There are minutes left in Sunday, so here's a fast post. Tomorrow is my oldest child's 9th birthday, so this is the birthday '80s Sunday Rewind. So, here's the upbeat Altered Images "Happy Birthday." Happy birthday, Molly Kathleen!
But just in case you want to wish someone an unhappy birthday (you know, if they're evil and they lie), here's a song to love — "Unhappy Birthday" by the smiths. Enjoy!
First let me just say that I have never seen the Lopez Tonight Show, nor do I watch Ghost Whisper with JLove Hewitt, but when I heard about this insanity I had to look this shizzle up. Y'all know me. You know I love an embellishment. I love a disco ball, I love some bling (have you seen the watch I got for Christmas? it's fun). But — this bitch is crazy.
JlLove Hewitt has written a book. I know. There is a chapter titled "Vajazzling." Girl done bedazzled up her vajayjay and told George Lopez it looks like a disco ball "down there." Oh, and she had "a friend" do it for her. Now, I have some close friends. None are close enough to ask to bedazzle my vajayjay, no matter how many times they may ask.
Go to minute 2:40 for the disco moment.
Oh my.
Damn. I wrote about vajayjays again, didn't I? Ugh.
In my '80s iTunes playlist, my favorites are generally the British synthpop bands, which you've probably figured out by now if you've been reading the Sunday Rewind for any length of time. My favorite of the Brit synthpop bands being ABC, Thompson Twins, Human League, and Naked Eyes. Naked Eyes is probably the last of the ones I have yet to feature for one simple reason: I could not find their best song on video anywhere. Until today.
For this fan, Naked Eyes three singles from their 1983 album Burning Bridges, are their best. "When the Lights Go Out," "Promises Promises," and my favorite, "Always Something There to Remind Me" are the three songs from the band that you will remember. I simply love the last song. It is one of my favorite songs of all time. It was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1963 and has been recorded by nearly everyone, including Dionne Warwick, The Carpenteres, and the wonderful Dusty Springfield. It's a beautiful song and has always reminded me of something that sounds like it belongs in The Beatles catalog, but isn't. It just sounds like a McCarney song. It's a song of desperation and longing, but it's upbeat and catchy — really a perfect little love song.
And so, I present to you today, a post over a year in the making, the '80s Sunday Rewind with Naked Eyes.
Never in my life have I watched the Maury show, but I saw part of this clip on The Soup and it was nearly a Depends moment. This, my friends, is why Ben Franklin invented electricity.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run to the store for a few ingredients.
Just because.
Regina Spektor is probably the most unique woman in music today. I can't get enough of her stuff. She is a talented songwriter and pianist I wrote about in a previous post, but here are a few more songs, just because.
"Field Below" is the reason I decided to do Spektor for the post today. It's melancholy, like my mood, and the lyric "I am awake and feel the ache" is quite appropriate, since it's 2:42 am and sleep eludes me once again for reasons beyond this post. Here's a good live performance.
This one is the jam. "The Consequence Of Sounds." Because white Jewish chicks should rap more. For some reason this isn't on iTunes, but it's fantastic. Listen.
Because I love this song, bought the entire album on iTunes because the song was one of those "album only" songs — from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Soundtrack, "The Call." It's a great song about friendship.
Finally, it's "Music Box." I choose to believe this song is about the monotony of motherhood, but I'm sure I'm wrong. You tell me– "Life inside the musicbox ain't easy/The mallets hit/The gears are always turning/And everyone inside the mechanism/Is yearning to get out/And sing another melody completely/So different from the one they're always singing/I close my eyes and think that I have found me/But then I feel mortality surround me/I want to sing another melody/So different from the one I always sing." Anyway, it's sweet and silly and also has the line "the greatest voyage in the history of plastic," so you know that's fun.
The drive back from my hometown was '80s (of course) and since it is a four and a half hour drive, I listened to the all-purpose '80s playlist. Here for your reminiscing pleasure are two choice videos of said playlist.
First up, The Gap Band's "You Dropped A Bomb On Me." If you don't like this song, something's wrong witchu. Yes, I said "witchu." If Bush would have played this after 9/11, Bin Laden would have not only surrendered, he would have come out dancin'.
I like the camo combined with sequins. That works for me. The dancing and special effects are awesome.
I defy anyone to find a better '80s video than Cameo's "Word Up." Not only is "Word Up" one of my favorite phrases, it's one of the best songs evah. Oh yeah. Not only does the video feature Levar Burton (hell yeah!), unitards, fingerless gloves, stripping cops, handcuffs, cage dancing, and the spelling of the word WORD, you'll see that the lead singer is wearing a giant red codpiece. Fanfreakingtastic.
The music industry today needs more codpieces. If I'm sure of anything, that's it.
Here is pretty much all you need to know about the first decade of this century in 7 minutes. From Newsweek.
http://acidcow.com/engine/classes/flashplayer/player-viral.swf
Ever eager to please, today's 80's Sunday Rewind fulfills the request for an Erasure post. Nothing like a little synth-pop for your Christmas weekend. I loved some Erasure back in the day, with the release of 1988's The Innocents. "Chains of Love" and ""A Little Respect" were fantastic songs, as was their rendition of "River Deep, Mountain High." I remember a mix tape I'd made with Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, and Electronic that would blow your synth-pop socks off.
Here's a little Erasure for your Sunday.
This is the video for "A Little Respect" with live audio — best I could do, folks.
And shut up — here's Erasure in drag doing Abba's "Take a Chance On Me." Love this.
If you have a request, put it in the comments. I'd love to hear it.
It's the last of the 80's Christmas songs and I found this mishmash video about the first two A Very Special Christmas albums on You Tube. It says from 1987, but they reference songs from the second album too (1992). The early A Very Special Christmas albums were pretty great. I honestly didn't realize the albums were still being produced. They're up to volume 7 and it's completely Disneyfied, which just goes to show you how far the Disneyfication of music has spread. Anyway, let's watch this video from back in the day.
I thought I'd end the 80's Christmas bonanza with my favorite Christmas song, which just happens to be on volume 1 of A Very Special Christmas, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" by The Pretenders. I adore this version. Chrissie Hynde captures the original melancholy of the song perfectly and doesn't try to make it cute and sweet like other versions. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" has been my favorite for years and I have several versions of it, but this one is really special. And no, I won't be getting the new Bob Dylan version.
Why do I get the feeling the sprinkles aren't the only green thing in the brownies? I love it when Snoop visits Martha and asks things like "why can't you bake them at 420 degrees?"
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