pop music

45 RPMs: New Edition Mr. Telephone Man

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Some strange man is on the telephone
He keeps telling me my baby ain’t home

new edition phoneIn the age of smartphone technology, kids today will never experience the true satisfaction of a phone’s click as it slams down into its cradle. New Edition’s Mr. Telephone Man brings us back to a day when your phone weighed as much as the nightstand it was sitting on. Before New Kids on the Block captured the hearts of teenage girls everywhere, Ralph, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, and Mike were the boy band that would inspire all future boy bands.

In Mr. Telephone Man, New Edition, which would later spawn Bobby Brown’s solo career and Bell Biv Devoe, laments about what must be a faulty telephone line, “because when I dial my baby’s number, I get a click every time.” So young, so naive. We just wanted to scoop them up and hug them and promise to answer every single one of their calls. Continue reading →

On the Road: Cyndi Lauper’s Fun Tour, 1983-1984

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Cyndi Lauper‘s She’s So Unusual was one of my very first albums, and the Fun Tour that supported it was my first concert. Cyndi’s first major headlining tour lasted from November 1983 through December 1984, covering North America and three stops in Europe. lauper tour shirt

I saw the September 6, 1984 show at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Philly natives The Hooters opened for Cyndi. Because I had actually seen her in concert, I was elected president of my town’s unofficial chapter of the Cyndi Lauper Fan Club, which consisted of me and about four of my friends. I took my duties very seriously at the time (there was a handwritten newsletter and lots of Cyndi buttons pinned on denim), and I still remember that tour living up to its name – just a really fun time with lots and lots of energy. Continue reading →

45 RPMs: Split Enz I Got You

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I don’t know why sometimes I get frightened
You can see my eyes, you can tell that I’m not lyin’

Remember New Zealand rock band Split Enz? We can thank them for Crowded House, which singer and guitarist Neil Finn formed when he left the band, and for the impossibly catchy tune I Got You. This song doesn’t just get into your head; it sets up camp and parties there for days. When I think of new wave pop and the early days of MTV, I think of I Got You. i got you video 2

From the album True Colours, I Got You was released as a single in 1980 with Double Happy as the B side. It reached No. 53 on the U.S. chart, but shot all the way to No. 1 on both the Australian and New Zealand charts. Written by Finn, it was the band’s first international hit. I don’t own any Split Enz on vinyl, but True Colours and I Got You have been on my Want List for awhile. split-enz-i-got-you-1980

45 RPMs: Madonna Into the Groove

/ Janet / 2 Comments

And you can dance
For inspiration

The song that inspired this blog’s name seemed like a good place to start. Madonna‘s Into the Groove, released in 1985, was arguably the greatest gift that the movie Desperately Seeking Susan gave to the free world. (That, and the revelation that you can use a hand dryer on your armpits simply by turning up the nozzle.) I was obsessed with Madonna in the 80s, and this easily ranks in my top 5 of her songs.Madonna Desperately

Inspired by the underground dance scene – which loved Madge just as hard as she loved it back – Into the Groove was Madonna’s first No. 1 hit in the United Kingdom. Never released as a single in the United States, the song was relegated to the B side of Angel, which, other than Madonna’s laugh track at the beginning of the song, doesn’t hold up as well after 30-plus years. And while Into the Groove was featured in Desperately Seeking Susan, it didn’t appear on the soundtrack due to licensing restrictions. It later appeared on the 1985 European reissue of Like a Virgin and on compilation albums like Celebration and You Can Dance. Continue reading →