On Your FM Dial: 1981 - The Grammys
Michelle Newman 0:00
But yet, at the very, very end, you know how at the end, he whispers too much time, and as he's doing it, he's pointing at where his watch should be.
Kristin Nilsen 0:11
There's no watch. He doesn't have enough time on his hands anymore.
Michelle Newman 0:15
Kristen, he has no time on his no time on his hands. He literally has no zero time
Speaker 1 0:26
on his hands.
Unknown Speaker 0:37
Will make you happy.
Carolyn Cochrane 0:41
Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who always wondered what would happen if you got caught between the moon and New York City.
Michelle Newman 0:51
I mean, the best that you can do
Unknown Speaker 0:54
fall in love, right?
Michelle Newman 0:57
We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition. And
Kristin Nilsen 1:09
today, we'll be saving the year in our music history that marked one particular change that would shift everything for years to come. We're celebrating the songs of 1981 in a special two part episode, diving into both the 24th annual Grammy Awards and the individual songs that captured each of our pubescent hearts. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen,
Michelle Newman 1:31
and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists. You Music.
Kristin Nilsen 1:49
Welcome to our latest installment in the series we call on your FM dial, celebrating the music we heard coming from our clock radios, car stereos, and for some of us, for the very first time, on cable TV. Normally, when we do these episodes on your FM dial or the 70s version called am radio gold, we get really wrapped up in our nostalgia for these songs, and we talk and we talk and we talk. We talk, surprise,
Michelle Newman 2:13
surprise on these episodes, right? What are you talking about? Just music episodes, is one? Right?
Kristin Nilsen 2:20
These in particular, tend to be unwieldy, and at the end of this freakishly long two and a half hour recording, one of us has to edit it down to a measly hour or so, cutting out all of our precious observations and feelings. They precious. They it is. It's really like, which of those darlings do you cut it got so out of control that I said to Carolyn and Michelle this time, I am limiting your choices. Normally, we each talk about three songs. This time I said, No, you get two songs. We just don't have time. And they took to the streets in protest, picket signs, yes, like I had just taken away all of their freedom to express themselves. So this time, we're doing it differently. We usually open these episodes with a rundown of the Grammy Awards for that year, because that's like a fully contained time capsule of the year in music. It's absolutely fascinating. Who was nominated, who won, who presented, who performed, and that's supposed to be just a little teaser to the meat of the episode, which features our individual picks for the songs that impacted us on a personal level. But instead of short changing either of those things, we're giving them room to breathe. And part one of our 1981 episode will be our take on the 1981 Grammys part two will be all three song choices from our personal histories, plus some runners up and honorable mentions, because it's very hard to stop and so welcome to part one of on your FM Dial, 1981 Grammys edition. Do you guys feel better now?
Michelle Newman 4:02
I do. Yeah. Thank you so much. I can sleep now knowing that I can share my precious observations and feelings for all three songs. Yeah, I'm just gonna have to cut one because I already had three pick when you told me two
Kristin Nilsen 4:16
and I was gonna move the shoes. It is. Yes, it is. I mean, actually, three songs is hard. Three songs is impossible, yeah, and somehow we make it happen. So please know when we give you these three songs, if you asked us tomorrow, it would be a different three songs. And the truth is, last night, at about one in the morning, I changed my songs. So it is what it is. So let us begin the 24th annual Grammy Awards were broadcast on February 24 1982 honoring and celebrating all the songs that were released in the year prior, and was hosted once again by John Denver. He hosted the Grammys five times in the seven. 90s and 80s, and that's because he was pretty good at
Michelle Newman 5:03
it. He's so darling and he's so likable. He's like the every man. However, he went on to host, and he went on to host in 83 and 84 were two of those times. But let's leave him out of We Are the World like, if he's no he's everybody's darling, and everybody loves him enough. But that's still, you guys. I'm sorry that's still just I agree, chaps my hide.
Kristin Nilsen 5:25
And they did so in the name of relevancy, they said, You know what, he's just not relevant anymore. Well, if he's so irrelevant, why is he hosting the Grammys in 1984 music's biggest night. Music. Everybody knows his name. Everybody honors him and appreciates him, and they want him there. But I know we're all salty. We're very, very salty. John Denver has no giant 1970s bow tie this time, and he has no John Denver glasses. He has some very on trend chunky plastic aviator glasses.
Michelle Newman 6:01
When I started like, kind of cutting his hair, almost like the mullet, kind
Kristin Nilsen 6:04
of little like it was a 1970s mullet, a little bit, a little bit like hockey hair, but he was just gonna trim it up over the ears a little bit, so it wasn't full on. I am, thank God I'm a country boy. So this Grammy Awards featured some really memorable performances, and for me, the most memorable was Rick James playing, give it to me, baby, on a broken keyboard. Did you guys happen to catch this? No. How did
Carolyn Cochrane 6:28
you know it was broken?
Kristin Nilsen 6:30
Because it was almost like a sketch from the Muppets in which, like he, he just struts, struts, struts, and he just starts pounding on the keyboard, pound, pound, pound. And then the keyboard just like falls, it just falls over, and he grabs it with his one hand. And so now he's just pounding on the keyboard with one hand, just one hand, one hand, hold it. Hold it steady. Hold it steady. And then he would let go and it fall down, and he would hold it. He was not gonna give up. It looked like you were putting on a play for your parents. It was hilarious. I
Carolyn Cochrane 7:01
have to find that, I mean, but he was successful in keeping me. Yes, he sure did. Well, that says
Kristin Nilsen 7:07
John Denver introduced him like this. He says, and we all know Rick James, right. Can you picture the Rick James hair? He's got, like, basically, he's got bangs. He's got, like, yeah, like, bangs, and then long, long braids. So Jen, John Denver introduced him like this. First there was rock, then there was hard rock, then there was punk rock, and now, thanks mainly to our next performer, there is punk funk. And he says, You have to watch how you say that on television.
Michelle Newman 7:40
Oh, John Denver,
Kristin Nilsen 7:41
you're adorable. Have you guys seen the video for Give it to me, baby?
Michelle Newman 7:45
No, but just when you said that, you know, a minute ago, in my head, I was like, after I'm done recording, I'm gonna go dance to give it to my baby by myself in my room, because I love that is such a that makes you want to dance. It's a jam.
Kristin Nilsen 7:59
Is a jam, and you need to what we're gonna put this in the newsletter. The video, forgive it to me, baby, it is nasty. If you think Prince was overtly sexual, he has nothing on Rick James. Oh, let's just say it involves a speedo and a hot tub.
Carolyn Cochrane 8:18
Oh, I remember it now that you say that. Yes,
Michelle Newman 8:20
that sounds like last night. For me,
Kristin Nilsen 8:25
it's comical. It is absolutely comical. And I cannot believe that this was like we were just very accepting of this in the 80s. It's funny. And notably, this was the first Grammys after the advent of that most seismic event known as MTV.
MTV launched on August 1, 1981 just a handful of months before this broadcast, but still, even though it's been only a handful of months, you can still see the influence beginning, can't you?
Carolyn Cochrane 9:12
Oh, yeah, just the showmanship of everything. I feel like
Michelle Newman 9:16
this is when it started to not just be about the song anymore. It was the images created by the song. Like, even if the award wasn't a video award, you can't help but have those images in your mind when you hear the title of that song for the first time. So yes, I think to your point, the advent of MTV certainly influenced it was just everything about music and the Grammys, ultimately, as well.
