Russellarbenfox
MY BLOGS
-
In Medias Res
http://inmedias.blogspot.com/
Essays, notes, and fragments--personal, political, and philosophical--from the midst of things
LATEST ARTICLES ( 588 )
-
Songs of '83: "Rockit"
I'm pretty certain I never heard Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" on the radio in 1983. Its presence in my memory, and its presence on this list (it was actually a... Read more
Posted on 16 October 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Heart and Soul"
There are multiple major radio stars from 1983 that, for a variety of reasons, I haven't highlighted, and won't highlight, on this list. Read more
Posted on 09 October 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Major Tom (Coming Home)"
There were three German-speaking pop artists who had major hits on American radio in 1983. The 40th anniversary for one of them has already past; I'm going to... Read more
Posted on 02 October 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Love is a Battlefield"
Pat Benatar was, in retrospect, one of those driven talents that probably would have found a way to achieve success on the radio no matter what her stylistic... Read more
Posted on 25 September 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Cum On Feel the Noiz'
Journey, Sammy Hagar, Def Leppard, ZZ Top, Loverboy: as this list has always insisted, it's not as though the breakthrough into mainstream radio by the... Read more
Posted on 18 September 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "All Night Long (All Night)"
Of all the Black artists I've highlighted so far in this review of what I see as the year when all the new technological and stylistic and sexual possibilities... Read more
Posted on 11 September 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Suddenly Last Summer"
Exactly 40 years ago, during the Labor Day weekend of 1983, a slight, synth-heavy tune by The Motels, with undercurrents both sinister and sweet, appeared on... Read more
Posted on 04 September 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "True"
My sister had a huge poster of Spandau Ballet, with the word "True" in dark letters printed across the bottom, up on her bedroom wall sometimes in 1983-1984. Read more
Posted on 28 August 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Everyday I Write the Book"
Elvis Costello looms large in my musical memories entirely due to the college radio I listened to during my years at BYU (and the friends I made who directed... Read more
Posted on 21 August 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
The unstoppable pop masterpiece/monstrosity known as "Total Eclipse of the Heart," sung by the Welsh troubadour Bonnie Tyler and written by that genius of... Read more
Posted on 14 August 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Hot Girls in Love"
Not every 1983 hit partook of the racially, technologically, sexually, stylistically cosmopolitan revolutions which broke out of the major cities of Europe and... Read more
Posted on 07 August 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Burning Down the House"
Talking Head's greatest radio hit, which debuted on the Billboard charts 40 years ago this week, both is and isn't a creature of 1983. Read more
Posted on 31 July 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Sharp Dressed Man"
This fast and smooth driving bit of accelerated Texas blues guitar rock, which entered the Billboard charts 40 years ago this coming week, was the greatest of Z... Read more
Posted on 24 July 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Lawyers in Love"
The fate of 1970s Laurel Canyon-style singer-songwriters in the 1980s was diverse. Some (England Dan, Paul Davis) went country; some refused to change until... Read more
Posted on 17 July 2023 SOCIETY -
Bernie Sanders, Patrick Deneen, and a “Left Conservative” Solution
[This is a version of a joint review of new books by Patrick Deneen and Bernie Sanders which I have written for Current, and which follows up on my previous,... Read more
Posted on 13 July 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "She Works Hard for the Money"
Thus far in this list, we've seen artists who made it on to American radio in 1983 who had absorbed and learned from the achievements of disco, and artists who... Read more
Posted on 10 July 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "It's a Mistake"
1983 was the year Men at Work finally fully grasped the American radio recognition and critical plaudits and huge money that they'd been steadily building... Read more
Posted on 03 July 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Stand Back"
For the first and only time in this list, a 1983 pop hit directly inspired by another, previous 1983 pop hit. Stevie Nicks was, of course, a creature of the... Read more
Posted on 26 June 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "The Safety Dance"
Last week, I labeled A Flock of Seagulls, when referencing what I think to have been their greatest pop achievement, as possibly the "most mocked" of all the... Read more
Posted on 19 June 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Wishing (If I Had a Phtograph of You)"
Climbing slowly up the Billboard charts in the wake of The Police's monster hit from last week, we have my favorite song by A Flock of Seagull's, probably the... Read more
Posted on 12 June 2023 SOCIETY