Monthly Archives: August 2009

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Song of the Day #403: ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ – Eurythmics

eurythmics20 Best Songs of the 80s – #5

Unlike many of the bands on this list, I’ve never felt the need to better know the Eurythmics. Their brand of avant garde techno music is not my cup of tea, and I’m quite happy to know them only through their singles.

Now Annie Lennox as a solo artist is another story. Her covers album Medusa is a real treasure. The woman has a set of pipes, and an other-worldy timbre to her voice that fits her androgy-alien looks to a T. If they ever make a movie of her life, the smart money is on Tilda Swinton in the lead.

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Song of the Day #402: ‘Back in My Arms Again’ – The Supremes

supbackinThis 1965 ditty was the fifth Supremes song in a row to hit #1 on the Billboard chart. I don’t know it as well as the others (which included ‘Baby Love,’ ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’ and ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’) but it’s a good one.

The lyrics name-drop Diana Ross’ fellow Supremes Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, a cute touch.

Wilson, now 65, sang with The Supremes through all of the group’s incarnations and continues performing as a solo artist to this day. She is also one of the initiators of a bill that bans groups from performing under the names of famous bands.

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Song of the Day #401: ‘ Stop! In the Name of Love’ – The Supremes

stopsupremeHard to believe I’ve done a couple dozen Motown songs and a handful of Supremes songs and I’m only now getting around to this one.

I wonder if there’s another song so identified with a specific gesture (or dance move) as this one is with the outstretched arm/flat hand move the ladies did every time they performed it. ‘Walk Like an Egyptian?’ Although that was more the people in the video than The Bangles themselves. Perhaps the MC Hammer hand gesture that accompanied ‘2 Legit 2 Quit?’ I jest.

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Song of the Day #400: ‘Centerfold’ – J. Geils Band

centerfold20 Best Songs of the 80s – #6

I’ve always lumped ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘Centerfold’ together in my mind because this is another 45 I owned around the same time. Also, the band names were similar… Steve Miller Band, J. Geils Band. I had no idea of the context or history behind each of those releases, and to be honest, I continued to have no idea about those things until now.

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Song of the Day #399: ‘Abracadabra’ – The Steve Miller Band

stevemiller20 Best Songs of the 80s – #7

Today’s SOTD is different from just about all the rest in that the band performing it was not enjoying success for the first time but capping off a career that had already reached impressive heights. The Steve Miller Band went on to record many more albums, but ‘Abracadabra’ was their last single to chart. Prior to this 1982 release, however, the band had quite a few hits, including ‘The Joker,’ ‘Rock’n Me’ and ‘Fly Like an Eagle.’

But I didn’t know any of that in 1982. I lumped The Steve Miller Band in with all the other one-hit wonders that put music out around that time. Or at least that’s how I remember it… I don’t know if my 10-year-old mind really thought in terms of one-hit wonders.

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