Hair Band Friday - 2/28/25

1.  "School's Out" by Krokus

2.  "City Boy Blues" by Mötley Crüe

3.  "Rev It Up" by Vixen

4.  "Sweet Mary Ann" (live) by The Quireboys

5.  "We Can Work It Out" (live) by Tesla

6.  "Cries in the Night" by W.A.S.P.

7.  "Higher Ground" by Thunder

8.  "S.A.T.O." by Ozzy Osbourne

9.  "No No No" by KISS

10.  "In the Room" by Sammy Hagar

Retro Video of the Week: "All Night Long (All Night)" by Lionel Richie

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the 27th Annual Grammy Awards, where Lionel Richie's massive Can't Slow Down album won Album of the Year, despite the fact that it was released in October 1983.  I'm sure there are some weird cutoff dates that I don't know about, but I digress.

Can't Slow Down was one of the biggest albums of the '80s.  For starters, the albums that it beat out at the Grammys included Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., Prince's Purple Rain, Tina Turner's Private Dancer, and Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual.  Can't Slow Down is Richie's best-selling album, going certified diamond in the U.S. (for 10+ million albums sold) and selling over 20 million copies worldwide.  All five singles released from the album reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100:  "Hello" (#1), "All Night Long (All Night)" (#1), "Stuck on You" (#3), "Running With the Night" (#7), and "Penny Lover" (#8).  The album itself spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album charts in December 1983, and it remained in the Top 10 the entirety of 1984 (and spent a total of 160 weeks on the Billboard 200).

While "Hello" has that iconic video with the blind woman making a sculpture of Richie's face, based solely on touching it, I went with "All Night Long (All Night)" because I like the song better.  It's a fun, festive song about partying and having fun.  And yes, the African-sounding lyrics in the bridge are, in fact, gibberish.  Jambo jumbo, indeed.

In addition to topping the Billboard Hot 100, the song went to #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary and R&B singles charts.  It also topped nine other international pop charts and reached the Top 10 on another nine.

The video -- which was produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith (whose mother invented Liquid Paper) -- has kind of a '60s musical feel to it, and everyone starts out slogging along in their daily grind before Lionel comes along and lets them know they can have a good time -- and not just for a portion of the evening.  We're talking all night long. 

Hair Band Friday - 2/21/25

1.  "Somebody Save Me" by Cinderella

2.  "Steeler" by Judas Priest

3.  "Messin' With a Hurricane" by Hurricane

4.  "In the Sticks" by Warrant

5.  "Home Street Home" by King Kobra

6.  "Swept Away" by Sammy Hagar

7.  "Fly to the Angels" (live) by Slaughter

8.  "No Room for Emotion" by Faster Pussycat

9.  "The Last in Line" by Dio

10.  "Dancing in the Street" by Van Halen

Retro Video of the Week: "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds

In our next exciting installment of "damn I feel old," yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the release of the soundtrack to the iconic Brat Pack film The Breakfast Club.  The movie itself was released across the U.S. a few days earlier, and of course, it tells the tale of five high schoolers -- "a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal," as the group's final essay to Vice Principal Vernon describes themselves -- who have to spend a Saturday in detention for various reasons.  Through comedy and heartfelt confessions, the film teaches us that you can't always judge a book by its cover, and everyone has struggles, no matter what their facade might otherwise portray, and we have more in common with others than we might think.  It's one of those quintessential '80s movies, further cementing the legacy of John Hughes, who wrote, directed, and co-produced the movie.

The soundtrack was produced by Keith Forsey, who came up working with legendary disco producer Georgio Moroder.  In addition to establishing himself as a producer in his own right in the early '80s (he produced Billy Idol's first four albums), Forsey had already been somewhat of a force on '80s movie soundtracks, co-writing (and winning an Oscar for) Irene Cara's hit "Flashdance...What a Feeling" from 1983's Flashdance, co-writing Limahl's hit title track from 1984's The Neverending Story, and co-writing and co-producing Glenn Frey's hit "The Heat Is On" for 1984's Beverly Hills Cop.  He and guitarist Steve Schiff co-wrote a song for The Breakfast Club called "Don't You (Forget About Me)," with the idea being that when these five high schoolers were back in school the next week, don't forget about the bond we made during detention and that we have things in common.  

