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Tag: Infatueighties

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #94: “I Can’t Wait”

    Ummm…what to say about Nu Shooz? They were a husband and wife duo from Portland, OR…not exactly a dance music hotbed. However, their biggest hit, 1986’s “I Can’t Wait”, is one of the most memorable dance records of the decade. Makes perfect sense, right?

    The cover of Nu Shooz\'s hit single \"I Can\'t Wait\"

    I don’t know how you can listen to this song and not feel good. The bassline is made for bopping your head (or doing the wop), Valerie Day’s vocal is playful, and then you’ve got the silly synthesized…thingies…I don’t know what they’re called but you know what I’m talking about.

    Despite the fact that they are best known for “I Can’t Wait” (which was popular around the same time Stevie Nicks had a hit song with the same title), Nu Shooz had two pretty good follow-up singles. “Point of No Return” (which was almost as catchy as its’ predecessor…and was popular around the same time Expose had a hit song with the same title…) and the moody ballad “Should I Say Yes” (which did NOT have a competing song with the same title).

    So, what’s my point?? Hell if I remember. Just watch the damn video.

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #95: “Straight Up”

    Twenty years later, it’s hard to believe that the woman on “American Idol” who appears to be incapable of stringing together a complete sentence was once the hottest chick in the game, but…between 1989-1991 or so, Paula was right up there with Madonna and Janet. Actually, if you pull Madge’s “Immaculate Collection” out of the equation, Paula’s two hit albums, 1988’s “Forever Your Girl” and 1991’s “Spellbound”, outsold Madonna’s entire recorded output from 1989-1996, which consists of three studio albums and a movie soundtrack. Her influence might not have been as far-reaching, but there was definitely a period when she was the preferred option.

    The cover of Paula Abdul\'s 1989 smash \"Straight Up\".

    While songs like “Opposites Attract” and “Rush Rush” haven’t exactly aged well from a musical standpoint (and the less said about the horrific videos for both, the better), “Straight Up” retains it’s flavor two full decades after it launched Paula’s career (and if we can backtrack for a second, keep in mind that this was the third single release from “Forever Your Girl”…how many labels these days would burn two singles from an artist before breaking them out?). Paula has never been the world’s greatest singer (in the understatement of the year), but she laid into this track with enough attitude to offset her limited vocal capability. Combine the attitude with a relentless backing track and you have a song that served as an anthem to all the ladies out there who were taking no shit from sometimey guys.

    Plus, the lady could dance her ass off back in the day. The video’s still mesmerising to watch.

    …And can someone tell me why she looks exactly like Lisa Lisa on the single cover?

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #96: “Forget Me Nots”

    I’ll be honest-I can’t really judge instrumental proficiency. Hell, there are very few artists that I can identify by the tone of their instrument. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are David Sanborn…and Patrice Rushen. Rushen’s piano playing (whether on the acoustic or electric) has a certain warmth to it that makes her singles completely recognizable before she even utters a word.

    The cover of Patrice Rushen\'s 1982 smash \"Forget Me Nots\".

    1982’s “Forget Me Nots” is an exercise in musical simplicity. Show me the keys and I could probably play the piano part. Rushen’s vocal is delightfully breezy and fairly plain-spoken. Even the standard Eighties sax solo sounds unfussy and relaxed. The song reminds me of summer, of backyard barbecues, and of roller skating-although I didn’t hit a skating rink for the first time until 1985, so I don’t know where that comes from. It also reminds me of Will Smith’s “Men in Black” and George Michael’s “Fastlove”, considering both songs heavily rely on “Forget Me Nots” as their musical base.

    Rushen started off as a fairly standard jazz/fusion artist before being convinced to actually sing. Her wispy voice and her youthful good looks (now in her fifties, Rushen literally looks half her age) along with her musical proficiency helped her score a handful of R&B hits, with her peak period being 1979-1984. She also had an early musical association with Prince. I’m not sure if the piano solo on “Sexy Dancer” is her, but it certainly sounds like her. There’s also a rumor that 1979’s Prince song “I Feel for You” (later covered by Chaka Khan) was written both for and about Patrice.

    After the hits died down towards the end of the Eighties, Patrice became one of the most sought after instrumentalists in the industry. She served as musical director for Janet Jackson’s 1993 “janet.” tour, and has also been the musical director for the NAACP Image Awards, the People’s Choice Awards, the Emmys and the Grammys. Pretty impressive to rise to the top in an area where you don’t see many women, much less women of color.

    This is another one of those cheesy early Eighties videos. You have to laugh at the simplicity. I can’t find an embeddable version, folks, so you’re just gonna have to go here…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td25kTqvl1w