The Music of My Life – 1985

Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.

I turned 15 in 1985. It was sophomore year and I had moved up from the Freshman band to the Concert/Marching band. It is the year that consisted of many of my favorite songs that I recently posted about in this week’s Turntable Talk blog. It was also the year that I went on my first date and my first dance. How did the music of 1985 play into my life? Let’s find out…

My first pick is a soulful tribute to two amazing singers who passed away in 1984. It is also the only hit that the Commodores had after Lionel Richie left the group. I am talking, of course, about Nightshift.

The song is a tribute to singers Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Marvin was 44 when he passed away, while Jackie was only 49. In 1974 the Righteous Brothers had a hit with Rock and Roll Heaven, where they picture fallen stars like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin forming a band in heaven. This was supposed to be a soul version where Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson are on heaven’s nightshift, playing some sweet sounds.

I love how the intro starts with that percussion lick and the smooth bass line that works its way to the vocal. It is such a funky, soulful and loving tribute to Marvin and Jackie – two legends!

Nightshift

As a sophomore, I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit and decided it was ok to go to high school dances. Mostly, the guys just hung out at a table and talked. However, after my first official date, I began actually wanting to go to dances with a female date. While I cannot remember for certain, I am pretty sure that one of my first dances ever with a girl was to Crazy For You by Madonna.

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of hers. My brother, on the other hand, loved her! There are a few songs that I do like by her, and this is one of them. What I remember most about dancing to this song was that she was singing “crazy for you” and I wasn’t sure what kind of message that may or may not have been sending to my date. I was also thinking about making sure I was swaying the same way she was and NOT stepping on her toes. It had to be a very uncomfortable dance for her.

Fun Fact: Madonna reportedly only took one take to record this song.

This was recorded for the soundtrack to the wrestling film Vision Quest, which also featured a guest appearance by Madonna herself, who played a singer at a local restaurant. After the success of this song, the film was renamed Crazy For You in some European countries to capitalize on the song’s popularity.

Crazy For You

How does that saying go? Everything old is new again? I don’t know. What I do know is that Netflix is currently airing the 4th installment of the Beverly Hills Cop Franchise and I hear it is doing well. It was back in 1984 that Eddie Murphy first played Detroit Cop Axel Foley. The character’s name is what led to the title of my next song, Axel F.

Before the title was settled on, it went by a different name. During production of the movie, it known as the “Banana Theme,” as it was slated for a scene where Axel Foley shoves a banana in the tailpipe of police officers intending to pursue him. The composer was German musician Harold Faltermeyer and truly, this song was all him.

According to Wikipedia, he recorded the tune using five instruments: a Roland Jupite-8 provided the distinctive saw lead, a Moog modular synthesizer 15 provided the bass, a Roland JX-3P provided chord stab brasses, a Yamaha DX7 was used for the marimba sound, and a LinnDrum was used for drum programming. Faltermeyer played every single instrument.

He was also the musical director on Beverly Hills Cop and did the score for the film. The soundtrack went to #1 in the US and won a Grammy for Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special. The song topped out at #3.

We played this at a concert one year in band, and though it sounds pretty easy, it was a bit tougher than I anticipated. It may have been in a weird key. It was one of many fun numbers we played.

Axel F

There are some songs that when you hear them, you cannot help but feel happy. My next pick is one of those songs. I have rarely played this at a party or wedding where it didn’t cause people to just get up and dance.

Remember the feeling you got when you first found out that someone truly loved you? There was that feeling of joy that just overflows from you! You can feel that joy and excitement in the vocals by Katrina Leskanich in Walking on Sunshine. It just makes you feel good!

The wife of one of my second cousins threw him a birthday party I DJ’d. The song was on the “must play” list. I remember having a conversation about the song and she said that it was the kid of song that you should play the minute you wake up in the morning. She said that it would just set the mood for the day. She always seemed to be in good mood when I saw her, so maybe she did just that!

Songfacts says, The video got a lot of airplay on MTV. It shows the band hanging around London, with Katrina very colorful and bouncy, and her bandmates more subdued. She had to make her own sunshine, as there was none in London – it was a typically cloudy and cold day.

Katrina’s look was anti-glam, with tennis shoes and the kind of fashions you’d find at the mall. In interviews from this time, she often took shots at singers like Madonna and Pat Benatar for adopting more suggestive looks.

Teen boys didn’t seem to mind….

