Released in 1985, this #1 song was from Madonna's first film, Desperately Seeking Susan. Written as a tribute to the dance floors of the 80's, on further examination, its really about sex. I'll admit that I was a naive teenager and it wasn't until later than I listened to this and went......Ohhhh.
But lets take a minute to appreciate the genius that is the lyrics of this song. "I'm tired of dancing here all by myself / tonight I wanna dance with someone else". Try to tell me that's just about dancing.
Released in 1981, this song started out as a reggae influenced jam 3 years earlier that the band decided to abandon after a dozen attempts. As the 1980's started, the band was looking to go out on tour and it was suggested that the set list should contain songs from their vault that hadn't been released. This song turned up and the rock version of the song became the starting point for their next album. It eventually made it to #2 on the US charts, so what they consider junk, the rest of us consider musical gold.
Guitarist and co-songwriter, Keith Richards opening riff would be an instant trademark. Unmistakable, its instantly recognized. But if you watch the video, you'd wonder what made this song so popular. Keith, lead singer (and co-songwriter) Mick Jagger and guitarist Ronnie Wood are mugging it up for the cameras and just generally doing what they usually do during a Rolling Stones concert, but watch bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts. They have spent the better part of twenty years at that point being the backbone of this band full of egos. Not that its a bad thing but can you imagine what their world was like? Just trying to play some music and here's three hams trying to out pose each other. At least they were extremely rich so they could at least afford to take a few weeks off from the ego parade.
I'll only briefly mention Mick's inability to lip-sync to his own song, because, lets face it, video was not how Rolling Stones records were sold at any point in their career. But its seriously bad. I'm not even going to mention Mick's shirt.....because it was the 1980's and this was not a WTH? moment we experience now. You've been warned.
What do you do when your band is on the verge of conquering the world and your lead singer dies (in what was listed by the medical examiner as "Death by Misadventure")? You guessed it, you get another great lead singer and you make your best album ever.
The title track of that album was written as a tribute to their recently departed singer....in fact, they asked the new singer, Brian Johnson, to write the lyrics and he responded with, "sure....no pressure there". But I'll tell you, he wrote a great song and if the rest of the band feels this captures the former lead singers life.....even better. To this day, Brian claims the lyrics are just mumbo jumbo he came up with on the spot and he was only lucky that it works as a tribute. Still, you can't deny that the song isn't a kick-ass, hard rock classic.
The video was filmed as the band was preparing for the tour to support the album and since videos were not really much of a thing at the time, there was very little effort put into it beyond a quick, multi-camera capture of a staged live performance. Its apparent that Brian is not just lip syncing along to the song, but is actually singing the song......only, the record label has replaced the live audio with the recorded version of the track. Too bad.
Even with a funky video and a brand new singer, the album went on to be the second biggest seller of all time, right behind the Thriller album by Michael Jackson. Not bad for 5 non video-friendly dudes from Down Under (well, Brian's actually from England but you get the point).
ZZ Top was big in the blues rock scene in the mid to late 1970's but as the 1980's started they were looking for some mainstream success......and they found it with their 1983 release, Eliminator. Sparked by great songs and classic, iconic videos the album sold over 10 million copies in the US alone.
Legs was their 5th single from the album and their third video. As with the previous two videos, it featured the 1933 custom Ford from the album cover and a trio of beautiful women the band dubbed "the Muses" (two of which were former Playboy Playmates....so muse that for a minute). The video is filmed in a strip mall that's filled with lots of really mean people. The stock-girl from the shoe shop is being picked on by the customers and employees at the burger joint and the only nice guy in the place has eyes for her. Of course, the whole place picks on him as well, so they have something in common. Up rolls the Muses and after a makeover for the stock-clerk and some abuse delivered to the mean people of the mall, the nice guy and the stock clerk are off in the back of a dune buggy.
The band shows up to laugh at the mean people and encourage the stock-clerk. But they also put on a performance of the song in the parking lot which features fuzzy guitars that can do a 360 degree spin. (its always funny to me that the member of the band that doesn't have a beard has the last name Beard).
Please enjoy the video and I'll just say it......she's got legs!!
Yes, it talks about being infatuated with your teacher and the video is the most inappropriate video this side of a Motley Crue video but there's no denying that pubescent boys are attracted to anything that moves during high school (I apologize to every girl I met between 1980 and 1990).
The video features our hero, Waldo (voiced by Phil Hartman), trying to get through an average day in school. The video was filmed at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles (Leonardo DiCaprio went there) and four of the students look like younger versions of Van Halen with the rest of the class looking like every school in the Los Angeles area at that time. Punks, metal heads, wierdos, 80's hair abound. But here comes the teacher......in a bikini!!!! The teacher is played by Lillian Muller. She was the Playboy Playmate of the year for 1976. And she looked really good (sorry, my teenage self started to kick in again).
But I've always loved this song for Eddie's guitar work. The solo is so awesome, it requires two trips down the library desks. And who doesn't love Dave being Dave with his ad-libed kid complaints about the clock being slow?
Released in March of 1985, this tribute to baseball only reached #44 on the US charts but it can be heard in nearly every baseball stadium across the country and in every level of the game.
It includes references to some of the greatest players to ever play the game: Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb. It invokes the feeling you get as you step out of the darkness of the tunnel leading to the seats, as the sun first hits your face and that first flash of green grass meets your eyes. The sights, the sounds of the game....its all there in those first lines of the song. A nearly perfect marriage of a song and its subject.
Released in 1985, a full year before their debut album, this was something of an introduction to the boys and their goofiness.
Slightly misogynistic, and devoid of any political correctness, this is the way they presented themselves to the world. And it sold really well. Within four years the Boys would redefine themselves as more mature and much more politically minded, even going so far as to donate entire proceeds of album sales to charitable causes and organizations.
But not back in the early days. This song is just about a girl they can't seem to convince to fall for them. They go to extraordinary lengths and fail miserably. Their mentor, played by record producer and thrash metal guru Rick Rubin, is no help. At least they get what's coming to them in the end.