Kristin Nilsen 9:44
And we didn't all have MTV yet. It wasn't available all over the country, which is why we got that tagline, I want my MTV, right? They would play the they would have sting and you two, and all these people say, I want my MTV. And that was supposed to encourage us teeny boppers. To call up our cable provider and say, will you include MTV in my cable package? But still, even though we didn't all have MTV videos, were because of MTV videos were being made and then shown on other shows, like Casey casons America's top 10, which was actually a video countdown show, which I was a super fan of, and other places too. It was just, it was just starting to be recognized as a thing that performers should be doing now. This was now part of being a musician, even if they weren't always good at it.
Carolyn Cochrane 10:31
Some were naturals and some just were not. Yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 10:35
they're like, I don't know how to do this. And we see for the first time, a new category at the Grammys called Video of the Year, and no one listening right now will be able to guess the winner, because I don't think anybody saw this. I didn't see it. I don't I've never heard of it, except in an in a historical context. And I don't think anyone saw any of the nominees either, except for one, because I don't think the academy, or whoever it is, the Grammy people, I don't think they knew exactly what a video was yet or what they were looking for.
Carolyn Cochrane 11:11
Yeah, I think that the criteria for judging video of the year was still being formed. And again, like you said, Kristen, based on the nominees and based on the winner. Okay, I had to go look this up, everybody. So the winner of the first ever video of the year award went to Michael Nesmith of the monkeys. It's called Elephant parts. What I mean? Did either of you ever see this or know about this? No,
Michelle Newman 11:43
no, no, no, it's not one of the ones I've ever saw. No, I was waiting up for. You know, you remember, you remember you'd go to someone's house who had MTV, and you would just stay up all night because you're like, but we haven't seen, you know, the video for this yet, and so you had to wait. I don't know if anybody was waiting up for elephant Well,
Carolyn Cochrane 12:01
elephant parts was pre MTV. It was really the kindling and the idea that got MTV kind of going. But interestingly enough, elephant parts is actually an hour long program. It's almost like a Saturday Night Live. It's like a sketch comedy show. So there are parodies of commercials, of like As Seen On TV commercials. And then within that are these, what Michael Nesmith called Pop clips. So they were songs, not monkey songs. He never did any monkey songs, or referred to the monkeys in any of this. And that's where you saw the beginnings of this, like storytelling through the song. So there's, like, one of the pop clips is kind of at a drive in a food drive in, you know, where there's people on women on the roller skates and all of that, and he pulls up and, like, it's convertible, and gets out, and there's dancing and they're singing. And you you see it right there. You're like, Yes, this is what we come to recognize as the classic, a music video, a music video correct. It really put the concept on the map. And so that is indeed what won that first year. It beat out other nominees, including a laser disc for blondies eat to the beat album.
Kristin Nilsen 13:16
So full album, not just like one
Carolyn Cochrane 13:19
song. What we come to think of eventually is like the MTV awards and those music videos. This was a precursor to all this. So these are more anything musical, basically, that you could watch, it seems to me. So elephant parts was released on VHS and Betamax. So you had to have a Betamax or a VHS player in order to see this, which, again, that was kind of early for that. My family didn't even have cable, let alone a video.
Kristin Nilsen 13:46
I didn't have either one of those things. Yeah, I just think it's so funny. We've never heard of it. We've never even heard of it, and I'm a monkey's fan,
Carolyn Cochrane 13:54
and it's quite entertaining, I must say, like it just reminded me of Saturday Night Live.
Michelle Newman 14:00
And it's not like there weren't decent videos out there, because i This prompted me to research a little bit, like, Was this all that was available, you know, because the other nominees were, like, one night stand, a keyboard event, and one of the other nominees was the first national kid disc, like, k, i, d, i, s, k, like, Kid esque, Kid disc, I don't know. So I needed to know. I was like, But, I mean, I'm thinking a Video Killed the Radio Star. I'm thinking of all those first, those first videos we watched in August, September, October of 1981 why weren't they nominated? And I would like to present for your consideration to the 1981 National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Too much time on my hands. The video for too much time on my hands. I would like, Have you guys seen it?
Kristin Nilsen 14:53
Too much time on my hands. You guys
Michelle Newman 14:57
the song, first of all, beats. Yes, the other ones by a billion, like some of these other videos that started MTV, where you have half performance and then half some weird, obscure story that running bonkers, yeah? But here's the thing, I was entertained. Where was that that wasn't even
Kristin Nilsen 15:15
170 Yeah, yeah. And I wonder if it's because they didn't know what that was, and because all of these nominees were on laser disc, did they think that's what a video was?
Carolyn Cochrane 15:26
Right? I think they were trying to define it themselves. But let's just say some of those musicians are not actors, and they just are so awkward. In some of those you just want to, like, slide under the you know, table for them. It's just, you know, just stick with the music. I was just
Michelle Newman 15:43
gonna say, but please watch too much time on my hands, because they are awkward, but it's deliciously awkward. I'm gonna put that clip as well to that video in the Weekly Reader this week, because it's just so funny, like the the watch salesman and and just all the shenanigans going on at the bar in between the performance clips, so And the
Kristin Nilsen 16:02
theme is so on the nose, right? Like watches and time at the
Michelle Newman 16:08
very, very end. You know how at the end, he whispers too much time, and as he's doing it, he's pointing at where his watch should be
Kristin Nilsen 16:20
there's no watch. He doesn't have enough time on his he has anymore
Michelle Newman 16:23
Kristen. He has no time on his no time on his hands. He literally has no zero time on his hands.
Kristin Nilsen 16:32
Yeah, it's worth a watch, and it is. And it is sort of like watching people fumbling through the beginnings of learning what a music video is. I
Michelle Newman 16:39
love it, though, don't you love it?
Unknown Speaker 16:41
Oh, I love it.
Carolyn Cochrane 16:42
And I don't think you know, when we watched it back, then we didn't think it was awkward. We didn't laugh at it. Then we were, like, mesmerized, like, Oh, we didn't laugh. So cool. So yeah, and we have really, Michael Nesmith to thank for this whole concept, the storytelling of these songs through what he called these pop clips that TV networks came to him and wanted to buy this concept from him. And he was like, Ah, no, they
Kristin Nilsen 17:08
used his pop clips as the model, and they gave him
Carolyn Cochrane 17:12
the opportunity to be in it from the ground up, but he wasn't a part of the whole MTV thing. The idea came from his ideas, but he maybe regretted it later, but he did not. He was not like on board.