Take four major country superstars, all who are friends with each other, pitch them an old song and tell them they should record it together and you get one really neat song. That’s the basic story of how Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash became The Highwaymen.

Country legend Jimmy Webb wrote the song about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. Webb released his version in 1977, it was covered in 1979 by Glen Campbell, who took the song to Johnny Cash, who was recording with Nelson, Jennings and Kristofferson.

The story goes that the four were all together in Switzerland doing a television special and decided that they should do a project together. While the four were recording their first album, Johnny’s friend Marty Stuart played the song for Cash, saying it would be perfect for them. It had four verses, four souls, and four of them.

The song led to the name of their supergroup, their album, and of course, their first single. Each of the four verses was sung by a different performer: first Nelson as the highwayman, then Kristofferson as the sailor, then Jennings as the dam builder, and finally Cash as the starship captain. Webb later observed, “I don’t know how they decided who would take which verse, but having Johnny last was like having God singing your song.”

No personal story to go with this one, I just like it!

I am embarrassed to say that up until 1985, I had never seen a James Bond movie. I was familiar with the fact that Roger Moore played Bond. My mom would rent Bond films on occasion and also watch them on cable. Moore played a Bond-like version of himself in Cannonball Run in 1981, but I had never really seen him AS Bond.

So when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to the show with him we saw A View to a Kill. It was actually neat to see this in the theaters. I had often seen the Bond movie intro being parodied, but to see it kick off the film and to hear the song was all new to me. I was grateful to be able to see it.

Knowing Duran Duran and some of their songs, I was surprised that they did the theme song. The story of how they got it is interesting. Songfacts says: “according to the bassist John Taylor, was that he approached the longtime Bond producer, Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, while extremely intoxicated when they were both at a party. He stated that he was a long time fan (Major Bond geek would be more accurate. An Aston Martin was said to be one of his first “rock star” purchases, and he frequently mentioned his Bond video collection in interviews) of the series, but the music for the last few movies had been mediocre. He then offered to have his band fix the problem and Broccoli took the idea under advisement. Being asked to perform the theme song for a James Bond movie is a great honor, but the requirement to include its title in the lyrics can be challenging. Just ask John Taylor. “To this day we are forever grateful that we didn’t get Quantum Of Solace,” he said.

It is the only theme from a Bond movie to hit #1 in America.

A View To A Kill

I’ve made it all the way to 1985 and have yet to feature a Prince song. Not that I don’t like him, he was a musical genius. I am still blown away by his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance and his Superbowl Halftime Show. He was a talent, no doubt. My only real connection to him was that we play Let’s Go Crazy in Marching Band one year.

However, I can connect this one to me because it was on my 15th birthday that Prince released Raspberry Beret. Prince originally recorded “Raspberry Beret” in 1982, but re-worked it with his newly re-formed Revolution backing band.

At the time this was released, Prince was under fire from Tipper Gore during the notorious PMRC witch hunt, which placed two of his songs on the list of the “filthy 15.” So this is one of the songs where Prince started making his lyrics more family friendly. But if you really listen closely, you know that Prince still slipped in a “filthy” reference.

Raspberry Beret

1985 was the year that one of my favorite movies was released – Back to the Future. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, I reference the movie a lot and have read my fair share of time travel novels. It is a masterpiece and I will always watch it when it is on.

When Marty realizes he’s going to be late for school and he leave’s Doc’s place on his skateboard, Huey Lewis and The News’ The Power of Love makes the perfect song to accompany the scene. How did Huey become involved?

The film’s director Robert Zemeckis wanted Lewis to do the song – Huey Lewis & the News were rising stars with a modern sound that worked well in the movie, which takes place in both 1955 and 1985. Lewis had never done film work and hesitated at first, since he didn’t want to write a song called “Back to the Future.” When Zemeckis told him that the song didn’t have to be about the movie, Lewis accepted the challenge.

All Back to the Future fans know that Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this movie. Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this scene, where he plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. An early scene in the film has Marty McFly and his band The Pinheads auditioning for the high school dance. Huey plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. The group plays the beginning of “The Power of Love,” but before Marty can sing a note, Lewis cuts them off, telling them, “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”

The music video doesn’t contain scenes from the film, but does feature an appearance by Christopher Lloyd in character as Doc Brown. We see him pull up in the DeLorean outside of a club where Huey Lewis & the News are performing.

The Power of Love

Yesterday marked the 34th anniversary of the passing of Stevie Ray Vaughn. I debated posting one of his songs for Tune Tuesday, but opted for a more uplifting post.

