Well, the 80's really are OVER

Michael Bolton is still alive and well, but Laura Branigan--one of the great pop voices of the 80's--is no longer with us. He gets to sing "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You", but she doesn't. This is grossly unfair. RD agrees, that's how much we hate him.



Just the other day I walked by what used to be an old luncheonette (there's a word you don't hear anymore) where I used to play Ms. Pac Man. For some reason, the Flashdance soundtrack popped into my head. Strangely enough, it was Branigan's "Imagination" that was my favorite stage sequence. You know it, too--the segment with the flashing tv in the little club. And what was played during the skating sequence? "Gloria", of course. That skater was Amy Kravette, a former Canadian competitor.



1983 was me getting used to not being in Bensonhurst anymore. It was a totally new world, and quite an adjustment from living in a house to an apartment. I didn't like it, and I found myself slipping into escapes such as music and dance. That was a great time to be a kid radio-wise, and I remember vividly how Flashdance changed the face of Hollywood soundtracks. They marketed that album, and most of the artists--including Branigan--as bonafide stars, not up and comers. This was THE stuff you HAD TO be listening to. They crammed the airwaves, the singles flew off the shelves, and after a week, you knew every word. Every jazz class I took had us standing there taking the needle off that record. Finally, someone brought in a cassette so it wouldn't skip while we jumped around. The beginning of the "concept" movie. Irene & Laura--two voices you couldn't forget if you tried.



Shame what the record companies have come out with lately. Teen pop crap or violent hip hop. I like old school rap, kiddies. Gimme some Whodini or Run DMC and I'm fine. None of these kids would even know who Laura Branigan is, sadly. I'm listening to the radio right now, and they still haven't played one of her songs yet. They probably won't, either. The idiots at ClearChannel probably have guns to DJ's heads. This is a sorry state we're in, and it's one of the reasons why people don't listen to the radio anymore.



But Michael Bolton is still alive to poison us with his scratchy warbling. Someone PLEASE PLEASE explain that to me.



Miss you, Laura.