(*Via sensory memory only. Certain terms and conditions may apply.)
In Europe, they like to pick one song and play it over and over and over. That song, and only that song.
I was there summer of ’86 – after 11th grade – and this was that song. They could not get enough of it. If by some chance you were in Europe then too, hearing “Live Is Life” will make you feel like you’re right back there : strolling through quaint medieval towns, sitting in street cafes, and shooing away street mimes. Or maybe hanging in the discotheque and consuming enough gin to kill Babar. But, most of all, it’ll remind you of going bananas from hearing that song.
As for the video: apparently those thugs are supposed to be “proto-punks.” I’d call them something else. You tell me.
Did I mention I went to Europe in ’85, too? Before you call me a lucky brat: I was there volunteering. Volunteering to let my parents send me to Spain. OK, so I was a lucky brat.
The two big songs of that summer were a politically incorrect merengue tune called “Mami El Negro,” and the almost incomparably ’80s single below, Tarzan Boy. It brings back memories of eating rabbit that I thought was chicken.
The video is so poor-man’s A-ha.
Wherever you spent your summers during high school, I bet you have some good memory-trigger songs. Share them in the comments section, I love those stories.
Hey it works for me!
.-= Soup´s last blog ..Haiti earthquake – still not fixed =-.
Ha, ha, ha thanks for the time machine. I’d say, I haven’t listen to this song for about …boy, 20 years? And I can definitely remember the hype. The confusing part for me at that time ( not being able to understand English to the fullest ) was the question: Why are they singing about the guy from summer camp I had a crush on, who had the super-rare name “Leif”?
Ah yes, the memories. When I was living in Italy, I had the same sort of musical experience, but much much worse.
A song by Alf, yes Alf– the ill conceived, nightmare inducing alien puppet show — charted in Italy. I would go to the ‘deesko’ to ‘make deekso dance’ and have to listen to that demented puppet RAP! “My name is Alf, and I fell to earth, I can’t get back to my place of birth — huh huh huh.”
The upside was that the ladies loved that I could recite the whole song, without an accent — they flirtatiously complimented me by saying that I sounded “just like the Alf.” Although horrible, Alf was a valuable wingman.
An Italian woman told me that this was only one way that I, unbelievably, compared favorably to the ridiculously good looking Italian men. Another way was that I knew how to do my own laundry and I didn’t live with my mother.
An Alf rap. That could be the best worst thing I ever heard.
When I was in Spain, I fared pretty well with the muchachos because I could sing “We Are The World” with real words, rather than their version: “weare ye whirllll…weare ye chilrehhhh…”
They also liked me because, unlike the local girls in the small town where I stayed, I was not 200 pounds overweight with a beard.
Laura –
Summer of ’82 in Israel — dancing to Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” with the guy who is now my husband….
Same trip, Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” –
Slightly off topic: Vicarious memories through Allie – her first summer at sleepaway camp – Oasis “Wonderwall” – this past summer, Cold Play, “Viva la Vida” – I’m sure she will be blogging about those memories one day…
Oh, Tainted Love is SO ’82. Love that you knew Whitney for so long.
For me, Tainted Love was camp. I think I kissed some kid with braces, named Nigel. He was a dipshit. I can only imagine if I had married him.
I can’t believe you have a daughter who goes to sleepaway camp, can you?
No, I can’t! Or, as she would say, “I can’t frickin’ believe that!” Pretty soon SHE”LL be kissing some dipshit with braces…ok, I feel sick, I need to go lie down! (Too bad I already made my bed, since I’m trying to act like a successful person, thanks to you!)