Come back to the five and dime, Jimmy Peen, Jimmy Peen (#bulge).
*Dakota Fanning, Anne Hathaway, Madonna, Rooney Mara, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Aubrey Plaza, Amanda Seyfried & Kerry Washington can all get it.
Now, I've put together a list of 50 of my favorite songs of the '80s that failed to hit the Top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100. In some cases, these are the biggest songs of the decade, songs you simply can't believe were not bigger chart hits. In other cases, these are fantastic pop singles that simply failed to cut the mustard. And in still other cases, these are just songs that seemed squarely aimed at the Top 40 and were by acts who'd had not trouble breaking through earlier.
Enjoy, and please comment back with your own suggestions for songs I forgot...
I've got over 700 45s, mostly from the 1980s. They represent my being; they represent the time I decided to start buying each week's Top 10, they represent my obsessions with certain artists (Madonna, Eurythmics, Blondie, Pet Shop Boys) and they represent my addiction to imagery.
For fun, I pulled out a few that I think are bona fide pieces of art. Maybe next time I'll choose the tackiest ones...
I've got 5 copies. To enter, simply comment this post with your favorite Pet Shop Boys video of all time. (Their new "Winner" video is above.) I'll chooose 5 of you at random to win one week from today! (Must be a U.S. resident.)
I continue to not get sick of the Pet Shop Boys despite their amazingly consistent sound. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Their latest, "Together," is already pretty hot, but I Neil before the Pepptalk Remix.
One thing that's different in recent years—it seems like major, established artists trip over themselves to be seen and/or perform with newcomers. Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, now Elton John...who HASN'T performed with Lady GaGa? (Okay, it's only three names, but still—the red carpet was not rolled out for newcomers so freely in the past.)
Loved GaGa's mash-up with Elton John. As I thought, it was "Speechless"—not "Bad Romance"—that they did. I liked that part more than the beginning, which almost got silly.
She is, of course, a giant talent and can sing, but I found Beyoncé's too effortful and defiant...yet she has nothing to prove, so I didn't get it. I mean, we already know she can sing anything. Perhaps there was some one-upping of GaGa going on? I'm sure each will reap the rewards of these appearances.
Pink's performance was gorgeous, but I had two thoughts: (1) Is near the illusion of nudity okay? Would it be okay if it were Adam Lambert? and (2) Is she ever performing again without the suspension?
It's already the best Grammys in ages, but...
...Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks did NOT sound good together. At all. And I'm sick of Michael Jackson. But pretending that I love Michael, that's a pretty bizarre mix of singers (Smokey Robinson was fun to see again) and having his kids speak was pretty shameless. They are poor, scared little robots. They have no reason to be speaking in public or worrying about their dad's legacy. And Zac Brown = puke and Jamie Foxx = an untalented clown.
Twitter told me Roberta looks like Mother Jefferson...but I'd say the late Weezy (inset).
It's nice that Maxwell is allowed on the Grammys, let alone Robert Flack. (This is the first time ever I saw this version of her face.) Let alone together and near the end!
Taylor Swift is a nice girl, but I would have voted for GaGa or Beyoncé.
Okay, that's it. Even with what wound up being a lot of overblown performances, it was a shockingly relevant show with lots of vitality in spite of Eminem.
Sarah Jessica Parker's '80s look from a flashback segment in the Sex & the City sequel reminded me of Dusty Springfield's look for "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" from 1987 and other looks from that period. Actually, Dusty seemed ancient to teen me but was just 48. Parker is now 44!
Well, I'm guessing some of the nifty digital de-aging technology will be used on Sarah and the girls for the flashback scenes a la The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(and Madonna's digitally youthified Verity from Die Another Day).
UPDATE: From the comments, another, perhaps even closer match that's not gonna be ignored:
