my power pop addiction, no. 17 (89)

One more trash-to-treasure pick for you today. I'm actually uncomfortable calling 8675309 trash since it's always sounded to me like nothing less than a gem. It came out when I was in eighth grade and, even though I was a total hesher rock guy in those days, I loved the song and would crank up the radio every time it came on. If it'd been done by, say, 20/20 or Pezband, it would not be the laugher it seems to have become today. Part of the problem is that it's hard to take a band called Tommy Tutone seriously. But it's an excellent song, featuring those tweaky, speedy adenoidal vocals you get with some of the best late 70s and early 80s guitar pop. It's not really New Wave because there's no synth and it's not arty or modern sounding, if that makes sense. My sister asked me about the distinction between New Wave and power pop. It's hard to say because, as I told her, the categories are somewhat subjective, arbitrary and overlapping. There's power poppy New wave - the Cars, XTC, Utopia, etc. And there's New Wavey power pop - Phil Seymour, the Pop, Nick Gilder, 20/20, Shoes. There's tons of different flavors, the varieties loosely intersecting and fluid. I'll try to get to a lot of it in the coming days and weeks ahead. But 8675309 is just a straight-forward pop beauty with great guitars, a catchy hook, satisfying backing vocals, and a wonderfully low-budget video. Dig the Shrink's office that looks like a janitor's closet on the sound stage. The Freud poster is a nice touch...