Sade: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2026 Case & Artistic Legacy (Guest: Nick Bambach)

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Podcast - Sade: Rock Hall 2026 Case & Artistic Legacy (Guest: Nick Bambach)

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[00:00:00]

Intro Theme

Welcome to the Show

Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast. I'm DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III, and Sir Daniel, it is apropos that I have on my Slow Jams Can Heal Us Shirt because we are about to talk about one of the most important artists in music history. They just legendary all around and we have a guest too.

Sir Daniel: We absolutely do. Um, if we're gonna talk about. This artist slash band,

Jay Ray: There are band,

Sir Daniel: they are a band. I know that's one of those topics that people are like, huh,

and like you said, we have a guest this episode [00:01:00] and we're so glad to, um, to reintroduce. Wait, is this, is this his

Jay Ray: This is Nick's first time on our show. We have been over to his show twice.

Sir Daniel: Twice. So we've had to have him over at our house this time to talk about, um, Sade.

Jay Ray: Ooh.

Sir Daniel: Yes. We're, we're here at that point. We have yet to talk about Sade and Nick is the quintessential rock and roll Hall of fame, um, guy.

And we need him to talk about, we need him on board to talk about his love for Sade. 'cause he is a huge fan of Sade. And we also wanna talk about Sade because she is a nominee. For Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2026.

Meet Our Guest Nick Bambach

Sir Daniel: So Jay Ray, what I want you to do is give the people a brief introduction to our guest.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. So Nick Bambach is an academic librarian and the host of the podcast Rock In Retrospect. In each episode, he invites guests to discuss the careers and legacies of [00:02:00] some of the music's most important figures since its inception in 2021.

The show has consistently ranked in the top 100 music history charts in dozens of countries, including the U.S. He is also regarded as an expert on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and frequently appears as a guest on podcasts and other programs as an authority on the topic. He recently launched a second podcast with a group of friends, A24k Gold, in which they randomly select the film from A24's catalog and explore its production themes and cultural impact.

Welcome Nick Bambach to the show. Nick. Hello.

Nick Bambach: Hello guys. Thank you guys so much. I feel unworthy with that introduction. Honestly. I'm like, who's this person?

Sir Daniel: You. Absolutely. You and welcome aboard. Thank you for joining us here on Queue Points and you know, just so you're here in our house now, talk to our audience and let them know all about Rock In Retrospect and just what [00:03:00] got you, um, gassed up to start Rock In Retrospect and how far it's taking you to this point.

Nick Bambach: Absolutely. So my show Rock In Retrospect, like, uh, Jay Ray said it focuses on the legacies and careers of music's best artists and people that we should know. About. And for me, I feel like the best podcast, I dunno about you guys, it's the ones where you have good people on, you have good conversations and you talk about good music.

And those are the three things I think that we try to do on rec and retrospect. And to me, um. You know, anyone could talk about these topics, I feel like, but it's all about the human connections and the authenticity that I think is really important because how we come to get to the music that we love and appreciate and admire, it's all different and it's all unique.

There's no really right or wrong answer, but it's always fascinating to hear guests who have been on the show or first time guests just talk about the music they love. [00:04:00] And really what I wanted to do is transit, like their love to go and transfer that to the listeners, to check out the music, to check out the movies, check out the things that we're talking about, and you know, create new fans.

And my show, the way that I was kind of pitch it to guests and even, uh. Fans of the show where people who wanna listen is that, think of it like a couple friends at a coffee shop or a bar and you're just talking. You don't even realize there's a microphone. Like, I can't tell you how many guests were nervous to come on.

They're like, I've never been on a podcast. What is this crazy thing? And then they're like, oh, it was recorded and it's amazing. And they turn out wonderful. So it's, it's always a good time.

Jay Ray: You know, Nick, one of the things that is interesting about your background, and, and I'm curious to know if this connects, but you are an academic librarian, and we've talked about this on the show. We actually see music as a, a, a form of, of being like a library, [00:05:00] right? In terms of education and how people search for music.

Is that. From your perspective, kind of like also a connection with Rock In Retrospect? Uh

Nick Bambach: A Absolutely, because I feel like part of what librarianship, like any customer service oriented job is it teaches you humility, but also it teaches you to also see things from different perspectives. Right? And to feel like there's not really run one right or wrong way to look at music. Just like there's not one.

One right or wrong way to do a research question and search in a library catalog or a database. And I think that that intuitiveness and that open-mindedness is really important. And I think that to me, it transitions a lot of it too, because I feel like another thing too is like you, people could tell if you're happy in what you do, like when you have a podcast and you're talking. The listeners will know if you're enjoying it or not. And [00:06:00] I think that's the same when you're helping people in a customer service oriented job. Because if they're not, you're never gonna like listen to them or like want to interact with them again. And I feel like in many ways, and I, my parents always instilled this in me, is that usually you only get one shot to impress someone, and that's it.

So you always gotta make every opportunity count and the first impressions always matter. And I think that's also what. Matters too because you know, you have the potential to have a long-term partnership, a long-term thing where you know these people, um, like students, faculty, uh, staff, and it's the same with audience members too.

So yeah, I think there's a lot of correlation between the two. Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: I absolutely love that.

How Nick Bambach Became A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Expert

Jay Ray: And, and you are also a rock and Roll Hall of Fame guy, which is a very specific and unique expertise to have. So how did that come about, Nick? How did that become your thing?

Nick Bambach: So I gotta tell you guys [00:07:00] quick story 'cause this relates to it. So I was born in 1989, so that was the year that Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Otis Reddin, Dion, and the Rolling Stones all got abducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And for me, it's been around my whole lifetime and I've known about it for pretty much.

Most of it because it was always on VH1, especially at the telecast. And I remember watching the 99 1 with Springsteen, McCarthy, uh, Joel, like, uh. The Staple singer sale got in that year, and a lot of those in like the late nineties, early two thousands. Now, that was like 10-year-old me now when I became more interested in it, and this actually gets asked a lot when I'm on shows.

Like what? Like what? What drove me to really be interested in this as a topic? Donna Summer. Donna Summer was my mom's favorite singer of all time. It was Diana Ross and Donna Summer. She has taste,

Jay Ray: Love your mom. Your mom. Yes.

Nick Bambach: She, she [00:08:00] just loves those two. And I remember Donna Summer when she died, of course we were all sad because we love Donna Summer.

Like she's the queen of disco, like with a capital Q1 of the most important revolutionary artists ever. Uh, she was nominated for the Rock Hall four times and she didn't get in and she was nominated almost consecutive years. So it was like 2008, nine. 11, 12, she didn't get in and she actually, I think, passed away either right before or right after the 2012 induction survey, I think right after.

And I just remember when she died, that was like in every article every. Interview on TV that you would see on social media was that, you know, wait, she's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They could have inducted her. She died of, like, to cancer. Um, she, she could have lived to see her reduction. Even John Landau, who is Bruce Springsteen's manager, who was the chairman of the Rock Roll Hall of Fame and nominating committee for decades, [00:09:00] like only in the last couple years, he, he stepped down.

He said that, that like, he basically told the voters like. You know, you're like, you're crazy. Like she should have been elected already, like, like get your shit together, essentially. And I hate, I'm sorry, curse, but

Jay Ray: You could curse on the show.

Nick Bambach: Oh, okay. I feel bad. And you know, she got nominated the next year she got in and it was kind of bittersweet because her family's there and you're just like, like.

Come on. Like she could, they could have like let her be there, but it just was in the cards. And it's sometimes the cruelty of this thing where sometimes people don't appreciate you until after you pass away or it's too late for you to attend a ceremony. And that's how I became interested in it, was because of, uh, Donna Summer.

And then my other act that I wanted in the rock hall so badly was my favorite. Band or really one of my three favorite bands, uh, Depeche Mode. I was like, these guys need to get in. They're so important. And there was a [00:10:00] point guys in the 2010s where they tried different alternative acts from the eighties and no one was sticking.

So they tried, uh, the Smiths, they tried the cure, they tried the cars, the replacements. No one was really getting in. And then it was really the cars in 2018 and then. The Cure in 2019, and then Depeche Mode got it in 2020. And I was like, okay, those were my two big ones for Depeche Mode and Donna Summer.

Like what do I do now? So then I did this crazy thing guys in the Pandemic, and this is kind of what I'm known for, is my top 100 rock hall prospects project. So what I try to do is I look at who is eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I say to myself, okay. We are going to like, you know, try to rank them like, and I try to be objective, like the objective hat, like about influence, impact, uh, are they the, a-listers of their genre, this and that.

So like Tina Turner was the first one she got in that year, and then Mariah was number one for I think two years and then Chair Cole [00:11:00] Play and now Phil Collins. And. It gets widely distributed a lot and you know, I get asked about it a lot. So, um, that's another thing I'm known for with this thing is, is that list, which, uh, you can get a lot of crazy people for sure that, you know, they're like, he's dumb, or like, oh, that doesn't make sense.

And I'm like, just to be on the list is important. Just like the first we're gonna talk about today, who has been on every iteration of the list and deservedly so.

Sir Daniel: You know, so Queue Points family, you can just by listening to him, you can tell why Nick is definitely, um, kin to the Queue Points family because the way we talk about music on our show ad nauseum and, you know, with such fervor, uh, we can definitely tell Nick you have the same type of devotion to the music and to the acts and like your mom.

Stories About When We First Encounted Sade

Sir Daniel: You have great tastes because you are also a super fan of the subject [00:12:00] of this particular episode, which is Sade. And just, you know, just so we can dive on in, what can you recollect when you, the first time you actually heard Sade or when you just become, became aware of the, of the whole Sade movement?

Nick Bambach's First Sade Memory

Nick Bambach: I'm gonna tell you guys, I know distinctly the moment, and it was in the year 2000. I was about 10 years old and Lovers Rock came out and I just remembered that album cover and I thought, who is this lady? Is this a new artist?