Kristin Nilsen 17:24
He was very anti establishment. He was not going to work for the man, right, exactly. But even though we've never seen Michael Nesmith in elephant parts, the influence of MTV is felt throughout the entire broadcast, including the winner of both the song of the year and the Record of the Year, which went to Betty Davis Eyes by Kim Karn and she knows just what it takes to Make a
Unknown Speaker 17:59
problem. First,
Kristin Nilsen 18:01
I just have to say this is such a deserving pick. And second, when I hear this song, just like Michelle said, I picture the video, especially the part with the synchronized group, face slap sequence when they go you
Michelle Newman 18:25
Oh, my God. I could not remember that video, so I went back and watched it, and it did bring back a little like, oh yeah, oh yeah. But why was this? Is my point from a minute ago. Why wasn't that also nominated for video of the year, because that's a video, that's a music video, and they're in these, if listeners, if you're not remembering, they're in these Renaissance costumes, all the people that are slapping and then later, one of my favorite parts, they do this weird like, Gorilla walk. Yes, it's so bizarre, but oh my gosh, when I was watching it, you guys were the lyrics were coming across. Oh yes, misheard lyrics from that song. I was like, this was like, two days ago. Me watching it going, that's what she says,
Kristin Nilsen 19:09
You can't. I've never been able to sing this song, even at the time they weren't even monda greens, because I couldn't even, I couldn't even conceive in my brain what she would have been saying
Carolyn Cochrane 19:21
to tease you, it didn't make sense. Can we just say that? Here's my hot take for the episode. I did not like this song, hot take, and it might be for this exact reason. I like, you know, kind of more of a narrative or storytelling or something where I can picture it in my head. What is this and like, of all people, Betty Davis, I mean, is there some something about her eyes? I don't know. I didn't like it. I turned it off. I don't even really remember this video at all, because I probably got up and left the room. I know hot take. Hot take. I'm
Michelle Newman 19:54
telling you that's a hot take, because I loved this song and I loved her grab. Molly voice. But watching the video, you see like the shadow of like Betty Davis with the cigarette, which is so cool. But also, I know people are going to throw things at their speakers. I didn't know until the other day that she says what it takes to make a pro blush.
Kristin Nilsen 20:18
Pro blush, what it takes to make a plover. You
Michelle Newman 20:23
think that can't be what she's saying. Totally what she's saying. Yeah? Oh, I see what you're saying. Now. It's a pro, it's
Unknown Speaker 20:34
a prostitute.
Unknown Speaker 20:37
Yeah, I don't know how you
Kristin Nilsen 20:38
want to ask me how I know that? Do you want to know how I this is a really horrible and I've got so much more to say about the lyrics, but let's just go here first. How do I know what a pro is? Because my very first sexual harasser was my contemporary American Lit teacher. I'm not going to say his name, but you all know him, everyone from Anoka, you all know him. And he said that I was no better than a pro, and I'm like, Haha, buddy. And thank God one of the nice guys sitting next to me, he leaned over and he said to me, he means a prostitute. And he did not say it in a mean way. He said it like he was sorry. And there were people who came up to me after that class, and they both actually was mostly boys that said it. I don't remember a girl saying it, boys who came up to me after class and said, I'm really sorry he said that to you. And that was not the first thing he said to me that was in that category. It was my first sexual harasser. I was 17,
Carolyn Cochrane 21:35
so sorry that happened. Gosh, God. Well, I I'm today, years old, learning that pro means prostitute. I've never heard I didn't know it was more what the guys were talking about behind our backs. But
Michelle Newman 21:48
Betty Davis has what it takes to make a pro blush. So yes, she's got it. She's ballsy,
Kristin Nilsen 21:54
yes. And I will tell you that I understood, I understood the song, maybe in a way that you guys didn't, in terms of what, what is it about Betty Davis's eyes? How do I know this? Because there was a picture of Bette Davis hanging on the wall in my living room. Why? Because my grandpa, my aunt, my grandpa, was in a movie with her.
Michelle Newman 22:21
Stop, does everybody stop? We've been doing this podcast for four years. This is brand new information.
Kristin Nilsen 22:32
Well, I'm overstating it a bit. It takes a little bit of backstory. My grandpa actually watched a movie. He was a musician, right? And so yeah, and he worked for Warner Brothers. He was in a lot of movies, but those musicians are in the background there. It's very fleeting, so you can't really see him, but he's on film, right? But the movie where you can see him the best is in the movie Dark Victory, and Betty Davis is sitting at the bar ordering a drink, and my grandpa and a couple of musicians come over to chat her up. And so there's a still from that scene with my grandpa chatting it up with the musicians and Betty Davis. And Betty Davis is slumped over the bar looking at the camera with these very hooded eyes. I know exactly what she's talking about when she says, Betty Davis Eyes. It's, I'll show you the picture. Actually, we should put the picture in a Weekly Reader. Oh yeah, we're gonna be doing and you can see both my grandpa and the eyes that she's talking about. I at the time, I realized I may have been one of the only people to know who she was. A lot of people our age didn't know who Bette Davis was and why there would be this song and what it means. And because of that photo, I knew what this song meant. I knew that she had what it took to make a pro blush. I knew it. But she's not
Michelle Newman 23:49
she's ferocious. Yes,
Kristin Nilsen 23:53
yes, oh, the only line is the only word I could make out. She's precocious. And
Michelle Newman 23:58
let me tell you by Well, this is with 100% of the songs that I don't understand the lyrics I sang the hell out of that song. And I couldn't no because you sing it like this. And she the
boys, they think
Unknown Speaker 24:19
she's a splash.
Kristin Nilsen 24:22
Davis size. Here's the line that i i that i had sort of figured out a lot of it as we went along, but yesterday was the first time I saw the line. She got Greta garbos standoff size. She's got better Davis size. What in the hell are standoff size? I thought they were standout thighs.
Michelle Newman 24:43
I thought it was stand up thighs. I always say that stand up thighs.
Carolyn Cochrane 24:48
I thought she had these incredible thighs.
Kristin Nilsen 24:59
And I don't. I didn't know anything about Greta garbos thighs or size so and I didn't even or nor that you should have right? How would I even know that? I didn't even I knew she was referring to Greta Garbo, but the way she sings it in the song, it's like the the phrasing is like she got Greta Garbo, and so you don't even know it's a name. You don't even know it's a name also. Okay, we could, we could talk about the lyrics. Oh my god.
Michelle Newman 25:26
Seriously, listeners, listeners, we weren't this is, this is just a organic conversation. This is not in our notes. This is not she
Kristin Nilsen 25:36
got better. Go stand off, whatever. I can't even sing it. Okay, let's move on. Let's move on. Betty Davis podcast,
Michelle Newman 25:44
well, the nominees for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and you guys the distinction between them, because I always get confused when I'm watching the Grammys to this day. So I'm just going to remind you record. Record of the Year recognizes the recording of a song. So the way you can remember that is that it has the word record and recording, right? That's, I just made that up. That's a good one. While Song of the Year recognizes the songs composition. So Record of the Year is more like everything it took for the recording of it, probably the vocals as well, right? But I want to give you context from 1981 So Betty Davis. Betty Davis winners, so Song of the Year, the other nominees. So this is recognizing the songs composition were just the two of us. I'm gonna sing them all too, by the way, of course, Endless Love, Arthur schemes, the best that you can do. And nine to five and then the Record of the Year nominees. So this is the award given to the recording of a song Betty Davis Eyes winning as again, just the two of us again. Endless, Love Again, Arthur theme again. But sorry, nine to five, you got bumped for just like starting over, I don't know that song, just like starting over,
Kristin Nilsen 27:14
and all of those are so worthy like that really is a good group of songs. There are no stinkers, except
Carolyn Cochrane 27:19
for Betty Davis Eyes. I was crying Cochrane, I think, with that lineup of songs, and yeah, and then that wins.
