The place for great and not-so-great nearly forgotten videos from the decade of Miami Vice, mullets, and acid wash jeans. All praise to the bands, YouTube, and the original posters of these videos.
A prototypical one hit wonder, Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock burst onto the music scene with their infectious (and possibly overplayed) "It Takes Two" in 1988 and then faded into the background nearly as quickly.
Rob Base (Rob Ginyard) and DJ EZ Rock (Skip Bryce) came out of Harlem and had immediate success with their first album, also titled It Takes Two. The LP went to #31 on the charts, while the single of the same name reached #36. "It Takes Two" liberally samples the 1972 song "Think (About It)" from Lyn Collins, assisted by James Brown (who co-wrote and produced the song). The intro music is from "Space Dust" by The Galactic Force Band.
In the aftermath of It Takes Two, Base and DJ EZ Rock split up; Base released the 1989 follow up, The Incredible Base as a solo album. It did not do as well, and failed to produce a hit single. The duo then worked together on a 1994 album, Break of Dawn, but it did not generate any traction.
Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock remained in the industry and continued to sporadically perform until EZ Rock's untimely death on April 27, 2014.
As an added bonus, here is the Lyn Collins song "Think (About It)." The break at 1:23 is the sample.
Alternative rockers Jane's Addiction were a truly unique band when they emerged from the LA scene in the mid 1980s. While their music was shaped by many bands and genres, supposedly their two most significant influences were Led Zeppelin ... and The Cure. Add some provocative art school imagery and a healthy dose of drugs and the band became a sensation in the LA club scene. The buzz around Jane's Addiction led to a bidding war, which Warner Bros. won with a then record advance of $250,000 (or so).
The group was named after Jane Bainter, who really did have a drug problem and was a housemate of lead singer Perry Farrell (along with a dozen or so other folks). The classic lineup added Dave Navarro (guitar), Stephen Perkins (drums) and Chris Chaney (bass).
"Jane Says" was written about the same Jane (Bainter), and incorporated elements of her life, including her boyfriend/drug dealer Sergio. An earlier version of the song was released on Jane's Addiction's self titled independent record, but the song was re-recorded for the group's major label debut, 1988's Nothing's Shocking. The re-recorded version added the steel drugs that are a key element of the song's now classic sound.
While "Jane Says" received some college radio airplay, it did not chart on the main charts (it did hit #6 on the Modern Rock Charts). Nothing's Shocking did not break the top 100 on the album charts, hurt by the lack of videos and mainstream radio airplay. Jane's Addition did not make a video of "Jane Says" in 1988, and the video they made for "Mountain Song" was banned from MTV due to nudity. The video below is from Jane's Addition's 1997 compilation album, Kettle Whistle.
Jane's Addiction would go on to release another strong album in 1990, Ritual de lo Habitual, and would co-found the first Lollapalooza festival before the band broke up in 1991. Farrell and Perkins would go on to form Porno for Pyros while Navarro would join the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a time. Jane's Addiction has re-formed several times in recent years, even releasing an album in 2011.
Cool trivia fact: While the Kettle Whistle live version of "Jane Says" features Eric Avery on bass, the video is with Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers). The audio for the song was recorded in 1991 with Avery, while the video was recorded in 1997 on the Relapse tour (with Flea).
Cool trivia fact #2: Jane's Addiction never had a top 40 hit, and only had one single that charted at all, 2003's "Just Because," which peaked at #73.
Although they were often categorized as a heavy metal band, Queensrÿche was actually more of an alternative hard rock band. Their music combined a guitar-driven sound and Geoff Tate's screaming vocals with elements of progressive rock and Pink Floyd. The result was some of the most unique and interesting rock music of the decade.
The band formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington and they released their self titled debut EP in 1983. Two successful LPs followed in 1984 and 1986 before the group released the audacious concept album Operation: Mindcrime in 1988.
