Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 599 )

• 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

• Putting the Demos on a Pedestal

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] In the preface to Why Liberalism Failed, the manuscript of which “was completed three weeks before the 2016 presidential... Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Every Breath You Take"

  

  This is the big one, folks, or at least one of the very biggest. Go back to this very week, 40 years ago, and the summer of Synchronicity--the fifth, last, and... Read more

  Posted on 05 June 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"

  

  I was never a big fan of The Human League, whose second American hit, "(Keep Feeling) Fascination," started to climb up the Billboard charts 40 years ago this... Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"

  

  Here it is, folks--the Eurythmics's Annie Lennox, wearing a business suit, leather gloves, and a buzz-cut, swinging a dominatrix's cane and singing "Sweet Dream... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Come Dancing"

  

  There is probably no other song that I'll be featuring in this series this year that has less to do with my overall thesis about 1983 than The Kinks's "Come... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Our House"

  

  Ska! I'm sure I didn't know the word when I first heard this delightfully bonkers song by the great two-tone band Madness on the radio sometime in 1983 (it firs... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Mornin'"

  

  What better song from my memories and the Billboard charts of 1983 could I pull out for today, May 1, May Day, Beltane, etc., than this one? I can't imagine. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83 Special: "I Melt With You"

  

  This series is based on the Top 40 Billbord charts of 1983, and my memories of what I heard on the radio that year, and not much else. But for "I Melt With You,... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2023 SOCIETY

• Songs of '83: "Too Shy"

  

  Another classic one-hit wonder of the 1980s, at least insofar as American radio is concerned. I've already featured four so far, and there are many more to come... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2023 SOCIETY