I Went To School With Who???

Centerfold by J. Geils Band

Released in September of 1981, the song made it to #1 on the US charts and was a huge hit for the band. They had been radio darlings back in the late 1970's but this song blew the door right off its hinges for their career and helped to make the album that the song came from, Freeze Frame, a #1 hit as well. The song deals with a guy learning that the girl he knew from school has become a centerfold model and now she's the object of everyone's desire and not just his.

The video had plenty to offer the MTV crowd. Lots of models acting like the school girls from the lyrics and dancing around in their underwear. But lets not forget a few of the moments that made this video a classic. The drummer doing a drum roll in a drum filled with milk. All the girls doing cartwheels across the hall as lead singer, Peter Wolf, runs through them. And of course, all the skimpy night gowns (sorry, I'm back to being 15 again).

But the song also reminds me of some actual people I knew. I went to high school with a centerfold model and a porn star. Traci Lords was in my English class 2 years in a row. Of course her name wasn't Traci in our school. She was Nora. This is a picture of her below.

Looks like your average 1980's high school girl. But this is what her "professional" photos looked like...

BTW this photo was not easy to find as most "professional" photos of Traci from this era are either non existent or are simply illegal.....and I can not comment on her performance in any of her films as those would also be non-existent or illegal (she's verrrryy good). As Traci Lords she made dozens of porn films and continued to go to high school. She sat next to me one year and never knew what the homework had been so I was often helping her. When it was discovered that she was underage while making all those films, lots of people got in trouble and all of the films and pictures she made immediately became Child Pornography and were pulled from sale (the picture above is NOT illegal 'cause she's not nude......just putting that out there for legal reasons...just in case). By the 1990's Traci had become a legitimate actress and a DJ and is a much happier person (I read that somewhere).

The centerfold model was a girl named Brandy but she was a year younger than me. Here's a picture of her from her magazine cover.

Brandy was of legal age when she started her modeling career, so no legal trouble here. I didn't know her other than seeing her in the halls but one of my brothers insists that he dated her. I don't remember that. Brandy became the 1992 Penthouse Pet of the Year and is now an actress and model.

Now, to be clear, I never "got with" either of the two girls (its a question I ALWAYS get asked. Seriously? I'm not that cool) but in the years since I graduated, this song has always made the memory of these two girls come to mind.

Please enjoy.

Ahh...The Memories

Take It On The Run by REO Speedwagon

Released in January of 1981, this song made it to #5 on the US charts and was everywhere during that whole year. It was supposed to be the ninth video ever shown on MTV but the video went black after only a few seconds and didn't continue playing. So, early cable fail.

But this song has special meaning to me. Music has the ability to recall memories and take us back to moments and places that are key to our lives. This particular song always reminds me of a place called Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach, California where I grew up. It was basically a concrete-lined, three foot deep community pool surrounded by beach sand a few feet from the sport fishing pier in a parking lot.

It was where we spent most of our summer days in 1981 before we realized the actual beach was not very far away.....like two blocks. But one thing I liked was that they played music over loud speakers that carried across the whole area. They played this song about once an hour, everyday, all summer in 1981. This song always takes me back to this place and this time in my life. Skateboarding to the beach. The smell of the nearby pier. The sounds of the breakwater, mixed with jr. high school girls I was just starting to notice and this song.

Please enjoy.

Cha!

Der Kommissar by After The Fire

Released in 1982, it would be the second version of this song...only this time in English (well, most of it, at least). The original version of the song (recorded in German) was released in 1981 by Austrian rocker, Falco and became a huge hit for him all across Europe. British rock band, After The Fire, re-recorded the song with new English lyrics and released it to.....well, not much of a reception in their home country.

Then MTV got involved. The video (which was about as average a music video as you could get back in 1982) at least gave the band an image and a boat-load of airplay. Before long (in 1983), the After The Fire version began to climb the US charts, eventually reaching #5, and along the way, began pulling the Falco version up the US charts as well. Falco's version made it to #10 but on the disco charts...who knew that was still a thing in 1983?

After The Fire didn't even get to celebrate their accomplishment in style as the band broke up on stage one night while opening up for Van Halen (imagine David Lee Roth trying to top that) before the song started its climb up the charts.

Here's the video, please enjoy the woman putting her lipstick on....but they reversed the film so it looks like she's taking it off. Kinda cool? Maybe.

They Could Have Spent More Time On The Lyrics

Making Love Out Of Nothing At All by Air Supply

First of all, This is not really the type of song I would have listened to back in 1983 when this was released. It reached #2 on the US charts so someone was listening to it.....a lot. But its crossed my radar in the years since and it always makes me laugh and I'll explain why.

The song starts off with a bit of easy piano and then the singer comes in and he's going to tell you about everything he knows. Ok. Then the chorus kicks in and he doesn't know a few things. And then a choir comes in and they're singing half the title of the song. And now he's getting all over dramatic about her eyes and the stars. There's a guitar solo that's completely out of place for this song and this band. And now he's telling us about all the things he can make and all of them are sports analogies. Here comes the choir again. I'm starting to suspect that he can't say Making Love.

