Saturday 9: Shout (1985)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
This month we're going to recall Summer Songs. These will all be records that topped the charts during August.
1) Number 1 on the charts in August 40 years ago, the lyrics to "Shout" encourage us to "let it all out." When is the last time you raised your voice? I raise my voice all the time while watching baseball. Like the old song says, I cheer and boo and raise a hullabaloo.
2) This week's featured artists, Tears for Fears, were a duo -- Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith -- who met as teenagers in Bath, the largest city in Somerset, England. Bath has been named one of The Great Spa Towns of Europe. Popular spa treatments include massages, facials, body scrubs and wraps, mineral baths, manicures and pedicures. If you could treat yourself to a spa treatment today, which would you choose? My pedicure is looking a little rough. But oh, a massage would feel good, too!
3) When they first met, one of the things Roland and Curt bonded over was that they were both raised by single mothers. Who was your best friend during your teen years? What did you two bond over? That was Judy. We were moody, sensitive, artistic nerds. I wanted to be a writer and she wanted to paint. I'm proud to say we both did pretty well in our respective fields.
4) Curt's wife, Frances Pennington, has had a long career in marketing, beginning in the record business and transitioning to fashion. Which industry do you think you'd enjoy more -- music or fashion? Fashion, I think. Imagine the beautiful freebies and samples!
5) Roland married his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Johnston. They were together for 35 years, until her death. Do you know whatever became of your childhood sweetheart? When I was in Kindergarten, I wanted to marry our next door neighbor's son, Billy, who had shiny black hair and always wore black t-shirts. He came over on weekends to visit his parents and would often wash his car in their driveway. He let me sponge the hubcaps and told me I did such a good job he wished he could marry me. LIAR! He married a hair-sprayed bitch named Sandy and my mean parents actually dragged me along to the wedding! To her dying day, my mom loved telling the story of how I pouted all day and complained about losing the man I referred to as, "my husband."
Let's look at the summer of 1985.
6) That summer, Chicago teenager Balu Natarajan won the National Spelling Bee. Are you a good speller? Most of the time. Spell check has to rescue me on the word "occasion." I stubbornly add a second "s."
7) Tinker Bell took her first nightly flight at Walt Disney World in Florida. Do you recall which Disney movie introduced us to Tinker Bell? Peter Pan.
8) Derek Hough was a baby in the summer of 1985. In 2007 he became a regular on Dancing with the Stars, acclaimed for his ballroom dancing. Are you good on the dance floor? Not in the least.
9) In 1985, Michael J. Fox became the first actor to have the #1 movie at the box office and the #1 TV show in the ratings. The movie was Back to the Future and the TV show was Family Ties. Have you seen the movie? Were you a fan of the show? I know people loved the Back to the Future franchise, but I only saw the first one. I did enjoy spending time with the Keaton family.
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