499. SMITHEREENS, "Behind the Wall of Sleep"
Produced by Don Dixon; written by Pat DiNizio
1986 Did not make pop charts
When I first heard this single I remember thinking: a boy is singing about a girl in the band. Hmmm. That's a milestone for pop, especially from willful retrotasters like the Smithereens. Okay, he's stalking her--we didn't say "stalk" so much back then, "getting creepy" worked well enough--but still it's not just the girl in the audience crushing on the guy. That's got to count for something.
At the time, I actually had to look up (pre-internet, I'll have you know) who Jeanie Shrimpton was, and when I showed her picture to a few friends they all agreed that he had to be singing about Michael Steele, formerly of the Runaways, then of the Bangles.
Well, we saw a resemblance, especially since they both had red hair.
In any case, it's nice to live now in an age where a female bassist is neither unknown nor exotic. Although I still hope the bassists are getting respect. It shouldn't always be the frontwoman who pulls in the fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment