The Never-Ending Novelty Song: The 1980s

Every decade has had it’s novelty songs, from the “Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley in the 1950s to Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt” in the 1990s and beyond. But I’m going to focus on a few from my favorite decade, the 1980s.

Some of these songs were by serious artists (The Smiths and Murray Head, for example), but most of them were by obscure artists: Boys Don’t Cry, Falco and Edelweiss.

We’ll start with “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” by Boys Don’t Cry, released in 1986. Boys Don’t Cry were a British rock band, which formed in 1983. They were eventually discovered by future Trance/Dance artist Paul Oakenfold and released their self-titled debut album in 1986, which contained “I Wanna Be a Cowboy.” It was the first of only two albums for the band.

“I Wanna Be a Cowboy” was a big hit in the USA, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. That wasn’t enough to save the album, however, which peaked at #55 on the Top 200 Albums Chart.

Although the band released nine singles in the 1980s, “Cowboy” was the only one to chart. The single released just prior to “Cowboy,” “Lipstick,” was actually a pretty good song and was one of those that fall into the category of “Should’ve been a hit.”

Also released in 1986 was “Rock Me Amadeus” by Austrian pop star Falco. The song took it’s appeal from the Academy Award winning success of the 1984 film Amadeus. “Rock Me Amadeus” was a worldwide hit despite the fact that it was sung in German. Even in the USA, UK and Canada, versions of the song were supplemented by English lyrics here and there, but the lead vocal remained in German. The song was one of the few non-English tracks to ever reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Falco

Unfortunately, Falco died in 1998 following a car accident in the Dominican Republic. He managed to escape being a one hit wonder with his follow-up single to “Rock Me Amadeus,” “Vienna Calling.” The song peaked at #18 on the Hot 100, but that marked the end of Falco’s success outside of Europe.

A song that was an even more obscure Austrian single was “Edelweiss” by the band Edelweiss. The song (in it’s extended version) was a big Club hit in 1988 (peaking at #7), but it even managed to climb up the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #24. Although the song was hokey, with its yodeling and nonsensical lyrics, it had a certain catchy charm to it, almost like “Love Shack” by The B-52s– although that was admittedly a much better song.

Edelweiss released only one album, The Wonderful World of Edelweiss, and was never heard from again.

Edelweiss— Austria’s One Hit Wonder

On the more serious side, there were two other songs I consider novelty by more serious artists. The first was “Girlfriend in a Coma” by The Smiths, who were a tremendously popular band in their native England. The band had some success in the USA during the 1980s. Their most successful album in the States–Strangeways, Here We Come— peaked at #55 on the Top 200 Album Chart in 1987. But The Smiths have become more of a retro legend sort of success here since that time.

The Smiths

“Girlfriend in a Coma,” which was also released in 1987, gets its novelty appeal from its title. I personally feel like it is the most unusual-humorous-novelty title for a song– ever. The Smiths were fronted by lead singer Morrissey, who left the band in 1987 to start a solo career, after tensions rose between him and guitarist Johnny Marr. Actually Marr was the first to exit the band. Morrissey was the personality of the band, however, and there was really no way to replace him. So The Smiths found themselves in the same situation that The Doors did in the early 1970s, when lead singer Jim Morrison died.

The last song on my list is actually one of my favorites from the ’80s– “One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head. The song was taken from the play Chess and was Murray Head’s only hit. What makes it a novelty song? Primarily the video, which has a sort of cheesy feel about it. In fact, the one woman who is prominently displayed in the video doesn’t look like a real Asian to me anymore than Mickey Rooney did in Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961.

“One Night in Bangkok” has a killer beat and baseline– considering it was featured in a Broadway musical– that I’ve always found irresistible. Of the five songs here, it’s my favorite– minus the video.

Boys Don’t Cry

Evening Music Meditation: Cabin Fever? Escape to the Beach with Purple Disco Machine

As cabin fever sets in, what could be more perfect than a chill-out escape to a private beach, surrounded by palm trees, countless stars in the sky and the sound of the ocean? Nothing except for some good vibes from Purple Disco Machine.