Jay Ray: and yeah.

Sir Daniel: just see her

Nick Bambach: she gives you the side eye a little. Like she's looking to her side. She says she'll be by your side.

Is will she Really? Helen, come on. But like, I, I, so I, I saw the album cover and I really thought it was like a new artist because that's when India Arie Alicia Keys and people like that were out. And then I said to my parents, who is that? They're like, Nick, that's Sade. Like, like who? Like what? Like who?

Like what are you smoking? 10-year-old [00:13:00] Nick. They give me like the side eye.

Sir Daniel: They were like, do you know us? How do you not know who Sade?

DJ Sir Daniel's First Sade Memory

Sir Daniel: And it's so funny that you mention India Arie in that that class of 2000, right? Musicians that came, that we became aware of and who rose to the top because India Arie constantly names Sade as one of her. Biggest influences, and I could tell you Jay Ray, so I'm a little bit older than you, Nick, I recall became pre, became aware of Sade.

Um, not because of a singular performance, but I remember I've told ev people on this show, um, countless times, we did not have cable in Brooklyn in the eighties. We could only see, I could only see music videos like on Friday night, and I remember. The sweetest taboo video and just thinking like who, you know, the, who is this woman?

The [00:14:00] slick back, the bold lip. Just a very, very quiet, but a very. Very prominent presence in this music. Her voices, her voice didn't match her face kind of to me, at my at, at 11 years old. And she was singing about the sweetest taboo. And was it sweetest, taboo, or was it um, smooth Operator? I think it was Smooth Operator was the first one, the first video that I saw.

But what solidified her as famous was that she became the butt of a joke. Showtime at the Apollo? It random,

Jay Ray: Really I what? What was the, do you remember the joke?

Sir Daniel: I, it was something about, um, it was something about her, the her name and whether it was, it was about her name and because we could clearly see that the name Sade was spelled SADE,

Jay Ray: mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: but you know, on Showtime at the Apollo.[00:15:00]

Black folks, we gonna make fun of your name, the pronunciation of your name. We gonna do something to make you, because you stick out to us. You are, you're, we can tell that you're not regular. And so I, I remember the comedian specifically making fun of the pronunciation of s Sade. But let's prone it's.

It. She pronounces it Sade, but it's spelled Sadie. We gonna call you Sadie girl. You know, that kind of thing. And so it became one of those jokes about the pronunciation of Sade's name, who we later found out the full pronunciation. Her full name is Helen Folasade Adu. And then we, then that's where they get the name Sade and um.

Then Jay Ray, of course, we also learned that Sade was not just her name, but was actually the name of the

full band.

Jay Ray's First Sade Memory

Sir Daniel: and I, so Jay Ray, what about you? When did you become aware of the mysterious, the my, you know, the mystical Sade?

Jay Ray: Yeah. So the very first time [00:16:00] I remember. Tuning in. It definitely was BET

Sir Daniel: Mm,

Jay Ray: Hang onto Your Love. The video came on and what was crazy about that era was, oh, so Nick, sir Daniel knows this, but I'm gonna share. I was an MTV kid, so we did have cable. In my house all day long. You could, we, it, we were fancy and we had like a button on top of the, it was a lot.

But anyway, um, I watched MTV all day and I watched BET all day. I like music videos. I just took in everything, everything, everything. And so hang on to your love came on and I was like. Oh, that's a black woman doing that. Like, that's really cool because I had gotten into like the style council and uh, uh, uh, uh, span, dial, ballet and like, so that whole vibe and then I'm like, [00:17:00] oh, this is like that except a little funkier.

And so hang on to your love was like my introduction and then I saw the video and I will never forget this. My father was transfixed by Sade, like the vision of her. For whatever reason, he literally just kind of took to her musically, but he also just took to her visually, like he would talk about, man, I like that Sade.

Is Sade going to be up there? And he, he, so she became just kind of like a fixture in the house. So he bought, he was into the songs and he was a single buyer, so he would have Sade. Singles in the house. I fell in love with the music video and just remember, I, I felt sophisticated at, as a kid in 1985 listening to Sade because it was so unlike everything else that was on the radio at the time.

[00:18:00] So that was my, like, intro. But I, I feel like I'm, I'm curious for you, Nick, like coming at this. From a rock history perspective, people put rock, people put people in categories and they like stick them there and they never shall they cross over. Right. I'm curious to know how you come at the influence of Sade, uh, from that perspective, but also curious how you, how your appreciation for what Sade has has.

Evolved to since Lovers Rock. Like what happened? Did you go back in time after seeing lovers rocking, like, oh, what did I miss? So how did that evolve and how do you approach this from like a rock history perspective too?

Sade Influence and Mystique

Nick Bambach: So I think it's really interesting with Sade as a band, as an entity, is that they really don't fit any labels. 'cause I wrote down like five. Genres that you could easily [00:19:00] throw at them. And it's all true. They're smooth jazz, they're quiet storm, they're r and b, they're sophisticated pop, and that is all true about them.