Kristin Nilsen 27:38
It just it made such an impact on me the choo choos.
Michelle Newman 27:42
Those are the slap, slap, slap, yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 27:45
sorry, I did not make that clear at all. Okay, the winner of the album of the year was one of the most important moments of the show, one of the most moving moments of the show, because it went to John Lennon and Yoko Ono for their album, Double Fantasy. John Lennon had been killed just a year prior, on December 8, 1980 which is a moment I don't think the three of us have talked about much on this podcast,
Carolyn Cochrane 28:11
no, and I have a distinct memory of it might have been when I learned about it, because, you know, we didn't have social media or anything back then. So if you didn't really hear it on the news or the radio, it was just going to be word of mouth, like through school or whatever. And I remember it was standing at my locker, and the this guy who would go on to become my boyfriend, he had the locker right behind me, and he came over to say, can you believe what happened to John Lennon? And I was like, Oh, what happened to him? I didn't know. And yeah, and that's when he told me that he had been shot. I don't even think I really knew exactly what had happened till years later, but I do remember the first time somebody told me and i i My locker was open. I can visualize the hallway and everything. Wow. I know, kind of weird, but yeah,
Kristin Nilsen 29:02
no, not kind of weird, because it was a moment, right? It was, it was a cultural moment. It was like the 60s had just been killed. And I heard it on the radio getting ready for school, and I immediately ran into my mom's bedroom, because in my mind, my parents were children of the 60s. Now my parents think they're children of the 50s. So they will tell you that the Beatles were not for them. They were too old for the Beatles. I argue with that, but nonetheless, I ran to my mom thinking that I was going to deliver some very pivotal news to her, and she was a little Cavalier, and that was really bothersome to me. And I carried this heavy, heavy weight with me all day. Luckily, when I came to school, everybody was feeling the same way that I was. So I wasn't I wasn't alone in the school day. I was only alone in my house.
Michelle Newman 29:51
I watched the clip where Yoko Ono accepts the award, and it was so heartbreaking, because she's so overcome by the crowd's reaction. In Yeah, and then little Sean comes up on stage, and seven years little page boy, like haircut, barely see over the podium, and the crowd will not stop applauding. They're standing. They're applauding. She has her hand up to her chest because she's just she's so overcome and she almost can't speak. She finally has to just start speaking over the noise to get them to quiet down. And you should just watch it. It's so beautiful. What she says, and she leans down to see if Sean wants to say anything. He says,
Kristin Nilsen 30:29
No. Says no. Once she was able to speak, she said, I think John is here with us today. Both John and I were always very proud and happy that we were part of the human race. He made good music for the earth and for the universe. Yeah, with her little child holding his little hand,
Carolyn Cochrane 30:46
I think that moment when she accepts the award is kind of the defining moment for me of that particular Grammy awards night. Like I couldn't tell you anything else that happened that night, except probably I was really mad about Betty Davis Eyes, but in terms of a visual that sticks in my mind. It's that, like
Kristin Nilsen 31:03
this album was such a testament of love between this man and this woman and their child. All of that came through on the songs and on the album cover art, even it it felt good. I had the 45 for woman, which is also on that album, which was a birthday gift from the Stein girls, and the picture of the two of them kissing on the little paper sleeve of the 45 it made me feel good about the world, like that's what I want. It wasn't sexual. It was love, pure and simple. Yeah,
Carolyn Cochrane 31:34
and speaking of that song in particular, I really feel something when that song is playing. And I'll get into that, I think, a little bit more in our next episode. Next episode about why some of these songs affected me, not necessarily because I liked them, and I was going to run out and buy the 45 but because they were like a soundtrack to what I was experiencing at this point in my life. And so whenever I hear the beginning of that song, it's almost like a gut punch, in a way. It's not. It's like a real melancholy feeling that I get. So
Michelle Newman 32:08
it's a twisty feeling on your tummy,
Carolyn Cochrane 32:11
really. All of those John Lennon songs of that album make me feel that way,
Kristin Nilsen 32:15
for sure. This album included the hits, like we just said, Woman, just like starting over, watching the wheels and the tearjerker, beautiful boy, and that this album was a real comeback for him, after he took years off, basically to be a stay at home dad and I'm as I'm reading through all this, I'm just thinking, My God, what would John Lennon think of the state of our country right now?
Michelle Newman 32:39
Oh, so many people that are gone. What would they think of the state of the state of our country? Right? These people that just wanted to heal, heal it?
Kristin Nilsen 32:47
Yeah, that's exactly right. He just wanted to heal the world. He just wanted to put love and joy out there.
Speaker 1 32:52
Close your eyes. Have no fear. The monster's gone. He's on the run, and your dad is here. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,
Unknown Speaker 33:20
beautiful.
Michelle Newman 33:26
Okay, let's bring Okay, well, the nominees for Album of the Year are not ones you would probably find in the collection of a junior high kid. Certainly, I didn't have any of these. I'm gonna read them to you guys. Tell me if you remember these albums, or if you actually know any songs from them. So besides Double Fantasy, which Kristen just said won that award, we have the dude, Quincy Jones. Anyone Do
Kristin Nilsen 33:48
we know any of the songs? I feel like I should, but I don't know. I don't this is Kristen calling from the future, and I am so embarrassed when we recorded this last week. It really bothered me that I had zero recollection of this Quincy Jones album, and so when we finished, I did little research, and I got Husker dude so hard it is the very definition of Husker dude, because this was something that was erased from my brain for 44 years and then resurrected from the dead in a wave of familiarity, not just familiarity, but like extreme joy. I loved the song I know carita from this album, the dude with all of my heart. I didn't own it and they didn't play it on the radio, so I had to wait for it to randomly appear in my life, which is just another form of elevating the savoring of the song, right? We all know this, I sent the song to Carolyn and Michelle with our standard alert, who's cured, who's curdoo? And Carolyn replies, OMG, who's gardood? Because apparently she had a friend named Joe carita, and they would serenade this kid with the chorus of, I know carita here. The very embarrassing reason for our collective amnesia. I know carita is spelled a, I N, O, C, O, R, R, I D, A, but when we heard it, we thought it was about someone named carita, and they knew them. They knew carita. We didn't recognize A I N O carita on the album, The dude. I really wanted to know carita. I thought she sounded like a really cool kid. I know carita is actually Spanish for, According to various sources, for bullfight of love, or possibly don't run away. Or if you put it into Google Translate. It's Portuguese for Oh no, come shot. Not even kidding. And so all apologies to Quincy Jones for that brain fart. Please enjoy this moment of the Husker, dewiest song in the history of PCPs. I know carita. Up
and now back to our regularly scheduled program. Well,
Michelle Newman 36:20
mistaken identity. Kim Carnes, Carolyn, okay, we have Gaucho from Steely Dan. I bet I would if I looked it up. I think
Carolyn Cochrane 36:31
so. I think Hey, 19 was maybe on them. Oh,
Unknown Speaker 36:40
can't dance. Please take me along when you slide
Michelle Newman 36:48
on down. Oh, I love that song. That's a good one. Dan always has some good songs. And if
Carolyn Cochrane 36:53
I did, it would have just been the 45 I wouldn't have ever had that. Like I wouldn't know Joe
Michelle Newman 36:58
and then breaking away Al Jarreau,
Kristin Nilsen 37:14
again, I feel like I should see friends from We Are the World wasted at, We Are the World Wait. He was wine drunk. He
Michelle Newman 37:21
was so wine drunk. And Lionel Richie is like he just kept bringing in bottles of wine and I kept taking them out. Basically, it's like he's not looking to know
Carolyn Cochrane 37:30
that from that documentary, you can't unsee it. No. You
Michelle Newman 37:33
can know it. I can't unknow it. The
Kristin Nilsen 37:35
next category is one of my favorites, best known artist is always one of my favorite categories, looking at it in retrospect, because you can see who was new, who would go on to be a big name, and who would fade away. Who is the person that that we thought would be a big star and then they didn't, or who at one time wasn't well known, you're like, oh my god, there was a time when that person was a new artist, and the newcomer who won this distinction in 1981 was Sheena Easton, my baby.
Michelle Newman 38:13
Yeah, she, I think that's, I don't who are the other, who are the nominees? Who was she up against?
Kristin Nilsen 38:17
Well, there's only, there were some good ones, but the most, the most notable, I think, the one that gave her the run for her money, and maybe should have been, yeah, this is all, this is all me just talking shit. The Go Go's, yeah,
Michelle Newman 38:32
so I, you know what I was thinking of that, and I didn't look at the nominees, because my thought was, wait, where are the go, Go's, like, criminal, because Beauty and the beat was out, and that is a landmark album, right? Plus, they're the first female rock group to write all their own songs and play all their own instruments. I mean, it took the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame all the way until last year to recognize that. That's pretty but just and maybe in 1981 just didn't know what. Hit on with the Go Go show. I don't
Carolyn Cochrane 39:00
think they were really on our radar quite yet, because if you look at the top songs of 1981 there's not one go, go song listed in the billboard 100 so I don't know what year or what time of the year that that came out. So if it was late 80, it was June,
Michelle Newman 39:15
it was summer, it was like, it was like June or September, or something. That is crazy. That is crazy. We Got the Beat, and our lips are seals. Are the two hit singles from the album Beauty and the beat that was released in 1981 but maybe they just weren't really tracking a lot yet, until the until early 82 did the 82 at the end of 81 I knew we knew the album we had the album
Kristin Nilsen 39:41
for me, it was, it was definitely a seventh grade band. It was not a 1982 band. It was, it was my seventh grade year. And I wonder if maybe the go, Go's just didn't represent to them longevity or quality or like, did they just think they were a bunch of party girls. Whereas to us, they were ear worms. They were all over the radio. Like you said, they were the first female band to play all of their own instruments and get any attention whatsoever. They got radio play like crazy. But did the big muckity mucks not see it? Because this is the only place in 1981 where the Go Go's appeared. There are no songs, no albums, best new artists. That's it got.
Carolyn Cochrane 40:44
Are they nominated the following year? I mean, I don't know. I don't know. That's a really good question, because I just want to tell everyone I forgot how much I loved Sheena Easton, I know. Oh my gosh, you guys, I started a new playlist called forgotten favorites. 1981 that's a great I love it. Her songs are, are them for your eyes only? Oh, my gosh, that's another one.
Michelle Newman 41:12
I still have my 45 for your eyes only in my closet behind me right now.
Carolyn Cochrane 41:17
Oh, that song and modern girl, yes, yes. Sheena Easton was, was everything to me, kind of that, I'm sure that was one category and one winner that I was clapping for, because I loved I loved her. I loved her. She was different attitude and she did, yeah, the, you know, morning train and modern girl love
along those lines of kind of females starting to stand up for themselves, I feel like Some of her songs, like modern girl and even nine to five the morning train were like, I'm somebody too. Like, I'm not just going to be sitting around taking care of my husband, or, you know, kind of stepping into their own and their agency. So I did appreciate that about she was, like a feisty pixie.
Michelle Newman 42:16
She was, she was, and she's kind of Go Go's like with her music. My favorite Shannon Easton song, though, is from about last night, is I'm so good music.
Oh, I had that soundtrack. Yeah, I have that a 45 as well. But the whole soundtrack to that movie is, but
Kristin Nilsen 42:56
there are, I love that are songs that descend, and I'm going to say this in past tense, descended upon your radio that had such a singular sound to them that they just made you sit up and listen. And morning train was one of those. You're like, what? What is totally what is this song? And then she was Scottish, yeah, on top of it, right, that's
Carolyn Cochrane 43:16
right. And even, like, for your eyes only, there was this kind of, at least for me. I knew it was a James Bond thing, but it was almost like she was singing in space or something. It's hard for me to describe, but there was like, Well, I can't sing, but the way it entered my ears just sounded kind of otherworldly or something. It's hard, it's hard for me to describe, but yeah, I loved that song. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful song.
Kristin Nilsen 44:02
No, you I think it's one reason that music today is hard for me, and I've always been into contemporary music. It's not like I only listen to music from the 70s and the 80s, but it's been until recently, like the last five years or so. I'm sort of dropping off a little bit, and I think it's because we cut our teeth on songs that were cutting new ground, cutting new ground, cutting. I don't know what the idiom is anyway, everything that came into our world when we were in junior high was new and different, a new genre. It was unique and singular, and everything now kind of has a genre feel about it, right? Like the songs kind of blend into each other a little bit. They're not they're not really singular. And so it's just harder for me to pay attention. I will
Michelle Newman 45:04
admit I really I do not listen to new music, like I don't listen to radio. I don't I listen to playlists I've curated, and that's about it. And sometimes I'll listen to, you know, stuff that my kids are mentioning, or I'm riding in the car with them, and if they're listening to anything other than Taylor Swift, I will be like, Oh, who's that? Who's that? Or one of them will say, Mom, you would love this band. It sounds really poppy, or it sounds like, and they'll send it to me, and I feel so super cool that I'm like, I know who they are.
Carolyn Cochrane 45:32
I get exposed on Saturday Night Live, you'll kind of hear somebody. I'll be like, Who is that musical guest? And Grace will go, come on, mom, you know, and so Gracie Abrams was on this past week, and I'm sorry, talk about genre and the way people sound. What is that sound like? I agree. I don't even I can't imitate it. You probably can do it much better than I can, but it's all this kind of singing from their nose and their weird part of their throat, and they're all it sounds pretty
Kristin Nilsen 46:02
affected, and there's very little melody, yes, there's very little melody. Like the other
Carolyn Cochrane 46:07
night, watching Saturday Night Live. I thought, This isn't this out of tune. Grace. Does she need to be lip syncing? This is horrible. And Grace was like, No, this is great. And
Kristin Nilsen 46:17
so funny that you say that, because I do a lot by Saturday Night Live too, and I see how long it takes me to either decide that I'm going to pay attention to this person or I'm going to go do something. And I had high hopes for Gracie, what's her nuts? And I found myself scrolling my phone.
Carolyn Cochrane 46:32
Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to share with you guys the winners of both the Best Pop Vocal performances, male and female. And again, I'm curious if you remember any of these. Because again, I don't, I don't I. Only way I know this first artist is because my parents, I think they had some like albums from her from the 60s, or whatever this would be, Lena Horn, and she won for the lady and her music live on Broadway,
Michelle Newman 47:03
congratulations, Lena, yeah, I don't so go
Carolyn Cochrane 47:05
ahead. You got recognition. Very glad.
