28 January 2025 - Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

So, we're tempted to let AI write this classic post about a classic song that wasn't really a hit other than a short stint in MTV heavy rotation.  

We're resisting.

The song refers to the phenomenom of the border blaster - a radio station in one country with a signal targeted towards another country but sitting where it is to subvert broadcast rules.   Yes, there are a lot of Mexican border radio stations targeting the United States.  Famed disc jockey Wolfman Jack built his career at a couple of border blaster stations. 

Mexican radio stations have to play the Mexican national anthem twice daily and include some Spanish-language content, but for the most part, these border radio stations target the United States.  

The song, written by the band, is fun but was probably a hit because of the bizarre video, which featured Stan Ridgway emerging from a bowl of beans.  This song and its success allowed Ridgway to pursue a solo career soon after this single's run. 

27 January 2025 - Simply Red - Sunrise

When I was a kid, I associated Simply Red with boring, overblown ballads.

But really, they made great dance music, too.  Take this song from 2003 - which was something of a comeback for them in the UK and pretty much everywhere in the world that's not the US - where they had not had a hit since the late 1980 (and this song wasn't either).

The song was written by Mick Hucknall - who is the only original member of Simply Red (it's not just him, but it might as well be) and, shockingly, Sara Allen, Darryl Hall and John Oates, the writers of "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)".  Paul Carrack does NOT get a credit for the obvious borrowing from "How Long"(presumably because he doesn't say "How long" in the song?).   Sarah Brown provides additional vocals. 

The song owes a large debt to this video, filmed near Rio de Janeiro, for its success.   

Anyway, the song is fun and hot and not at all a boring, overblown ballad. 

You all know by now I love including a live performance, and I chose their show in Cuba for this one.   I don't think I've ever featured a Cuban performance.  Well, anyway, it's a gooder. 

24 January 2025 - Falco - Der Kommissar | After The Fire - Der Kommissar | Laura Branigan - Deep In The Dark

This is a case where there is an obvious original and an obvious cover, and yet both are iconic.  

But you weren't expecting THREE songs, were you?

In 1981, Falco released this song as a single in Germany and Austria.  He really wanted it to be a B-side because he thought the bassline was too-"Super Freak"-y.   He may have been right, but his record label insisted, and, well, they were right.  

The song hir #1 in both countries.

So they all decided to release it broader.   And it did really really well in Europe, and hit #11 in Canada in 1982.  

It only made club hit status in the US, despite this amazing US-only video with terrific special effects. Don't worry, though - he had hits later. 

We jump to early 1982, and struggling UK prog rock band After The Fire. In a last-ditch effort to stay together, they recorded a version of this song, and it was a hit everywhere Falco's version was not, except Canada, where not only were both hits, but - remember above, where I said Falco's version hit #11?   ATF's version hit #12, the SAME WEEK.

Anyway, this was a more popular song in the US, but both are great.  

Falco, who HATED the ATF version with a passion, would not agree with me that both are great. 

ATF would break up in late 1982 - ON STAGE, during an opening gig supporting Van Halen - but they did reform in 2004, and yeah, they did perform this song live. And well.

But c'mon.  Falco did live better, if just for the trenchcoats.

But wait.  There's more. Around the time of ATF's breakup, Laura Branigan was recording and preparing for release her own version of the song, with a different translation and in a very different key.

Here she is lip-syncing to "Deep In The Dark" on American Bandstand.  It did get a 1983 single release but went nowhere on the charts, and was quickly overshadowed by "Self Control". 

22 January 2025 - Dua Lipa - Dance The Night

"Dance The Night" is what you'd get if ABBA and Daft Punk had a baby and raised it on a strict diet of glitter and confidence. It's proof that movie soundtracks don't have to be as forgettable as your ex's birthday or as bland as tofu at a steakhouse.

Yep.  It's gonna be that type of post today.

Mark Ronson crafted a production smoother than a buttered dolphin. The bass line struts around like John Travolta practicing for "Saturday Night Fever" in a zero-gravity chamber, while strings sweep in like the ghost of Barry White conducting an orchestra of velvet.

Dua's vocals are more polished than a Buddhist monk's head, showing growth that would make a redwood tree jealous. She's evolved faster than a Pokemon with a Fire Stone since "Future Nostalgia," and this track is her final evolution. The lyrics, ostensibly about dancing through your problems, are more layered than a Matryoshka doll wearing an onion costume.

The song, from the soundtrack to the Barbie movie, dominated summer 2023 like a benevolent earworm dictator, climbing to #6 on Billboard faster than a spider monkey hopped up on espresso. It's the rare movie tie-in that doesn't feel more forced than small talk in an elevator, actually enhancing both the film and Dua's artistic journey like some sort of pop music alchemy.

17 January 2025 - Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield

Remember when Pat Benatar was on MTV all the time?!

This song was a lot of the reason.  The video itself tells a story of a 30-year-old teenage runaway leaving home to become a taxi dancer, only to lead a dance rebellion by her fellow taxi dancers and escaping the lifestyle.

No, really.  That is the storyline of the video.   

It was somewhat groundbreaking because it was one of the first music videos to feature dialog - not THE first, but the first well-known video.  It is the Oreo to Phillip Bailey's "I Know" Hydrox.  

The song was written by Mike Champan and Holly Knight - each of them hitmaking songwriters - and would become one of Benatar's celebrity-making early hits. 

This song was a hit in 1983 and 1984.  So, imaging the surprise when she appeared on Austin City Limits in 2024 and brought the SAME LEVEL of energy to the song 40 years after its initial release, at age 71.

I'm not overselling this performance.  It's incredible. 

15 January 2025 - The Beatles - Hey Jude

I have always loved the song, and it's been in my drafts for five years.   Today is the day.

It was the biggest hit of 1968, by far.  It led year-end charts worldwide. 

The song started out as "Hey Jules" in May 1968 - the titular Jules being Julian Lennon, son of John and Cynthia, who had separated in the wake of John's affair with Yoko Ono.  Listen to it as not a love song, but as encouragement for a five year old kid who blames himself for his parents' divorce, and you will get it.

Did Paul McCartney ever admit to John Lennon that it was about his son?  No. John thought it was about himself. 

The seven-minute long magnum opus was, at the time, the longest #1 song in history (later eclipsed by "American Pie" by Don McLean, which was a minute longer, itself eclipsed by Taylor Swift's "All Too Well"). 

It's also a beautiful song. 

13 January 2025 - Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life / Spice Invaders

In 1998, I travelled to California with my then-wife for a training class.   

The only tolerable radio station we could find was, no joke, Radio Disney. 

This song was on super heavy rotation, so, shockingly, we got a quick affinity for the song.   

It's clearly a strong attempt to have the word "Spice" repeated over and over in a song. 

The song was the lead single from their 2nd album, SpiceWorld, and was a significantly lower performer than their previous songs.  Still, it was a hit, and not a bad song (although there are some questionable lyrics).    

But can we talk about the B-side?  You see, they didn't have any songs left for the B-side, so Virgin Records hired songwriting/producing team Absolute to come up with something.  The "something" they came up with was "Spice Invaders" - literally a generic dance beat over hot mics on all the Girls just talking.

It is both horrifyingly awful and amazing at once.

But back to "Spice Up Your Life".  This was one of the two songs (the other OBVIOUSLY being "Wannabe") the group performed at the London Olympic closing ceremonies - their first performance together in over a decade. 

They did leave out the line about the yellow man in Timbuktu.