Mindcrime tells the story of a drug addict who gets involved with a revolutionary group, with disastrous results. The story begins and ends in the same place -- with the lead character, in a psychiatric hospital. A great review is on Something Else Reviews, which goes into more detail. Many critics consider the LP to be one of the best concept albums of all time and one of the best hard rock albums of the 1980s.
For the blog, we went with "I Don't Believe In Love." Interestingly, none of the singles from Mindcrime charted, although the album went platinum and reached #50 on the charts.
After Mindcrime, Queensrÿche released several strong albums, including 1990's Empire, which included the group's only top 40 single, "Silent Lucidity" (#9), making the band an official one hit wonder.
Original guitarist (and songwriter) Chris DeGarmo left the group in 1997. In 2012, lead singer Geoff Tate was fired, which led to a court battle. As a result, there are currently two versions of Queensrÿche using the name.
Melissa Etheridge is the second native Kansas artist to appear on ERV, as long time readers may remember Clocks from August 2011. Unlike Clocks, Etheridge built quite the following, capped by her 1993 CD, Yes I Am, which has sold more than six million units.
For the blog, we went with "Like The Way I Do," from her 1988 self titled debut album. The record actually generated a fair amount of buzz, and ended up peaking at #22 on the charts, while "Like The Way I Do" did not initially chart (the song hit #42 upon its re-release in 1995). Interestingly, we don't remember seeing the video on MTV back in the day (readers should feel free to leave a comment if they recall seeing it).
While the video is a pretty standard performance piece, Etheridge's music was somewhat off the beaten track for 1988. At the time, highly polished pop and hair metal dominated the charts, and Etheridge's folky roots rock reminded critics of Springsteen or Mellencamp. It didn't hurt that her raspy voice seemed tailor-made for the songs either. While Etheridge's hairstyle seems dated (in the video), we think that the songs from her debut album have held up remarkably well.
As most folks will know, Etheridge remains active in the music industry to the present day.
Powerful, political and controversial, Public Enemy (PE) helped to re-define rap, transforming it to a 'new school' sound. However, unlike the gangsta rap acts, PE's lyrics were sophisticated and political, complimenting the strong backing sounds.
Public Enemy came out of Long Island, NY and was led by Chuck D (Carlton Douglas Ridenhour), complemented by sidekick/class clown Flavor Flav (William Drayton) and DJ Terminator X (Norman Rogers). The group's entourage included bodyguards who helped the group present a strong, militant image.
While PE's debut LP, 1987's Yo! Bum Rush the Show generated some buzz within the hip hop community, it was their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) that really broke the band. The aggressive funk/rock backing music seemed to be perfectly paired with Chuck D's words (and Flavor Flav's jokes). The album would become critically acclaimed and commercially successful, helping to usher in the golden age of new school hip hop.
For the blog, we went with "Don't Believe the Hype" off the group's second album. We don't believe that the song charted, while the album reached #42. Of course, PE would go on to have tremendous success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While they have taken several breaks over the years, we believe that they are still together as of this writing.
Cool trivia fact: PE is an official one hit wonder, as only 1994's "Give It Up" (#33) broke the top 40.
Cool trivia fact #2: Rolling Stone views It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back as the 12th greatest album of the 1980s and the 15th greatest album ever.
Living Colour (the band, not the cool TV show, In Living Color) has been on the list of acts to add to the blog for some time. And while we considered going with a less well-known video such as "Open Letter to a Landlord," we finally settled on "Cult of Personality" because ... well, because it rocks.
Guitarist Vernon Reid was the driving force behind Living Colour and formed the group in 1986 with singer Corey Glover, bassist Muzz Skillings and drummer Will Calhoun. The New York group became regulars at CBGBs and soon caught the ear of Mick Jagger, who helped the band get signed (and later had them open for the Stones on the 1989-90 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour).