But I think. Yeah, that's what's actually, I think the most fascinating thing of what makes me always wanna revisit Sade is because you can't necessarily put them in one category. I think as, uh, fans, especially, like not even just people who are podcasters or historians or writers, I think sometimes we like to just put labels on stuff because it's advertising, right?

It's just, it's very easy to be like, oh, that's r and b, and oh,

Jay Ray: And that goes in that category over there.

Nick Bambach: And sometimes there's just like artists that they just don't fit any mold and they're just, um, distinguished, uh, because they're so, um. Uncategorically themselves, like they're icons. And I think, which Sade? I, I, this was the most interesting question, was like, who [00:20:00] influenced them?

Because to me that was what I was like, this actually I stood the most time on. I wrote down a couple names and you guys are probably gonna say either like, this is brilliant, or like, where the hell did Nick get these names from? So Roberta Flack for Quiet Storm, obviously because like that high, low. And that vocal delivery that Roberta had.

And she's, uh, fantastic as well. Uh, rest in peace. She just passed away. Um, and then Chaka Khan, 'cause she just brains that like sophistication and class. But Chaka can rock you. She could like, uh, seduce you. She could, she could do all the dates. And I, she's funky. I love, I love chaka. So like that range for Chaka, um, Luther.

Because we talked about Luther on my show with you guys, um, that quiet storm, but like Luther, like Sade had a really great sense of vocal range and to me, you know, a great singer if you know who it is in the first note or two, and. Uh, [00:21:00] that's what a lot of these artists I've mentioned so far, you know, like you're not gonna mistake Shawday for like a, a Anita Baker or, uh, Patrice Russian, or, uh, Brenda of Russell, you know what I mean?

And those are also some people I was thinking of. Um, the last two are kind of weird, so like, brace with me, Kate Bush.

Jay Ray: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Nick Bambach: Kate Bush has this theatricality to her, and she's so distinguished, like, she's just like, like, you're not gonna like, just like mistaken Kate Bush or anyone else. But I think Kate Bush, like Sade, they're also distinctly very feminine artists.

Like, you know, like they're coming at this from this very feminine perspective that is, uh, both like. Beautiful, but also poetic. It's, it's hard to explain, but that's one and, and plus like a flare for like music videos and like appearances and fashion that Sade's of course known for. And the last name, this is a weird one, is Roxy Music and Brian Ferry.

[00:22:00] Because I feel like, 'cause that's one of my favorite bands and I was trying to think about this and I think Roxy Music we're like Proto punk, proto New wave proto. Everything. Like they helped kind of launch so many of these different things when they were doing glam rock. But the thing about Roxy Music that I thought about with Sade is that there's this emphasis on appearance and fashion and um, it was controversial more for Roxy music 'cause they had like models who were like.

Naked pretty much on the covers and, you know, bride fairies and tuxedos and the bands of mishmash. And, you know, Sade is basically, you know, this like regal looking woman with gloves and uh, cocktail dresses and red lipstick and uh, gold jewelry. And you just like, there's this, like this level sophistication.

Their brain in and like, and I think the thing too, Sade came of course from London in the early eighties, like that's how they formed. But they came from like a post punk world, like all these members of the band, including Sade, [00:23:00] ADU herself, they came from this world. So it's really interesting 'cause.

They're not really coming at from like, the more I think pop side, like it would be easy to say like, oh, they're like Boy George or Duran Duran. I don't think so as much. I think they're taking it from all these other kind of genres that I've kind of discussed. And um, to answer your question from earlier about how did, like, so I went back and I started with Diamond Life because that's a masterpiece.

Like, like that's the thing about this. Band that I think we have to just say for now is that every album is pretty much a masterclass in how do you produce a record and make a great album. And like, I don't care if it takes your 10 years in between albums. If it's like, great, then honey, take your time, do your thing.

The other band members, they'll do their own things, but like. It's amazing how you could have the audacity to do that and just make your fans wait a decade. [00:24:00] It better be worth it. I remember she said that interview once and she doesn't do interviews really, but she's, someone said like, are you scared that she's like, no.

If my fans like my work, they're gonna come and she always still delivers. And I started with Diamond Life and then I went to a Soldier of Love, the most recent one. Again, just it's so good. And the songs that just appeared everywhere, like, I don't know, in like the 21st Century especially, it feels like Smooth Operator.

Your Love is King Paradise. Those songs are just everywhere in pop culture too. Like she has these waves,

Jay Ray: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Bambach: especially with the younger kids.

Jay Ray: You

Sir Daniel: it's so.

Jay Ray: go ahead, sir Daniel.

Sir Daniel: So, so when you bring up the ADE is like a, is a time traveler basically.

Nick Bambach: Yes.

Sir Daniel: And, and when you think, when you mention it, it was the first thing I thought of. I was like, yeah, we, um, are we gonna go hear about the ability for her to, to take a decade off in [00:25:00] between albums and that? And I've always said that adds to the mystique.

