The Heat Is On: Red Stripe Records & OG Influencers
Your love's a voodoo — but I'm gonna voodoo your brain
Aaaaaaaaaand we’re back. I hope the natural wine series was interesting and informative for both the wine-lovers and wine-curious among us. Now back to our regular programming. We’re keeping it light this week with some very nice jams and my Hooray Beer summer with Red Stripe.
It’s most fun when this is a two-way conversation — hit me up if you have questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, etc. chris@rxmance.com
[4 minute read]
THE HEAT IS ON & RED STRIPE RECORDS
YOUR LOVE’S A VOODOO
My friend Bret Q casually texted me an absolute banger song the other day called Your Love's a Voodoo by Conrad Waldron.
Upon further investigation, it turns out Your Love’s a Voodoo is part of a 1981 compilation album called The Heat Is On from Red Stripe Records. This album is chock-full of certified jams.
I highly recommend the entire album, but if you’re short on time, check these tracks out ASAP: Use My Body, I Want Your Stuff & Your Love's a Voodoo
In an era of singles, solid albums are worth their weight in gold, especially in my house. I filed this one under: 'We’re having friends over and my girlfriend says, “Please put on some good music, and none of that weird sh*t.”’
You can listen to the whole album on Spotify.
WAS I AN ORIGINAL INFLUENCER?
I spent the summer of 2001 living in Mission Beach, San Diego, and a friend of mine was interning at a marketing and PR firm that represented Red Stripe and other beverage brands. Part of the marketing strategy for Red Stripe was to hire stealth brand partners in select cities to support their Hooray Beer summer campaign. I was the stealth party guy in San Diego.
My responsibilities were twofold: First, I was sent a list of bars to visit on weekends with my friends. Our job was to pretend we had just returned from a sun-filled trip to 'the islands' and wanted to buy everyone in the bar a Red Stripe to celebrate. It was strange and rarely received with the excitement you might expect. Sometimes a bar didn’t get their special delivery and had no Red Stripe on hand. In that case, I was instructed to order Smirnoff Ice or Guinness, since they were also clients of the marketing agency. “We just returned from Jamaica and we want to celebrate — who wants a Guinness!?”
Secondly, I received dozens of cases of Red Stripe each week to throw ‘impromptu parties.’ The best part, and something Gen Z will never appreciate, was being sent a Polaroid camera to document these parties and then mailing the photos back to New York. I love the idea of a marketing exec presenting Polaroids of hot tub beer parties from random San Diego apartment complexes to their client.
The Hooray Beer summer concluded with a concert at a beach bar featuring Save Ferris. Throughout the summer, we had been collecting people’s information for the ‘VIP’ guest list. On the day of the show, my boss, who had flown in with the client from NY, informed me that they lost the entire database of names. This was major because, as a private party, we legally couldn’t allow anyone in who wasn’t on the guest list. So my final job was to stand at the door of the venue with a list of fake names, pretending to check people in. Imagine being on vacation in San Diego, waiting in line at a bar, and when you reach the door guy, you admit you’re not on the guest list. He replies, 'Just tell me your name anyway,' and after you do, he looks at his clipboard and says, 'Oh look at that, you're right here on the list. have fun!'
Shout out to all the trailblazing influencers of the early 2000s!
WE ALL THINK WE’RE RIGHT
Just when I thought The Heat Is On didn’t have any more heat to give, I realized the final song on the album — We All Think We’re Right might be a fitting anthem for the upcoming election season.
IF IT’S NOT COOL, JUST ADD ICE!