"Lust to Love" by The Go-Gos

Hey Dialophiles, today we turn the spotlight to a quintet of ladies who really know how to rock! The first (and so far, only!) all-female act that wrote and played their own songs to top the Billboard album charts, we proudly introduce Belinda, Charlotte, Jane, Gina, and Kathy, a.k.a. The Go-Gos, and their 1981 album track “Lust to Love”.

“It used to be the fun was in the capture and kill, in another place and time, I did it all for thrills.”

The fourth track on side one of their debut smash LP “Beauty and the Beat”, “Lust…” features a female narrator recounting that she used to pursue physical relationships for fun, then would split the scene as soon as the guy’s attentions turned toward real emotion. But now she laments that the tables have since turned, as she has met a guy whom SHE has fallen in love with, and now HE holds all the power in their relationship. 

“Love me and I’ll leave you, I told you at the start, I had no idea that you would tear my world apart.”

Sung by lead vocalist Belinda Carlisle, with a slight “echo” effect enhancing her vocals, and featuring Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Gina Schock on drums, bass work by Kathy Valentine, and Jane Wiedlin on rhythm guitar, “Lust…” was written by Caffey and Wiedlin.

It’s interesting to hear such a stereotypically male point of view toward relationships (the “ol’ love ‘em and leave ‘em” routine) being championed by a woman, and it echoes a similar sentiment found in The Marvelettes’ 1966 soul classic “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game”, in which another woman falls deep in love when her intentions were just to casually fool around.

Despite loving the artists and music of the ‘80s, I rarely owned the iconic LPs of the time. Oh sure, I had MJ’s “Thriller”, and Hall & Oates’ “H20” (which I believe were birthday gifts), but I mainly grew my collection by taping songs off the radio. Hey, I was a seven year old kid who had an allowance, but that money went toward Matchbox cars, and visits to the arcade. You have to prioritize your spending even at that young age, you know! As a result, most album cuts passed me by on their initial release, only for me to happily discover them later on in life.

“And you’re the one to blame… I used to know my name, but I’ve lost control of the game…”

Once I snagged The Go-Gos 1990 compilation “Greatest” for all their awesome hit singles (on cassette, no doubt!), I found myself returning rather frequently to this previously-unknown-to-me album track which  soon surpassed even “Vacation” and “We Got The Beat” as must-listens. Give it a spin yourselves, Dialophiles, and enjoy the catchy pop stylings of The Go-Gos first hand!

“Lust to love… was the last thing I was dreaming of… and now all I want is just to love. Lust has turned to love.”

"Ronnie's Rapp" by Ron and the D.C. Crew

Happy April Fools Day, Dialophiles! 

To celebrate the jovial tone of the day, the Dial transmits a wacky novelty track from ‘87, one that my buddies and I in middle school couldn’t get enough of! Honestly, I have to believe that many of the Beltway insiders got a kick out of it as well… let us introduce… Ron and the D.C. Crew with “Ronnie’s Rapp”!

“Well, I’m the Big Gipper and I’m here to say, that I’m biggest rapper in the U.S.A.! Yeah, my name’s Ron with the D.C. Crew, going on record with a rap for you!”

Written by actor/comedian Mark Moseley, who in recent years, has provided the voice of “Donkey” in video games based on the Shrek film series, and “Mushu the Dragon” in all Disney Mulan projects except for the original film, Ronnie’s Rapp features Moseley’s spot-on impersonation of “The Great Communicator”, President Ronald Reagan (he was number 40, don’cha know).

“Rapp” adheres firmly to the time honored tradition of “boasting” raps, as Moseley’s Reagan trumpets his ’84 landslide defeat of Walter Mondale, his conferences with Gorbachev, and his daily naps, after signing a bill, of course. He also name checks his “veep” George Bush, his “best girl” Nancy, speaker of the house Tip O’Neill, his Hollywood classic “Bedtime for Bonzo”, and Billy Crystal’s SNL catch phrase “That’s the Ticket”. He even manages to sneak in lyrical references to the 1978 disco nugget “In the Bush” by Musique, and Newcleus’ 1984 hip hop classic “Jam On It”. The song opens with a replayed sample of the traditional Presidential theme “Hail to the Chief”.

“Met with Gorbachev in ’85, to talk about how everyone could stay alive, and though he seemed to be a guy with class, if he doesn’t play ball, we’ll nuke his COUNTRY!”

The above line stops short of the easy and expected rhyme with “class”, which is clearly part of the humor, but my middle school friend Matt didn’t… whenever he heard this verse, he would always loudly sing over the final word with a resounding “ASS”. Ahhh… middle school humor.

Ronnie’s Rapp was played quite a bit in the DC Top 40 market, (which makes perfect sense), but nationally, it only peaked at a barely noticeable US #93 in Feb ’87. I’m not sure if Moseley’s Presidential spoof caught the ears of any other markets across the fruited plain, but it was the number one requested song in Washington for a few weeks on the top 40 stations I listened to at the time.