Jay Ray: Yes.

Sir Daniel: Of her as an artist and them as a band. It adds to the, it adds to the, to the desires and the needs of a audience. So that when you finally do arrive, it's like, oh, finally we, we are going to consume whatever it is you're going to give to us.

Revisiting Sweetback on the 30th Anniversary

Sir Daniel: And then the cherry on top is that it's really, really good. And so by the time you all are listening to this and watching this, Jay Ray, I'm, when we get up out, when I get up outta here, I'm actually heading to the Echo Room because our friend Jeremy Avalon is hosting a, um.

A listen back, if you will, to the, because this is the 30th anniversary of Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, Jay, Ray and I were talking about the overlap in sounds of that, um, album.

And so why don't we talk about Sweetback and [00:26:00] that project that came up in 96. Um, Nick, what was, because you, did you get a chance to, when were you, when did you become aware of the Sweetback project and what were your initial thoughts when you took a listen to it?

Nick Bambach: Very recently embarrassingly in the last like five years or so, because I feel like that's so understated in the history of Sade. Like, like the band, like they like, it feels like no one talks about it, even though there's those two albums that they have from 96 and oh four, I feel like, um. It it, because it's really weird, right?

It's Sade without Sade

Abu Adu. It's weird. And you're like, how on earth could this work? Because you can't replace Sade Adu. She's just everything. She's so distinctive. She's so amazing, and I love the fact that they went a little more experimental with their music, so. And it feels like, and this is what I was asking you guys, if, if I'm on [00:27:00] the right track or not, it feels like oxymoron.

It's like they're ambient but not ambient. They're, uh, they're, um, like neo soul, but not really

Jay Ray: trip hop, but not really Trip hop. Yeah.

Sir Daniel: of the things. Yes.

Jay Ray: and.

Sir Daniel: Yep.

Jay Ray: Nick, you're onto something in the, the, um, in the, the, uh, communication.

There Is A Sade Universe Continuum

Jay Ray: So I think what's interesting too, um, about this moment in time is s Sade is on a break. The band Sade is on a break when the album Sweet Back is created. That record comes out.

And let me tell y'all, when I was in college and Sweetback was out, you would hear people like bumping Sweetback in Philadelphia and like at like out the speakers. 'cause you know, all the folks was on there. Mel Ru was on it. Max. Max. We hear Maxwell basically for kind of the first time, because you know, urban Hank Suite is just coming out.

He's a new artist. But we get [00:28:00] him on softly, softly on this record and people are like, what in the world is going on? But what's beautiful about it is, sir Daniel, going back to Urban Hang Suite, there's this continuum of like what I call the Sade universe and like the late nineties where it's not Sade, but it's everybody that works with Sade doing.

Stuff with other people. But Nick, by the time you get introduced to Lovers Rock, all of those sounds come back to Sade. So when we hear Lovers Rock in 2000, we're like, oh, I see what they did. They bought all of that stuff in the, in-between, into the music now. So all of a sudden, Sade sounds ambient.

Sade has a little trip hop, like Lover's Rock is basically like a trip hop joint. Um, the song itself. And so. I think it's important to just call out that this band. IncludSadeday, of course, who's [00:29:00] brilliant, and also these other three men who are also brilliant. And I also wanna lift something else up because I, I don't want this to get lost with folks.

Sade, uh, said around the Soldier of Love. So there's actually, it might still be on YouTube. They did a whole mini documentary on the making of Soldier of Love. Which is brilliant. But one of the things Sade talked about specifically, she was like, well, the reason why it takes us so long is because we all live in four different places.

So to get us all together in a room to make a record is, is an effort. Like we really have to work to make it happen. And so. It's their commitment to also Sade being Sade as a band, which I really respect. And, and and, and they're able to still take elements of that magic and sprinkle it on the [00:30:00] world, so it's not completely gone.

But as a band, they respect each other and it's like, Nope, Sade is us four, and if we're gonna make a Sade record, we need to be in a room making a Sade record. And I think that's really key.

Nick Bambach: I think it's amazing that it was the same. Group of men in that band. Like for Sweetback, it wasn't like Arcadia or the Power Station. And I think of eighties super groups in a way where you're thinking like, okay, there's like a couple members of Duran Toran or Chic or uh, so on and. I, I think it's amazing.

Really. I think they walk, so like someone like DAF Punk or Gorillas later on the 21st century could run, because that was the thing that was really based on Me too, because, you know, they would bring in guest vocals like Pharrell Williams and you would have people like George, uh Benson. You would have Bobby Womack.

You would have people like with those two, uh. Bands or groups as examples, and that's what Sweetback really, I thought innovated too was that idea of like, okay, we're gonna be more [00:31:00] collaborative with other artists, other singers, and we could do different things while really not sacrificing what you love about Sade as a band.

Like the sound, like it's not sacrificing that, it's just kind of playing, be being more playful with it. I would argue.

