several hip hop albums were up and they wound up picking. And I don't want to slight him when I say this, Bruno Mars for Album of the Year. Now, I happen to like Bruno Mars very much, but Bruno Mars was sort of the most up the middle, traditional instrumental value, sort of album that they could pick. And that tends to be where the Grammys land. So as you're looking at these three categories, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, record, Record of the year. Should Cardi B win one of these prizes? Probably, you know, Album of the Year for me would be a phenomenal win and deserving given how much praise Invasion of Privacy her album has received. But you're likelier to see something like. And by the way, this is my favorite album of the year. So this is one of my picks, Casey Musgrave's Golden Hour, which is an interesting cross genre record. It's fundamentally nominally a country album, but it has the bones of Daft Punk in it. They use vakoda effects and other synthesizer effects on it. It's got pop, it's got Americana. It's kind of a cross genre record that's got strong production, but also sort of classic songwriting values. I personally would not be disappointed at all if Golden Hour won the prize because it's an album I happen to love. But the cynic would say it's also Grammy bait. It's closer to the kind of thing the Grammys typically reward. And I would say that probably goes in the record and Song of the Year categories as.
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And I know one you're also watching is Lady Gaga. And I think everybody is, you know, she's having an incredible year too, with A Star Is Born. You know, all eyes are sort of back on Gaga. So, you know, what do you think about her? You know, she's such a huge diva. What are her. Her chances?
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C
Briefly, I would say that Gaga and Bradley Cooper, her co star in the movie and her co artist on the song Shallow, stands an excellent chance, better than usual in both the record and Song of the Year categories. Again, Shallow is the kind of very traditional, old school kind of record that compared to something like I Like it by Cardi B or this Is America by Childish Gambino, which is nominated in both categories, or Rock Star by Post Malone. It's a more traditional record and Gaga has been nominated for these frontline prizes before, but she's never won any of the big ones. If ever there were a year where she stands a better than usual chance of winning. I'd say it's this year. And now it's time for the delightful part in every episode of Hit Parade, the Bridge, where we do some trivia. And joining us today for our trivia round is Jared, who is from New York City, but calling us from Washington State. Is that right, Jared?
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Hi, Chris. That's right. Yeah. It's a little bit earlier here right now.
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Well, thank you for getting up, hopefully not at the crack of dawn, to join us for our trivia round. I hope you feel ready to answer some questions.
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I am.
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Wonderful. So, Jared, when you were in New York City, I understand you joined us at our live show at the Bell House in Brooklyn last year, is that right?
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That's correct. Yeah. That's when I actually signed up to be a Slate plus member.
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That is fantastic. And I guess that paid off for you, because now, as a Slate plus member, you can take part in our trivia round.
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It did? Yeah. Full circle.
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Speaking of Slate plus, this is a moment when I'd like to remind our listeners that while this Bridge episode is available to all Hit Parade subscribers, we only open our trivia rounds to Slate plus members. So if you are a member and would like to be a Trivia contestant, visit slate.com hitparadesignup that's slate.com hitparadesignUp so, are you ready for some trivia?
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I'm ready.
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Okay. So as you may recall from past episodes of the Bridge, our first question is kind of a recall to our last episode of Hit Parade. And then we're going to ask you two more questions that are a preview of our next full length episode of Hit Parade. Here we go with question one. It's now mid January, so we're all a little done with Christmas music. But in our last episode, we discussed some UK Christmas number ones that were not holiday songs, including what 1983 winner, a favorite of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A, Frankie goes to Hollywood, the power of love, B, Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall, part two. C, the Human League, don't you want me? Or D, the Flying Pickets. Only you.
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Ooh. These were all mentioned in the episode. I think I'm gonna go with B.
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I'm sorry, the correct answer is D, Only you.
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All I needed was the love you gave me. All I needed. For another thing.
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The Flying Pickets were committed socialists and thus mortified that Thatcher attested to her love of their acapella cover of Yazz's synth pop classic. It was indeed the 1983, winner of the UK Christmas no. 1. The other three choices were the UK Christmas number one of 1984, 1979 and 1981, respectively. All right, tough break. You're right that we talked about almost all of those songs during the episode, so that was a little tricky. Let's now move on to our preview questions. Ready for question two?
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I'm ready.
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Here we go. A decade ago this month, Lady Gaga scored her first ever number one hit on Billboard's Hot 100, a song that took about half a year to reach the summit. What was that breakthrough single? A, Bad Romance, B, Just Dance. C, Poker Face, Or D, Paparazzi?
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Okay, this time it is B and you are correct.
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The correct answer is indeed B, Just Dance. A number two club hit in the summer of 2008. It then took nearly six months to scale the Hot 100, finally reaching number one in January 2009. By the way, for bonus bragging rights, can you name her now forgotten featured artist on the hit?
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Was it Colby o'? Donis?
