America 250 Rocktober Song #3: "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" by Dramarama

Thus far, we've had some blues rock and hair metal, so for song #3 on this celebration of American music, we'll go with some '80s alternative rock -- or as the kids used to call it, college rock.

Hailing from Wayne, New Jersey, Dramarama was formed in the early '80s in the basement of a record store owned by founding member and bassist Chris Carter.  For those fellow SiriusXM subscribers, you'll recognize him as the calm-voiced DJ on The Underground Garage's "Chris Carter's British Invasion."  But before he got into the disc jockeying game, his band Dramarama was making power pop and alternative rock in the mid '80s to early '90s.  In the early 2000s, they were featured on VH1's Bands Reunited show, and they got back together and put out another album in 2005 (and then another one in 2020).  

If you've heard only one song by Dramarama, it's probably "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)."  Originally released on the band's 1985 debut album Cinema Verite, the song was then re-released a few years later, when it was featured on the soundtrack to A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.  

I don't recall ever hearing this song until sometime in the last ten years, when I was watching VH1 Classic late at night and the video for this song came on (though it's a different video than the one embedded below, as there were apparently two videos made).  I thought the song was awesome, even if the video I saw looked like it was recorded on a camcorder.  Maybe that added to the song's mysterious charm.  I remember thinking "what is this homemade video I'm seeing of this unknown band singing this fantastic song from a bygone era that I've somehow never heard before?"  It's a frenetically paced song, written by lead singer John Easdale, inspired by his marriage that was falling apart.  His desperation comes through in his impassioned vocals, over the top of a catchy repeating guitar riff.  When I hear the term "college rock," this is exactly the kind of song I think of.  It doesn't fit squarely into any genre that was popular in the late '80s, but it's catchy and it rocks.

Listening to the song, it was certainly ahead of its time.  The song didn't chart in the U.S. (on any chart) either time it was released, and it was a very minor hit in Australia (#85) in 1989 after it was re-released.  I feel like if this song had been released between 1992 and 1994, it would have been a massive hit.