Photo courtesy of Fab Morvan.
This is SOUND ADVICE, a weekly destination for playlists curated by Interview’s friends, enemies, and lovers. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gathered playlists from VTSS, MERLOT, and Rosalía. This week’s guest is Fab Morvan, one half of the 80’s pop duo Milli Vanilli, who just graced the pages of our latest print issue. Their painfully catchy songs “Girl You Know It’s True” and “Blame It on the Rain” just found their way into the hands of a whole new audience after being featured in Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, launching the classics back onto the Billboard charts more than 30 years after they were first released. To celebrate his unanticipated comeback, we asked Morvan to curate a playlist a for us, a request that resulted in several hours worth of pure, uninterrupted pop excellence.
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Where do you dance? Everywhere and anywhere, it doesn’t matter. When the feeling comes over me whether there is music on or not. I believe in movement and its power to activate your body, mind and soul.
Who are your style icons? Dapper Dan, Isaac Hayes, Miles Davis, Grace Jones, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Who is the queen of R&B? One of my favorites and long standing Queen of R&B is Aretha Franklin.
Advice for handling a scandal? My advice would be, make sure you spend time with silence in your mind as well as around you. So you can turn the sound down to zero, this will allow you to see, hear or feel your next step ahead, on the journey.
Pick three words to describe the club scene in L.A. in the late 80s: Fun, Free, Surprising.
When did you find out that the Menendez brothers played “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” at their parents’ funeral? What was your reaction? I found out while watching the TV-series. At first, I thought it was used to tell the story, but later I realized it’s truly happened.
What song is your guilty pleasure? “Voodoo Child” by Jimmy Hendrix.
What’s the best decade in music? I believe the 80’s was one of the most interesting, forward-thinking decade (musically), especially because of the arrival of new technology which brought us all kind of new drum machines, keyboards etc… As a result, musicians were on a mission to experiment, we also saw lots of surprising collaborations.
What was the first record you ever bought? Bob Marley and The Wailers.
Where do you find new music? When it comes to dance music, I’ve got specific programs on certain radio stations around the world. Social media can also be a place where I discover new or old music I’ve never heard of, which leads to research… I’m curious about music and why I like the way it makes me feel. This is why I am constantly exploring new music, as the music lover that I am.
What song on this playlist makes you want to dance? “Pump the jam,” Technotronic.
What inspires you? Inspiration comes to me in different shapes, like a hike in nature, silence, a conversation, a piece of art and of course a good song.
What can we blame on the rain? The best is to not find yourself in a position where you’d have to blame it on something. Taking responsibility for our actions in life is key, for the journey ahead.
What’s next for Milli Vanilli? Next is more and more live performances stateside and around the world, new music releases and collaborations. There is more but first things first, there isn’t a day that passes by without me exercising my creativity. Therefore, whatever I create, will become part of the next chapters ahead.