Hello!

Happy Sunday from New Wave Beat. This is your host, Jason D'Orazio, about to dive into five great songs from 1982. Synthesizers continued to be more prominent in new wave hits thanks to Duran Duran🔖✔, Thomas Dolby, A Flock of Seagulls, etc. This was rounded out nicely with guitar-driven songs by the likes of Squeeze🔖✔, Men at Work, and others. Indeed, there was plenty of room for all flavors of new wave music🔖✔.

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"Throughout She Blinded Me, there is an ominous four-note synth riff followed by Magnus Pike yelling, 'Science!', adding to the quirkiness."

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Toni Basil - Mickey

All right, let's kick off our list with Mickey by Toni Basil. Basil released her energetic debut album Word of Mouth in 1982, which contained Mickey. A drum beat in the intro establishes a school marching band or cheerleader feel. Of course, with a new wave flare. Instrumentation-wise, a farfisa organ is played throughout the song and is the chorus' highlight. A farfisa organ is a new wave hallmark, also done by Elvis Costello🔖✔ and the B-52s🔖✔. In the verses, the guitars and drums take center court, with a punkish energy and tempo. Basil's vocals are highly dynamic and aggressive, with vocal inflections this side of Adam Ant. They serve to crank up the intensity of the song. Mickey is more straightforward in terms of song meaning - the protagonist is crushing hard on a Mickey. Toni says, "You're so fine, you blow my mind.". Lines like, "You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand," and "Don't break my heart" suggest that while the love dynamic is unbalanced. The video has Toni Basil dressed like a cheerleader, with her band dressed in various styles and colors. For instance, one is wearing a Mexican hat and lime green shirt, and another has a Mohawk and punk regalia. I must say, at 38 Basil's dancing is terrific in the video, easily one-upping . At 38, her dancing one-ups most other new wavers who were mainly in their 20s. In fact, she does a full split. Mickey topped the US charts, but unfortunately it would be Toni Basil's only hit and she only had one more album.

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Men at Work - Who Can It Be Now?

Let's now go over Australian new wave🔖✔ band Men at Work's Who Can It Be Now? Men at Work, not to be confused with Canada's Men Without Hats🔖✔, debuted in 1982 with the album Business As Usual. It was influenced by also-new wavers the Police🔖✔ and the Cars🔖✔. Who Can It Be Now? has a six-note saxophone riff for its main hook and backbone, which is the main hook of the song. There's also a good saxophone part in the bridge, all thanks to swiss army knife Greg Ham. The bass guitar also slays, especially in the verses. Singer Colin Hay starts out singing mellow, but is intense in the chorus for maximum impact. Hay's voice reminds me of Sting's, strengthening the Police similarity. Who Can It Be Now? is about a paranoid person-turned shut-in. The narrator implores visitors to stay away and fears they will kidnap him. At the same time, Hay tries to convince the audience that he's in a good headspace. The chorus goes for the simple, repeating "who can it be now?" four times, a legacy of the punk's repetition for emphasis. The video has Colin Hay home alone acting shifty and paranoid, mugging the camera with contorted faces. A parade of people come to his door, but they're possibly figments of his imagination. The bridge and ending show the band playing live. Who Can It Be Now? just missed the top-40 in the UK, but zoomed to the top across the pond (the US). After a couple more Men at Work albums in the '80s, frontman Colin Hay still tours.

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Pop-up Video Commentary

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Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science

