#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.#1 on the U.K. Chart: September 13, 1980 through September 20, 1980.
To a certain extent, this song kind of encapsulates the early 1980s. It is classified as a disco hit, but it isn't quite sure if it actually is disco. What I really want to talk about is just how ridiculous this video is. Not the song, which is more or less a fairly standard-issue dance tune with a couple of synthesizer flourishes, but rather the performance. Everything from the over the top makeup and feather earring on Kelly Marie to the gold lamé suits the two backing dancers are wearing, to the terrible choreography (including little laser gun motions to accompany the little musical bridge before each chorus), to the terrible silver boots the jumpsuit Kelly is wearing. This doesn't even get to the really awkward attempts to get Kelly into the flow of the video by having her join the dance routine, which only serves to demonstrate that while the dancer on the Kelly's left is a better dancer than the guy on her right, they are both professional dancers and Kelly really, really is not.
As ridiculous as this video is, one can see the kernels of what would become the 1980s contained within it. Whoever came up with the style and tone of the video was clearly trying to put the 1970s behind them, but wasn't sure what to do, so they are kind of groping in the dark, throwing whatever they could think of against the wall to see what might work. Despite the often ludicrous result, you can kind of see the seeds that would germinate into the look associated with some of the signature acts of the 1980s such as Madonna, Toni Basil, and even Annie Lennox. They may not have been directly influenced by Kelly Marie, but at the very least they were probably drawing from the same pool for inspiration.
Previous Musical Monday: Upside Down by Diana Ross
Subsequent Musical Monday: Don't Stand So Close to Me by the Police
Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Don't Stand So Close to Me by the Police
List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989
Kelly Marie 1980s Project Musical Monday Home
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