Here we go with another week of Flashback Videos!
Remember, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Throw me some curveballs!
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I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight – Cutting Crew
“(I Just) Died in Your Arms” is a power ballad written by Nick Van Eede and performed by his band, Cutting Crew. It was their biggest hit, peaking at #1 in the United States, Canada and Norway, and reaching the Top Five in the UK, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland.
The words “I just died in your arms tonight” originally came to Van Eede while he was having sex with his girlfriend, “death” being an often-used metaphor for orgasm. Writing down the phrase, Van Eede later used it as the hook to “(I Just) Died In Your Arms.”
First released in Britain, the song peaked at #4 on the UK charts in August 1986. Upon its release in the United States, the previously unknown band’s debut single shot to number one on May 2, 1987, and stayed there for two weeks. It also reached #4 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #24 on Billboard’s Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and (in a remix version) #37 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart. The song spent three weeks at #1 in Canada.
Foolish Beat – Debbie Gibson
“Foolish Beat” (Atlantic 89109; Atlantic UK A9059) is the fourth single, and the first ballad release, from American singer-songwriter-actress Deborah Gibson. Originally recorded in the winter of 1987 for the Dream Tour, months prior to its inclusion on her album Out of the Blue (LP 81780), this made Gibson the youngest person to single-handedly write, produce and sing a number-one single entirely on her own when “Foolish Beat” hit the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the summer of 1988.
This single was actually released in Japan as the B-side to Atlantic Japan 10SW-15
“Foolish Beat” eventually won a dubious honor at Viacom International: this song actually made number thirty-three on VH1’s 40 Most Awesomely Bad Break-up Songs…Ever.
The Heat Is On – Glenn Frey
“The Heat Is On” is a song written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey and recorded by Glenn Frey, from Faltermeyer and Forsey’s soundtrack of the popular 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop. It was a major hit single in its own right, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1985. It was also quite popular internationally, reaching number two on the Australian Singles Chart in 1985 and gaining peaks of number 8 on the Canadian Singles Chart and number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.
The music video for the song received heavy MTV airplay. It showed a film editor assembling scenes for Beverly Hills Cop while Frey and a band played the song in the adjacent room, with action scenes from the movie then directly interspersed. Among the musicians shown in the video is saxophone player Beverly Dahlke-Smith, who did not play on the actual recording.
The recording subsequently appeared on Frey’s albums Glenn Frey Live (1993) and Solo Collection (1995) as well as on some various-artists ‘top hits’ collections.
The song was ranked 784th out of 2006 songs by voting featured in the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown.
“The Heat Is On” is Ottawa Senators star forward Dany Heatley’s goal song. It is also the song played when the Omaha Lancers junior hockey team scores, making reference to the United States Hockey League. During the mid-to-late 1980s, it was also played at New York Mets home games following a home run by a Mets player. It is the walk-on music for English darts player Denis Ovens. The song’s title expression has been directly used in marketing slogans, such as for Australian television operations TVW and Seven Network.
Maneater – Hall & Oates
“Maneater” is a single recorded by American duo Hall & Oates from their 1982 album H2O. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 18, 1982. According to John Oates the inspiration for this song was Kelly LeBrock.
The Hall & Oates music video opens with a woman walking down a red staircase, and the band playing in a dimly lit studio with shafts of light projecting down on them. This may be an attempt to mimic a bar-dance club setting. The band members step in and out of the light for their lip sync. A young woman in a short party dress is shown in fade-in and fade-out shots, along with a black jaguar, hence the song line “The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar”, which likely refers to a gold digger who prefers to ride in an up-scale luxury automobile such as a Jaguar. The song refrain is “Whoa, oh here she comes; watch out boy, she’ll chew you up; whoa, oh here she comes, she’s a maneater”.
