It’s time to get back to my favorite decade. For the month of March, I’ll be looking back at some of my favorite jams from the 80s. These songs often came to me via MTV or the radio. NYC-area stations WDRE, WPLJ, WNEW, K-ROCK and Z100 introduced me to everything from irresistible pop confections to under-the-radar post-punk anthems. I would not be who I am today if it weren’t for the 80s. It was the decade when I discovered music can be a truly powerful thing. #31DaysOf80sSongs
I consider myself pretty well versed in the music of the 80’s. It’s the decade when I discovered my love for music, which can get a little extreme at times. That said, it’s a little humbling and slightly embarrassing that I never even heard of The Chameleons until I came across Interpol in the early 2000s. Interpol didn’t define post punk, but they were the kings of it in the post-9/11 era. So when I heard a little known band called The Chameleons helped influence their direction, I knew I had to review their catalog, starting with the well respected Script of the Bridge and the track that batted cleanup: “Second Skin”.
If albums like Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics can blow my mind in the early 2000s, then that makes songs like “Second Skin” that much more impressive as a song twenty years before these Interpol classics. Here, The Chameleons didn’t try to sound like Joy Division. They carved out their own signature post punk sound out of the ether. The guitars on “Second Skin” soar with ecstasy and then crash down in misery. The drums pound away like nails in a coffin. Mark Burgess, all the while, sings the refrain in the chorus like a man possessed. “Second Skin” crawls under your skin and then once it gets in there, it simply refuses to climb back out.
“I realize a miracle is due. I dedicate this melody to you.”