I'm not even going to go into the terrible video......its bad on many levels. And I'm not sure why this song was such a big hit but here it is.

Enjoy.....or laugh along with me.

Don't Judge Me

Don't Stand So Close To Me by The Police

Released in January of 1981, this was the first single from their third album. It reached #10 on the US charts and was a big hit for the band. The song deals with an infatuation between a teacher and a female student (which we all know is wrong and inappropriate) and its possible outcome. Prior to being a world famous musician, Sting, the lead singer, main songwriter and bassist for the band, was a school teacher (he says the song is not autobiographical, just mental role playing).

The song is my favorite Police song but not because of the lyrics. It just so happens to be the song I lost my virginity to. The girl I was dating at the time was a huge Police fan and she had a mix tape of all Police songs. This was the song that was playing when IT happened. Yes, the song is only 4 minutes long. Give me a break, I was 15. I'm lucky to have made it that long. I'm also lucky that it wasn't the very next song on her mix tape: When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around. A bit tougher subject matter. At least this song was sorta about what we were doing (we were both 15 at the time).

The video has always been a classic. Sting reprises his role as a teacher. Drummer, Stewart Copeland, is smoking in the classroom. Sting is wearing a t-shirt from the band The Beat! (known in the US as The English Beat!) and that was cool. Stewart is throwing paper at the teacher (he's naughty) and later in the song, Sting takes off his shirt and coat while grading papers......not sure what that's about but it gets a nice reaction from guitarist, Andy Summers.

Please enjoy and don't picture me having awkward, first time sex.

Albums Of 1987....Part 1

Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode

Released in September of 1987, the band was facing a growing popularity and a waiting fan base for the follow up to the break-through, Black Celebration, album. For the first time in their history they were entering the studio with a new producer, Dave Bascombe, and he had a few ideas. The main idea was the dial back the sampled sounds and just rely on keyboards and guitar (which songwriter, Martin Gore, was becoming more comfortable playing live). The result was immediately a hit. And the band's fan base exploded making them instant stars (of course, they had one more level to attain on the next release but that's not until 1990).

The album reached #35 on the US charts and spawned 3 videos that ran in continuous rotation on MTV. It's a great album and needs to be a part of any 80's music lovers collection.

Lets take a look at the songs:

1. Never Let Me Down Again - Rumored to be about drug use, this opening track is best experienced live (I'll cover it in another blog post, trust me). It makes the entire crowd just soar away with the music.

2. The Things You Said - Moody and sad, just like the subject matter. There's nothing worse than the end of a relationship. Its ugly and awful but it makes a good dance track.

3. Strangelove - The first single certainly set the tone for the album. Not as direct as Master & Servant but maybe its even deeper lyrically. It should be noted: he doesn't say the word Pain after he says he won't say it again.

4. Sacred - Martin giving us his views on his songwriting. It's one thing to write what's in your heart, quite another to share it with the entire world.

5. Little 15 - It's kind of a companion piece to Question Of Time with its suggestion of a romance between a younger girl and an older man. The music sounds ominous in a way that suggests that none of this is right or appropriate.

6. Behind The Wheel - Building momentum like a car heading down the road, this was the dance hit of the album. Still, even with the car motif, this is a song about surrendering control in a relationship. Sometimes you have to trust the other person to not crash you both into a ditch. Please enjoy the video.

7. I Want You Know - It doesn't take long to figure out what's going on in this song.

8. To Have And To Hold - The end of the previous song fades into the beginning of this dark and dreary number, suggesting that what we heard in the previous song may not have been so wonderful.

9. Nothing - This may be the best bridge between past Depeche Mode songs and what was to come on future songs. Equal parts Some Great Reward and Violator, this proves that even an album track was not just a throw-away

10. Pimpf - An instrumental track, this was the song that opened the live show each night of the tour that supported this album. It builds into an almost authoritarian march, you can almost see the cold-war era Soviet soldiers marching past.

Additionally, the band issued a few bonus tracks:

Route 66 - A cover of the 1950's classic. With the car motif throughout the album, this seems like a natural. Interestingly enough, its the only cover the band has ever released.

Pleasure, Little Treasure - This was a B-side!? How was this not the lead single? Must be nice to have so many great songs you can banish something like this to a b-side.

I Like Them Leather Pants

Crimson And Clover by Joan Jett And The Blackhearts.

Released in 1982, it was the second single off her second album. It's a cover of the song from 1968 that went to #1 on the US charts. So the song had a pedigree. And I liked Joan's version.

But it was the video that made me really like her version. I point to the image of Joan at the top of the stairs in black leather pants.............Ohhhh! Also when her eyes get big during the line, "I wanna do everything". I was 13 when this version came out......it affected me deeply.

Joan remarked later in her career that people got bothered when she didn't change the words from "her" to "him" but, as she pointed out, it wouldn't have rhymed.

Please enjoy......I know I will.