Kristin Nilsen 47:07
She's probably very deserving. It just wasn't in our world, right?
Carolyn Cochrane 47:11
And algerow, you guys, I'm so glad he won, too, but it was for breaking away. And we just mentioned that album earlier, I went on and listened to breaking away to see like, Oh, I'm sure I know it. I just don't know that title. I don't know that that this is the name of it. Never heard it. No, you didn't.
Kristin Nilsen 47:29
I was really counting on that too. Like, oh, I know this. I bet I just don't know the title. There was nothing on that album you knew.
Carolyn Cochrane 47:36
Well, well, I didn't know breaking away for sure for that vocal form. And so interesting. That was a very interesting thing to me about the whole 1981 Grammys, where there were just things that, where did it come from? Like, didn't come from my radio. And it's really weird. I agree. Yeah, physical, I mean, Olivia Newton, John, why aren't we giving that to her? Where else? How
Kristin Nilsen 47:56
come this is the only place we see. Physical, I started to do things. I started to do the math like, when was it released? Was it really a 1980 song? Was it really because remember on solid gold when in our solid gold episode, when the solid gold dancers said they hated physical because it was number one every single week and they had to do new choreography for it 10 times in a row? Yeah. And yet, there's no Olivia Newton John in this Grammy thing, except for, right here, a non winning nominee for
Michelle Newman 48:25
and how does, how does physical lose to Lena Horne, the lady and her music live on Broadway? I mean, I haven't heard it, so who knows? Well, but I don't need to hear it. It might. It's not for live. It's not for live Broadway music. The award is for Best Pop Vocal Performance on
Kristin Nilsen 48:44
Broadway Pop Vocal Shouldn't that be, like, in the show tunes category or something? I just
Michelle Newman 48:49
know that if I was one of the other three nominees who were all, and maybe it's just our age, we all love these other three, that's right, and their songs, but like, I would be furious. I'd be like, That's not fair. You know what? I take my ball and I'd go home,
Carolyn Cochrane 49:03
I think, yeah, and it was probably, she's much older now too. In the 80s, her star was shining in the 60s. So this is maybe one of those, oh, she's deserved it for a long time, like everybody might have been really happy the fact that she's the Susan Lucci,
Kristin Nilsen 49:17
yeah. Maybe this was like a Lifetime Achievement Award for her, I mean, but let's look at, here's a name too in the list of nominees for this award that I just want to To like celebrate for a moment. Juice Newton, good morning.
Unknown Speaker 49:45
Cheek before me.
Michelle Newman 50:00
Correct me if I'm wrong. Because what? Well, other than that, her hit song, I'm remembering lots of hair, right? Long 70s hair. Yeah,
Carolyn Cochrane 50:09
I got her mixed up with Kim Carnes. I'm going to tell you, oh, oh, well, I don't, yeah, okay, I'm sorry. I was, I don't like Kim Karn so and then juice, I just did. You don't like juice Newton. I mean, it was okay. What's
Michelle Newman 50:21
the other song besides Angel of the morning?
Carolyn Cochrane 50:29
That is a bop. Carolyn, well, I do like that song, and there were a lot of bops. Oh my
Michelle Newman 50:34
god. List
Kristin Nilsen 50:37
ASAP for this was for Angel of the morning, which is also fantastic. She made a really big splash and juice Newton, that name was so unforgettable, and her her hair was so unforgettable. This was an image and a sound that we couldn't get out of our heads. And I'm just really surprised that this is the only place. Oh, I guess we do see her one other place.
Carolyn Cochrane 50:57
What? What's she doing these days? Anyone know? I know I looked
Michelle Newman 51:01
this up along she's 72 years old. I just popped it up, 72 years old. Oh yeah. God, she was absolutely beautiful. She aged well too. We have Angel of the morning, Queen of Hearts, also from 1981 the sweetest thing. The other
Kristin Nilsen 51:15
nominees in this category were Kim Carnes again, John Lennon again, Christopher Cross for Arthur's theme. When you get caught between such a good song New York City and just the two of us by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Junior, those are pop songs. They're great and great, not not show tunes. Or I'm thinking that maybe algebra might be jazz. Maybe that could go in the jazz category. I'm not sure.
Michelle Newman 51:39
Maybe, well, more interesting was the Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with a total earworm that came out of left field and stole all of our hearts someday.
Night. What a great bop that was. I will have a hot take. I it wasn't like something that was my favorite, and the only reason, it's because my mom and her best friend Mary, who I think I've probably mentioned before, but they they were stewardesses together. Anytime my mom and Mary would get together, there was lots of Bloody Marys involved, lots of gin and tonics involved. And when they would get a little tipsy, they would do this little silly dance and cool kitty tell us about the Bowling for and then my sister and I would be like, leave us alone. Just stop it, you guys. But then that would even instigate them more to be like, come on, and they'd like, start dancing and snapping their fingers. And so that's why that song, I'm just like, it
Kristin Nilsen 52:47
makes you cringe. It's embarrassing. Yeah, it's a drunk mom song. My brother got this as a 45 for a birthday present. And this is another good example of a song that was just so different, so important, yeah, and so it makes you perk up and listen. It
Carolyn Cochrane 53:03
really does. I mean, I'm thinking, as we're just discussing these songs, there were a lot of fun bops, like, this is another good yeah, you couldn't help but be a little happier and peppier. And I think that's why some of these struck a chord in me, because there were a lot of times in 1981 that I needed to be picked up a little bit and felt a little peppy. So,
Michelle Newman 53:25
and this, this song, had that throwback too. I mean, obviously the Manhattan transfer had that sound, but that that it won in 1981 along with this great group of nominees, I think says a lot about it. So the other groups in this category, the Pointer Sisters with slow hand, Hall and oats with private eyes. Come on. They see you. You guys, this this year and 82 such good years for Hall and oats, yeah. Gaucho, the album by Stevie Dan. Stevie Steely Dan and I call fell on this one, because, as you guys are gonna hear next week, I love, love, love the song, but endless love,
Unknown Speaker 54:16
my love, there's only you in my life,
Speaker 2 54:21
the only thing that's right,
Michelle Newman 54:28
my first love,
Speaker 1 54:32
your every breath that I take, your every step I make
Michelle Newman 54:42
I feel like it's not a pop song, but I get why it's in there, because it's the in that well, they don't have any palette category,
Kristin Nilsen 54:48
so I guess that's why it falls into pop radio. It's pop radio, but it's a ballad, but it's pop radio,
Michelle Newman 54:54
but I guess I keep seeing it losing in the 1981 Grammys, and so I'm like, find a cat. Gory for this beautiful love song of all time.
Kristin Nilsen 55:04
I have to tell you that I went to see Hall and Oates in a stadium concert. So you know what? 50,000 people or something like that, with my friends, Kristen and Tony. And Kristen and Tony are famous for wanting to leave a concert before the Encore so they can get out of the parking ramp that. You know what? Don't even go to a concert, I know, and it's just three of us, right? And I was like, I'm not going. I'm not I'm not leaving. I haven't heard private eyes yet, so I'm not leaving the hollow nose concert, because I know it's gonna be the Encore. So Sayonara, and then I'm sitting there by myself, and can I just tell you what kind of joy it is to watch 50,000 people go it's private eyes, 50,000 people all at the same Time. It just is the most joyous thing ever. Private
Okay, The Best Pop Instrumental Performance is worth a mention because it's something we've talked about before. The winner in 1981 was Mike Post for the theme for Hill Street Blues. This guy is the king of the TV theme song, and he's winning awards for it. And this is notable also because His songs were on the radio. These TV theme songs that he composed were on the radio. Hill Street Blues was a hit song that I heard on W, l, o, l, getting ready for school and morning.
