Trollheart

Title: “It Must Be Love”
Artist: Madness
Year: 1981
Writer(s): Labi Siffre
Genre: Ska/ Pop ballad
Highest chart position (if applicable) 4 (UK) 33 (US)
Album: n/a
Did I own it? No
Album, single, both or neither? Neither
Opinion then: Negative
Opinion now: Negative
These days: Still used in ads; I saw it in one for I think NatWest Bank? Probably one of their most enduring songs

Again, no fan of Madness. Never was, still am not. I never got the whole ska thing, and I did believe that coming from “the islands” as it were, it was more a black thing, but Madness was mostly made up of white dudes, in suits, so what was the deal? Well, a debate for another time perhaps. I have to admit, mostly it was the lyric I took issue with - “Nothing more, nothing less, love is the best” - I mean, come on! But now I learn it wasn’t them that wrote it, but South African Labi Siffre, whose “(Something Inside) So Strong” is a wonderful anthem to human endurance and perseverance. Nevertheless, I don’t give him a pass because of that. I really thought this was an awful, cheap, lazy song and I have not changed my mind about that.

I’m prepared to admit a few Madness songs were okay (NOT “Baggy ****ing Trousers”, nor “House of Fun”, but “Our House” is decent I suppose, and I can stand “The Sun and the Rain” without vomiting blood) but I will never be a fan. I don’t like them, and it’s just that simple. This song was not, for me, their finest hour. But what do I know?


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

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^ On this we agree.

I remember this song being featured in my guilty pleasure soap opera EastEnders in past years, first in a wedding scene in the Queen Vic pub* () and then in another scene where a character sends someone a vinyl of the single. Both times, that lyric "Nothing more, nothing less, love is the best" stood out and I thought, what a lame lyric and song! Then a UK relative told me that the song had been a hit over there - and I truly scratched my head over that one. Madness!

* Edit: and in the pub wedding scene, everyone was dancing with great enthusiasm to this tune, like it was the greatest song ever; and I kept thinking, this song isn't even very dance-able.

Trollheart

You're right. It comes across to me as a love song (as such) written by a band who have no idea how to write a love song. I can picture the scene:

In the record company's office, record exec, false smile, all teeth and sharp aftershave, perfectly combed hair.

Exec: "The lads love you guys Suggs, but it's the other side of the demo we're concerned about."
Suggs: "Demo?"
Exec: "Demographic. The people who buy your records."
Suggs: "Right. Kids love us. Love our antics. We're funny."
Exec: "Yeah but that's only one side of it. It's the girls, you see. Girls don't really buy into all this baggy trousers, house of fun, my girl's mad at me deal. We need something, well, something for the ladies."
Suggs: "?"
Exec: "How about a love song?"
Suggs: "A love song? Man, we're Madness, not ABBA! We pull hair and eat dirt and make life tough for chemists. We dance and jump around and do comical things. How we gonna write a love song?"
Exec: "You want the girls on board, that's what you need to do. Get it done."

Back at the Madness HQ: Everyone is rushing around, having fun, playing the fool. One guy bounces by on a pogo-stick, another rides in a tiny clown car. Two guys are pulling a huge cracker. When it parts, a large cardboard sign falls out with the word BANG! written on it.

Suggs: "Guys! Guys! We have to write a love song!"
Band member: "Love song? What do they think we are? Lenin and McCarthy? We're Madness, Suggs, yeah? We write about pulling hair and eating dirt, and wearing those trousers that are... um.. what's the word? Don't quite fit..."
Other member: "Loose?"
Another member: "Wrong size?"
Suggs (sighing): "Baggy?"
Band member: "Yeah! Baggy! That's it. Trousers that are baggy. That's what people love us for."
Member: "And pulling hair."
Other member: "And eating dirt."
Suggs: "Yeah, well, we got to do this. Now let's see... love is, love is, love is great? No. No no no. Love is cool, don't be a fool. Hmm. Possibie, maybe. Love is great. Love is better than great. Love is the - OW! Guys! Stop throwing those banana cream pies! I'm trying to work here! Oh that's it! You're gonna get it! Here I come!"

Some time later, back at the drawing board...

Suggs: "Love is good. No, did that. Love is better than... love is the best? Oh right yeah that's good. Love is the best, wear a string vest. No, no girls don't wear string vests, do they? Love is the best, get out your bre - ah, no, don't think we can do that. Love is the best, take a guess. Meh. Oh come on Suggs! You can do this! It's only love. It has to be love. It MUST be love. Ah! It must be love - what rhymes with love? Oh yeah: love. It must be love, love, need another word... love. Must be love, love, love. Take two they're small, as me da used to say. Must be love, love, love. Must be love, love, love. Love is the best, give it a rest. Oh come on! Love is the best, get it off your chest - no that could get us in trouble too couldn't it. I need one more line. One more. Nothing more. Just the one line. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Hey...

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Is it madness that I'm sitting here (thankfully alone and not wearing a string vest) and laughing hysterically, especially at that last paragraph?

Trollheart

From the album


Title: “Brass in Pocket”
Artist: Pretenders
Year: 1979
Writer(s): Chrissie Hynde/John Honeyman-Scott
Genre: Pop/New-Wave
Highest chart position (if applicable) 1 (UK) 14 (US)
Album: Pretenders
Did I own it? No
Album, single, both or neither? Neither
Opinion then: Positive
Opinion now: Positive
These days: Other songs such as “2000 miles”, “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and the ballad “I’ll Stand By You” have overtaken its popularity, and though it’s probably remembered I doubt it’s played much on air.

