So Where's That Job Posting for MP3 Player Stocker/Music Suggestion Specialist?
Thursday March 26, 2009
Granted, I've never actually
seen such an advertisement online or in the paper. Even so, I did have the experience last week of an enthusiastic visitor to this site asking me for various
hair metal and
arena rock song recommendations to help stock his MP3 player. I couldn't have been more delighted, as part of the great fun and satisfaction of writing online about a topic I love is passing along all the music I find pleasurable and significant and for which I genuinely believe others might very well share the same affinity.
Of course, this incident also got me to thinking about all the endeavors I would love to engage in for a living for which there exists little or no market. The lost vocation of artful outbursts of profanity comes to mind, as does the notion of wage-supplying horror movie marathons complete with intermissions dedicated to refreshments and group analysis. Still, certainly atop any such wish list would be a full-time position supplementing, shaping and otherwise attempting to enhance the public's collective musical library. I guess for now I'll have to settle for part-time, freelance status, as it remains one of my most treasured honors to champion '80s music on this website, even more so on the many occasions when I absorb just as much wisdom from an enlightened readership as I ever impart. So, until the world's concept of business and commerce does a complete 180 toward the truly important things in life and away from hollow, bitter pursuits intended only to escalate wealth, I'll just wait here with you, fair readers, "with a wide open country in our hearts and these romantic dreams in our heads."
This Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Hunters & Collectors' "Throw Your Arms Around Me"
Saturday March 21, 2009
Pop music from Australia and New Zealand has always boasted a tendency to defy categorization and forge its own unique path regardless of era. That may explain why my familiarity with this wonderfully haunting tune stems not from hearing its original version but instead a relatively recent, highly memorable cover version by Irish singer-songwriter Luka Bloom. While that's unfortunate in some respects, it's also a happy accident that's allowed me now to become intimately acquainted with the original version of
"Throw Your Arms Around Me," released quietly in 1985 by Hunters & Collectors.
This is a first-rate guitar pop classic no matter who performs it, a song that projects the kind of emotional resonance and heft reserved for timeless music of permanence. Mark Seymour's lead vocals alone communicate fierce intensity and longing, but the band's nuanced harmonies transform the track into a satisfyingly multi-layered and visceral experience. The chorus perfectly captures a vital melody that feels familiar and exhilaratingly brand new all at the same time, but that's only one aspect of the rejuvenative power of the song - and great music in general.
Album Cover Image Courtesy of LiberationBetter Watch Out - That Boy George Biopic Could Already Be in Development
Tuesday March 17, 2009
As if we needed additional examples at this point, here's another piece of irrefutable proof that our years are advancing wildly and unstoppably: the slow but certain emergence of '80s music biopics. Within the last couple of years, in fact, separate films have either appeared or begun production detailing the lives (and deaths, in the first two cases) of punk legend Darby Crash of
the Germs, Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, and Joan Jett of the Runaways plus, of course, an active '80s solo career. I suppose 25-30 years is about the proper amount of time for rock musicians' lives to gather the necessary mystique and legend to earn an immortal place in celluloid, but time isn't the only important indicator. What we gain in perspective through time's passage probably has even more to do with which music stars seem ripe for or worthy of having their stories told.
Naturally, early death tends to accelerate such chronicling efforts, but I'm sure not many of us, even if we somehow knew about the Runaways way back when, ever thought Jett or former bandmate and fellow solo '80s rocker Lita Ford would ever grace the silver screen as cinematic characters. But this is yet another testament to the power and often unsung significance of '80s music, an era whose long-held tag of disposability grows ever more frayed by the day. I kinda doubt homegrown '80s stars like Bryan Adams or Huey Lewis will be receiving the biopic treatment anytime soon, but only time will tell, I guess, what Hollywood thinks it can sell.
DVD Cover Image Courtesy of the Weinstein CompanyThis Week's Forgotten Gem of the '80s - Champaign's "How 'Bout Us"
Thursday March 12, 2009
Based on the long, often bland history of adult contemporary music on the pop charts, one wouldn't necessarily expect to be transported pleasantly and completely by a song from that genre. But that's exactly the way I would describe the lovely
"How 'Bout Us," a smooth soul offering that fell just short of the pop Top 10 in 1981.
I find this tune exceptional for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the organic, straightforward use of guitar and horns so often absent from the synthetic adult contemporary of the last 20 years or so. A nifty guitar fill, for example, precedes the impossibly catchy chorus and truly makes this song a lasting experience rather than merely a fleeting one. But even that is nothing compared to the brilliant, soaring chord change and vocal harmonies that usher in the second part of the song's refrain: "Some people can hold it together, Last through all kinds of weather." For highly commercial, mainstream music, the kind of passion on display here seems downright stunning when you consider the bevy of soulless American Idol-type performances that pass for great singing these days. So just sit back and listen to this Champaign classic, and then pull out a handkerchief to wipe your forehead once the music steams up the room. That's what I just did.
Album Cover Image Courtesy of Collectables 