While Living Colour initially gained some notoriety for their skin color, it soon became apparent that they were carving out a divergent musical path that combined hard rock, jazz and funk into a new sound. The result was critically acclaimed, and amazingly found an audience. The group's 1988 debut, Vivid, reached #6 on the charts and produced two top 40 songs -- "Cult of Personality" (#13) and "Glamour Boys (#31). Living Colour also won the MTV VMA for Best New Artist in 1989 (which may have been the kiss of death; see the Michael Penn - No Myth entry for a list of MTV's Best New Artist winners).
Unfortunately, the band's follow up efforts became progressively less successful, and this, combined with disagreements around their musical direction caused Living Colour's 1995 break up. The individual members remained in the industry and re-formed the group in 2000; they continue to record and perform to the present day.
Cool trivia fact: the song contains samples of several famous speakers, most notably Malcolm X in the intro. (JFK and FDR are sampled later in the song).
Cool trivia fact #2: Rolling Stone views Vivid as the 64th greatest album of the 1980s.
By 1988, hard rock had virtually taken over the U.S. charts and the record labels responded by putting out a ton of product. This included a bunch of pop metal that was modeled after Bon Jovi or Def Leppard and was more or less designed to be commercially successful.
Vixen fits into this guilty pleasure segment, which isn't to say that they weren't a solid band ... just that they had a crafted sound. The all-female band was formed in the early 1980s in Minnesota, but moved to LA by the middle part of the decade. They were signed by EMI in 1988, and their eponymous debut LP came out the same year. One sign of EMI's involvement was that the band wrote exactly one of the eleven songs on their album (to be fair, they co-wrote four others with external songwriters).
"Edge of a Broken Heart" was co-written by Richard Marx (yes, that Richard Marx, who also appears in the video at 2:42) and Fee Waybill (cool rock name alert!) from The Tubes, who was featured on ERV way back in August of 2011 for the under-rated classic "Talk to You Later." (Seriously worth a listen; turn the sound up as the video's volume is too low.) The song generated a ton of airplay on MTV and reached #26 on the charts, while the album peaked at #41. Vixen's second album did not do as well and the band broke up in 1991, although they have re-united periodically in the ensuing years.
Cool trivia fact: Jon Butcher wrote "American Dreams" for Vixen's debut album. Butcher's "Don't Say Goodnight" was the third video featured on ERV, back in August 2011 and gets our highest recommendation.
Cool trivia fact #2: Vixen is not a one hit wonder, as their Heart-influenced single "Cryin'" hit #26 on the charts.
As a country roots rocker in the 1980s, Steve Earle had a challenging time fitting in, not unlike John Hiatt. Earle was critically acclaimed and flirted with success on both the country and rock charts but ultimately never quite broke through. However, he recorded a bunch of great music and gradually developed a modest but loyal following.
Earle's 1988 release Copperhead Road was represented a clear break from the more country-oriented sound that preceded it. A combination of frustration over the Nashville music scene and his liberal politics may have driven the change. In any event, the result was a unique and really solid country-rock album that reached #56 on the charts. The single "Copperhead Road" is a classic roots rock storytelling song, and it received some radio airplay at the time.
The video does a fine job of telling the song's story about moonshine, Vietnam and drugs, with a decidedly anti-authoritarian slant. (I particularly like the intro.)
In the aftermath of Copperhead Road, Earle's career deteriorated, primarily due to drug use. His 1990 CD, The Hard Way, is not viewed as one of his better efforts, and he then mostly disappeared from view for several years. However, he returned to the industry (cleaner) in 1995 and has carved out a solid and interesting path since then. For readers who are interested, 1986's Guitar Town and 1996's I Feel Alright are especially strong. ERV also posted an earlier effort, "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" in January 2014.
Earle remains active in the industry as of this writing.
