My suggestion would be "Best of My Love" by the Emotions. The song was co-written by Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire, who used to drum for them early on, and it thumps. It's also nice to see mention of the J. Geils band. Back in the day, we played their live album, "Full House", frequently at our many school dorm gatherings. They were perfect for the mood - a relentless party band. Then as the rock gods would have it, they graced us with a performance at our school, playing the complete album! Best yet, it was within crawling distance of the dorm! How long ago was that? Well, the opening act was a regional group just beginning to break called the Eagles. They would later do a song called "Best of My Love", too, but that's a whole different thang.

If you want to see me do some funny-looking stuff on the dance floor, you'd play the B-52s "Love Shack." And, as a 1990 release, it just gets in under the wire by your criteria.

Good luck today...looks like you'll have good weather.

J. Geils surged my synapses, too. whamma ramma jamma ramma The band lived (and practiced) in the basement of the Bateson Mansion, let's just date it as pre-Watergate, or pre-gas lines, in Newton, MA. While upstairs, above ground, lived a Guerilla Video Commune, and Light Show Extravaganza Production Company -- wall of sound meets wall of light ... which, in some way, possibly obscure, computer graphics I know a little bit about 'communed' with television production I know a little bit about. Hours of rare archived tape could be located showing J. and the boys at it, early, all night long, (but then, too, it was always night in the basement). ... what is this 'tape' you speak of?

So, Bill, are you going to make Jack's scene? Jack, is a dancing fool welcome on the East Side turf?

How about Bill Withers - You've Got the Stuff?

Got'ny cheesy Philly soul shake? (easy for me to say) Commodores? I just wanna testify / Sho been delicious to me. Callin out, around the world, they'll be dancin, dancin in the street. Where do all the hippest meet, South Street, South Street.

Friends, inquisitive friends, are askin' me what's come over me.

Hard drive, eh? If you're trying to shift any of that old vinyl, I'd love to take some of it off your hands.

If you're doing everything via hard drive, just make sure you have EVERY application in the background turned off that could possibly make noise, as well as all the windows sounds turned off in the control panel. The last thing you need during the middle of one of those songs is some random windows "ding" noise to pierce through it because you clicked somewhere wrong.

A change, there's been a change, and it's oh, so plain, to see, now.

A coincidence, appearing this day.

The Music Man, By LYNN HIRSCHBERG, September 2, 2007

Rick Rubin is listening. ... The mighty music business is in free fall — it has lost control of radio; retail outlets like Tower Records have shut down; MTV rarely broadcasts music videos; and the once lucrative album market has been overshadowed by downloaded singles, which mainly benefits Apple.

"The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content," David Geffen, the legendary music mogul, told me recently. "Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it's no longer about making music, it's all about how to sell music. And there's no clear answer about how to fix that problem. But I still believe that the top priority at any record company has to be coming up with great music." ...

Geffen said this YEARS ago. The music business has changed dramatically over the last 15+ years. Record stores are dying and an early sign was when Tower Records' mismanagement started to cause its downfall over 10 years ago (It was not the mp3 that killed Tower. It was already starting to flatline before Napster came along). The industry knew what an institution Tower was and did its best to keep it going, but in the end it was just beating a dead horse.

People are finally tired of pop stars churning out one (arguably) listenable song tucked away in an album of 50 minutes worth of filler. Why are people turning to myspace to look for new bands? Why are so many people downloading music rather than buying an album? Because people are finally sick of the majors and are tired of being fooled by tired marketing ploys. The RIAA is so militant about busting music pirates because they know they can't rely on quality product anymore. They are scared that people are finally wising up to them. I don't understand why the majors just start putting out listenable art rather than marketing formulas. Or just embrace that the world is changing and people want mp3s on their ipods rather than a tangible object like a CD.

RIP - Record Stores. It's been fun digging for records. Maybe a few specialty stores for nerds like me can hang on. Or they can go the Music Millenium route and sell kitschy toys and t-shirts to generate income. Oh wait, that didn't work so well either. Damn.

just make sure you have EVERY application in the background turned off that could possibly make noise

Nothing would ice the crowd faster than some of those Windows sounds.