In The Number Fortys, we review whatever song was sitting at #40 on the Billboard charts. We began in the first week of January 1984, right around the time this writer became cognizant/obsessive about music, and will continue until we get bored. The seeds for the idea came from Tom Breihan's Number Ones column over at Stereogum. However, we here at k-postpunk believe that the bottom is more interesting than the top (and obscurity is more interesting than either). Also, if you want to read the Number in the title as meaning "more numb," I think that's totally understandable at this point.
This week's song is bullshit and horrible, so we're not going to spend too much time on it. It's forgettable the way that shitty job you worked at for a month to save up money so you could move was shitty. It's just a thing you did. I've listened to this song five times now, and there is absolutely nothing there.
As long as I'm here though, I might as well say that Toto sucks. Rosanna sucks. Africa (the song) sucks. I'm not going to argue these things. It's a stupid song about a stupid thing. Toto were soulless session musicians--Steely Dan without the wit or melody, and I am not a fan of Steely Dan. They provided some decent backing on some of Michael Jackson's Thriller. Congratulations, Toto.
Score: 1.
THE NUMBER ONE
From my copy of Ask: The Chatter of Pop by Paul Morley, An interview he conducted with Wham--excuse me, Wham!--that appeared in the October 23, 1983 edition of Blitz Magazine, roughly a year before this song reached #1 in the UK and US. Q's are Paul. A's are G. Mike.
Q:You're banal, George.
A: Yeah, I'm banal, as far as what goes on the record. . . but I enjoy the music and a lot of other people enjoy the music, so I don't care."
Q: What do you care about?
A: I care about me, I care about my family. I care about making sure that I'm still here in five or ten years' time. Y'see, I'm about as human as most people are. I don't think you have a grasp of how human most people are. I don't think that you have a grasp of basic human requirements. You seem to use the word "banal" as derogatory. But life if banal . . . if you understand, you know that it is banal and that there's nothing wrong with that. . . . It's just life. It's just the way people are, people are banal, their lives are boring, and they just try to get through life as enjoyable and as simply as possible.
Q: I . . the content of an aimless consciousness is weak and colourlesss . . . the work is futile, the joys ephemeral, the howls helpless and the agony incompetent, the hopes are purchased, the voice prerecorded, the play is mechanical, the rules typed, their lines trite, all strengths are sapped, exertion anyhow is useless, to vote or not is futile, futile . . . it is the principal function of popular culture - though hardly its avowed purpose - to keep people from understanding what is happening to them . . . in every way they are separated from the centres of power and feeling. . . .
A: I do enjoy this kind of conversation . . . I like coming up against questions like these. But I don't think it means anything to people. No one wants to know about the things you're going on about. Enjoyment is what matters.
Q: But doesn't such single-minded attention on the juices of enjoyment become repetitive and desperate? Doesn't such small determination to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy actually nullify the possibilities of pleasure? Don't curiosity, complication, adventure play their parts. . .
A: Yeah, those things, but why should we be the ones to put it about? Why should we? I want us to be happy.
In 1984, a year after this interview, George Michael appeared on a kids TV show and announced that Joy Division's Closer was his favorite album. We'll excerpt some more from this interview as the song continues its reign atop the charts.
No comments:
Post a Comment