Old Music Friday: 7/26/84

I did hear a couple of songs I liked while making my way through this week's New Music Friday playlist, but not enough to justify a post. Let's hop in the time machine together and go back to this week in 1984, shall we? Here's a rundown of all the songs that debuted on the Hot 100, lowest to highest:

"Straight from the Heart (Into Your Life)," Coyote Sisters
I'd never heard of this act before today, but that's on me: Coyote Sisters were a pop trio whose roster included one Leah Kunkel, sister to Cass Elliot and wife of liner notes mainstay Russ Kunkel — and although this song was their only real brush with chart success, peaking at No. 66 after debuting at No. 90, their story continued, albeit as a duo. In 2001, Kunkel and Marty Gwynn Townsend regrouped without their fellow Sister Renée Armand to record the second Coyote Sisters LP, Women and Other Visions. In between, Leah contributed harmony and background vocals to a very long list of projects for other artists, serving as a sort of second Valerie Carter for the Laurel Canyon set.

As for this song, well, it isn't hard to see why it wasn't destined for Hot 100 glory; while it's pretty enough, and coated with the requisite sheen of '80s gloss, it also just sort of plods along for three minutes and change. Six years later, Wilson Phillips came along to perfect the formula, albeit briefly.

"Loverboy," Karen Kamon
One of a handful of artists whose careers were launched (or something close to launched) because they ended up on a smash hit soundtrack in the '80s, Karen Kamon got her first major break courtesy of Flashdance. Not because she had anything to do with "Flashdance... What a Feeling," which was a huge single for Irene Cara; nor was she involved with "Maniac" or "Gloria," which padded the resumes of Michael Sembello and Laura Branigan, respectively. No, Karen Kamon recorded "Manhunt," a song known only to those who played the shit out of their Flashdance albums and cassettes, but which was still significant enough to land her a record deal at Columbia, where she released her debut LP, Heart of You, the following year.

"Loverboy" really didn't do anything on the charts — it debuted at No. 88 this week, where it also peaked — but there's still sort of a lot to unpack here. For starters, this video is absolutely hilarious in an extremely 1984 kind of way, boasting all the hard-sell choreography and sub-West Side Story sets that early MTV viewers came to know and love/hate/love. Also worth noting is the fact that Heart of You was produced by the one and only Phil Ramone, who had some time to kill between helming Billy Joel albums. Unlike record buyers at large, Ramone fell in love with Kamon — quite literally, in fact, as the two married and remained together until his death in 2013.

"You Were Made for Me," Irene Cara
Like Beetlejuice, Irene Cara appears here after being named in the previous entry. In fairness, she was sort of everywhere in 1984; a multi-hyphenate talent who starred in Fame as well as singing the hit theme song and then followed it with the hit theme song to Flashdance, she struck while the iron was hot with her next LP, sensibly titled What a Feelin' and released in late '83. (One song from the album, "The Dream [Hold On to Your Dream]," was recorded for the soundtrack to the ill-fated Mr. T starring vehicle D.C. Cab, which also included a song by — you guessed it — Karen Kamon.)

In addition to remaining on the charts with What a Feelin', Cara continued her acting career, co-starring in the ostensibly can't-miss City Heat with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. On top of that, one of the other singles from What a Feelin' was the Top 10 hit "Breakdance," which couldn't have been more in sync with the zeitgeist if it had tried. All of which is to say that in retrospect, it seems fairly odd that Cara's career ran out of gas as quickly as it did: "You Were Made for Me" stalled at No. 78 after debuting at No. 85, What a Feelin' rose no higher than No. 77, and Cara didn't release another album until 1987, when she returned with the rather embarrassingly titled Carasmatic, which might be the only record to feature contributions from George Duke, Bonnie Raitt, and Michael Bolton.

You will notice I've written two paragraphs without talking about the musical merits of this song. That was intentional.

"The Only Flame in Town," Elvis Costello & the Attractions
If you listen closely, you can hear the anguished howls of thousands of diehard Costello fans, all of whom loathe Goodbye Cruel World, the resolutely unloved record from which this single sprang. I'm not here to argue with them, as I myself have never been much of a Costello fan; for a long time, I truly dug the dulcet tones of Daryl Hall, who contributes showy backing vocals to this track, but Hall's overwhelming eagerness to continually test the limits of what an asshole he can be in public have sorely tempered my ability to enjoy the sound of his voice.

The video isn't bad, though.

"We're Not Gonna Take It," Twisted Sister
Once upon a time, children, rock 'n' roll was still young enough — so to speak — that ostensibly "hard rock" acts like Twisted Sister could get away with presenting themselves as being so dangerous that no member of polite society would be caught dead listening to their music. But that was a feature, not a bug, because their music was really meant for the youth of America, a.k.a. the only demographic who could Really Understand.

Was there a germ of truth to this? Of course. But that doesn't make videos like this clip for "We're Not Gonna Take It" (debuting at No. 80) seem any less ridiculous in retrospect. In fairness, it's only a shade more overheated than the one the Beastie Boys would film for "Fight for Your Right" a couple of years later, but still — to anyone younger than, I dunno, 75, the idea that "We're Not Gonna Take It" was ever a truly subversive anthem of youthful independence has got to come across as thoroughly laughable.

That said? This song was, is, and shall ever be catchy as hell. Bone stupid, but catchy as hell.

"It's a Hard Life," Queen
The accepted narrative surrounding Queen's The Works LP is that sales suffered because the band dressed in drag for the "I Want To Break Free" video, but really, the record peaked just outside the Top 20 in the U.S., just like its predecessor, 1982's Hot Space. That said, it's also true that "It's a Hard Life," the album's third single, crapped out at No. 72 after debuting this week at No. 77, and in retrospect, that seems somewhat unfair — this track is just as immaculately written, produced, and performed as anything else on a very, very solid album.

"Go Insane," Lindsey Buckingham
Anyone who's listened to their fair share of Fleetwood Mac records can (and probably will) tell you that Lindsey Buckingham sounds like he's about to go insane during even his most sedate songs, and "Go Insane" is... well, not that. A sort of uber-caucasian spin on Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me," this quintessentially Buckingham single leaned its finger on the pulse of the '80s by highlighting the decidedly first-world stresses suffered by dudes in the dating scene of the era — particularly those given to seeing things and climbing into mirrors. Like the majority of Lindsey's stuff from this era, it could just as easily have been pulled from a Fleetwood Mac record, which is probably why it brought him his biggest Hot 100 success, peaking at No. 23 after debuting at No. 70.

"Only When You Leave," Spandau Ballet
This week's final chart debut, coming in at No. 68, caught Spandau Ballet on the steep downward slope of the sharp curve they charted at U.S. radio: No. 108 for "Lifeline" (1982), No. 59 for "Communication," No. 4 for "True," and No. 29 for "Gold" (all 1983), and finally No. 34 for "Only When You Leave," the first and only charting single from 1984's Parade LP. In its exceedingly limited defense, "Only When You Leave" is upper-tier New Romantic stuff, with all the tasteful guitar stabs, pillowy-soft vocals, and toothless, glimmering synths one would expect (plus sax!). On the other hand, once you've heard "True," what else do you really need from these guys?