I was late to the SRV party. I was introduced to him after he passed away. I marveled at his playing and his vocal abilities. I really fell in love with his music.

I wrote about this song before, probably for one of the Song Drafts we were doing. It is Stevie’s cover of the old Hank Ballard song, “Look at Little Sister.”

Look At Little Sister

My final pick is another fun song. It reminds me a lot of the Kinks Come Dancing (which I just wrote about for Max’s PowerPop blog) because of the sound of the opening keyboards.

The Dire Straits were coming off the success of Money For Nothing which really established the band on MTV and on Top 40 radio in America. The fourth single from their Brothers In Arms Album was Walk of Life.

Mark Knopfler wrote this song to celebrate the street buskers of London, hence the references to “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and “What’d I Say,” which were two standards that might be part of a singer’s repertoire in the mid-’80s. Before the lyrics kick in, Knopfler does a few “who-hoo”s, which help create a whimsical vibe. When he spoke with the BBC in 1989, he expressed some “woo-hoo” remorse. “There’s too many ‘woos’ at the beginning of ‘Walk of Life,'” he said. “I heard it on the radio the other day and thought, Oh my God! What was I doing that for?”

Walk of Life (US)

Walk of Life (UK)

What song defined 1985 for you?

Next week we’ll share some songs from 1986. As I look at the music from that year, there were some great music videos! The year will feature my high school class song, my first attempt at Karaoke – before there was Karaoke, and two fantastic cover songs!

See you then!

Movie Music Monday – Cannonball

Ok, this is a bit of a stretch, but it all does tie in together. Actor Jamie Farr celebrates his 90th birthday today. He will always be remembered as Klinger from TV’s M*A*S*H.

In 1981, he was one of many stars who had a role in the 1981 comedy, The Cannonball Run. The movie starred Burt Reynolds, Dom Deluise, Roger Moore, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Bert Convy, Adrienne Barbeau, Farrah Fawcett, Jack Elam, Jackie Chan, Mel Tillis, Terry Bradshaw and many others. Jamie played Sheik Abdul Ben Falafel and raced in a Rolls Royce. He reprised his role in the sequel, as well.

I was 11 when I first saw this movie and I have loved it ever since. The movie opens with a “cartoon” car chase during the well known 20th Century Fox film opening. After Burt Reynolds offers up his trademark laugh, the movie’s theme song.

It was many years later that I realized that it country singer Ray Stevens who sings the opening song. According to one article, Burt Reynolds reached out to Ray to ask him to write and perform the opening song for the film. While Ray does not appear in the film, he has two songs on the soundtrack.

The scene opens with a Lamborghini speeding down the highway. At one point, it stops past a 55 mph speed limit sign. A beautiful woman gets out and spray paints an “X” through the sign and hops back in the car. A police chase begins and you can guess who is faster. Ray’s “Cannonball” plays under the sequence as the opening credits roll.

It really fit the movie’s opening scene well and really is just a great song.

Happy Birthday, Jamie Farr!

From the soundtrack

Opening credits

Bonus – 20th Century Fox Intro

A Trip Down Memory Lane (Part 2)

I stumbled across something recently that I immediately connected with. I jotted down a bunch of the things mentioned in the article, but can’t recall where I saw it. It may have been on Facebook or Reddit. At any rate, I thought this was something that might jar your memory, too!

You can find the first batch of memories in Part 1 here:

A Trip Down Memory Lane (Part 1)

Let’s continue with Part 2 …

Video rental stores

I can remember the first time we had a VCR. To rent tapes was quite expensive at first. Over time, it became the thing to do on a Friday or Saturday night.

I remember walking through the store to get to the New Release Wall. Often times, I would wait until a movie came out on video to see it. The only problem was that sometimes all the copies would be checked out. There were plenty of times I’d see a film I didn’t even know existed. I would pick up the box and read the synopsis on the back and we’d make a decision as to whether or not to rent it.

Then, of course, you’d always check out the classics. Movies were still a bit expensive to buy at the time, so I would rent Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, and so many other movies I had grown up with.

I truly miss browsing the shelves to see what movie to watch. I miss sitting on the couch with a bowl of microwave popcorn with the lights down watching videos without the issues you’d experience at the movie theater.

Making plans – looking up movie times

Before videos, you went to the movies. But before you could do that, you have to get a newspaper and look up the movie times. Theaters would take out full page ads to promote the movie times. I remember your entire date revolved around the times that a movie would start. Dinner before or after the movie – depended on when the show started.