“The current administration’s socio-economical and political policies are in direct cohesion with that which has been facilitated… In other words… YES!!! Yeah, that’s the ticket… awesome!”

Last year at this time, the Dial brought you “Macho Duck”, a disco jam featuring Donald, pulled from the 1979 Mickey Mouse Disco LP. This year, we decided to make a yearly tradition out of spotlighting a novelty track to commemorate April Fools Day, which led to this Presidential musical selection. Other songs in the running were “Jamaican Bobsled” by the Rock N Roll Animals, and Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun”, but as both songs could be considered insensitive and non-PC in today’s world, (especially Homecoming Queen…) we leave it up to you whether you seek these songs out.

So regardless of whether you are politically minded or not, and no matter what party you affiliate yourself with, give “The Big Gipper” a spin, and enjoy a chuckle on us. Happy April Fools Day from all of us here at Kyle’s Radio Dial! Oh, and I’d love to hear a modern day rap artist sample or interpolate some lyrics from this classic… that’s right, I’m lookin’ at YOU, KANYE!!!

“I’m the Big Gipper, don’t mess with me, I’m the baddest rapper this side of D.C. With my best girl Nancy as my spouse, rappin’ to you from that big White House!”

"Never Surrender" by Don Felder

What’s goin’ on, Dialophiles? Tonight, we fine-tune a signal containing a track laid to wax by a former Eagle, but not the expected usual suspects Don Henley, Glenn Frey, or Joe Walsh. Check out guitarist Don Felder, and his ode to holding out for “Ms. Right”… 1982’s “Never Surrender”.

“It’s Saturday night again, everybody’s out on the street. You’re feelin’ so good my friend, you’re in love with every woman you see.”

Joining the Eagles in 1974, just in time to contribute to the On The Border LP, Felder helped evolve the Eagles’ from their country-rock beginnings to a mainstream rock sound, culminating in their masterpiece Hotel California, and it’s 1979 follow up, The Long Run. Following the group’s collapse in late 1980, all former bandmates pursued solo careers, including Felder, who contributed songs to the soundtrack of the animated motion picture “Heavy Metal” in 1981, (more on this later), and our the track which is our focus for today, “Never Surrender”, recorded for the awesome ‘80s time capsule “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”.

Featured as playing from the poolside radio during the scene in which Damone and Ratner (Richard Romanus and Brian Backer), offer to help Jennifer Jason Leigh’s “Stacey” and Phoebe Cates’ “Linda” with their math homework, “Never…” also made the grade as the fifth track on Felder’s 1983 Airborne LP, his only solo release, until 2012’s Road to Forever.

“It’s hard when you want somebody and it feels like anybody will do. It’s easy to soon forget what you need and what’s the right thing for you.”

Written by Felder with soundtrack king Kenny Loggins, who also lends harmony vocal (listen for the “and it feels like anybody will do” line in the second verse for the clearest example of Kenny’s vocal accompaniment), “Never…” contains guitar flourishes reminiscent of Don’s work in the Eagles’ classics “Life in the Fast Line”, and “Hotel California”. Listen for the “chugging” guitar sound, which is Don’s signature.

Not released as a single, “Never” never realized its full chart potential. Had it been released to Top 40 and rock radio, and to MTV with a proper video, I imagine the Felder/Loggins composition probably would have landed somewhere in the top 20… maybe just below the Top 10, but we can only offer conjecture on this point.

“Oh, brother, I hear you’ve discovered it’s time that you’re settling down… oh, brother, but I can’t help but wonder, just what will you settle down from?”

In addition to “Never Surrender”, the Fast Times original soundtrack contains tons of great tunes that you don’t have to be familiar with the film to enjoy. Lots of 70s and 80s classic rock and pop artists contribute, like Donna Summer (see the Dial’s review of her “Highway Runner” from 6/3/12), Jimmy Buffett, Stevie Nicks, Sammy Hagar, Oingo Boingo, Billy Squier, Graham Nash, and The Go-Gos, in addition to three solo tracks by several other former Eagles; Henley, Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmidt. Of course, the major hit from this compilation was Jackson Browne’s upbeat, yet melancholy US #7 masterpiece “Somebody’s Baby”.

After its original 1982 vinyl and cassette print run, (and probably 8-track as well), the Fast Times’ soundtrack was deleted by the record label and sadly remained out of print for years until 1995, when this great compilation was made available to music fans once more. Incidentally, the same day that Fast Times was back in the record stores, another long time unavailable soundtrack was finally re-released, 1981’s “Heavy Metal”, which contains Felder’s smoldering “All of You”, and the film’s secondary title track  “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)”, which was to be Don’s only Hot 100 charting track, at US #43.

So take a moment and surrender yourself to this classic 1982 cut which didn’t get the chance to be the sizable hit it deserved to be. And be sure to keep your receivers tuned to the Dial’s frequency next month, as we will be covering a noteworthy novelty song in the spirit of April Fools Day. No joke. See you then!

“Boy, never surrender… I know that’s it’s tough, but my boy… never surrender, hold out for love.”