Hello,
everyone!
We
are continuing on with our special "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER
WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET" month where we purposely mix up the theme days that you have
gotten used to, and instead we'll be talking about whatever subject comes into
my mind at the moment.
I
am hoping that you are all in a musical mood today because I have decided that
for this week, we will be turning this Friday into a music day! Typically reserved for Sundays, the music
feature takes a look at a song and we have a discussion about it.
(Just for the record, even though the music days will be switched around a little bit, I will still hold true to my promise that every song featured this month will be a #1 hit.)
(Just for the record, even though the music days will be switched around a little bit, I will still hold true to my promise that every song featured this month will be a #1 hit.)
You
know, I find it quite interesting that I am doing the music entry on a Friday
this week, because for some reason, I am reminded of a television show that
used to air on cable back in the 1980s and early 1990s. And, it was a show that I only managed to
watch a handful of times because on our cable dial, TBS (Turner Broadcasting
System) was almost always scrambled.
Apparently you needed to pay an additional twenty-five bucks on your
cable bill to make it go unscrambled, which was highway robbery back in 1990,
if you ask me. Alas, that was the case
with our local cable company. You could
hear TBS, but when you tried to tune in, it would look like this.
Kind
of looks like someone folded a freshly painted portrait in half while the paint
was still wet, doesn't it?
The
only time it was ever unscrambled was during special preview weeks that our
cable company launched at least twice a year.
If memory serves me, it was always in April and December - I know
December is one for sure because they would always do a preview week the week
before Christmas. And it was on those
rare moments where TBS was unscrambled that I got my first look at "Night
Tracks".
Now,
I know what you are thinking. Night
Tracks was a show that aired late at night/early in the morning. What kind of parents would let their child
stay up late at night?
Well, the kind of parents that didn't mind if I stayed up late on a weekend. "Night Tracks" almost always aired on either Friday or Saturday between June 1983 and May 1992. I was eleven when the show went off the air for good, so I was barely old enough to be able to stay up late on weekend nights. I mean, I was eleven. Where was I going to go, right?
Well, the kind of parents that didn't mind if I stayed up late on a weekend. "Night Tracks" almost always aired on either Friday or Saturday between June 1983 and May 1992. I was eleven when the show went off the air for good, so I was barely old enough to be able to stay up late on weekend nights. I mean, I was eleven. Where was I going to go, right?
Now,
"Night Tracks" was an interesting program. It was a show that like MTV aired non-stop music videos. Unlike MTV, the show only lasted for three
hours at the most (usually airing between 12:05 and 3:05 EST). And, what made "Night Tracks" a
little bit different was the fact that the show would change its format every
year or every other year to keep things fresh.
For instance, during the 1980s, there was an emphasis on Top 40 music,
while in later years, they focused on more alternative and rap videos.
So,
I thought that in slight celebration of "Night Tracks", I would post
a video that aired during the show's run.
I wouldn't be surprised if the following video actually aired on the
show itself.
This
song was the #1 song twenty-five years ago this week. It is a song that I would easily call one of my favourite songs
from the 1980s, and it is a song whose title is one that I really need to
incorporate into my own life.
ARTIST: Roxette
SONG: Listen To Your Heart
ALBUM: Look Sharp
DATE
RELEASED: September
17, 1988
PEAK
POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1
week
Now,
I know what you're thinking. How the
heck does it take a whole year for a song to reach the #1 spot on the
charts. Well, September 1988 was the
release date in Roxette's home country of Sweden. It would not be released until the summer of 1989 in North
America. Either way, it still became
one of Roxette's biggest hits.
Roxette's
invasion into American territory came almost by accident. Made up of pop/rock singers Per Gessle and
Marie Fredriksson, Roxette broke into the music scene in 1986 with their debut
album "Pearls of Passion". It
did extremely well in parts of Europe, but was virtually unheard of in North
America. And when the band released
their 1988 album "Look Sharp", it seemed poised to do the same.
That
is until college student Dean Cushman - on an exchange program where he studied
in Sweden - heard Roxette's song "The Look" on the radio. He bought a copy of the album on cassette,
went home for Christmas that year, and submitted the album to a radio station
in Minneapolis (the city where Cushman lived).
The radio station played "The Look", other radio stations soon
followed, and by April 1989, "The Look" became a surprise #1 smash
for Roxette! I suppose you could say
that Cushman listened to his heart, believed that the song could become a hit
in American markets, and before you knew it, Roxette had arrived in America,
becoming one of the most celebrated rock/pop duos for the next half decade.
Now,
in Sweden, "The Look" was the group's third single released from
"Look Sharp". The first track
was "Dressed for Success" (which would become a minor hit in North
America in the summer of 1989). The
second was "Listen To Your Heart".
And
what a powerful song it is at that.
I
think that part of the reason why this song was such a success was because of
the music video. It is absolutely
spectacular in its simplicity. The
setting takes place in the band's home country of Sweden - specifically in the
ruins of Borgholm Castle, a castle that burned down over two hundred years
ago. Since the mid-twentieth century,
the inner courtyard of the ruins have served as a venue for concerts, theatre
performances, and various other events.
Certainly
Roxette took full advantage of this set up.
They not only shot this video at this location, but if memory serves me,
"Dangerous" was filmed at this very location as well. The screaming fans waving signs in the crowd
certainly added to the brilliance of this video clip.
But
you want to know what I love more than the video itself? The lyrics of the song.
The
song is one of those "should I break up with him, or should I not"
kind of songs. I presume that the song
is told from the point of view of someone who is in a dark place in a
relationship and how they are feeling really confused about it. It doesn't really reveal what has happened
to make our narrator feel this way, but whatever it is, it is enough for her to
really think about things and wonder if staying with her lover is really worth
it.
That is where the line "listen to your heart, before you tell him goodbye" comes into play. If you were in the same position that the narrator of the song is in, what would you do? I know that depending on the situation and depending on the severity of the fight or argument that has apparently taken place before the song, some of you may feel that one chance is all that one gets and that you would want to flee as quickly as possible.
That is where the line "listen to your heart, before you tell him goodbye" comes into play. If you were in the same position that the narrator of the song is in, what would you do? I know that depending on the situation and depending on the severity of the fight or argument that has apparently taken place before the song, some of you may feel that one chance is all that one gets and that you would want to flee as quickly as possible.
But
what if your gut tells you one thing, and your heart tells you something
else? Sure, it might seem like an easy
way out to leave the relationship and call it a day. But if you have a deep bond with them, and you are head over
heels in love with them, and your heart tells you that you should stay...would
you?
I can honestly say that in past decision making, I have done a really poor job. I tend to go with what is easier rather than go with what I may think is right. And sometimes that has worked out...while in other cases, it has not. And while nobody should ever have to dwell on past decisions (something that I really should tell myself to stop doing), it is our past that shapes us, whether we like it or not.
I can honestly say that in past decision making, I have done a really poor job. I tend to go with what is easier rather than go with what I may think is right. And sometimes that has worked out...while in other cases, it has not. And while nobody should ever have to dwell on past decisions (something that I really should tell myself to stop doing), it is our past that shapes us, whether we like it or not.
As
much as I want to listen to my heart when it tells me that certain situations
and environments are not good for me, sometimes I turn a deaf ear to it.
I have to stop doing that.
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