Electric Boys were Sweden's contribution to the cool, but short lived funk metal scene. The band was formed in 1988 in Stockholm by guitarist/vocalist Conny Bloom (Blomqvist) and bassist Andy Christell. Their first single, "All Lips and Hips" was released the same year, and became a hit in Sweden. The local success of the song led to a recording contract, and in 1990, the band's debut album (Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride) was released. [Hence, astute readers might view "All Lips and Hips" as a 1990 release, but we tend to go with the original release date at ERV. Is this cheating? Perhaps, but it does allow us to highlight a few videos that otherwise would not be included.]
As Allmusic points out, Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride was not funk metal the way Faith No More was, it was more funk shaded hard rock like vintage Aerosmith or early 1970s Rolling Stones. "All Lips and Hips" cracked the Billboard charts, but only reached #76, and ended up being the only Electric Boys song to chart in the U.S. However, the band's psychedelic gypsy-inspired videos did pick up some airplay on MTV, and it seemed as if they were well-positioned to build their audience. Then Nirvana's Nevermind happened, and the Electric Boys soon found themselves totally out of favor.
The band did release two subsequent albums in 1992 and 1994, but neither charted, and they broke up in the mid 1990s. Electric Boys has re-formed in recent years, and even released a new album in 2011.
Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alt folk band who have been together since the mid 1980s. The band consists of three siblings (Margo, Michael and Peter Timmins) along with bassist Alan Anton. While they are something of an underground band in the U.S., they had a string of hits in Canada and remain together to this day.
Their cover of The Velvet Underground's classic, "Sweet Jane" was their biggest hit in the U.S., but it did not crack the top 100 on the Billboard charts. In fact, they never had a charting hit in the U.S., although they have scored 9 top 40 hits in their native country. "Sweet Jane" did hit the U.S. Modern Rock charts in 1989, reaching #5 and the video generated some views on MTV at that time.
"Sweet Jane" was from the 1988 album The Trinity Session, which was recorded in Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity in one night, using one microphone.
Regular readers of ERV will recall that we featured The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed last September ("Dirty Blvd."). There is a bit on VU there and we would recommend it -- The Velvet Underground were brilliant and ahead of their time. They are one of those bands whose impact was materially greater than their record sales. "Sweet Jane" was originally from the VU album Loaded, from 1970, and is now widely regarded as a masterpiece.
Cool trivia fact: the Timmins other sibling, Cali, was an actress on Ryan's Hope from 1983 - 89.
John Hiatt has already appeared twice on ERV -- once for "Slow Turning" and a second time for Bonnie Raitt's cover of his song, "Thing Called Love." Astute readers may now be wondering what this has to do with Jeff Healey ... and we'll get to that in a moment.
Canadian Jeff Healey saw significant success with his first album, 1988's See the Light. The LP reached #22 on the charts, helped by "Angel Eyes", which hit #5. [In typical ERV style, we are going with "Confidence Man," the first single off the album, which did not chart.] Healey was also a unique guitarist in two regards -- first, he was blind, and second, he played the guitar laying flat on his lap (almost like a steel guitar).
The John Hiatt / Jeff Healey link is this: Hiatt wrote both "Confidence Man" and "Angel Eyes." It is somewhat ironic that Hiatt (who never has had a top 100 hit in the U.S.) wrote the songs that helped to launch two separate artists' careers.
In any event, Healey's commercial success peaked with his first album. While he remained successful (particularly in Canada), he did not have another top 40 hit in the U.S., making him an official one hit wonder. Later in his career, he transitioned to jazz, and even played trumpet and trombone on his albums. Sadly, Healey died of cancer in 2008.
Coll trivia fact: The Jeff Healey Band was the house band in the 1989 film Road House (staring Patrick Swayze).
Long time readers will know that we like to feature lots of different types of music on ERV, including well-crafted pop songs. While "Waiting For a Star to Fall" would be more at home on VH1 than MTV, it is an excellent example of 1980s lite rock and has a cool backstory to boot.
Boy Meets Girl was the songwriting team of George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam. The married (at the time) couple met at a wedding, and became a personal and professional couple. While they released an album in 1985, they were best-known as the songwriters behind the Whitney Houston hits "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)."
