My friend Jim calls Shalamar the most underrated pop group of the Eighties, and he might have a point. The threesome of Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Jody Watley created some of the most bubbly, well-crafted pop-R&B of it’s time, even incorporating new wave and rock textures into their music by the time of 1983’s “The Look”. They’re probably best known for the hit singles “This is for the Lover in You” (which Babyface re-recorded with the three original members in the late Nineties) and “A Night To Remember”. If Jeffrey Daniel’s face looks familiar to you, it’s because he appears in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Bad” videos. He apparently was also moonwalking almost a year before MJ “created” it for “Motown 25”, as the below listed clip will demonstrate.
Anyway, Shalamar’s story is worthy of it’s own column sometime in the future. Back to the topic at hand. The female third of Shalamar, Jody Watley, reintroduced herself to the market as the high-fashion edition of a Janet Jackson or Madonna. With Prince associates David Z. and Andre Cymone (who she later married), her first album was a Top 10 success and also won her the Grammy for Best New Artist, largely due to the success of “Looking for a New Love”, an attitudinal slab of techno-funk that spent a month at #2 on the U.S. singles charts (thankfully, it spent that time behind a song worthy of beating it: U2’s “With or Without You”.
While Jody’s subsequent albums failed to set the world on fire, her first album is easily one of the best dance-pop albums of the Eighties, and very easily the equal of Janet’s “Control” or Madonna’s debut. She was certainly a more striking visual artist than the other two: with a highly defined fashion style adopted from several years living in London, not to mention cheekbones that you could cut yourself on. She was also the first woman I ever saw with a tattoo, but that’s neither here nor there.
Finally, let’s give her some long-overdue props for originating the phrase “Hasta La Vista, Baby” two years before Tone Loc used it in “Wild Thing” and three before Arnie uttered it in “Terminator 2”.
This is the extended version of the single…sounds like it was sped up a bit too.
Oh, and one more thing…she was voguing and embracing gay culture before Madonna…as this video from 1989 (“Vogue” came out a year later) will attest to. Hey, is that Rakim rapping in a video filled with drag queens??
…By the way, if this list had stretched to 150, both “A Night To Remember” and “Friends” would have been included.
There are exactly three movies I remember seeing in the movie theater during the summer of 1985: “Back to the Future”, “Pale
Pat Benatar Invincible Cover
Rider” (who takes a 9-year old to see a Western??), and a little film called “The Legend of Billie Jean”, which, despite the time period of it’s release, was not about a woman who said Michael Jackson was the father of the kid.
While I’ll leave the specifics of the plot to the folks at “I Love The 80s” (ahhh…it involved a stolen bike…thanks Wikipedia), I do remember that it starred Helen Slater (of “Supergirl” fame) and a very young Christian Slater (no, the two are not related, although I thought they were for years). Somewhere along the line, Helen (as Billie Jean) chopped off her long tresses in favor of a blond Joan Jett-esque look and started screaming “fair is fair!” at everyone within a 50-foot radius. To support this sudden lunge into badassitude, the writers of the movie needed a badass theme song, and they knew just who to call: Pat Motherfuckin’ Benatar.
Benatar spends this aggressive rocker emoting like the opera student she once was, snarling lines like “We can’t af-FORD to be innocent! Stand up and FACE the enemy!” with some serious ‘tude. It’s the type of spit-in-the-face-of-authority that attracts every mousy kid who dreams of being a badass. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much.
“Invincible” marked the end of a killer run for Benatar. During the years 1980-1985, she sold millions of albums, scored a handful of Top 10 hits (with “Invincible”‘s #10 placing marking the last of those), and won four Grammy Awards (all for Best Female Rock Performance). This song was pretty much the last gasp for her as an icon, and she quickly lost traction to the likes of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson (and Tina Turner, who owned the Female Rock Grammy for the next several years).
According to Wikipedia (man, I love those guys), “The Legend of Billie Jean” has never been released on DVD. Someone needs to fix that one stat. I’d buy a copy.
One thing I didn’t realize until I was watching one of VH-1’s 80s retrospectives is that Yeardley Smith plays a fairly major role in this movie. Who’s Yeardley Smith, you may ask? Most folks know her better as the voice of Lisa Simpson.
Finally, anyone notice that the bridge of this song sounds almost exactly like the beginning of U2’s “Two Hearts Beat As One”?? Check it out for yourself.
Uh…hmmm…I don’t have a witty comment with which to start this thing off. I will say that the 80GB iPod I have now had for almost a year is approaching capacity, so I’m starting to uncheck songs that I’m sort of lukewarm on. Y’know, if, like, anything from Mariah Carey’s “Unplugged ” album comes on shuffle, I’m gonna skip it anyway, so why have it there in the first place?
Anyhow, you know the rules…7 songs, completely random fashion. Current tally: 16,794 songs (I have no idea how many of them are unchecked).