Purple Disco Machine is actually DJ Tino Piontek. He specializes in mixing musical genres like Deep House, Funk, Electronica into a nice 1980s blend. Piontek is from Dresden, Germany but he knows how to weave a tropical spell.

Purple Disco Machine has worked with one of my favorite Aussie duos, Bag Raiders, and has become internationally known on dance-floors and at music festivals. But PDM is just as nice to listen to on your couch with a cool drink. So kick back, relax, “take it easy” and keep it cool!

And if you decide you feel like dancing, here’s another tidbit, featuring the British band Foals, remixed by Purple Disco Machine.

Today’s Groove Meditation: Hot Chip’s Synthpop Ecstasy

Hot Chip is a British synthpop band. They released their first album, Coming On Strong, in 2004. Fifteen years later, A Bath Full of Ecstasy, is their seventh and most cohesive album.

I’ve been a Hot Chip fan since their debut, because after the dreadful guitar-driven 1990s, I was ready for a return to the synthpop sound that originated in the 1980s with groups like Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Human League and Information Society.

Although Hot Chip has received a great deal of acclaim over the past 15 years, both in the States and in Europe, their albums and singles have failed to chart well in the States, aside from Billboard’s Dance charts. The band has charted far better in their homeland, with albums In Our Heads peaking at #14 and Made in the Dark peaking at #4 on the UK Albums chart; One Life Stand peaking at #11 and #1 on the UK Albums and Dance charts, respectively; and with Why Make Sense peaking at #13 and A Bath Full of Ecstasy peaking at #11, both on the UK Albums chart.

A Bath Full of Ecstasy is Hot Chip’s most cohesive and downtempo album. Album opener, “Melody of Love,” sets the danceable but pleasantly downtempo feel for the album. Weaved in between the downtempo numbers are four hit-the-floor dance tracks, including the very funky “Spell,” the moody-turns-finger-popping dance scorcher “Hungry Child,” and the very synthpop dance tracks “Positive” and “Echo.”

Among the four more downtempo songs, my personal favorites are the title song and “Clear Blue Skies.”

Although A Bath Full of Ecstasy reach #12 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, it failed to chart on the magazine’s Top 200 chart. And both singles, “Hungry Child” and “Melody of Love” failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100. But Billboard included “Hungry Child” on its list of 32 Best Dance Songs for January-June of 2019.

I’ve had to listen to A Bath Full of Ecstasy several times to decide whether I really liked it, or not. I found that if my mind was elsewhere and the album was just playing in the background, it all sounded too much the same. But if I was focused on the music, really listening to each song, they blended together nicely, but distinctively. So I’m giving Hot Chip a thumbs up for producing some musical ecstasy.

Today’s Groove Meditation: This Isn’t Shakespeare’s (ch)Romeo!

Chromeo is a French Canadian duo, featuring David Machlovitch and Patrick Gemayel. They sometimes refer to themselves as the only successful Jewish-Arab partnership “since the dawn of human culture.” The duo specializes in a combination of soul, funk, R&B, disco and house music.

The Montreal duo have been compared to Daryl Hall and John Oates, in terms of their blue-eyed soul sound, but Chromeo adds a modern electronic-dance beat unlike anything Hall & Oates ever recorded. The duo has appeared on Daryl Hall’s “Daryl’s House” program, so there’s definitely a soul-connection between them.

To date, Chromeo has released five albums: She’s In Control (2004), Fancy Footwork (2007), Business Casual (2010), White Women (2014) and Head Over Heals (2018). They’ve also released a two-CD special edition of Fancy Footwork called Fancier Footwork.

They’ve released several singles, the most popular being “Needy Girl” and “Rage” (from She’s In Control), “Fancy Footwork” and “Tenderoni” (from Fancy Footwork), “Hot Mess,” “Don’t Turn the Lights On” and “When the Night Falls” (from Business Casual), “Jealous,” “Come Alive,” “Sexy Socialite” and “Old 45s” (from White Women), “Juice,” “Bedroom Calling” and “Must’ve Been” (from Head Over Heals.)