"Waiting For a Star to Fall" was inspired by an actual shooting star that Rubicam had seen at a Whitney Houston concert. The song was originally offered to Houston, but her team passed, as they were moving in a more R&B direction. The song was then offered to Belinda Carlisle, who made a demo recording, but decided not to release the song.
As a result, when Boy Meets Girl released their second album, 1988's Reel Life, they were able to include the song. "Waiting ..." would go on to become the duos' signature song and biggest hit, reaching #5 on the charts, while the Reel Life album peaked at #50.
Sadly, the couple then went through a rough patch -- their third album, 1990s New Dream was not released by their label, and they divorced in the early 2000s. However, their professional collaboration continues to this day, we believe.
Cool trivia fact: The blonde girl in the video is the couple's daughter
Cool trivia fact #2: Boy Meets Girl is not a one hit wonder, as "Oh Girl," from their self-titled 1985 debut, hit #39 on the charts.
As an added bonus, here is Belinda Carlisle's demo recording of the same song:
BulletBoys are your basic late 1980s pop metal band, and we'll admit that we have a soft spot for them, even if they did come off as a mimeographed Van Halen. The band formed in LA (of course) in 1987, and were led by Marq Torien, who had previously been a member of Ratt and King Kobra.
The band's self-titled debt and early videos tried to duplicate the Van Halen formula, right down to Torien doing his best David Lee Roth impression. It didn't hurt that their first three albums were produced by Ted Templeman, who also produced Van Halen's first 6 albums.
Drafting off the huge popularity of pop metal and Van Halen, BulletBoys found their audience, and the debut record hit #34 on the album charts, while "Smooth Up In Ya" (#71) and a cover of the O'Jays "For the Love of Money" (#78) both broke the top 100. The band's second LP charted, but changing tastes and weaker material consigned them to working band status, were they continue to this day.
Coll trivia fact: BulletBoys did a surprisingly solid version of Tom Wait's "Hang On St. Christopher," on their 1991 album, Freakshow.
Man, it is hard to figure out how to start a blog post about Keith Richards. Aside from the fact the he is seemingly indestructible (from a drug standpoint, at least), we are talking about one of the greatest rock songwriters ever. [We're particularly partial to the guitar lines in "Happy," "Brown Sugar," "Satisfaction," and "Gimme Shelter," just for starters.]
However, the mid-1980s were a difficult time for the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger wanted to move towards a more updated, poppy sound, and when Richards resisted, Jagger effectively went out on his own. [Regular ERV readers will recognize that truckloads of lead singers go out on their own, almost always to the detriment of themselves and their band.] By 1986, the situation came to a head, and Jagger refused to tour or support the Stones Dirty Work LP, instead focusing on his solo record. At that time it was unclear if the Rolling Stones would continue as a band.
This led to Richards deciding to do his own solo record (his first); the result was the 1988 album, Talk Is Cheap. While the songs do not measure up to the late 1960s / early 1970s masterpieces (what does?), the record produced some of the best Richards material in years. He co-wrote the album with Steve Jordan, and set up a band (the Xpensive Winos) to record and tour.
"Take It So Hard" was the lead single and does a great job of recapturing some of the Richards magic (man, does he have a feel for great riffs ...) The video is a shot of the band performing after a nuclear holocaust has presumably destroyed everything except Keith and the band. (Given Richards apparent invulnerability this seems like a shockingly plausible scenario, actually ...)
Of course, the Stones were able to get it together and have continued to periodically record and tour as of this writing. Richards released one additional solo album, 1992's Main Offender, before re-focusing his efforts on the Stones.
The Stones dark and cool video for "Undercover of the Night" was posted on ERV in June, 2015.
It's hard to imagine a more extreme transition than from Accept to Michelle Shocked, and it underscores the diversity of eighties music. [I'm not sure how many readers will actually listen to the two songs, but they are both good ... in very different ways.]
