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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Infatueighties

  • Infatueighties #74: Madonna’s “Crazy for You”

    You’re at the first school dance of your life. Mingling with your friends, acting like an idiot and busting out your silliest dance moves, the mood instantly changes when it’s time for the slow dance. Although you’re shy, your buddies goad you into dancing with this fat girl named Heather. As you move back and forth, she redirects your hands so they’re not around her upper back region, but almost on her butt. Somewhat horrified and an equal measure proud of yourself, you manage to complete the dance. Heather looks at you longingly, while you wish that her hot friend April had asked you to dance with her.

    I’d imagine a lot of these types of scenarios occurred throughout the country in the spring of ’85 when Crazy for You was a hit. It’s almost tailor made for those romantic clinches and slow dances. Madonna’s voice is tentative, unsure as the song pulses gently. “Two by two, their bodies become one/I see you in the smoky air/Can’t you feel the weight of my stare”. It’s practically cinematic, which I guess makes sense considering it came from a movie-the largely forgotten Vision Quest.

    This song marched up the charts in competition with one of Madge’s best known (and ultimately forgettable) hits, Material Girl. Crazy for You won the battle, peaking at #1 to Material Girl‘s#3. It remains one of Madonna’s best vocal performances to this day-the song got her nominated for her first-ever Grammy (she lost to Whitney Houston). More importantly, it was one of the first songs that got the general public thinking that maybe this chick might not be just another run of the mill flash in the pan disco singer.

  • Infatueighties: #76: Super Freak

    Rick James’ autobiography, “Memoirs of a Superfreak”, isn’t exactly an award-winning piece of writing. However, it gives you an idea of how much the title of “super freak” actually fit Rick. Somewhat shamefully, those freaky antics (immortalized in the legendary Dave Chappelle skit) have obscured the fact that Rick made some pretty good music.

    “Super Freak” is one of those near perfect fusions of rock and funk. While Rick (if he was still here) would say that Prince got much of his style from Rick (the two toured together in 1980), the fact is a) how the hell could Prince have followed Rick when their debuts came out the same year? (1978) and b) doesn’t “Super Freak” sound somewhat reminiscent of Prince’s “When You Were Mine”, which came out a year before “Super Freak” (and would have placed pretty high on this chart if I included tracks that were never commercially released as single A-sides)? Then again, Prince never had The Temptations sing background on his biggest hit. Either way, this song’s hard to knock. If the B-52’s met Parliament/Funkadelic, the result would have been “Super Freak”.

    I love the way Yahoo! Music follows “Super Freak” with “Trapped in the Closet”. Ladies & gentlemen, it’s the Sick Fucks of R&B playlist!!

  • Infatueighties: #77: “Break 4 Love” by Raze

    House music began at some point in the mid-Eighties in Chicago. The bridge between disco and techno (with a little hip-hop thrown in), the genre reached widespread fame in the early Nineties via acts like C&C Music Factory, Technotronic and Madonna-one of the first mainstream proponents of the genre.

    That said, the genre’s best songs are the earliest, more underground songs, the ones that were made before house began floating with pop. Along with Marshall Jefferson’s “Jack Your Body (House Music Anthem)” and The Jungle Brothers’ “I’ll House You”, Raze’s “Break 4 Love” is one of the earliest examples of house music at its’ finest.

    Along with making you wanna dance, this song oozes pure sex, something I noticed even when I first heard this song at age 11. Of course, then, the pounding beats, the smooth male voice and the alarmingly pornographic moaning elicited giggles. Now? A whole different story. Those of you who thoughtfully consider your sex (or are world class pervs like yours truly) are well aware of what I mean.

    Raze was the brainchild of producer/musician Vaughn Mason, of “Bounce, Roll, Skate, Rock” fame. He is also the guy that appears in the video, although if you are to believe the comments in this YouTube clip, the actual vocalist goes by the name of Keith Thompson and had nothing to do with the video (and this is yet another song for which I had no clue a video actually existed). Who did the moaning? Who knows? Who cares?

    This was one of those regional hits…people went crazy for this in New York, but I had no idea anyone outside of the tri-state area (and maybe Chicago) had any idea what this song was until I found it on the “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” soundtrack a few years back. As far as I know, that’s the only way you can get this song. But it’s worth it.