You've Been Schooled.
I recently asked a couple people if they had heard of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Millie Small, and Johnny Hallyday - a few artists that always make me happy when listening to them. No one knew who the heck I was talking about. I'm shocked. So I'm going to school ya'll:
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - (taken from the bio on their website)
"... one of the biggest Rock bands in the world for the past 15 years, both in popularity and musical innovation. Recognized for their adventurous fusion of ska, rock, tropical, punk, reggae and Latin rhythm .... collaborations with numerous talented musicians, that to date have included Mick Jones (Clash, Big Audio Dynamite), Deborah Harry (Blondie), Chris Frantz & Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads), Fishbone, Big Youth, Celia Cruz and Ruben Blades. Fabulosos Cadillacs' 1994 single "Matador" (which New York Magazine called "one of the great rock songs of the nineties, in any language") is widely recognized as the first smash Latin Rock single in the U.S. - permeating Latin dance clubs, car stereos and boom boxes across the country. The song gained such notoriety, that it won MTV Latino's "Video of The Year" award and caught the ear of John Cusak who included the track in the film and soundtrack of Grosse Point Blank. Quentin Tarantino also used the bands music in the film, "Curdled"."
You can get a live version of "Matador" on ITunes, but I highly recommend their cover of The Clash's "Guns of Brixton".
Millie (Small) - Born in Jamaica, and one of the early pioneer female artists in the early Clarendon Ska era, transported to London mid career where she cut her "one-hit" wonder. Most people would only know who she was if you mentioned that song, "My Boy Lollipop" (1964). But that's not even touching the surface of some of the great tracks on her Time Will Tell album (available on ITunes). I highly recommend the tracks: "White Boys", "Ooh Ooh", and "You're The Only One" (a duet with, I think, Roy Panton-my favorite track).
More info about Millie can be found here.
Johnny Hallyday - (The French Elvis) - Someone I thought would know who he was didn't and someone I would never have thought would have known who he was did. I have him on my desktop right now. He makes me giggle. The guy is still around and I don't recommend him as a modern musician but his stuff from the 60s is so much fun. I especially like "Souvenirs Souvenirs", "A New Orleans", "Hey Pony", and "Tu parles trop". A ton of bio info can be found here.
He's pretty mediocre and silly now, heck he was silly then, but I get a kick out of some of those old singles. "A New Orleans" has got to be my favorite.
A few others that you should know of but I don't think I want to know if you don't already:
Josie Kreuzer (duh)
Wanda Jackson (duh)
Mason Jennings (best tracks: "Ulysses", "Butterfly", "Freedom Pt.2", "Keepin It Real")
and purchase Wilbert Harrison's "Kansas City" track. Good stuff.
