Morrissey, Punk Producer Jerry Finn Passes Away at 39

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Record producer Jerry Finn passed away on Thursday after being taken off life support following a severe brain hemorrhage in July that left him in a coma. He was 39. During his 15-year career, Finn worked with some of the biggest acts in music, mixing Green Day's Dookie and Insomniac and producing punk acts like Rancid, Blink-182, AFI and the Alkaline Trio. Most recently, in what has become his final production role, Finn worked with Morrissey on his solo album Years of Refusal, which was scheduled for release next month but has been delayed until early 2009. Finn and Morrissey also teamed up for Moz's 2004 album You Are the Quarry.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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