Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 599 )

• Songs of '83: "Electric Avenue"

  

  Eddy Grant actually encapsulates so much of what my whole thesis regarding 1983 is all about, except that what he encapsulates--the racially mixed bands and... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "She's a Beauty"

  

  I wrote earlier that I have a fondness for every song in this series. Well, let me qualify that a little bit, because "She's a Beauty"--the biggest radio hit... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Rio"

  

  Ah, Duran Duran. A hugely successful New Wave band that I can remember somehow not taking fully seriously even back when I was cranking up the radio to listen... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Let's Dance"

  

  "Let's Dance," the lead single of David Bowie's album of the same title, entered the Billboard charts 40 years ago this week. I have a fondness for every old... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Always Something There to Remind Me"

  

  It wasn't until I grew older, and I came to really appreciate the complex beauty of Burt Bacharch's smooth orchestral pop sounds, that I realized what an... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2023 SOCIETY

• On Latimer, Localism, Liberalism, and Democracy

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] Trevor Latimer’s Small Isn’t Beautiful: The Case Against Localism deeply engaged me, but not in a positive way, at least... Read more

  Posted on 15 March 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Photograph"

  

  Def Leppard was one of the major bands of the second wave of British heavy metal--meaning post-Led Zeppelin, post-Deep Purple, and post all the changes which... Read more

  Posted on 13 March 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Your Love is Driving Me Crazy"

  

  The week after Prince's defining, outrageous, brilliantly sexualized combination of the classic car and classic one-night-stand song, "Little Red Corvette,"... Read more

  Posted on 06 March 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Little Red Corvette"

  

  Forty years ago this week, Prince's "Little Red Corvette" (not his greatest song, nor my favorite, but quite arguably his single most iconic and best... Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "She Blinded Me with Science"

  

  Yet another one-hit wonder! (And still not the last.) Thomas Dolby recorded and released this song in the UK in 1982 (where it was a complete flop), after havin... Read more

  Posted on 20 February 2023 SOCIETY

• Two Steps Forward, One Step Back for Kansas Republicans

  

  Last weekend Mike Brown, a former Johnson County commissioner and a failed primary candidate for GOP Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s job, and someone who has... Read more

  Posted on 17 February 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Mr. Roboto"

  

  Forty years ago this month, Styx--motivated partly by the enormous success of their previous two albums, partly by a desire to give the finger to conservative... Read more

  Posted on 13 February 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Separate Ways"

  

  "Separate Ways" was the first single released off Journey's eighth studio album (and their last great rock album, I think most radio listeners would agree),... Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Come On Eileen"

  

  Shooting up the Billboard charts 40 years ago this week, right behind "Billie Jean" (and right ahead of Michael Jackson too; this song eventually landed for... Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Billie Jean" (Also: Michael Jackson, MTV, and the Year Some...

  

  Forty years ago yesterday, Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," the second single off his early-80s-defining album Thriller, entered the Billboard chart. By March i... Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2023 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Books I Read in 2022

  

  The ten best--most enjoyable, most thought-provoking, most edifying, most question-raising, most fun--books I read this past year, in alphabetical order by... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2022 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Movies I Watched in 2022

  

  As always, the movies which I watched in 2022, whether they were released this year or not, that I thought the best and/or that I got the most out of, in... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2022 SOCIETY

• Blame Christmas

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]Towards the end W.H. Auden’s For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, written 80 years ago, Auden gives an imaginative... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2022 SOCIETY

• Justice and Inclusion: From Isaiah’s Pen to Our Eyes and Ears

  

  [Cross-posted to Religious Socialism. A version of this post originally appeared on By Common Consent]Back in 2014, I embarked on a read of the complete Old... Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2022 SOCIETY

• Bono, Christian Neoliberal (but Also, Perhaps, a Little Bit More)

  

  [I was asked to write about Bono's memoir for Current; my review is here, but, as usual, I've posted my longer version here, as a Christmas gift to U2 haters an... Read more

  Posted on 22 December 2022 SOCIETY