Sometimes, you could call the theater and they had a dedicated phone line with a recording that gave show times and the movies that were showing.

Calling a friend and talking to their parents first

I remember how many times I would call up a friend and their parents would always answer. Some of the parents were nice and would chat with me as I waited for my friend to get on the phone. Other times, they were short.

As a teen, when I called a girl to chat, I was always freaked out if their dad answered the phone! “That Keith boy is on the phone for you!” Yikes!

If the conversation went on for more than 20 minutes, which it often did, my folks or their folks would get on you because they had to use the phone. Summers I would spend a lot of time on the phone, mainly in the evenings talking to girls who I had a crush on.

When TV went off the air at night

Back in the day, when there were only 3-5 channels to watch on TV, many stations went off the air at night. Today, if you wake up in the middle of the night, you can turn on the TV and get 100 stations of stuff to chose from. When I was a kid, however, you would turn on the TV and see the above test pattern with audio of a single tone playing loudly.

“This concludes our broadcast day” the announcer would say. Sometimes it would be followed by the National Anthem and then the test pattern. Because of this, I would grab my little radio and listen to the late night DJ’s and my love for radio was born.

Sitting down to read a book because nothing was on TV

When we only had a few channels on TV, there would be those times when there was “nothing to watch.” It was then, that you would go to the bookshelf in your bedroom or living room and grab a book to read. There were many hours spent reading books on my bed. My imagination took me to the streets of London, or the deck of a ship as I read adventure stories. I wish I had read more as a kid.

Saturday morning sitcoms/cartoons

Saturday Mornings were heaven for my brother and I. We grabbed a bowl of cereal and plopped down in front of the TV to watch cartoons. Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, the Laugh-O-Lympics, Captain Caveman, and more! When the cartoons were done, there were other shows on we watched like Dr. Shrinker, The Monster Squad, and Electra Woman and Dynagal. Those shows bring back many fond memories of Saturday mornings. It was the perfect way to kick off the weekend!

Not being accessible to work outside of the work hours

It is far too easy for employers to reach employees today. I get work email on my phone, although I try to avoid looking at it when I am not there. Employee burnout is high in every profession. The line between work life and home life is blurring. People are bringing work home with them. They are taking work calls during “home time.” This, to me, is unacceptable.

Work needs to stay at work. They get 40 hours of my time during the week, and sometimes more than that (even though there is no pay for it). I try my best to ignore anything work related when I am home. That needs to be my time with family.

I truly miss those days when you only had to think about work when you were there. I miss the days before cell phones when you could actually play 18 holes of golf without having to read text messages or emails from work. If I am out on the beach, the last thing I want to be doing is answering an e-mail.

I love the fact that we can have a phone with us to call someone in an emergency or snap a picture of a neat moment, but when the tech starts to intrude on family and leisure time, we are only adding to burn out or losing precious time with what is really important.

Nicknames

Where-Did-The-Term-Nicknames-Come-From

My grandparents had nicknames for everybody! In all honestly, I think my whole family had nicknames for everybody. For example, my dad and grandfather worked with a guy they called “Buckets”. My dad said something about how he had to fill buckets with parts or something at work, which led to that nickname. There was a family friend who we met while my parents where big into the CB radio craze. My grandma called him “Three Days”. He had gone over to visit once and then it had been a while between visits. My grandma asked where he had been and reminded him that “they bury the dead in three days” and the nickname stuck. We had a cousin they called “Flookie”. I don’t know the story behind that name. There was an aunt called “Harpo” because of a picture we saw of her with this Harpo Marx perm. There was an uncle called “Pif”. The list of nicknames goes on and on.

They also had nicknames for my friends. My best friend, Jeff, used to help when my grandpa drove us around delivering newspapers. We’d always be making noises and laughing. It probably annoyed my grandpa more than he let us know. Whenever he asked about Jeff, he’d call him “the crazy one.” When they talked about my Polish friend, Joe, they called him “the Polack.” My friend Steve had a variety of nicknames. Because he always seemed to have the Ace of clubs when we played pinochle, they’d call him “the Ace of Clubs.” He always ate a ton of Long John coffee cake when he was at their house, so “Long John” was another. One time he went into their fridge without asking and it pissed my grandpa off, so he became “the rude one.”