Next up is She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby🔖✔. After producing for rap artist Whodini and new waver Lene Lovich🔖✔, Dolby released his debut album, which contained Science. It was an eccentric hit; I love new wave because it was more open to experimentation than other styles. Dolby's synths in She Blinded Me With Science are multi-layered and but they fit each other well. Appropriately for this song, the synths kind of have a mad scientist vibe. Throughout, there's an ominous four-note synth riff followed by Magnus Pike yelling, "Science!", adding to the quirkiness. Dolby's "haa" and "mmmm" and a female high-pitched vocal saying the title add still more. Dolby's tense, occasionally over-the-top vocals remind me a bit of David Byrne🔖✔, nothing wrong with that. The lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, but they're about the scientist narrator falling for another scientist. Lines like "Good heavens, Ms. Sagimoto, you're beautiful" suggest this. His love interest failed him in biology and other subjects, so Dolby might more junior than her. The self-directed video to Science is interesting; it features Thomas Dolby as a patient in a mental asylum. A psychologist subjects him to therapy and a series of tests. He has eyes for a woman from the asylum team and fantasizes dancing with her. By video's end, Dolby gets his comeuppance against the psychologist. She Blinded Me With Science was a top-10 hit in the US, but oddly didn't do nearly as well in his native UK. Dolby was not the most prolific artist, but had some good albums later on, veering somewhat from the synthpop formula.

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Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes

Next up is the upbeatGoody Two Shoes by Adam Ant🔖✔. Adam Ant started as a punk, then transitioned to new wave with a band dubbed Adam and the Ants. In 1982, he went solo again and released the album Friend or Foe, which contained Goody Two Shoes.

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Pop-up Video Commentary

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Goody Two Shoes has three major instrumental elements throughout. The first two are carryovers from his Ants days: Marco Pirroni's spaghetti Western-tinged guitar and a Burundi Beat (albeit toned-down from earlier). And there's also a cheerful mariachi horn section. Adam Ant's vocals are energetic, though dialed back a bit from when he had the Ants. Goody Two Shoes is about Adam Ant's ongoing feud with the press. He claims that the media consistently tries to dig dirt on him, as evidenced by lines like, "Don't drink, don't smoke. What do you do?". And the press' insistence that there must some other kind of dirt to find on Adam. Another theme is that the press likes to quickly annoint artists stars, and then soon tear them down.

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Related Artists

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The Goody Two Shoes video🔖✔ is hilarious, as Adam Ant is playfully mocking the media, his fans, and even himself. Like the song, the video has the theme of Adam versus the media, but it adds a twist of him successfully seducing one of the reporters. By song's end, she's chasing Adam Ant to his bedroom, and since it was on MTV the rest is left to the viewers' imagination. Goody Two Shoes made a goody run up the charts, king of the hill in the UK and managing a 13 in the US. Adam Ant would have another American hit with Wonderful in 1995, and returned to a music scene in the early 2010s after a long absence, in part due to personal problems.

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A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran

Our 1982 retrospective concludess with I Ran. Flock of Seagulls released their self-titled debut in 1982. I Ran was the fourth single, but its biggest hit, similar to the Human League's🔖✔ situation with Don't You Want Me🔖✔. I Ran begins with a half-minute intro, featuring a space-age synth. It permeates throughout I Ran. A short, fast guitar riff is also a highlight, as well as a guitar section in the bridge. Mike Score, doubling as vocalist and keyboardist, has a nasal, slightly detached vocal style, which matches the futuristic-sounding instruments well. The lyrics for I Ran are... economical. I think I Ran is about being smitten with a woman, but being afraid to pursue her. The narrator describes her beauty, with lines like "The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through". But soon after he gets scared runs as far as possible from her. Nevertheless, he can't escape his feelings for her. There's an alternate theory that the song is about being abducted by aliens. But in this case, I believe Freud got it right: a cigar is just a cigar. The video for I Ran is basic - the band performs in a hall of mirrors. Camera trickery gives the impression that the room is rotating. A futuristically-dressed woman appears, I believe the love interest. However, the video doesn't focus on this, and I would've liked to see more about the courtship, or any narrative for that manner. I Ran ran its way to the top-10 in the US. Afterward, Flock of Seagulls had a few minor hits, but nothing approaching I Ran. The song was later covered by diverse artists, like Tori Amos and Bowling for Soup.

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Discographies & Visualizations

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Outro

That's a wrap on our 1982 retrospective. This is Jason D'Orazio from New Wave Beat, wishing you a great day, and we'll catch you next time. So long.

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