Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement
Heaven 17 were pioneers of the electro pop movement, part of what was known as the British Electric Foundation. Several members of the B.E.F. branched out later to form Human League and one of whom (Martyn Ware) even produced Terence Trent D'Arby's smash first album. But that's just their history, let me explain how I got this song glued to my life. In the bright and shiny early days of MTV, kids like me glowed at the prospect of the music video. Between countless wasted hours playing Atari games, my mom would always complain that I spent too much time watching MTV and, well...I mean, every kid on my block that had cable did the same thing. It wasn't like MTV had tons of videos, either. They had maybe 30 or 40 they played all the time. But once in a while they'd throw a curve ball at you. One of those "odd" videos that always grabbed me was a clip frequently dropped in at odd times of the day. It seemed normal enough if you had the volume turned down -- the pretty normal looking guy with the suit on at the office was trying to explain about being upwardly mobile. It was normal, yes, at least until he picked up the phone and started talking to the girl in the video. She jumped onto the screen like a new wave neon-encrusted sex kitten with her chopped shock-blonde hair, sunglasses, and pouted lips. At one point, she laid down in what looked like a tanning bed while synthesizers blazed and let a live scorpion crawl down her chest. How could I not fall in love? With the volume turned up, I was treated to one of my favorite all-time dance records, and one that for whatever reason constantly and completely gets ignored in the resurgence of electro that's been happening lately. I dunno why people don't jump for joy whenever the song opens and synthesizers start blaring out dirty, sweaty funk. Maybe you can listen to it and explain it to me. This song has never left my ears, and I still play it at least once a month for friends who either glom onto it or just flatly don't get it. The best part is that, for some reason it's still in print. If you love it like I do, you can get your hands on it. Someone must agree with me.
