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Then I wake up and you're not there

I think now would be a good time to resurrect my version of what Frank often does on his blog. Except in my case, I want to share videos of songs from my childhood before Nirvana and grunge came along.

To recap: I was not born with a hip taste in music, so a lot of Top 40 music in the Eighties was my introduction to modern music. Since I'm not one to piss all over my past and pretend like it never happened, I like to bring up songs that I still like even though I have a much different perspective now.

One of the most inescapable hit songs of 1986 was Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)." It was a regular on the playlist for New Orleans' B97, so I heard it quite a few times and always liked it. But these days, it seems like one of the many big hits from this era that you don't hear often on the radio or in clubs. I guess it's not as danceable as "You Spin Me Round" or tests as well with focus groups. For me, even though its processed drumbeats and basslines sound incredibly dated, I still like the walking melodies in the verses and choruses. And Bryan Adams' vocal cameo is still a nice touch.

Scrolling around through their videos on YouTube, they are very cheeky and laughable now, but not out of the ordinary in its day. The buttoned-up shirts and mini-mullets are just some of these characteristics. Despite all this, I can't dismiss how much I like this song. Plus, I wonder where the band is now. Turns out they are still together with almost all of the original line-up intact. As a matter of fact, they even made an appearance on NBC's Hit Me Baby One More Time TV show.

What I find compelling (and this ties into what I wrote about yesterday), Glass Tiger was an Eighties pop band, pure and simple. So it makes sense why they look like so many peer pop groups. They weren't originally a hardcore band that ditched hardcore for fame and fortune. That actually is rare and even when the band does this, there is an understandable reason why. I may never know how or why Simple Minds ditched their post-punk for Top 40 hits, but they were a rarity.

Something fundamental to a band's evolution is its roots. If a band started in LA by transplants in hopes of making it big, then it shouldn't be surprising if they cop a rockstar attitude. But there are bands that want to be a working band that does music all the time instead of being a pop band. I think any band should strive for its fullest, desired potential. From the fan angle, I might cringe at the sound of many Fall Out Boy songs and their image, but at least they're doing what they want.

So, cheers to Glass Tiger for helping me understand this.

Comments

Rj said…
ha! you said cheeky...

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