Retro Video of the Week: "The Warrior" by Scandal

Forty years ago today, American rock/pop band Scandal released their debut (and final) full-length album, Warrior.  The band formed in New York in 1981, and they had released an eponymous EP in 1982 that featured the delectable new wave ditty "Goodbye to You" -- which got decent rotation on MTV despite not being a major hit (#65 on the Billboard Hot 100).  Interesting rock and roll history tidbit:  Jon Bon Jovi briefly played guitar in the band in 1983 before deciding to do his own thing with his own band.

Anyway, Warrior was a pretty big success, reaching #17 on the Billboard album chart and eventually going platinum in the U.S.  Much of that success can be attributed to the title track, a catchy rock song with an earworm chorus.  It was written by two veteran songwriters, Nick Gilder and Holly Knight.  Gilder had topped the Canadian charts in 1976 with his glam rock band Sweeney Todd, before going solo and hitting #1 in the U.S. and Canada with "Hot Child in the City" in 1978.  Prior to "The Warrior," he had written songs for Pat Benetar, Bette Midler, Toni Basil, and Kix.  Knight, who is now in the Songwriting Hall of Fame, had already written such hits as "Love is a Battlefield" for Pat Benatar and "Better Be Good to Me" by Tina Turner, both of which won Grammys, as well as "Obsession," which was a hit for Animotion.  She would go onto write "Rag Doll" by Aerosmith, "The Best" by Bonnie Tyler and later Tina Turner, "Never" by Heart, and many other songs for artists including Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, KISS, among many others.

So it was no surprise that "The Warrior" was a big hit.  It went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Canadian pop chart, and #6 in Australia.  By topping the pop chart in Canada, it gave Nick Gilder the distinction of being the first Canadian artist who had a #1 song on the Canadian charts as the lead singer of a band, as a solo artist, and as a songwriter for another performer.

The video is a classic, with various weird beings dancing and kind of maybe fighting in a post-apocalyptic dock yard.  I have to assume Double Dragon was directly influenced by this video.