Track 1: “(They Long To Be) Close To You” by The Carpenters:
Actually, the first time I heard this song when I was a kid, it wasn’t Karen Carpenter singing it, but Diana Ross. Miss Ross hosted a TV special back in 1971 (it featured The Jackson 5, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas), and she performed a rendition of this song on the show and it’s soundtrack. Her version has nothing on The Carpenters’ version, however. This is as good as 70s easy listening pop got. Karen was truly a great emotional singer, and you can’t beat the harmonies here (especially on headphones…fucking wow). I must admit, it’s so cool listening to this song without a video to latch your memory on to, because that way I can mentally picture a flock of birds buzzing around Karen’s lover when he pops up and giggle a little.
Man, I know it’s a cliche, but this woman’s voice breaks my heart every time I hear it.
Track 2: “Tasty Love” by Freddie Jackson
For those of you who weren’t riding the quiet storm in the mid-Eighties, Freddie was not a member of the famous singing family, but a New York City balladeer who basically went on to become a poor man’s Luther Vandross. Actually, for a period in the Eighties, he was BIGGER than Loofa, and if memory serves, he had more #1s during the decade than not only Mr. Vandross, but Michael and Janet as well. This smoove ballad was the first single from his sophomore release, “Just Like the First Time”, an album that spent a mind-boggling 26 weeks at #1 (that’s half a year, folks) on the R&B albums chart. Sort of funny to think that Freddie was the guy riding the top of the charts during a period when so many albums with less chart success have gone on to be more influential in the long haul-Janet’s “Control”, Anita Baker’s “Rapture” and Run-DMC’s “Raising Hell” among them.
I met Freddie in person six years ago, and I’d be surprised if he and Mr. Vandross didn’t have at least one other thing in common. That man was sweeter than a box of chocolates. Check him out with that woman in the video. They’re probably drinking Riunite on Ice. And he’s probably thinking about her hot younger brother.
Track 3: “Plantation Lullabies” by Me’shell Ndegeocello
The very brief (1:14) instrumental title track from the debut album by one of the most underrated R&B artists of the Nineties, and the best female bass player in history (granted, she’s at the head of a very small field). I love this album to death, although many others listen to this album and are a little freaked out by her militance (is that a word?).
Track 4: “Run Riot” by Def Leppard
Although I wasn’t familiar with the song, I recognized it as Def Lep within 5 seconds…those guys (and producer Mutt Lange) had a pretty damn recognizable sound back in the Eighties. Joe Elliott’s voice sounds a little higher than usual on this song, almost like he’s channeling AC/DC’s Brian Johnson.
Slightly related aside: I was at karaoke with friends a year or so ago, and someone decided to sing “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, a song I’d always enjoyed despite not paying a hell of a lot attention to the lyrics. As the song’s words flashed on the screen, I’ve gotta admit I was a little taken aback by how a song with such absolutely silly lyrics could have become such a big hit.
Hmmm…I wonder why “Hysteria” and “Pyromania” are not available on iTunes?
Oh, I saw their new video on VH-1 Classic recently, which features Tim McGraw. Definitely two great tastes that do not taste great together.
Track 5: “Magazines” by The Hold Steady
I actually just bought the latest Hold Steady album, “Stay Positive”, a couple days ago. I wound up buying their last album, “Boys & Girls in Amerca”, thanks to a ton of press hype and truth be told, it’s a pretty good record. This is my first taste of anything from the new album, and it sounds like…the last album. This song chugs along in a manner very similar to “Born To Run”-era Springsteen, although lead singer Craig Finn, despite being a good singer on his own (and pretty hot besides) doesn’t have half of The Boss’s charisma. Or Danny Federici on organ. Or Clarence Clemons playing the sax.
Track 6: “The Coolest” by Lupe Fiasco
Considering I went absolutely gaga over the Chicago rapper’s debut album, “Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Lquor”, his second album (“Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool”) has left me strangely lukewarm. I don’t think it’s bad. It just hasn’t grabbed me the same way. Maybe I haven’t given it the chance it deserves. Maybe it’s a grower? Maybe it’s just not as good. That said, Lupe’s one of the most talented new emcees out there, and the fact that this album was certified Gold is one of the few things that makes me feel good about being a hip-hop fan nowadays.
Track 7: “Now at Last” by Feist
I’m proud of myself for discovering Feist at least a few months before she became a star (thanks to the iPod commercial and that annoying-ass video). She reminds me of what Norah Jones would sound like if she took more drugs. Maybe it’s just because she’s Canadian and all of the Canucks I’ve met in person have a sort of warped, offbeat personality behind those square, polite exteriors. This is a pretty straightforward piano ballad. It could have been recorded in 1936 or 20006. If you haven’t checked her out, please do so, and check out her debut album, “Let it Die” before you pick up her more recent “The Reminder”. It not only contains this beautiful song (having her and Karen Carpenter bookending this setlist is strangely appropriate), but she does a killer cover of The Bee Gees’ “Love You Inside Out”, which was actually the song that introduced me to her.
Till next week, I’m shufflin’ off (oh, STOP! The jokes are KILLING me!!)