Michelle Newman 56:44
Congratulations to Mike Post. I wonder if he won other Grammys, but so deserving. We've talked about Mike Post several times, and just what an impact he had on us that he might not get recognition for, right? Because to this day, so many of the theme songs that he's responsible for, they live, they've they've been little ear they've been little brain worms, ear worms for decades for all of us, like I said in one episode, I hope he's one of the ones that has one of the giant homes in Vail or convention that I see when I go skiing, and I'm always like, where's
Unknown Speaker 57:17
the what does that guy do? Right?
Unknown Speaker 57:18
That's his second home. What does that guy do? I
Kristin Nilsen 57:21
hope it's my post. I hope it is too he deserves it. And there's only one nominee from that category that I want to talk about, and that is such a 1981 thing hooked on classics. You
Unknown Speaker 57:56
so great. I loved it.
Kristin Nilsen 57:57
I loved it. I mean, talk about a blast from the past. Right hook, if you guys don't remember, hooked on classics, was a medley from a K tel album of the same name, called Hooked on classics. It was released in July of 1981 it went all the way to number 10. The song did on the Billboard charts. It spawned a whole series of k, T L albums called Hooked on Bach, hooked on Tchaikovsky, hooked on Mendelssohn, hooked on Mozart, and the single the radio hit hooked on Classics was a medley of familiar classical pieces, very unceremoniously, played over a disco beat, which was so offensive to my dad, I can't even tell You. And then I loved it. Oh, I did. I felt kind
Carolyn Cochrane 58:43
of like, Tweety. Tweety, yeah, smart,
Kristin Nilsen 58:48
yeah. It absolutely introduced classical music to the masses, right? It? I dare say it was some people's only exposure to classical music. It included snippets of Flight of the Bumblebee, Rhapsody in Blue, Ina Klein and knocked music, The Marriage of Figaro Carmen, the William Tell Overture and the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. Naturally, naturally, naturally. And it was, it was such a moment that this, that this is something that the public was waiting for was eating up, and it is just sort of indicative of 1981 if you put that out today, a pop medley of classical songs, what would people do? I don't even I don't even know.
Michelle Newman 59:34
Yeah, I don't either, but I do hope that everybody listening goes and searches it on, if you listen on Spotify Apple Music, whatever, because I know I'm going to right after this and add it to some sort of like that. It's my workout playlist, you know, where I just pick up weights and I just dance, yeah, no, seriously, that's my workout. But I'm gonna do that to hooked on classics. But that with that just I was thinking outside of the. Bumblebee. Well, the winner of Best Rock Vocal Performance would go on to be a classic, and that is Jesse's Girl by Rick Springfield. My God, Jesse's Girl that still gets so much air time that he's still performing at age 75 and I would argue it's one of a handful of 80 songs that our kids know well, like know the words to all of our kids, and I'm sure listeners all of your kids, because we all, they all grew up listening to our 80 songs. They know them. They know them. But Jesse's Girl, if they had to pick like 10, Jesse's Girl would be one of them. Yeah, yeah,
Carolyn Cochrane 1:00:40
but I have a bone to pick with the academy. I never thought of it as a rock song. I knew this would not this pop, right? I agree popular. I mean, he's Dr Noah Drake on a soap opera, people, that is not Bruce Springsteen singing the river or anything. That's a rocker for you. So this always kind of irritated me. I know. I'm sure Rick Springfield was thrilled that he was in this category. But I wonder what makes something can to be considered rock versus Pop? Pop that
Michelle Newman 1:01:10
maybe like the guitars or
Kristin Nilsen 1:01:11
something. I don't know. I yeah, I do think, like he's out front with an electric guitar. Does that make it rock? I don't know. I'm just making money.
Carolyn Cochrane 1:01:18
Plays a doctor on a soap opera by day. I'm sorry, you cannot be a rock star and a soap opera star. I'm sorry.
Kristin Nilsen 1:01:25
I agree with you. I'm
Michelle Newman 1:01:27
sorry. John Stamos
Kristin Nilsen 1:01:30
Blackie, I think Jesse's Girl, the longevity of Jesse's Girl, could rival any song from any era. Possibly we hear it more today, maybe even than we did in 1981 like you said, our children know it good for you. Rick Springfield for taking that one all the way to the bank, for composing something that was so completely memorable. But I just want to point out we don't know what Jesse's girl's name is. No, she doesn't have a name. We always think she's Jesse, but she's not. It's Jesse's Girl.
Carolyn Cochrane 1:02:15
I wonder too, if that song would have been as popular had he not been on General Hospital. Oh, you know, I feel like that was a huge attraction to that song, at least for me. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but I loved him on General Hospital, and he was so cute. And then, oh my gosh, he has a song. That song is going to be great. And so that's what attracted me to the song, not necessarily being independent as just a real
Michelle Newman 1:02:40
it. I can answer that for you, because in 1981 I was only 11, turning 12 in 1981 and I didn't watch general house, General Hospital then, and I loved
Kristin Nilsen 1:02:51
that suit your sister, and I didn't watch it either, okay, next week. And I love that song, yeah. But you know, like we've talked about before, just because we didn't watch something didn't doesn't mean that we didn't know about it, unlike today, where we're all siloed and everything is streaming and we can't find something unless it's given to us by the algorithm, I certainly knew he was Dr Noah Drake, Tiger Beat. Yeah, he was in Tiger B and and come on, he was adorable. Sometimes, I think too. Maybe they MacGyver the categories because they want to honor certain people, and maybe they wanted to honor Al Jarreau, but they couldn't honor Al Jarreau and Rick Springfield. So let's put Rick Springfield and rock. That's
Carolyn Cochrane 1:03:28
true, right? Kind of like how the bear that TV show is in comedy.
