Call it the Joylessness of Sex. Toronto-based crooner Abel Tesfay, a.k.a. the Weeknd, has emerged as one of 2011's breakout stars by giving a bleak, arty spin to Love Man soul. On this mixtape, the music is noirish and dour: beats that blip, click and boom; shuddering, undulating synths; falsetto vocals that drift over spooky minor chords. It's a captivating sound: Check out "The Zone," an eerily spacey jam featuring Drake. But while it's refreshing to hear an R&B singer emphasizing the psychic toll of libertinism, his angst sex grows tiresome. Once in a while, can't this dude just get laid, and have fun doing it?

Listen to Thursday:

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."