E177 - Top 5 Motown Influenced Songs (with Arthur Alexander from Sorrows & The Poppees)

Needless to say, we have fun every week here on O3L, but this one will have ya dancing in the streets guaranteed! We just can't help ourselves when it comes to talking about music influenced by "The Sound of Young America," Motown Records...especially when Heaven must have sent us this week's guest from above. What's going on, you ask? We guess you say, what can make us feel this way? Well, by now, you've probably heard it through the grapevine that it's the marvelous Arthur Alexander! (Oh, was that subtle enough?) Arthur has a very powerful story of rock n' roll salvation. Growing up in communist Poland in the '60s, Arthur discovered the power of rock through records pressed on postcards and through scratchy radio signals that the government attempted to silence, deeming this new musical form of freedom as a threat to society. It was the sound that united and invigorated legions of youth, inspired kids to form bands, and, for Arthur, paved the way for a new life in America. In the mid-70s, his band The Poppees were a part of the burgeoning New York scene, playing venues like CBGB and Max's Kansas City alongside The Heartbreakers, Ramones, and Blondie, despite eschewing straight ahead punk rock for the sounds of Merseybeat. After The Poppees, Arthur formed rockin' power pop group Sorrows, fulfilling his vision of crossing ABBA with The Sex Pistols. Sorrows issued two albums for CBS, 1980's Teenage Heartbreak (the sessions from that era also captured on the Bad Times, Good Times album) and 1981's Love Too Late. The latter was so badly botched by the record label that it prompted Sorrows to reform four decades later to put things right, to record the album that it should have been all along: Love Too Late...The Real Album. Arthur has also issued two marvelous solo albums in recent years, 2018's One Bar Left, and the brand new 2023 LP Steppin' Out on Big Stir Records. https://www.bigstirrecords.com. Signed, sealed and delivered, Your friends at O3L And we're stickin' to it. (Ain't Too) Proud (To Beg) members of the Pantheon Podcasts family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices