Musical Monday - Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: June 16, 1984 through August 11, 1984.

In the United States, Frankie Goes to Hollywood was basically a one hit wonder. In the U.K., they had multiple songs reach the top of the pop charts, including this one, which dominated the British pop charts for pretty much the entire summer of 1984. The thing is, while I can see why this song was not a big hit in the U.S., and why it might have resonated in other parts of the world, I am of the opinion that it is just not a very good song that happened to be attached to a fairly compelling music video.

The lyrics of the song are a pretty blunt assessment of the dangerous and potentially destructive rivalry that existed at the time between the United States and the U.S.S.R., taking some pretty sharp jabs at both sides, and Ronald Reagan in particular. Given the nature of American popular culture at the time, this probably served to limit the song's popularity in the U.S., an issue that obviously would not be a problem for U.K. audiences. The larger problem is that while the lyrics do have a handful of bitterly satirical turns, they descend into being annoyingly repetitive, matching the pounding but kind of boring music that backs them.

Where this song really shines is the music video that was made for it which depicts a no-holds barred grudge match between a Reagan caricature on one side and a Chernenko-like character on the other. The pair go back and forth taking shots at one another between grandstanding for the crowd of world leaders crowded around the ring. The members of Frankie Goes to Hollywood appear in the video as a sportscasting team broadcasting the match and offering color commentary. Although the video is just as blunt in its messaging as the lyrics of the song, somehow the satire works better visually than it does as lyrics.

The fact that the video elevates a kind of mundane song into an iconic cultural artifact is more or less the story of the 1980s. The rise of MTV, and as a result the rise of music videos, transformed the world of pop music, making the visual offering as important as (and sometimes more important than) the auditory portion of a pop song.

Previous Musical Monday: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

Subsequent Musical Monday: Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springstein

Previous #1 on the UK Chart: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!

Subsequent #1 on the UK Chart: Careless Whisper by George Michael

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

Frankie Goes to Hollywood     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Musical Monday - Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: June 9, 1984 through June 16, 1984.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The week of June 9, 1984.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun was Lauper's first hit, and probably was her most comercially successful song, and was nominated for or won pretty much all of the awards, but the song I always associate with her is this one. The plaintive, melancholy mood of Time After Time is simply perfectly suited to Lauper's vocal delivery - when listening to the song it sounds like a confession taking place just before the singer breaks down in tears. The entire tenor of the song is both sad and hopeful at the same time.

Oddly, despite the fact that the lyrics of the song seem to suggest undying loyalty, the music video more or less shows a fractured relationship disintegrating into a final breakup. The overarching story is that Lauper's character is homesick and wants to return to her childhood home and care for her mother, but that's not incredibly well conveyed by the video (in fact, that portion completely escaped me until recently). But the sequences show Lauper's character and her seemingly contentious relationship with her boyfriend, played by Lauper's then real-life boyfriend and manager David Wolff. In the end, Lauper leaves Wolff behind, which is more or less what happened in real life, so the teras are not feigned.

Previous Musical Monday: Wake Me Up before You Go-Go by Wham!

Subsequent Musical Monday: Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Let's Hear It for the Boy by Denice Williams

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The Reflex by Duran Duran

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Let's Hear It for the Boy by Denice Williams

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The Reflex by Duran Duran

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

Cyndi Lauper     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Musical Monday - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: November 17, 1984 through December 1, 1984.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: November 24, 1984 through December 1, 1984.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: June 2, 1984 through June 9, 1984.

Peppy dance beat? Check.

Mostly meaningless lyrics? Check.

Goofy dance moves? Check.

Big, brightly colored clothes? Check.
.
Ridiculously short shorts? Check.

Black light sequence? Check.

I am starting to think that between Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Duran Duran, Prince, and so on, 1984 may have been peak 1980s. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is pretty much a prime example of the music and music videos of the era. Peppy, poppy, with performers in shirts shouting slogans in big letters who are also wearing brightly colored fingerless gloves, and just generally over the top, the song and video are more or less symbolic of the era. As Deadpool says in the movie Deadpool, Wham! earned their exclamation point.

Previous Musical Monday: Let's Hear it for the Boy by Denice Williams

Subsequent Musical Monday: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run) by Billy Ocean

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Out of Touch by Hall and Oates

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Purple Rain by Prince

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: I Feel for You by Chaka Khan

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: The Reflex by Duran Duran

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

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

Wham!     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Book Bogger Hop April 9, 2021 - April 15, 2021 - Fritigern Launched the Gothic War Against Rome in 376 A.D.

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Does the cover of a book affect whether you are more willing to read it?

Not consciously, although I will reiterate something I have pointed out many times before: There is a wealth of research that establishes that humans are not aware of all of the factors that influence their decisions. People are biased in favor or or against certain things by factors that they do not recognize. Consequently, it is impossible to say for certain whether a book cover influences my desire to read a book, and I can only say that it doesn't usually consciously affect my decision-making.

I say this, because usually, by the time I get to a book, I have already determined I want to read it before seeing it. Generally, I choose books based upon who the author is, recommendations from sources I trust, and similar factors. By the time I actually get to a book, it has already gone through a process that led me to it in which the cover art was simply not a factor. That said, there is a reason that book publishers spend a fair amount of time, effort, and money on their art and design departments. If cover art didn't matter, they wouldn't bother.

All that said, when I have duplicate books that are in roughly equal condition, I almost always keep the one with the better cover and get rid of the other.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: In 375 B.C., the Theban Sacred Band Defeated a Much Larger Spartan Force at the Battle of Tegyra

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Musical Monday - Let's Hear It for the Boy by Denice Wiliiams

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: May 26, 1984 through June 2, 1984.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: May 26, 1984 through June 2, 1984.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

There's not really a whole lot to say about Let's Hear It for the Boy. Like a lot of popular songs from the mid-1980s, it is basically an empty, almost meaningless song with a catchy hook and a danceable beat. The song appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Footloose, once again reinforcing the connection between filmed media and pop success, but other than that there is almost nothing memorable about it.

Previous Musical Monday: The Reflex by Duran Duran

Subsequent Musical Monday: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Hello by Lionel Richie

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Hello by Lionel Richie

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

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

Denice Williams     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home