Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July

The time is a-changin’ huh? The summer is starting to hit us with its sun and heat and it’s making for some gorgeous days. I was called out the other day for not posting or even playing, enough hip-hop, R&B and soul music. To be politically incorrect for a second, as some call it, “Black Music.” It sounds bad but trust me; I mean no harm in it at all. So I’ve decided to bring out my collection of other music in the aforementioned genres in hopes that I can showcase some diversity. Nick usually plays different music than I’m posting but hey, I’ve got a lot of that same music too so why not?

The history behind Stevie Wonder’s Hotter Than July is sweeping with illustrious imagery. The album, itself, is a beautiful creation because of its soulful presence and its amazing energy, all fueled by Wonder. He starts things off with a wondrous explosion of love with “Didn’t I Hear You Say You Love Me” (the chorus is a succinctly put, “Well if you love me, honey let me hear you say…I love you.”) and then switches to a funky, hi-hat grooving, “All I Do” (again, here, Wonder is in blunt with, “All I do is think about you baby.”) All of the songs segue so smoothly into each other, that by the time you get to “Happy Birthday” (which Wonder wrote for Martin Luther King Jr. in hopes of creating a national holiday for the significant reverend) you are lost in Wonder’s stunning scope of genius.

Speaking of “Happy Birthday,” Wonder would go on to have a significant impact on the making of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I’m so happy that the vinyl insert I have is the original one as it features a picture of King and a small paragraph Wonder wrote to his fans dictating, “It is time for our country to adopt legislation that will make January, 15…a national holiday.” And he even signed it with a fingerprint – awesome stuff. Reagan would go on to sign the holiday into law in 1983 and it was first observed in 1986 and yet, many states gave the holiday alternate names and titles to avoid having it just be “Martin Luther King Jr. Day” – because, that would be such a horrible thing right? It was finally observed by all 50 states in 2000.

I could say so much about this album other than I love it and it truly cements Stevie as one of my favorite artists of all time but the influence and impact is paramount – I always play this in July, which also happens to be when my birthday is. This came out in 1980, four long years after his double-record masterpiece Songs in the Key of Life and its every bit as good as it predecessor. And on top of that, you can hear where Michael Jackson and Prince were getting their sounds from: those basses, those drums, his cadence, his delivery, his musicianship. There’s just too much.

And FYI, regarding the passing of King’s birthday as a national holiday, John McCain rejected the holiday for the longest time before finally pushing his state, Arizona, to honor it as a national holiday too – republicans suck. And here’s the two songs that lead each side of the record, the aforementioned “Didn’t I Hear You Say You Love Me” and the Bob Marley-influenced “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” – Bryan