Jamminest of all Stevie Wonder jams. I reckon this is one of those debates that’s as old as the hills themselves. I can almost picture those beastly cavemen sitting around their fires after eating a nice flame-grilled mastadon or wooly mammoth and grunting back and forth over which Stevie Wonder era produced the best jams (pound for pound, I still say the 70s).
Well, let’s settle this debate once and for all, shall we? Forget the sappy love songs, which Stevie jam jams like no other jam?
First choice “I Was Made to Love Her”; second choice “Living for the City.” If I had to pick from the poll choices, it would be a toss-up between “Higher Ground” and “Superstition.”
I DJ’d a little in the 80’s; I put it on one night as the last song, and people went absolutely berserk. Never seen anything like it. If only there were another 30 secs or so at the end.
Some good options, but I have to go with Superstion for historical reasons.
I grew up in a wonder bread factory, acres of track houses, in each an individually wrapped loaf of white bread. I sang in the church choir, and our pastor had us do Carpenters songs, 'cuz he was edgy, and shit. I could only put my foot down on the one and the three, I just didn’t know any better. One day, outta my little AM radio with it’s quarter sized speaker, Superstition came rolling out, and I was like WTF? Pretty soon, I was moving side to side, and putting my foot down on the two and the four, then I had an epiphany that the world was a bigger place than I’d been led to believe, and there was no going back.
There are probably live and bootleg versions of all of them that are jamminer than the studio versions of any of them. Of versions that get played on the radio I chose Superstition. I simply cannot sit still or stay sad when I hear it.
Back in college I used to spend my days downloading covers of songs. My intro to Boogie On Reggae Woman was a cover by Phish. Phish plays it quite a bit ‘funkier’ then Stevie, but that’s still the one I picked for the poll.
If I had to go with one from the poll, it would probably be Superstition.
That is such a GREAT song. I’m so old I remember seeing him perform it on Ed Sullivan, I think, and I’ve just loved it ever since. I hear it on the radio on occasion, and turn the volume up as high as it will go.
