song of the day – “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” | CYNDI LAUPER | 1983 / 1984.

It’s March 8, 2019, and International Women’s Day today!  Today, and all through the month of March (and, really, every day), is a celebration of women that began when the Socialist Party of America organized a Women’s Day on February 28, 1909.  The following year, it was suggested that it be held annually.  It became a national holiday in Soviet Russia on March 8, 1917, and in 1975, the United Nations officially chimed in.  In 2019, it’s embraced in many places and ignored in others.  I say let’s go to embrace International Women’s Day!

Over the course of writing this blog, my love of radio has been mentioned a lot.  And why not — it’s a huge part of who I am today.  I also may have mentioned my love / hate relationship with radio.  I have loved radio for 40 years, but apart from my wonderful time at college stations like WUMF and WHSN, and community stations like WMPG, radio has not loved me…yet.  And, the radio I listened to at age 12 vs. the radio I listen to at 52 is far from the same.

A potential bumper sticker for WMPG’s 45th birthday, designed by my friend and former radio neighbor, the incredibly-talented DJ Shaxx.

One thing I’ve noticed as of late on commercial radio, namely Classic Rock or Oldies stations (OMG 80s is Oldies now!  Holy cats!), and the question I ask more than any other — where are the women at?!  Yesterday (March 7, 2019), I researched a few radio stations around Portland, Maine, Boston and New York just to compare how many women are represented in playlists today.  And, apart from Top 40, which has always had a large representation of women played on their stations, even dating back to when I listened to Top 40, the playlists at the Classic Rock and Oldies stations I researched were sadly dominated by men.

Apparently (and unfortunately), the whole “recently played” feature has yet to catch on in the three major Portland, Maine radio stations I researched.  C’mon Portland, you’re the 96th radio market in America!  Act like it dammit!

So, when I struck out in Portland, Maine, I went down to the No. 1 radio market in the country — New York — to find a Classic Rock station.  And success!  Well, depending on how you look at it. 

In the three-hour period I first researched of this iHeart radio station that brands itself as “New York’s Classic Rock,” Pat Benatar was played once, and Fleetwood Mac was played twice.  I go back another three hours, and Fleetwood Mac is there again!  I get it!  RUMOURS is one of the biggest albums of all time, an rightfully so; it’s an incredible album.

But, in the six hours I researched, so many great male artists were played more than once, and yet no Joan Jett, no Heart, no Janis Joplin, no Go-Go’s.  Hey, Men At Work is in there, and I love Men At Work!  So, why not The Go-Go’s?  In six hours, three songs by Fleetwood Mac (two featuring Stevie Nicks on vocals) and one Pat Benatar song.  Three songs featuring women on vocals in six fucking hours.  Where are the women at?!  And no proper 80s radio station in New York?  What the what?!  I’ll have to get right on that.

I then went up to Boston to the station formerly known as “Boston’s Greatest Hits.”  This was promising.  Then the station recently rebranded itself as “80s & More.”  I was intrigued.  Apparently, “80s & More” for this station means they play 70s and 90s with an emphasis on 80s.  Still intrigued. 

In the same six-hour research time period, Stevie Nicks and Don Henley’s “Leather And Lace” kicked things off.  Then it took almost 90 minutes for Pat Benatar’s “We Belong” to be played.  That was followed later by Scandal, Eurythmics, The Go-Go’s (!), Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar again (three hours after “We Belong”), Nena, and Cyndi Lauper’s gorgeous “Time After Time.”

So, compared to the other station, seven female artists (or female-led acts) were played on eight songs in the same six-hour timeframe vs. three female artists.  That’s better, but still not great.  After the 90-minute wait between Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar, it was a 45-minute wait between Pat and Scandal, another 45 minutes between Scandal and Eurythmics, 40 minutes between Eurythmics and The Go-Go’s, and so on.  An average of six to eight songs by men vs. one song by a woman in the average span of 45-60 minutes.  It’s better than the New York station, but it’s not enough.  You play Michael Jackson, why not Madonna?  And where’s Aretha?  The Motels?  Janet Jackson?  Tina Turner?!  I shouldn’t have to get angry about this shit.

Back in mid-December 1983, more than three months after its release, a new single by a relatively unknown 30-year-old woman by the name of Cyndi Lauper made an unassuming debut on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 80 with “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” (which features Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian of The Hooters, Jules Shear, and David Letterman’s house drummer, Anton Fig).