Michelle Shocked (given name: Karen Michelle Johnston) is an indy folk artist who became a musician almost accidentally. Her first album (The Texas Campfire Tapes) was a bootleg recording of her made on a Sony Walkman performing an impromptu set at 1986 Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. The recording (released without her permission) became a hit in the UK and led to a recording contract.
Her next album, 1988's Short Sharp Shocked reached #73 on the album charts, while "Anchorage" hit #66 on the singles chart, making her a bona fide indy folk star. Shocked followed this up with a 40s style swing album (1989's Captain Swing) and a folk / old time country album (1992's Arkansas Traveler). When she recorded a gospel album next, her exasperated label dropped her, and she has continued to record interesting music in a variety of genres (mostly folk based) since then.
"Anchorage" is a pretty, slightly sad song sung as if it were a letter. While the lyrics are straightforward, there is a beauty to them -- and more than a hint of feminism and nostalgia. As with many great songs, it is open-ended enough to allow many interpretations.
Note: As folks can see below, Michelle Shocked has asked that we pull the video, and so we have.
By 1988, as pop metal was reaching its zenith, Britny Fox emerged out of the Philadelphia music scene. Led by lead singer "Dizzy" Dean Davidson, the band came off almost as Cinderella lite, but truth be told, their first album is not half bad. However, the Cinderella comparisons are not totally off base; several Britny Fox members had played in earlier versions of Cinderella, and the band took both musical and style cues from their more established compatriots.
Britny Fox' self titled debut became one of the best selling first albums of the year, peaking at #39 and going gold. The first two singles, "Long Way to Love" and "Girlschool" both broke the top 100. Unfortunately, weaker material, changing tastes and tensions within the band caused Britny Fox to fade from view almost as quickly as they had appeared. While the members remained in the music industry (to this day, in fact), they have not been able to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
For the blog, we went with the second single, "Girlschool." This song was the band's biggest hit, reaching #81 in the U.S. and #67 in the U.K. The video is classic hair metal goodness, with the band ... and lots of girls. By the way, the lead actress is Kim Anderson, who did a bunch of rock videos in the 1980s.
Amazingly, we also found some behind the scenes footage (this seems to be a recurring theme), which we have included for those who are interested. We have to say, we were struck by how professional the shoot seems ... I'm not sure what we were expecting, but probably not that.
With a really catchy backbeat and a fun, Flintstones-esque video, "Walk the Dinosaur" became a big hit in the late 1980s. The song was originally released in 1987 in the UK, where it would climb to #10, but it would not peak on the U.S. charts (at #7) until 1989. Needless to say, it became Was (Not Was') biggest hit, although it is worth noting that the band had an additional top 40 hit, as "Spy in the House of Love" reached #16 in 1988.
Was (Not Was) was founded by David and Don Was (really David Weiss and Don Fagenson) in the late 1970s, and over time the band gained a small following with their funky, slightly strange dance pop sound. However, only 1988's What Up, Dog? broke the top 50 on the Billboard album charts. By the early 1990s, the band went on hiatus, as David and Don Was pursued other endeavors -- Don became a successful record producer while David became a journalist (and produced several soundtracks). They reunited in 2004 and continue to perform together to the present time, even releasing a new CD in 2008.
Curiously, "Walk the Dinosaur" is an upbeat song with dark lyrics -- the song is about nuclear Armageddon. (Somehow that part didn't make it into the video). Also, the song has taken on a life of its own -- it has appeared on several soundtracks (including the 1994 version of The Flintstones movie) and was used at Chuck E. Cheese's and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Go figure.
Oh and consider yourself warned -- this thing will bounce around your head at random times for a few days. It is a damn catchy beat. And with that warning ... "Boom boom acka lacka lacka boom."
Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone ranked What Up, Dog? as the 99th greatest album of the 1980s.
