Ah yes, it’s a new year and I (Mike Joseph) and Thomas Inskeep are celebrating 2017 by going back to 1984 in the latest episode of the Jheri Curl Chronicles podcast. This is the podcast in which we discuss every song to hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot Soul/R&B/Black Singles chart in the 1980s. We’ve got five goodies for you in this episode. OK, four goodies. Mmmm…maybe three goodies. Two and a half goodies? Anyway, here are the songs we discuss this go-round.

“Encore” by Cheryl Lynn

“Somebody’s Watching Me” by Michael Jackson Rockwell

“She’s Strange” by Cameo

“Hello” by Lionel Richie

“Don’t Waste Your Time” by Yarbrough & Peoples

-Thomas’s karaoke favorites, and his karaoke philosophy (which is quite wise!)
-A comparison of “Encore” and the Cheryl Lynn song even white people everyone knows.
-“Encore” was the first R&B chart topper for Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, who we’ll go on to discuss about 5,000,000 times over the course of the rest of this series.
-When bad fortune turns into good fortune: Prince fired Jimmy & Terry from The Time after a snow storm in Atlanta (which was probably, like, an inch), but then they became JIMMY JAM AND TERRY LEWIS. This turns into a meteorology lesson. It also turns into a brief history of “The Gong Show”.
-We jump forward into the ’90s for a minute and compare/contrast the soundtracks to Boomerang (helmed by L.A. Reid & Babyface) and Mo’ Money (helmed by Jam & Lewis).
-Yep, there’s another “Michael Jackson Hair On Fire” joke. Sorry.
-We connect Rockwell, Diana Ross, and LMFAO by the power of Berry Gordy’s penis.
-Who is THIS (alligator) woman?


-Larry Blackmon, and “queer” vs. “gay”.
-Sidebar: Black Ivory is awesome. Check out this and this for proof.
-There’s a shout out to Cameo’s dearly departed Wayne Cooper.
-Brenda Richie. So complicated.
-What is “super soft adult contemporary”?
-Of course, there has to be an in-depth discussion of the “Hello” video.
-The unattractiveness of Yarbrough & Peoples.
-No wonder they got a future gangsta rapper/actor to appear in the video.

You can listen to the podcast in the player below. You can also download it directly to your computer or device, you can stream it on Liberated Syndication, or you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

We also shout out the Jheri Curl Chronicles radio show, which you can stream live on Wednesdays at 10PM EST on Radio Free Brooklyn. You can find archived episodes on Mixcloud. Of course, you can also follow the JCC crew on Twitter and like us on Facebook. Enjoy the show!