Three months later, in March 1984, the native New Yorker reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and had a huge hit with “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” but was denied the No. 1 spot by the four-man Pasadena, California Hard Rock band, Van Halen, and their hit, “Jump.”

“Girls Just Want To Have Fun” was written and recorded in 1979 by Robert Hazard (whose “Escalator Of Life” was a moderate hit in the Spring of 1983), but when Cyndi recorded her version for her brilliant album, SHE’S SO UNUSUAL, it took on a whole new meaning and a whole new life.

As Cyndi mentioned about “Girls” in her 2012 autobiography, CYNDI LAUPER: A MEMOIR, “I said to myself, ‘Hell yeah, I’ll make [it] an anthem!  Maybe it’ll be something that will bring us all together and wake us up.’  It would be a movement right under all the oppressors’ noses, and no one would know about it until there was nothing they could do to stop it.

“It was very blatantly feminist [and] it doesn’t mean that girls just want to fuck.  It just means that girls want to have the same damn experience that any man could have.”  And absolutely should have. 

“Girls Just Want To Have Fun” may have stopped at No. 2 here in America, but globally, it was the fourth-biggest single of 1984, reaching No. 1 or the Top 10 in at least fourteen countries around the globe.  And, its staying power and strong message has lasted through generations and I know it will continue to be an inspiration for women (and girls) for generations to come. 

Every time I’ve seen Cyndi perform “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” in concert, I often find myself looking at the crowd, and I see so many girls dancing to this song with their friends or sisters or mothers or aunts or grandmothers, and it’s beautiful.  The last time I saw Cyndi was in Bangor, Maine on a July 2017 double bill with Rod Stewart (and her first time performing in Maine since the TRUE COLORS tour!).  I was near the front, and reveled in the excitement over Cyndi performing this amazing anthem for those in attendance.  I look forward to the next time I can experience that again.

Cyndi Lauper, amazing and on the big screen, live in Bangor, Maine, 7.14.2017.

For 35 years, Cyndi Lauper has been a beacon of hope and love and peace and music and togetherness for everyone, especially for those who don’t get the respect and love and peace they deserve and then some.  TRUE COLORS UNITED (formerly the TRUE COLORS FUND; truecolorsunited.org) exists to combat homeless youth, especially LBGT youth, who, as of 2016, made up 40% of the homeless youth population in the United States.

And for 35 years, Cyndi’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” has conveyed that all women truly want to have the same experiences that men have.  And I know that could be conveyed to radio, too. 

So, if there are any actual program directors left out there who might be reading this (and not some stupid computer-generated program which predicts what people want to hear, as opposed to listening to what people really want to listen to), Cyndi’s right. 

For those stations out there (in any genre) already playing women in heavy rotation, I applaud you.  I love you, radio, I always have.  And I have always believed in you.  But, you can do better… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A

Cyndi Lauper, 1983.

song of the day – “Money Changes Everything” | CYNDI LAUPER | 1985.

One of the first things I learned about WMPG community radio in Portland, Maine when I started my little 80s radio program, STUCK IN THE 80s, there in 1996 was the Begathon.  WMPG gets approximately 1/3 of its funding from the University of Southern Maine, approximately 1/3 from underwriting, and approximately 1/3 from listener donations.  A large chunk of the latter comes from the Begathon.  What started out as a 2-week pledge drive in which volunteer radio hosts would “beg” to raise money for the station is now split up into two 1-week pledge drives, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.  It’s come a long way since my first Begathon in the Fall of 1996.  My very last Begathon for WMPG will be on Sunday, 9.25.2016.

An artist I love to play any time of the year, Cyndi Lauper, is responsible for a  song I love to play any time of the year – especially during Begathon – her 1985 hit, “Money Changes Everything” (from her amazing 1983 debut album, SHE’S SO UNUSUAL).

“Money Changes Everything” was actually a cover of a song first recorded in 1978 by the Atlanta, GA Rock band, The Brains, written by vocalist and keyboardist Tom Gray.  Their version led them to a contract with Mercury Records, and they re-recorded “Money Changes Everything” for their 1980 self-titled debut album, produced by the legendary Steve Lillywhite, who also produced albums that year for The Psychedelic Furs (their self-titled debut) and Peter Gabriel (his third self-titled album, also known as MELT, and featuring “Games Without Frontiers” and “Biko.”

