For Jessicas penultimate 80s song lesson, I have to go with Duran Duran. I had originally thought about skipping them, but this whole thing went on longer than I thought it would and you cant really talk about the mid-80s without at least mentioning them. I was trying to find a DD song that I hadnt talked in one of the previous lessons because there are many that I like. However, none of them have very interesting stories which makes me suspect the band may be all flash and no substance. (No! Say it isnt so!) So Im going with my fave: the Reflex (1984). If I had my druthers, Id use the remixed version, but I want to talk about the video. Actually, I just wanted to put the waterfall thing Trish mentioned out there for you all and no remix video exists showing it. I did discover one sort of interesting (but not that interesting) factoid. The band wanted to use The Reflex as their lead single from the Seven and the Ragged Tiger album, but their label didnt like the warbling singing during the why dont you use it segments, thinking this would hinder its success as a stand-alone single track. Turns out their label was WRONG! It was their biggest hit single outside of their James Bond theme song A View to a Kill (1985). (This is also a good song featuring all sorts of weird mechanical barking sounds in it that somehow still work. But I digress.) The video is pretty much a concert video featuring a plethora of 80s clothing like Members Only-style jackets and cable knit sweaters. Theres a video screen featuring the tamest possible silhouettes of S&M activity that youll probably find in an 80s video and, of course, Trishs waterfall. The waterfall looks kind of lame compared to the CG stuff youngsters like Jessica have been weaned on, but it was pretty cool in the 80s. (You just cant understand what it was like. Back then we had to walk uphill to the mall to buy cassette tapes. Both ways! And then we had to listen to them on giant Walkmans with crappy, uncomfortable sponge-covered over-the-ear headphones that got all twisted up! And we tied an onion on our belts, which was the style at the time. And we LIKED it that way!) The band apparently had a standing policy that their videos never be ordinary, so the waterfall and the inexplicably moderate S&M stuff were nods to that. Great 80s dance song. (You should hear the mix version. Its even better.) Why-y-y-y-y dont you usssse it? Try-y-y-y-y not to bruissssse it. Buy-y-y-y-y time dont loosssssse it.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:01:42 +0000
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