Named after a friend of the band (who really did hate jazz), Johnny Hates Jazz was one of a series of groups who shot to prominence, only to quickly fade away. [Spandau Ballet, Cutting Crew, Level 42 and The Blow Monkeys all come to mind right away in this category.]
Johnny Hates Jazz formed in 1986 and were ironically signed by Virgin Records after performing at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London. Seriously. "Shattered Dreams" was their first single on Virgin, and it became a worldwide smash -- hitting #5 in the UK and #2 in the U.S. (where it was released in 1988). Their follow up single, "I Don't Want to be a Hero," also from their debut LP Turn Back the Clock did reasonable well, peaking at #31 in the U.S. For those keeping score at home, this means that Johnny Hates Jazz was not a one hit wonder.
While they did not appear on the U.S. charts after those two songs, the band had four additional top 100 songs in Britain, all but one from their Turn Back the Clock album. The band (minus original lead signer Clark Datchler) did release a second album in 1991, but it did not chart, and they officially broke up soon afterwards.
The video shows the trio in fine form, and while it is a bit reminiscent of The Car's "You Might Think," it still gets a solid in my book. It was directed by David Fincher, who would go on to become a successful movie director (Seven, Fight Club, etc.)
Update [January 2021], as an added bonus, we are including the UK version of the video (below):
Femme Fatale was a pop metal band from Albuquerque, New Mexico who were led by the charismatic front woman Lorraine Lewis. The band formed in 1987, and quickly moved to LA -- the center of the pop metal movement of the late 1980s. From there, they signed a record deal, and put together an album (their 1988 self-titled debut).
While the singles "Waiting for the Big One" and "Falling in and out of Love" both received some airplay on MTV, the album's sales were only so-so. Neither single charted, and the album peaked at #141. This was likely due to the abundance of similar bands; we think Femme Fatale simply got lost in the mix.
After touring as the opening act for Cheap Trick, Femme Fatale went back to the studio to work on their follow up effort, which was to be called Lady in Waiting. However, it was never released, as they were dropped by their label (MCA).
The video for "Falling in and out of Love" is classic late 1980s hair metal goodness, complete with headbanging, swirling cameras and lots of lights.
Lorraine Lewis has remained in the industry without much mainstream success, but she continues to perform Femme Fatale songs to this day.
So in typical ERV style, we're posting a Thomas Dolby song, but it isn't the one that you know and love. However, it is rare and quite good, actually.
"Airhead" was the lead single from 1988's Aliens Ate My Buick (excellent title, right up there with Mars Needs Guitars, if you ask us (and you didn't)). The album was a bit of a style change for Dolby, and was more dance influenced that the synth pop that preceded it. As a result, his fans had a tough time with it. The album peaked at #70 (Dolby's last charting LP), but fell off the charts relatively quickly.
The video is a wonderfully creative, slightly eccentric puppet show. Dolby was (he probably still is) a visual artist; one suspects that he was involved in the design of the video. We haven't been able to find anything out regarding a specific target for the song, but he did marry actress Kathleen Beller in 1988. It is not too difficult to imagine Dolby finding inspiration for this song in the Hollywood scene. [By the by, pay attention to the the lyrics; they are truly great.]
As Dolby's popularity waned, he transitioned to film and video game soundtrack work, and we believe that he continues to work in the industry to this day.
Cool trivia facts (a bunch): Thomas Dolby's given name was Thomas Morgan Robertson; the Dolby nickname came from the keyboards and audio equipment that he used. Surprisingly, Thomas Dolby is officially a one hit wonder in the U.S. -- while "She Blinded Me With Science" peaked at #5, he did not have another top 40 hit. Lastly, Dolby played the keyboard intro to Foreigner's 1981 smash, "Waiting for a Girl Like You." (See what you can learn by reading the whole entry.)
In the interest of completeness, here is the link to the extended dance version of "Airhead," called "Airhead's Revenge," and featuring Salt-n-Pepa.
