This week we make a clean break from K, with a half post before we move to the 12th letter of the alphabet. Enjoy the tracks below from the ass end of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the ’80s.
Kon Kan
“Puss ‘n Boots — These Boots (Are Made for Walking)” — 1989, #58 (download)
We have our first-ever request at Bottom Feeders. A few weeks ago it was requested in the comments that I include Kon Kan’s “Puss ‘n Boots” in a future post — so here it is! Of course, that’s just the way the ball bounces, since you could pick up the Billboard Hot 100 book and predict every post of the rest of the series and write them up far better than I ever could, way before I do. Hey, don’t get any ideas now. Look me in the eyes. Mine. Mine. Got it?
“Puss ‘n Boots” was the third single from Kon Kan’s quite catchy debut Move to Move. The first single “I Beg Your Pardon” went to #15 and the second single “Harry Houdini” actually failed to chart in the US. No masking the samples used in this song, Mrs. Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” and Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.”
Kool & the Gang
“Steppin’ Out” — 1982, #89 (download)
“Holiday” — 1987, #66 (download)
“Special Way” — 1987, #72 (download)
Kool & the Gang have to rank as the second-greatest R&B act of the ’80s, right behind Michael Jackson, and they’re not even that far behind. Over their career they’ve had 32 songs hit the Hot 100, with another ten for good measure if you count the R&B chart. The greatest thing about Kool & the Gang is that they didn’t really drop off like most R&B/funk artists did by the mid- to late ’80s. Cameo and the Gap Band really started creating crap and almost remaking their own tunes by the close of the decade while Kool & the Gang remained fresh throughout. Of these three “Steppin’ Out” is certainly the most recognizable of the group, though even “Holiday” and “Special Way” are well known. I could listen to Kool & the Gang all day, every day and never get tired of them. They are quite a high point for me in the ’80s.