Jay Ray: Yeah. Yeah.

Sir Daniel: Yeah. And, and I don't want to just, from my recollection, like I'm thinking about the other children of Sade, the, the individual and the band, um, like Portishead dummy. When that album came out, I was like, oh, this is, it's like all of these things are happening in the same atmosphere at the same time. And I kind of want to go back to.

To being, to the whole British invasion that we experienced as well. And um, just, you know, because you mentioned culture club, you mentioned, uh, we think about the specials and, and the whole ska influence of that time and how it influenced there. You can tell that there's some influence. [00:32:00] On Sade as well, because the bands just kind of did that.

The jam sessions did those things back then and, and, and it lent to that sound as well. And I just wanted to, you know, to name those names and to bring up that, those influences. Well, because I think Amy, Amy Winehouse. Was a child of Sade.

Jay Ray: Yes.

Sir Daniel: I'm thinking about her, the way her presence on stage, her whole steel on stage, the way she approaches songs, um, her and standing there with her guitar.

These are all two, these are all sade's children, and I think we, we sometimes forget how much influence. The, the individual and the ban had on so many people, so many generations.

Nick Bambach Makes the Case For Sade To Be Inducted Into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Sir Daniel: And so Nick, I think this is a per perfect opportunity for you as our rock and Roll Hall of Fame expert. To just put it down, lay, lay the case down for the voters out there as to why Sha Sade, [00:33:00] Helen Folasade Adu, and Sade, the band should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Nick Bambach: Oh yes, absolutely. So I think, um, they've been nominated before, by the way. They were nominated two years ago in 2024, and they came back this year. And, um. A couple things about this, this band that I'm actually gonna, I printed out my writeup. 'cause when I did my top 100 rock hall prospects, I was crazy. In the pandemic.

I wrote 500 word essays for every artist. And this actually helped me think about like. You know, put a limit on like a, a word limit on the, like why they're worthy and like their case for it. And really it boiled down to a couple things with them. And I think that they're a cornerstone of quiet storm at like, they helped bring that to the masses.

Um. They're, I think the definition of musical excellence. I mean, if you're looking at these six albums, they are all masterpieces and s Shante also sold, well, they all went multi-platinum. People forget [00:34:00] that about this band in the United States. Like it's not like they just did it in England or. Mexico or Canada?

No, like in the US every Sade album went at least I think two or three times platinum and as high as like six or seven, which is incredible for someone, um, like Sade who is kind of like doing their own thing really. They're not really like, um, almost anyone at that time. Um, and I think it also boils down, I wrote this down and I just wanna make sure I get this correctly, is that.

They never comp. I'm gonna quote myself. Wow. Um, sh Sade created their their p own path to Superstardom and on their own terms. They never compromised their artistic vision to industry pressure. That's why they can go years without making a new album and still maintain a devoted cult Following decades later.

A woman taking ownership of her art and career is not only refreshing, but that does not get any more rock and roll than that. And that she's, and it's [00:35:00] just these ideas that like, she's just someone that people keep looking to as an inspiration, as an influence. And you mentioned some of those names, but oh my God, you got Erykah Badu you got sza, you got Frank Ocean, you have Lauryn Hill.

Uh, the, the Weeknd uh, there's so many artists that point to, I mean, Drake has a tattoo of this woman on his arm for crying out loud. Um, so like he literally wears it on his. Sleeve. And I think that, um, the other thing I'm gonna say about Shawday and I think is really important, if we're thinking, 'cause like Beyonce's eligible next year, Taylor Swift's gonna be eligible a couple years. Those two in Adele, they are have the ability like sday to. Just dominate any headline whenever they release new music. Like the, the World Stops when a new Beyonce or Taylor Swift song comes out. It's the same with Sade. Like that ability to kind of just zero in and take ownership. Like you don't hear [00:36:00] from her for like 10 years and then she comes out, you're like, oh my God, mines are blown.

Like she came out the cl uh, the, the, the castle. Like, we gotta, we gotta listen to the new album or the new song. So, um. Those are some of the reasons. I just think that if we're also looking at it too, just the fact that I think the rock hall has lacked eighties r and b in particular like, like they've got a lot of the sixties and seventies RB artists that should be in already, but there's this weird.

Like dearth of artists who were not in from the eighties that are still superstars. You see it on this ballot, you see New Edition, you see Luther, you see Sade, um, doesn't even get into other ones that should be in like the Pointer Sisters or, um, you know, acts like that. And I think that this is a good.

Artists because you're getting not only r and b, you're getting jazz, you're, you're getting more pop and this [00:37:00] melting pot. And that's what I love about this band right, is that they're so good at just doing all these different types of styles and doing their own thing, but it's also good. And I just think that they're, they're amazing.

So.

Three Songs By Sade Everyone Should Know

Jay Ray: Um, this is a good time, um, that we, uh, call out some stuff, so if we can. For each of us spend some time discussing Sade songs we love. This can also include side projects as well. Uh, but what are three songs that people should add to their rotation from Sade? And Nick, we can start with you. What three songs would you pick?

