Old school track time...

LOL, I know I used to look like Liza... I don't want to sit here and laugh at a picture and blog post that is essentially making fun of me, but those pictures do a pretty good job of shutting me up. All I'm gonna say is that Matthew Karpf should watch his back for the next little while, he's pissing alot of people off and eventually something funny is gonna happen...

Before I get into the song selection I want to recognize the crew for reaching a significant milestone: We now run two weekly parties, "The Hollywood Diet" Fridays at Cognac Lounge and "Love the Bomb" every Saturday at Strangelove, and all before our first anniversary (jam coming soon).  I think we all deserve some credit for a job well done so far, and i wanted to congratulate the rest of my team. 

Finally here is "The Old School Track of the Month, Week or Whenever":

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" is a 1956 song by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. It reached #3 on the Billboard charts in the USA and #1 in the UK. The track is an absolute classic and virtually everyone has heard it, appearing in a countless number of films and covered by a multitude of other artists. 

The song also vaulted the popularity of young Frankie Lymon (the Howdy-Doodie lookin fellow on lead vocals), who after the popularity of this track, achieved continued success hitting the pop charts with a string of other pretty decent old school tracks. His early success and status as one of the first black teen idols prompted little Frankie to drop "The Teenagers" and to continue on as a solo performer. Unfortunately, as little Frankie grew to become regular sized Frankie his popularity began to wane, and as his voice got lower his album sales followed suit (zing!).  

Sadly, the story of Frankie Lymon is not a happy, or even funny one. At the age of 15, during his time at the top of the charts, Frankie became addicted to heroin. After his career began to decline he fell deeper into his addiction and was never able to resuscitate his career. He bounced around between several short lived record contracts and rocky relationships until being drafted into the US army. After 3 years of clean living in the army, Lymon was discharged and eventually reverted back to his earlier habits. On February 27th 1967, Frankie was found dead of a heroin overdose at the age of 25.  

Here Is Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers; Remembered not as the tragic caricature of the troubled pop star that Frankie Lymon became, instead as an enduring 3 or so minutes of 20th century pop culture history.