My Uncle Tom, my Godfather, had a few nicknames. The one I always used was “Rozmo.”. I am not even sure I know how he got that one. One of the Vietnam Vet guys used to call him “Rufus.” He will always be Rozmo to me.

My friends and I used nicknames, too. Many I can’t remember, but a few I do. I called my friend Margaret “M&M” because her last name started with M. This was LONG before Marshall Mathers (who went to our high school) decided to call himself Eminem. My friend Warren I called “JJ” and he called me “Victor” (characters from Cannonball Run). Steve went by a few nicknames – Srgt. PIN, Smokey the Bear, and a few others. Joe and I called each other cavemen names (maybe because of a cartoon or cereal or something) – Gronk and Ugma. Our friend Ron was called “Boom Boom” because it rhymed with his last name. I am sure my friends can remind me of others.

I don’t remember many of the ones I was called. In elementary school I ran for student council. I did my campaign speech in a blue denim cowboy hat and wore a blue suit. Although his suit was white and mine was blue, many called me “Boss Hogg.” In high school, when we were TPing houses, Steve called me “Hucklebuck” which eventually turned into “Hucklebuck DeValier!”

Baby Nicknames

It got me thinking about all the names parents call their babies. I used to call Dante’ “bubba” and Dimitri “buddy” among other silly ones. Ella is a nickname, as you know. Her real name is Pamela and we call her Ella. Both Sam and I have many names we call her:

Scooter Butt
Scooter
Ella Bella
Ellie Bellie
Pammie Poo
Poo Poo Pants
Stinker
Stinker Butt
Cootie
Scoots
Boo Boo
Toots
Tooter
Baby Goo
Smiley
Smiley Miley
El
Ginger Snap

She has so many names, she probably doesn’t even know her real name! At any rate, I was picking her up yesterday and I was talking to her. My Google Assistant on my phone went off and picked up me talking to her. It then beeped back at me and I had to laugh when I looked at my phone.

Screenshot_20200426-205958

“Sorry, I don’t understand.” Hilarious! I am sure that when I am out in public with her (when all these restrictions are lifted), I am going to be talking baby talk to her and people will be staring at me like I am crazy.

crazy

Did you have a nickname? Did it stick with you? Tell me about it!

Aka-your-nickname

What’s Up, Doc?

This week I found out that the doctor’s office where my primary care doctor practices is going private. To be honest, this is the first time I have ever had this happen. They offered all of the current patient’s the option to stay with the practice – at a cost. So for $90 a month, I can stay with my doc, get his cell phone number for after hours questions, unlimited visits with no co-pays or deductibles, “unhurried appointments that start on time”, and a bunch of other “perks”. While this sounds great, I still have to pay my monthly insurance in case I need to go to ER or have a hospital stay. Bottom line: it’s gonna cost me more money.

I think the hardest part about this is the fact that I finally found a doctor I like. He’s Italian (we’ve talked about Italy and Sicily often). He listens to me. He doesn’t rush me. He is honest. I trust him. I’ve really only had a few doctors where I felt like this. Now, because the entire practice is going private, I have to begin a new search for a doctor!

Finding the right “doc” should be an easy task, right? Well, it really isn’t for me. Because I work an hour and 15 minutes from home, AND work for a health system, I have to take the insurance provided by them. I have to use doctors that are affiliated with the health system. This is not really a big deal. What makes it difficult is that the closest practices are about 30-50 minutes south of where I live.

Not only do I have to find a new doctor for me, but the new doctor has to be one that I can take the boys to as well. The options keep getting fewer and fewer, especially since there are only a few practices in that area.

The old doctor will see me through the end of December. So I have about 2 months to research, visit, and make a choice. Oh, and amidst all of that, it is time for open enrollment and there are all kinds of changes in that too that I need to look at and consider.

Why must health care and insurance be such a major pain in the ass?! Urgh! I am really hating that my doctor’s office is doing this!! I understand why, though. I mean, really, if I were a doctor and could avoid all the insurance company bullshit, I’d do it too! It’s just very frustrating and unfair to the patients who are established. To assume that a patient can afford an extra $1100 a year on top of what they already pay for insurance really sucks!

It is no secret that in many cases all it would take is one major medical emergency to put a family into financial distress! Hell, one ER visit with my son, at the health system I work for cost me over $800! He wasn’t even admitted! Health care costs are astronomical (not to mention pharmaceutical costs)!

So the search is on … I have a short time to interview, research and make the decision on my new doc. I am loathing ever damn second of it. Who is the right Doc??