There isn’t much chart information available for Chromeo’s albums or singles. Fancy Footwork peaked at #11 on the U.S. Top Electronic Albums chart. Business Casual peaked at #44 on Canada’s Albums Chart, at #70 on the Billboard Top 200 and at #4 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronica Chart. White Women has been Chromeo’s most successful album, debuting at #6 in Canada, at #11 on the Billboard Top 200 and at #42 in England, their first album to chart in the U.K. Head Over Heals peaked at #74 in Canada, #91 on Billboard’s Top 200 and at #1 on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums Chart.

Chromeo’s albums have featured a vast array of famous guest artists, such as Solange, Toro y Moi, French Montana, Raphael Saadiq, A-Trak The-Dream and DRAM. White Women is my favorite Chromeo album. It was released in May of 2014 and I considered “Jealous” to be the song of the summer of 2014. I loved it. I thought “Count Me Out” and “Slummin’ It” would have been better singles from Head Over Heals.

Head Over Heals has been referred to as White Women II by some critics, but I think the album fails to live up to White Women. White Women has a fresher, more cohesive sound that burst from your stereo speakers like an electronica/dance wildfire. Time to sizzle!

Daryl Hall and Chromeo perform “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” on the show Daryl’s House

Today’s Groove Meditation: Janet

Although Janet Jackson may not have been as iconic in the 1980s as big brother, Michael, I think she out-shined him in many ways. First, I always respected her for making a success out of herself without relying on big brother’s help. She wrote/co-wrote her own songs and she selected her own producers, most notably Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

The album Control, released in 1986, was her first breakthrough in the music business. Previous releases failed to propel her into Superstardom. And who could help but love the entire album? The singles were glossy dance numbers with tough lyrics. Years before self-help groups were making the term “boundaries” popular, Janet Jackson was already setting boundaries with her lyrics, especially in songs like “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” “Nasty” and “Let’s Wait Awhile.”

Even more amazing was the fact that she was able to follow up Control with an album that was even more spectacular, Rhythm Nation 1814 in 1989. At the time, I really considered Rhythm Nation to be Janet Jackson’s sophomore album, since Control placed her on the music map. Control had produced four Top 5 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with “When I Think of You” being her first #1 hit. The album itself had also shot to #1 and sold 10,000,000 copies worldwide.

Who could turn right around and top success like that? Janet Jackson. Rhythm Nation also shot to #1 on the Billboard albums chart and it sold over 12,000,000 copies worldwide. Album sales were propelled by record-breaking singles “Miss You Much,” “Escapade,” “Rhythm Nation,” “Alright,” “Come Back to Me,” “Black Cat” and “Love Will Never Do Without You.” To this day, Rhythm Nation is the only album to produced 7 Top 5 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

Not bad for the little sister of the same era’s greatest icon, King of Pop Michael Jackson. Janet Jackson will forever be a Superstar icon of her own in the world of Pop/R&B music. She truly helped to make the 1980s musically spectacular.

Ladies Nite

This evening I’m focusing on Madonna and Bananrama. Madonna is the most iconic of all 1980s artists (along with Michael Jackson). Over a 10 year period (1984-1994) she scored 28 Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

The one Madonna single that was never issued in the USA , or anywhere aside from Japan, was “Spotlight.” And I’ll never understand why. “Spotlight” was the lead song on Madonna’s continuous-play dance album You Can Dance, released in November of 1987. The moment the needle on my turntable hit the opening drum beat on “Spotlight,” I absolutely loved it.

To this day it’s one of my all time favorite Madonna songs, and I think it’s the most overlooked song in her entire catalogue.

Here is the best video version of “Spotlight” that I’ve been able to find…

Bananarama reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their cover version of “Venus” in 1986. They had 11 singles chart in the Hot 100, including the Top 10 hits “Cruel Summer” (1984) and “I Heard a Rumour” (1987). But they were never quite as popular here as in their native UK. Although the loss of singer Siobhan Fahey in 1987 reduced the trio to a duo and looked like the kiss of death, Banarama has never stopped recording or performing to this day. Original members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward have kept the group alive, and they just released their 11th album, In Stereo, this year.

In Stereo is one of their best releases and the song “Dance Music” is my personal favorite from the new album. Here is the official audio/video and a live video of the song shot in London.