Nick Bambach: Okay. So I was trying to think of this, 'cause I do saw my show too, and I think it's hard sometimes because you wanna make sure that you're hitting the big ones. And I wanted read that if people did not know this band, you gotta go with them. Smooth Operator. That's the introduction to the band. [00:38:00] It's so iconic.

Uh, that sax solo, uh, by Matthew Men. Oh my god, it is. Vital to that song. It is just everything. And it's really, I think, a blueprint for the band, even if she sings from LA to Chicago. We'll, forgive the, the geography you know of, uh, with, uh, Helen, but you know. It's, it's a great song. It still holds up. Uh, love it.

Uh, paradise is the other one that I would go with because I love how on Stronger Than Pride. She trips it down and it's built on Repu re uh, repetition. And it's this idea that, you know, she's like, get it more playful and it's getting a little bit quieter and it's like. This is, to me the song I point to too, where it's like, this is like a prototype for like Neos Soul for example, that you see in the next decade.

And it's just like other worldly. And I think that's what I love about her. It's like what you were saying, uh, DJ Dale is that she's an enigma. You can't figure her [00:39:00] out. We will never figure her out. I mean, as I'm talking about her, I'm like, I don't even know if I'm correct in half of what I'm saying about her.

And she'd be like, Nick, you're crazy. Um. But we love her for that. Uh, the other song, and I tried to go with three different albums because again, this shows musical excellence to an artist. If you could point to other albums that these songs are really good, is No or No Ordinary Love, which I think like, oh, love Deluxe Guys.

Jay Ray: Yeah.

Nick Bambach: That is the best one, in my opinion. And that song, oh, that arrangement is so. Incredible. And I think that's the thing that you guys were saying about like this universe that she's created her and the band, like it's just, it could work in 1992 or 2026, and that's the marker of a great artist is that it's timeless.

And I just, I love her vocals. I never get tired of her vocal [00:40:00] ability and she's really just one of the best singers ever. And I just love how expansive it is, how emotionally heavy it is. This song and it's just. It goes on for like, what, seven, eight minutes. But I'm like, give me 20 minutes, Shawnee. Give me like the, like the side two only for, uh oh.

No ordinary love. So,

Jay Ray: Ah, love that Sir. Daniel, what you got?

Sir Daniel: All right, so I'm a big, as a dj, I'm always looking for stuff that translates also to the dance floor and. One of my favorite cuts is turn my back, because that baseline is very, you know, uh, thinking about the, the, the sky element and the, the dance hall element turn my back is just one of those things where you can drop it and it still gets people to do a little, you know, a little something against the wall with, you know, with your Heineken in your hand.

And it's, it's very slinky, it's sexy. [00:41:00] And um, it's one of those cuts that I don't think people. Give a lot of love to show, a lot of love to, even though there was a video for it and everything. But I really dig that. Um, my next favorite cut is definitely, love is stronger than pride.

Jay Ray: Mm.

Sir Daniel: I, from a lyrics standpoint, it, it got me from the beginning.

Like, I won't pretend. Yeah, I, I can't, won't pretend that I'm big on forgiving like that. That I was like, is she, who are you talking about? Me? Yeah. Yes. I, because I'm, I'm, you know, this, this is something I just related to with the lyric, but also it, um, that vocal makes a really great acapella to, like for DJs, if you just want to drop it with something, if you like doing blends, and especially with hip hop, beats that acapella with a hip hop beat.

Masterpiece. And then my third and final, um, favorite Sade cut when [00:42:00] Love Deluxe came out. I was, I was about to, I was graduating from high school. I graduated from high school, and there was just something about that. Aching, there's something aching. I, I don't know, that you can give, you can assign an emotion and a, a feeling to an instrument, but the guitar and the wailing guitar and cherish the day. sent me how it, the way it came on and the way it was just the, the, the guitarist crying at the beginning of the song and throughout the song and wailing to you. And I remember distinctly, she's standing on the rocks in the video and it's almost like she's a siren calling to the, you know, the, the myth about the, the, the mermaid calling to the, the, the, the seamen and um.

Singing the temp, singing to them to their death. 'cause they can't not listen to this song. And they're, and that's exactly how I was when this [00:43:00] song dropped. And hearing Cherish the Day always brings me that to that moment. It just makes me stand in my tracks, stop in my tracks and just listen. And I'm always transfixed and transported whenever I hear that song.

So Jay Ray is on you.

Jay Ray: Ooh. So I think I, I might have just changed something real quick. I had to check and see if I was gonna switch something up. I had to look real fast. But, um, first and foremost, um, I thought about these songs as if I needed to introduce people to Sade, what would I like give them? I would start with giving them your love is king.

Um, single. No. First of all, if that's your first song, like that's like really the first one. So the UK get that first. And I'm like, what? That's crazy that this is the first single, that song to me. Um, Nick, you, you echoed this earlier. Sounds as good as it did when it first came out in the 1980s [00:44:00] and, um, I hear it on the radio still today and I still can sing to it, so it's singable.