Kristin Nilsen 1:03:34
That's No, I didn't laugh once. Didn't laugh once. I do want to point out just one song that was a surprise nominee in the best R and B Vocal Performance category, and that is, she's a bad man, my Gemma. But what parentheses? She's built. Comma, she stacked. Parentheses by Carl Carlton, I swear to God, I did not know about the parenthetical part. I did not know that she was built and she was stacked. I loved this song. I sang this song. I clearly had no idea what I was singing. It is an adorable song. I was under the impression, for some reason I thought Carl Carlton was Michael Evans on Good Times. And so I don't know why, and so I just pictured Michael from Good Times singing, she's a bad mama jamma. And what is a mama jamma? Would somebody please tell me? Well,
Michelle Newman 1:04:26
if she's built and she's stacked, she's like a hot she's a hot chick. Is
Kristin Nilsen 1:04:30
there a tomato somewhere in the I for some reason, I thought there was, she was a tomato. I thought the mama jamma was a tomato. Looking
Michelle Newman 1:04:37
it up, fat, checking. I'm just gonna put mama jamma in Google, and let's all pray after I hit return. But it's not permanent. It doesn't Yeah, well, that song comes up, okay? And he comes up, and what is the slang mama jamma comes up and it says, a woman who was built in stacked has curves and all. Right places, has perfect body measurements in every dimension, a perfect figure every dimension, beautiful, sassy, classy, Foxy and heavenly. Basically, a perfect woman are perfect in
Speaker 3 1:05:21
every dimension. She's got a figure that's shown up in attention. She's poetry in motion, a beautiful
Speaker 2 1:05:30
sight seeking. I could so excited you and her anatomy. I
Carolyn Cochrane 1:05:36
was noticing that there are a lot of songs with parenthetical title, like, with a title, and then the parenthetical part of the title. I mean, look, we've got lady you bring me up. We've got the mama JAMA, we've got morning train is actually called nine to five, but I guess, like, you know that was gonna come well, and
Kristin Nilsen 1:05:54
when did, when did separate ways come out? Because that is a right around 1981 and as my son will tell you when He's eight years old, it's called separate ways worlds apart. It was separate ways parentheses, worlds apart, parentheses. And that's the way he always said it separate ways Worlds Apart. Also in the best R and B performance by a doer or group had some of my favorites, including, let's groove by Earth, Wind and Fire, and you just mentioned it. Carolyn, what I what I think, is the feel good song of 1981 lady, parentheses, you bring me up. Parentheses by the Commodores. You
right? I have this on vinyl. It is a mood changer. And what I didn't know when I bought this album and I bought it used recently at my local record store, is that. And this is always such a fun surprise. It came with a poster. There was a poster inside the record. It is spectacular. It is full of like, tight gabardine slacks and photo gray lenses and these perfectly quaffed afros. And I had this wild hair to put, to frame it and put it on the wall. It's huge. It's like three feet by two feet. Well, guess what? My husband said he did. He didn't want the Commodores on our wall in the living room. We do not have the same taste in art. I actually
Michelle Newman 1:07:30
think that would be so cool and such a conversation. Starter to like, walk into someone's house and you go, wait, are those the Commodores? And if I walked into someone's house and they're like, why? Yes, those are the counters. I would be like, can we be best? Like, let's be, even though I wasn't, like, totally into it, just somebody that would do that. That's cheeky. Kristen, yeah,
Carolyn Cochrane 1:07:50
would be. And she's got the perfect places for it.
Michelle Newman 1:07:53
They're so cool, and they're it's so cool. So
Carolyn Cochrane 1:07:57
coming up next, we've got the winner of the Best Country vocal performance, female and the winner of the Best Country song, they happen to be the same. This would be the iconic nine to five by Dolly Parton.
Speaker 4 1:08:18
Tumble out a bit and I stumbled to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition, and yawn and stretch and try to come to life, jump and shower. And the blood starts popping out on the streets. The traffic starts jumping to folks like me on the job from nine to
Kristin Nilsen 1:08:37
five. Oh, I want to stand up
Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:38
and clap. I mean,
Michelle Newman 1:08:41
that's one of my next week. You'll hear this. That's, it's one of my runners up. But because it was so even as a 1011, year old, what a fun song to sing. It's
Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:50
so fun, and it's kind of cool in that it's one of these crossovers. I mean, it's, it wins in the country category. But we hear it a lot on we know it because it was on the pop radio stations. One of the fun facts I learned about this song, I watched an interview with Dolly Parton, and if you remember, there's a part of the song that sounds like there's typewriter. She has long acrylic nails, and it's just her like, going back and forth across her acrylic nails. Yeah, in that she made that sound effect. She made that sound effect because she said when she was coming up with ideas for the song was when they were actually filming the movie. So she would be on set, and she'd get an idea for one, for a line or a part, and she didn't have any instruments, obviously, so she would try to look around to see what she had to like, create some kind of other sound. And so that's when she kind of discovered the fingernail bit, and then she was able to incorporate that into the song. And I thought that was really fun. I'd love it. I love
Michelle Newman 1:09:47
it. And then I loved it. And I think one reason I loved that song so much is because I had seen the movie, yeah, I just thought it was, you know, again, I'm like, 11 years old, so I'm a little bit shocked. And there were some, you know, some themes in there that were a little bit, you know. Maybe over my head, but I loved the movie so much, and then that just made me love the song. And let's not
Kristin Nilsen 1:10:05
forget this song, like it became the theme song for women's rights in the workplace, right? Quite literally, it becomes the theme song. This
Carolyn Cochrane 1:10:14
was the beginning of that kind of movement in the 80s that we were a part of. I mean, we mentioned some of these Sheena Easton songs where it was like, I'm not just here to cook your dinner while you go out or at breakfast while you go off on the morning train. You know, I'm a person, so I love that, and I think that stuck with us for that reason as well. We got to talk you guys about the best country Performance by a Duo or Group. Oh my gosh, another one. I've got to say we all knew, and it is not because we were tuned in to the country station, because I didn't even recognize one other. No, I didn't even this category, but you bet your patootie, I knew Elvira. Elvira,
Michelle Newman 1:11:00
I loved it. My friend Lisa and I would sing that all the time. And in fact, she still does. So it was only like, within the past year, she like reposted on Facebook or something like the song. And at the time that oak tree, the Oak Ridge Boys were performing at the medina ballroom, which was right by my old house. And I was like, I kind of want to go just to hear them sing Elvira, just
Kristin Nilsen 1:11:38
just for the one song
I love how this little intro, by way of the Grammys, has become a true historical Deep Dive. There's so much to be learned about a singular, singular year. By looking to the Grammys, you get kind of a wide angle view of a moment in time, what's happening literally at that very moment you get music styles of the moment you get iconic songs. Who is considered a new artist, who is considered at the top of their game, a who's who of entertainment, fashion, hairstyles and what kinds of glasses people are wearing, which is really that's very interesting to me to watch glasses fashion change, and most importantly, it's great backstory for the music we'll be bringing you next week, the songs from our own lives that stuck to us like glue in 1981 will they be among these Grammy winners? Who knows this was not all the music that was on the radio? Right? So we'll see what our personal lives will dig up for you. Thank you so much for listening today, and we will see you next time.
Michelle Newman 1:12:53
And as always, we'd like to give a special thank you to our Patreon members who take their support of our podcast and all the things we do, it's a multitude of things, really, to the next level with their monthly donations. And today, we're giving a special shout out to patrons, Lynn Valerie Patty, Stephanie, Rochelle Mindy, Susan, Joanna, Carolyn and Jennifer and if you'd like to take your support to the next level, but a monthly donation isn't for you. Good news. You can just check out our website, pop preservationists.com where you can donate one time the cost of just one cup of coffee can truly help us pay the bills that it takes to keep this whole thing trucking.
Carolyn Cochrane 1:13:36
And you can also support us by rating and reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, and sharing, sharing the podcast with your friends, sharing it on social media. Tell everyone how much you love us, and that really helps. In the
Kristin Nilsen 1:13:50
meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast, courtesy of the cast of Threes Company, two good times, two Happy Days,
Carolyn Cochrane 1:13:58
Two Little House on the Prairie. Cheers. Cheers, the
Kristin Nilsen 1:14:02
information, opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belong solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards, Nanu. Nanu, keep on trucking and May the Force Be With You. You.