SHE’S SO UNUSUAL contained a near-even mix of originals, like “Time After Time” and “She Bop,” and cover songs, including “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” (originally by Robert Hazard), “All Through The Night” (Jules Shear), “When You Were Mine” (a fantastic cover of the Prince original), and “Money Changes Everything.”

Released in late 1984 as the fifth single from SHE’S SO UNUSUAL, “Money Changes Everything” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 three days before Xmas 1984, the same week Cyndi’s fourth Top 5 single from SHE’S SO UNUSUAL,  “All Through The Night” dropped out of the Top 10 (Cyndi was the first female recording artist to have four Top 5 singles from one album, and a debut album at that).

“Money Changes Everything,” which features a solo from friend and “Time After Time” co-writer, Rob Hyman of The Hooters on the Hohner Melodica (otherwise known as a “hooter”), reached the Top 40 of the Hot 100 in just four weeks, but stalled for a week at No. 27 in February 1985, and though it didn’t reach the Top 10, “Money Changes Everything” did help keep Cyndi in the Top 40 every week for 13 consecutive months, ever since “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” debuted in the Top 40 in late January 1984.

Around the globe, “Money Changes Everything” reached No. 14 in New Zealand, No. 19 in Australia and No. 40 in Canada.  It was a big hit in South America, reaching No. 3 in Colombia and No. 10 in Chile.

The official video for “Money Changes Everything” (a link to the video is below) was a live performance piece, where she sported a haircut not many folks could pull off (but she did), she was getting love much love from the audience, and when she wasn’t dancing all over the stage, she was kicking and beating the shit out of this metal garbage can.  She eventually she climbed into another garbage can on the stage, and she (and the garbage can) were elevated over the audience.  When I saw Cyndi perform in Boston in May 2016 with my dear and talented friend, Hope, it was also nice to see Cyndi still showing love for the song (and the audience too), and it was the last song she performed before her first encore.

“Money Changes Everything” is actually about money and how it interferes with personal relationships.  While that’s certainly true in real life, I’ve never looked at the song that way, especially at Begathon time.  For a small community radio station like WMPG that, for one week twice a year, asks listeners for help to keep the station running 24/7/365, money from listeners DOES change everything…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp4suZ4jNXg

album of the week – NERVOUS NIGHT | THE HOOTERS | 1985.

I first learned about The Hooters during my first semester at the New England School of Broadcasting (now the juggernaut known as the New England School of Communications), from Darlene, one of fellow students and one of my new friends attending the school from Great White North.  And, from that first listen (on cassette) of their album, NERVOUS NIGHT, I was hooked for life.

The Hooters were formed in Philadelphia in 1980, and got their name from the melodica, an instrument with roots in Germany and which blends the keyboard and the harmonica.  The band was formed by Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian, who had worked together in another Philadelphia band in the 1970s called Baby Grand.

Playing anywhere from clubs to high schools to TV shows, The Hooters were making a name for themselves in Philadelphia, and their original music was played on the big rock station in the City of Brotherly Love, WMMR.  In 1982, they opened for The Who at JFK Stadium in Philadephia – a concert that also included Santana and The Clash.

In 1983, The Hooters released their first album, an indie album on Antenna Records called AMORE.  It sold over 100,000 copies, which, at the time, was pretty impressive for an independent – and localized – album.  This album contained original versions of songs like “All You Zombies,” “Hanging On A Heartbeat,” “Fightin’ On The Same Side” and “Blood From A Stone” – all songs that would appear on their major label debut, NERVOUS NIGHT.  But I’ll come onto that in a bit.

Later that year, Rob and Eric were asked to help out on a major label debut album by new solo pop recording artist Cyndi Lauper, which turned into not only an amazing working relationship, but they all remain close friends to this day, and have a truly high regard for each other.  Cyndi and Rob co-wrote the song “Time After Time,” which would become Cyndi’s first No. 1 song on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, earned a Grammy Award nomination for Song of the Year, and remains as one of the most-covered songs of all-time.  In June 1984, the same month “Time After Time” reached No. 1, Columbia Records signed The Hooters to their first major label recording contract.

