These finals just aren't as hard of decisions as some earlier rounds with some of the weak sauce that made it through against the clearly more deserving options. As I've said before, Girls Just Want to Have Fun is one of the great anthems of the early 80s, along with Bands finalist I Melt With You. Another of those great anthems - New Order's Blue Monday - is a glaring omission because for some inexplicable reason you decided not to include the biggest selling 12" single of all time. But I digress.
The arguments for Sunglasses are solid but, I mean, we're talking about Cyndi here. And it began a great run of great hits for her. And I think without this song kicking off the introduction to her that she doesn't end up with the same career. So many great tracks on this album from When You Were Mine to She Bop to Money Changes Everything and, of course, Time After Time. But if Girls isn't the first single I don't think she ends up catching that wave. It was the slap in the face that said pay attention to me.
My teen's bedroom is full of music posters. A mix of old bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, The Clash then a little newer bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney and then current ones like The Regrettes and The Linda Lindas. But she's a big music dork like me.
Oh, I noticed another error in this episode. Keith accidentally used the past tense when talking about what nerds you two "were."
Sorry, but these decisions do not get easier for me if we're going to say one of these is more defining of the 80s than the other and not which one is the better song or the better singer. Corey Hart was close to a one-hit wonder here and his career is almost entirely contained in the 80s. Sunglasses was arguably his biggest hit and is instantly recognizable. On the other hand, Cyndi was just getting started in the 80s and her career took off from there, and it's still going! And yes, she has a very distinctive sound as well, but its so unique -- maybe it's more Cyndi than 80s. Or maybe the late 80s were what they were because they followed Girls' lead. Tough call.
Making the same argument now that I just made for Eurythmics, (BTW - I still do not like this song and voted against it throughout the bracket and still like Sunglasses way better) Cyndi Lauper does have a voice undeniably 80s and like Annie Lennox, defines strong 80s women pop vocals. Lauper's album, She's So Unusual, is preserved in the National Recording Registry - that speaks more objectively, I think, to the cultural impact of the song and defining the era, same as Sweet Dreams does. This is where the women have the edge over the the men (sorry Corey and Morten) https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/complete-national-recording-registry-listing/
These finals just aren't as hard of decisions as some earlier rounds with some of the weak sauce that made it through against the clearly more deserving options. As I've said before, Girls Just Want to Have Fun is one of the great anthems of the early 80s, along with Bands finalist I Melt With You. Another of those great anthems - New Order's Blue Monday - is a glaring omission because for some inexplicable reason you decided not to include the biggest selling 12" single of all time. But I digress.
The arguments for Sunglasses are solid but, I mean, we're talking about Cyndi here. And it began a great run of great hits for her. And I think without this song kicking off the introduction to her that she doesn't end up with the same career. So many great tracks on this album from When You Were Mine to She Bop to Money Changes Everything and, of course, Time After Time. But if Girls isn't the first single I don't think she ends up catching that wave. It was the slap in the face that said pay attention to me.
My teen's bedroom is full of music posters. A mix of old bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, The Clash then a little newer bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney and then current ones like The Regrettes and The Linda Lindas. But she's a big music dork like me.
Oh, I noticed another error in this episode. Keith accidentally used the past tense when talking about what nerds you two "were."
Sorry, but these decisions do not get easier for me if we're going to say one of these is more defining of the 80s than the other and not which one is the better song or the better singer. Corey Hart was close to a one-hit wonder here and his career is almost entirely contained in the 80s. Sunglasses was arguably his biggest hit and is instantly recognizable. On the other hand, Cyndi was just getting started in the 80s and her career took off from there, and it's still going! And yes, she has a very distinctive sound as well, but its so unique -- maybe it's more Cyndi than 80s. Or maybe the late 80s were what they were because they followed Girls' lead. Tough call.
Making the same argument now that I just made for Eurythmics, (BTW - I still do not like this song and voted against it throughout the bracket and still like Sunglasses way better) Cyndi Lauper does have a voice undeniably 80s and like Annie Lennox, defines strong 80s women pop vocals. Lauper's album, She's So Unusual, is preserved in the National Recording Registry - that speaks more objectively, I think, to the cultural impact of the song and defining the era, same as Sweet Dreams does. This is where the women have the edge over the the men (sorry Corey and Morten) https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/complete-national-recording-registry-listing/