Old Music Friday: 3/21/85

"Forever Young," Alphaville (No. 95, peaked at No. 65)
The Jefitoblog Discord — a new benefit for paid subscribers! — was all abuzz yesterday over this recent Chris Dalla Riva article about two-hit wonders. I mention this here because the conversation eventually turned to the topic of songs that feel like they were monster hits, but really didn't do much on the charts, and Alphaville's "Forever Young" is a perfect example. Although it was a pretty big hit in more than one European country, it was destined for sub-Top 40 status here... but Alphaville ended up having the last laugh, because now this is one of those songs that absolutely everyone knows. The band is still knocking around, too — in fact, their most recent single, a David Guetta-assisted remix of "Forever Young" that I am absolutely not listening to, peaked at No. 90 last year.

"Injured in the Game of Love," Donnie Iris (No. 93, peaked at No. 91)
Ah! Donnie! Following the release of 1983's Fortune 410, Mr. Iris fought to be released from his contract with MCA, a time-consuming battle that ended with him joining the roster of the short-lived indie imprint HME. By the time he returned with 1985's No Muss... No Fuss, he'd been out of the game for two years, and was further disadvantaged by his new label's lack of major distribution; despite a bunch of positive reviews for the record, the whole thing was basically — brace yourselves for a third acronym — DOA. Fuss proved to be Iris' final release of the '80s, and "Injured in the Game of Love" — which is really a pretty nifty little power pop number — was his final charting single.