Retro Video of the Week: "Joyride" by Roxette

This past Monday marked the 25th anniversary of the release of Swedish duo Roxette's third studio album, Joyride.  Roxette is one of those groups that you kind of forget how big they were for a few years in the late '80s and early '90s, and then you hear one of their hits and say, "Sweet sassy molassy, those Swedes were huge."  Or maybe you don't say that.  But you should.  

They had four #1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, starting with "The Look" in April 1989, which I once dedicated on Z-95 to a guy (Mike) and a girl (Kate) in my class who laid in the grass next to each other and literally just started longingly into each other's eyes for a good hour after school, too scared to kiss because there were four or five classmates watching them.  By the time I got home and called the radio station, they were probably done staring at each other, and they didn't have a radio with them when they were staring at each other anyway, but I'd like to think they got home and were listening to Z-95 when the song came on and thought "Huh, my name is [Mike/Kate].  Wait a minute, that guy on the radio is talking about us.  This song is about us.  I wonder if [Mike/Kate] tastes like a raindrop. And I say la la la la la."  And then Mike probably did a bunch of pushups, and Kate probably decided she wanted Greg instead because she was like six inches taller than Mike.

"The Look" was followed by "Listen To Your Heart" in November 1989, "It Must Have Been Love" (which featured prominently in Pretty Woman) in June 1990, and finally, the title track to Joyride in May 1991.  "Joyride" was the 6th in a string of nine Top 40 U.S. hits for Roxette, and the song is said to be inspired by The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" and Paul McCartney's description of his songwriting partnership with John Lennon as a "long joyride."  The song not only hit #1 in the U.S., but also topped the charts in 9 other countries and hit the Top 10 in another 5 countries.

Most importantly, every time I get into an argument with my wife, at some point when things are particularly heated, I scream, "Hello, you fool, I love you!"  Then, we usually have a good laugh and a makeout session before being asked to leave the funeral home again.