Um, it's well produced and it's just a classic song. Um, and the video is really dope. Sade's got like a black number on with that red lip, and it's very eighties because it's kind of a harsh light on them, uh, uh, as a band. It's a dope, dope song, great video. Your Love is King. Number two, um, is a song i I often play.

It's From the Love, it's the, the title track to lovers, rock Lovers Rock. I love that song because I feel like it simers in a way that is, uh. Calming for me in the way the guitar and the bass sit in that song. And not only that, you get, um, the, the, the trip hop elements that are happening underneath that song that, uh, really bring it into to, to something a little [00:45:00] bit different, I think, for the band.

Um, so love that. And my final song. Is now nothing can come between us. So it's from stronger than pride. Um, I think this is the first time I had heard Sade kind of do a play with a duet, with a, with a, with a, with a male vocalist. So the male background singer and Sade are playing back and forth with this song and, um.

And I think that's the first time I remember hearing that. But going back to Sir Daniel's point, that's a groove, like that song is one of those joints that my parents danced to because it's just a, it's a straight groove and it's a dope song. So, uh, yeah, those are my. Three. So your love is king lovers rock, and nothing can come between us.

I think with all nine of the songs that we picked, we, it's really the perfect [00:46:00] like Sade

Sir Daniel: mix tape. Yep,

absolutely.

Jay Ray: I'm gonna add one more thing because I need to add one more thing

Sir Daniel: Okay.

Jay Ray: Softly, softly from Sweetback. And lover from Sweetback two. First of all, lover from Sweetback two has a vocal from aa, AYA from Naked Music.

Shout out to Naked Music. Um, who AA now does like, I think, uh, uh, some ambient stuff now, but that vocal that AA gives on Lover from SWEETBACK two is just Chef's Kiss. And so if I was to throw in some, some Sweetback stuff, definitely those.

Sir Daniel: if you're gonna do that, I'm gonna quickly throw in Bahamadia's uh "Au Natural".

Jay Ray: Yes. On that is a joint.

Sir Daniel: that's my joint. Sweetback "Au Natural". That's my joint. Okay. I promise. That's it. That's it. We cutting it off.

Jay Ray: That's it.

Sir Daniel: Nick, can you

Connecting With Rock In Retrospect and Queue Points & Closing Thoughts

Sir Daniel: believe that you did Queue Points like.

Nick Bambach: know, I was so happy I've been listening to your show for the last year [00:47:00] or so and I'm glad we connected 'cause you guys are incredible and so knowledgeable and like the nicest guys. But I'm so excited that this was my first time to be on the show.

Sir Daniel: Awesome. So please,

Jay Ray: No, go ahead. Go

Sir Daniel: please. Now I was just gonna tell, please, um, let the people know, uh, where they can find rock and retrospect, how they can follow your, um, your, your forecasts and your predictions and your, your wishlists for the rock and Roll Hall of Fame from now forevermore, so that they are our people can become your people.

Nick Bambach: Absolutely and listen to the Luther Vandross Never too, uh, much. And also the new edition episodes ahead. Uh, both Jay Ray and Sir DJ Daniel on, uh, you can find us at Rock and Retro Pod on Blue Scott, Instagram and Facebook. Uh, and also our Patreon. So if you wanna support independent podcasts, which is really important, I think.

Just acknowledge that for a second that we don't do this for money. Like we don't get paid a ton of money, but you [00:48:00] know, if you have a fan base or people are willing to help, uh, cover the cost of the things that you do to make the show exist and, you know, you give back to things, it's more of an opportunity to, um, to do that.

So yeah, and you could find all the links to like my blog site through the Patreon as well.

Jay Ray: Awesome. Well, Nick, we appreciate you so much and thank all of you for tuning into the latest episode in Q of Queue Points. If you can see our faces or hear our voices, go ahead and subscribe. While you're at it, make sure that after you hit subscribe on Queue Points, you hit Subscribe to Rock In Retrospect, so you could get tuned into everything that uh, Nick has going on.

Visit our website at queuepoints.com. You can do. All the stuff over there, you can watch, listen to our archive of episodes, you can uh, become a member. Like Nick said, it is really important for us doing this work to keep the lights on on all of our podcasts. Uh, your support is really helpful to us and we would really appreciate it.

So you can become a member on our [00:49:00] website at queuepoints.com. Visit us on substack where we have some additional content and you can shop our store at store.queuepoints.com. We appreciate y'all. We love y'all.

Sir Daniel: Absolutely, and like I said, at the end of every show in this life, you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or let the record play. I am DJ sir.

Jay Ray: My name is Jay Ray. That's Nick Bambach from Rock In Retrospect

Sir Daniel: And this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. We will see you on the next go round. Peace Coast to Coast LA to Chicago, y'all.

Jay Ray: Peace, y'all.

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