in third grade i developed an obsession with the psychedelic furs' "heartbreak beat" video. midnight to midnight was the first album i ever bought (with change, as i recall); the disdain i caught at school for carrying around that tape with richard butler's english-white belly on the front was second only to what my best friend and i caught for choreographing a dance routine to "heartbreak beat" for the talent show.* that was right around when pretty in pink** was edited for television (so i could bootleg and sneak downstairs to watch it when my parents were asleep), and when my aunt and uncle brought over a copy of labyrinth (wait, i thought, you mean knife-thin english crooners are, like, a species?). shit was afoot in '86-'87.
that ecstatic saxophone riff came rolling out of the speakers this morning when i played ipod i ching to figure out what to wear, which is why i'm at the office in skinny black jeans, motorcycle boots, and a questionable black lace shirt. heady stuff, that grainy old MTV.
imaginary reading group discussion questions
01 have you ever been in a talent show? what was your act?
02 if you were/are a music video watcher, do you have a "heartbreak beat" analog?
03 have you ever let dressing room muzak talk you into or out of a clothing purchase?
*we didn't even make it past tryouts; robin benway shellacked us when she lip synced to the jets' "crush on you." that was fair, as i danced about as well then as i do now.
**which, if this month's vanity fair feature is to be trusted, had something to do with our local radio:
[Molly] Ringwald, for her part, found common ground with [John] Hughes in their shared taste for British-import pop. A California girl, she gushed to Hughes about the postpunk and New Wave music that she heard on KROQ, the Anglophilic L.A. station to which she was devoted. Pretty in Pink, she says, was written for her after she played Hughes the Psychedelic Furs song of that title.say what you will about simple minds and "don't you (forget about me)," but for my money, pretty in pink and its soundtrack are the best of the brat pack.