It was originally offered to Scottish new wavers Simple Minds, but they declined it initially.  After several other artists, including Billy Idol and Brian Ferry, also declined it, Simple Minds came around and decided to record it, making some minor modifications that we have come to know and love (like the "hey hey hey hey" throughout, the "la la-la la" at the end of the song, and some edgier guitars).  That turned out to be good call.

The song was played at the end of the film, and it became the band's biggest international hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the pop charts in Canada and The Netherlands.  It also reached the Top 10 on thirteen other international pop charts.  The song also has a pretty delicious drum fill at about 35 seconds before the end, right before the "la la-la las" kick in.  Of course, the song is just as signature of an '80s song as the movie is a signature '80s film.

The video was filmed in a swanky British manor, Knebworth House -- which has been featured in dozens of movies and, more importantly, is the same Knebworth whose sprawling grounds have hosted the music festival since the '70s -- and it features the band playing in a poorly lit room that has various little TV screens, some of which show scenes from the movie.

Hair Band Friday - 2/14/25

Since this Hair Band Friday falls on Valentine's Day, rather than my usual method of posting songs as I listen to them (barring repeated artists or songs that I've posted within the last year), I'm going with only songs that tie in with Valentine's Day -- so songs about love, love makin', hearts, kissing, etc., which really only cuts out about 5% of the potential universe of hair band songs.

1.  "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" by Whitesnake

2.  "Between Two Hearts" by Dio

3.  "Kiss of Death" by Black 'N Blue

4.  "I Still Love You" by KISS

5.  "Loving You Sunday Morning" (live) by Scorpions

6.  "Love Doll" by Roxx Gang

7.  "Sex Child" by Blue Murder

8.  "Never Use Love" by Ratt

9.  "Burning for Love" by Bon Jovi

10.  "Why Can't This Be Love" (live) by Van Halen

Retro Video of the Week: "Eyes Without a Face" by Billy Idol

Today, the 2025 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced.  It's a pretty good list: Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden, and The White Stripes.

It's been a while since we've had a Billy Idol song for Retro Video of the Week, so to honor his nomination, I'm going with his 1984 hit "Eyes Without a Face," off of his second solo studio album, 1983's Rebel Yell.  Inspired by the title of a 1960 French horror film -- Les Yeux Sans Visage, which, as you guessed it, translates to "eyes without a face" -- and his life in New York in the '80s and sexual indiscretions on the road, Idol wrote a brooding, ballady song that wasn't the typical uptempo punky song that audiences had grown to expect from Idol.

Whatever he did, it worked.  "Eyes Without a Face" became Idol's first Top 10 (or Top 20) song in the U.S., reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It also reached the Top 10 in Canada, Germany, and New Zealand, and was Top 20 on the pop charts in six other countries (including #18 in his native UK).

I was today years old when I discovered what the haunting female backing vocals were saying.  It was Idol's then-girlfriend Perri Lister, who was singing "Les yeux sans visage."  That makes me like the song even more.  And the video has a fun little story.  It was a marathon three-day shoot, and on the plane ride after the shoot, Idol discovered that his contact lenses had fused to his eyeballs, requiring surgery to remove them and three days of wearing bandages over his eyes until his scraped corneas grew back.  So for a few days, he was -- wait for it -- a face without eyes.

Hair Band Friday - 2/7/25

1.  "Burning Heart" by Vandenberg

2.  "Goin' Off the Deep End" by Y&T

3.  "Could This Be Magic?" by Van Halen

4.  "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest

5.  "Not For The Innocent" by KISS

6.  "Ride the Storm" by Shotgun Messiah

7.  "Six Guns Loaded" by Britny Fox

8.  "All The Fools Sailed Away" by Dio

9.  "Heaven is Waiting" by Lynch Mob

10.  "Dream On" by King Kobra