NERVOUS NIGHT, their debut album on a major record label, was released on May 6, 1985.  The album got off to a slow start, but first single, “All You Zombies,” worked its way to a No. 58 peak at the end of June 1985.  For those who don’t know, “All You Zombies” has nothing to do with those popular creatures on current shows like THE WALKING DEAD or iZOMBIE (of which the song recently appeared, interestingly enough), but is actually about stories from THE BIBLE.

The Hooters got a boost on July 13, 1985, when they were featured as the opening band at the American version of the Live Aid benefit concert.  Outside of Philadelphia, they were the least known band at Live Aid.  Famous promoter Bill Graham wanted The Hooters to perform at Live Aid, against the wishes of organizer Bob Geldof, who asked in a ROLLING STONE interview, “Who the fuck are The Hooters?”  Ironically (and I love this piece of trivia), many years later, Bob Geldof ended up being the opening act for The Hooters somewhere in the world, most likely in Germany, where the Philadelphia band are rock legends.

The second single off of NERVOUS NIGHT (and the album’s opening song), “And We Danced,” entered the BILLBOARD Hot 100 about a month after Live Aid.  Replete with its fun and popular video set at a drive-in, “And We Danced” became the band’s first Top 40 hit, spending a week at No. 21 in late October 1985 and 20 weeks on the entire chart.  In 1986, The Hooters were nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in a Video for “And We Danced.” 

“Day By Day,” NERVOUS NIGHT’s second song, became the band’s third – and highest-charting – single, and helped propel the album to a No. 12 peak on the BILLBOARD album chart.  “Day By Day” spent 3 weeks at No. 18 in February / March 1986 and spent 18 weeks on the Hot 100.

“Where Do The Children Go?” was the fourth single released from NERVOUS NIGHT, and was a collaboration between The Hooters and fellow Columbia Records label mate, Patty Smyth (of Scandal).  It spent a sole week in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100, peaking at No. 38 in late May 1988.

According to a February 1986 edition of the Allentown, PA daily newspaper, THE MORNING CALL, the ballad was written after Eric Bazilian read an article about three Quakertown, PA teens who committed suicide.  Eric said, “The lyric opened up to include the theme of childhood loss of innocence.  It’s a song with different meanings.”

A version without Patty Smyth recorded live at Philadelphia’s Tower Theater served as the video for “Where Do The Children Go?” and it won a BILLBOARD award for Best Concert Performance.

Other songs on NERVOUS NIGHT include “Don’t Take My Car Out Tonight” (they sure did love doing songs about cars!), “South Ferry Road,” a faithful cover of Love’s 1966 hit, “She Comes In Colors,” and three songs re-recorded from their original versions that appeared on their 1983 indie album, AMORE: “Hanging On A Heartbeat,” “Fightin’ On The Same Side” and “Blood From A Stone.”  The title track, “Nervous Night,” oddly enough wasn’t on the LP release, but it did appear on the cassette and CD versions.

The Hooters’ Rob Hyman and me, Colby College, October 1987.  Can’t believe he took a picture of me with that ridiculous moustache I had…

My love for The Hooters only grew with time, and when I had my first car in 1987, my license plate read, “HOOTRS,” which equally got me cheers and dirty looks on the highway, and I’m betting both groups of folks didn’t know it was actually about the band and not, well, you know.  I saw The Hooters perform three times, twice headlining during their ONE WAY HOME tour in 1987.  I got to meet the band on that tour, and even got a picture with Rob Hyman (check out that 80’s stash on me – yeah!).

 

The Hooters have always been one of my favorite bands, and during my 10-year tenure as Music Director for WMPG in Portland, Maine (which is where my little radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s, has aired for 20 years now), I got to interview Rob and Eric for my radio show back in 2008, in support of their 2007 album, TIME STAND STILL.  It was an amazing interview with two of my favorite musicians of all time, and one of the interviews I’m most proud of.

But it was the album, NERVOUS NIGHT, by the band once known as the Fab Philly Five – Rob Hyman (lead vocals, keyboards, accordion, melodica), Eric Bazilian (lead vocals, guitars, mandolin, harmonica, saxophone), David Uosikkinen (drums, percussion), John Lilley (guitar, mandolin, dobro, keyboards, vocals) and then-bassist and vocalist Andy King – that garnered my attention all those years ago. 

The band is still around, touring throughout the world, still massively popular in Germany and in my heart.  Hoping they’ll come back this way again soon, for what I’m sure will not be a nervous night…

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEvr99j7ruPxBGO-KJ3_UVp-n3pQwFLlv