In ways I guess you could compare Chrissie Hynde favourably to seventies legendary leather queen Suzi Quatro, with the one a more laconic, laid-back, perhaps sleazier version of the other. Suzi always seemed like she wore her sex appeal with a smile and a wink and a swing of the hips, like she knew she was teasing us, whereas Chrissie went all-out, in a kind of moody, almost sulky way; a smouldering sexuality that came very much through in her husky and drawling style of singing. The music here is kind of sparse, the song mostly built around a repeating guitar riff, from which it was born, and to me the backing vocals on “Special” don’t work, but other than that it’s a masterclass in musical sass. You can feel the sexual tension rising from her voice, see the swagger of her hips, the pout, the dark eyes looking at you insolently as if to say “you know I’m special”.

Although the third single from their debut album, this was at the time Pretenders’ biggest hit, taking them right to the top, and though they would have number ones on the far side of the water after this, where their popularity was clearly more than it was at home, they would never hit the top again in their native country, despite having songs which, as mentioned above, are better known. Even a Christmas song, believe it or not. I can’t say I was a fan, but it was hard not to be moved in a certain way when you heard that smouldering, sultry voice for the first time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H6re3PCP3E

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From the album

Title: “Danger Zone”
Artist: Kenny Loggins
Year: 1987
Writer(s): Giorgio Moroder/Tom Whitlock
Genre: Rock
Highest chart position (if applicable) 45 (UK) 2 (US)
Album: Top Gun OST
Did I own it? Yes
Album, single, both or neither? Album
Opinion then: Positive
Opinion now: Positive
These days: Crops up all the time, especially now that the movie has been remade. Must have made Kenny Loggins a rich man. Oh no wait: he didn’t write it. Oh well, it’s always associated with him. At least he doesnt’ have to play that damned sax any more. Ah, no. That’s Kenny G, innit?

Not all that surprising that a song from a movie about American F-14 fighter pilots would score higher on the Billboard chart than here at home, and though the movie was of course a hit everywhere, leading to a number 1 for Berlin with the ballad “Take My Breath Away”, here we only heard “Danger Zone” if we went to see the movie or if, like me, we bought the soundtrack album. It’s not a terrible album, as I reviewed it years ago in my journal, though of course it’s hardly the best ever. This is one of the better tracks though, and it bounces and rocks and punches its way along with a real sense of “hell yeah!” American gung-ho and USA! USA! USA! Blasting from the speakers.

It’s the perfect soundtrack to flying a Tomcat 30,000 miles up or whatever, sighting a Mig and letting the missiles fly. I mean, it’s total imperialist nonsense, as much as was Independence Day, but it’s harmless, enjoyable, exciting imperialist nonsense, and the song really gets the blood pumping. That of course has mostly to be credited to Giorgio Moroder, more known for his electronic dance tunes, and Tom Whitlock, who wrote the lyric, and about whom I know nothing. Oh wait: I see he also wrote Berlin’s hit. But Loggins does well with what he’s given, although I suppose any good ol’ American boy could have done the same. In fact, many were approached, including Toto, REO Speedwagon, Jefferson Starship and Corey Hart. All turned it down for different reasons, Whatever your view on American defence and foreign policy though, or your stance on warmongering and glorifying combat and aggression, it stands as one hell of a tune.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK0P1Bk8Cx4

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Trollheart

From the album

Title: “Young Turks”
Artist: Rod Stewart
Year: 1981
Writer(s): Carmine Appice/Duane Hitchings/Kevin Savigar/Rod Stewart
Genre: Pop
Highest chart position (if applicable) 11 (UK) 5 (US)
Album: Tonight I’m Yours
Did I own it? No
Album, single, both or neither? Neither; I have it on his greatest hits album, The Story So Far
Opinion then: Positive
Opinion now: Positive
These days: Probably still played, and still mistitled.

After his chart-topping 1978 album Blondes Have More Fun, which gave him one of his biggest ever hit singles, the number one hit “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”, Rod’s next album was met with collective yawns, yielding no hits. Tonight I’m Yours began a mini-comeback for him that would last right into the mid-eighties and cover four albums, giving him two more number one hits. I always found it odd how he titled this “Young Turks” and yet the word is never used in the lyric. When he sings the chorus it’s “Young hearts run free tonight”, so why he didn’t just call it “Young Hearts” I don’t know, unless he wanted to avoid confusion with Candi Statton’s hit “Young Hearts Run Free”. Either way, it’s a thumping synthpop tune with, as was normal with Stewart, a story in the lyric, about two people in love running away, Romeo and Juliet style.

I note that the main keyboard riff was, if not stolen for, then very closely mirrored in INXS’s chart-busting 1987 album Kick, on the closer, “Tiny Daggers”. Yeah, I notice these things. I have no life. “Young Turks” was perhaps the sort of antidote to “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”, which turned him into something of a laughing-stock, despite being a number one (I’m sure he was crying all the way to the bank) and had him lampooned by various comedians. This song, maybe, showed he was more than an egotistical clown, though people should have known that already, with songs like “The Killing of Georgie” and “Sailing”, but throw a baying crowd a bone, you only got yourself to blame if they clamour for more and start tearing you apart. It’s significant, I feel, that Stewart “settled down” after this, with songs like “Baby Jane”, the Celtic-infused “Every Beat of My Heart” and a cover of Robert Palmer’s “Some Guys Have All the Luck” showing the world he was a proper musician. If they didn't know that already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ41hqlV0Kk

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