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That is absolutely correct. My goodness. Well done. You are at least 1 for 2 and arguably 2 for 2 with that bonus question. So nice job, Jared. Here comes question three. At the 2015 Academy Awards, Lady Gaga performed a well received medley of songs dedicated to what entertainment industry legend? A, Cher, B, Tony Bennett, C, Jim Henson? Or D, Julie Andrews?
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I remember this very well. It was D, Julie Andrews.
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You are absolutely correct. The correct answer is D, Julie Andrews.
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Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes Cold on white winters that melt into spring these are a few of my favorite things.
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On the 87th Oscars telecast, Gaga sang a medley of songs from the Sound of Music and rebooted her career with the general public. Asked to comment upon the tribute, Dame Julie Andrews told People magazine she'd quote, made a new friend in Gaga. Two out of three and arguably three out of four. So well done.
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Thank you.
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I'll take it. You really know your Gaga trivia. So I understand now you are going to turn the tables on me and you have a question for me, is that right?
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I do.
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All right, I'm ready. Lay it on me.
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All right, here we go. Lady Gaga has won six Grammy awards out of 24 nominations. She's up for five this year. Despite her Grammy success, Lady Gaga was never technically eligible for Best New Artist. Who won Best New Artist the year that Gaga's debut album, the Fame, was nominated for Album of the Year. And she was the true Best New Artist Was it A, Esperanza Spalding, B, Zack Brown Band, C, Duffy, or D, none of the above?
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Wow.
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All right.
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I know that there are winners among that crew. I'm pretty sure Esperanza Spalding won. That was a huge upset. But she won over Justin Bieber, and I think that was a year or two later. So I'm going to eliminate her from the pool between the two. I don't think it's none of the above. Maybe it is, but I'm going to go ahead and guess. Duffy.
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That is incorrect. It is B, Zach Brown Band.
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Zach Brown Band. Darn it.
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So if you agree, have a drink with me. We raise your glasses for toast to a little bit of chicken fries and cold beer on a Friday night A pair of jeans that fit just right and the radio world.
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Yep, Duffy lost to a Dal in 2009. So the fame's nomination for album of the year in 2010 was the first of three consecutive album of the Year nods for Gaga, who would go on to appear in the category for both the Famed Monster and Born this Way. As huge as the Fame was, Gaga was ineligible for Best New Artist due to already being nominated for a Grammy the previous year, 2009 for best dance Recording with Just Dance.
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That is such a heartbreaker for Gaga, but an excellent, excellent trivia question. You know, Best New Artist is such a funny category. The history of that award is so checkered. So many have won and then gone on to terrible ignominy, from Starland Vocal Band to Milli Vanilli. And then there are all the artists who should have been eligible, like Gaga, for example. Infamously, Whitney Houston was not eligible.
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Yeah, Cardi B this year.
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Cardi B this year. Right. They keep eliminating people for random technicalities and then including people who had recording careers for years. It's so strange, that category. So, Jared, after a tough first question, you did amazingly on the subsequent questions and you stumped me. So I hope you were holding your head up high after that trivia round.
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Yeah, pretty proud of us.
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As well. You should be. Jared, we can't thank you enough for joining us. Thanks for being on Hit Parade, the British great.
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Thank you so much.
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Wow, Chris, Jared is really good at trivia. I mean, our listeners are just incredible here with all of their knowledge. But yeah, it really seems like the next episode is about Lady Gaga and I'm dying to know more. Can you please tell us about what's coming up?
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C
Yes. Well, as it was indicated in One of those two questions, this month, January 2019, is the 10th anniversary of Lady Gaga's first number one hit in January of 2009, Just Dance. And with 2020 hindsight, that was the start of a really fascinating career. And the other thing that's happening in January of 2019, of course, is that Gaga is up for all sorts of awards. She just won an award at the Golden Globes, not the one she necessarily wanted to win. She did want to win Best Song. She also wanted to win Best Actress. She didn't take that prize. But by the end of the month we will also find out if she's going to be nominated for an Oscar, not just for Best Song, but quite possibly also Best Actress as well. And it's an exciting time for her. And what I want to discuss in the next episode of Hit Parade is not only the decade long career of Lady Gaga, but how her role in A Star Is Born reflects and refracts, almost through a prism, her career. Because many of the arguments that have raged over the meaning of A Star Is Born and, you know, its sense of authenticity are some of the same questions that have been asked about Lady Gaga throughout her career. And I really wanted to explore how Gaga's musical career really informed her role, not just at the level of playing a singer in a movie, but the entire arc of the story and how that that plays out in A Star Is Born. So I hope fans will enjoy it. We'll be doing both a little bit of movie history as well as usual extensive music.
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I am so excited for this episode. I'm a huge Lady Gaga fan. I really can't wait. And I want to say thank you so much again for letting me join you on this episode of the Bridge. And I know I'm going to be listening for next time.
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Well, thank you so much, tj and I want to thank all of our listeners again.
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I'm TJ Raphael, Senior Producer for the Slate Podcast Network.
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And I'm Chris Melanfy. Keep on marching on the one.