In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five songs that pop up from the years 1976-85.
- "How Do I Make You" by Linda Ronstadt (1980, Asylum)
I've got mad love for Linda's Mad Love album and this was the first of three Top 40 singles from it. Equal parts The Knack and Blondie, this single just lets Linda rock a bit. And now I've got to hear the whole album today. Probably more than once. - "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge (1979, Cotillion)
The best Chic song ever recorded - that's saying something. And this shuffle did me right with the full 8+ minute version. Joyful. Bernard Edward's bass playing in this one? Fuggedaboudit. - "(I Lost My Heart to a) Starship Trooper" by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip (1978, Ariola Hansa)
The less said about this cheap, disco Star Wars cash-in, the better. Lead vocals by a future ex-wife of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sarah Brighman. - "Sushi Girl" by The Tubes (1981, Capitol)
Even though I was vaguely aware of The Tubes from their duet with Olivia Newton-John on the Xanadu soundtrack, my formal introduction to the group happened a few years later when a high school buddy loaned me his cassette of The Completion Backward Principle, a collection of catchy power pop co-written and produced by David Foster. This song is side A, track 2. I wore that tape out. And then returned it. Sorry, Jim. - "Short People" by Randy Newman (1977, Warner Bros.)
Newman's songs are always wonderfully written, with clever lyrics, memorable melodies, and characteristic harmonies. This song is no exception, but it is indeed a puzzle why this was Newman's only Top 40 hit under his own name. When it was released, I was a bit undersized and underdeveloped (mentally and physically), so I misinterpreted Newman's message. This angered me and I would take out my frustrations by yelling at the radio playing the song. An 11 year old boy yelling at a pop song on the radio caused more than a little concern for my mother, bless her soul.
No comments :
Post a Comment