Before I start the regular part of this post, I first want to rant about a recent rash of overacting in music videos. It started with Hinder, which has a video where the singer starts off by trying to flail about while singing. He's trying to evoke Joe Cocker, but his lame attempts at "soulfulness" look like a seizure instead. By the end of the video, he's so overcome with "emotion" that he starts tearing at his hair and pulling at his tie like it's a noose. The song"Lips Of An Angel" may be the best Aerosmith ballad in ten years, but this video is just embarrasing. Tonight, I saw the video for Jessica Simpson's new song. As if the video didn't already reek of desperation (she sings about "belonging to herself" while she tries every psuedo sexy pose known to the human race) her overacting borders on the insane. Simpson doesn't just tear at her hair, she cuts it short on camera. Then she tears at what's left, while straining her facial poses and over enunciating with the focused power of someone taking a big crap. There is a point where she gets caught up in the drama and her mouth dropped so wide open I thought she was one of those Aliens where the little mouth then shoots out of the big mouth and rips your throat out. Scary!
Now that my rants over, I can now talk about Battlestar Galactica. I've decided to start watching this show and I've got to say, it's pretty good. I was a little reluctant to see it as I was a big fan of the original series growing up and even watched Galactica 1980 (never doubt the power of Kent McCord! Never!!). I loved the original series with the Star Wars lite special effects, cast of cool dudes (Richard Hatch and Dirk "Face" Benedict) and hot girls (Jane Seymour and some blonde girl), and those Viper jets where the pilots wear Egyptian helmets. Plus, when I saw the original Battlestar Galactica in the movie theater the basestar explosion at the end shook the building. It was a wonderfully cheesy sci fi show until it ran out of ideas and money. When you started to see the exact same flight pattern scenes of the different ships over and over, it just got old.
Now, Battlestar's back but it really has nothing to do with the '70's show. Sure, the outline of the story is the same with the mechanical Cylons destroying most of the human race except for a rag-tag fleet led by a Battlestar searching for Earth. But, this Galactica is a grimmer, bloodier version. Taking the best elements of Sci-Fi from just about every show ever made, it evokes the real world commentary dressed up in space suits approach of the original Star Trek with some bits of Outer Limits thrown in. This show takes itself very seriously, using the situation to make social and political commentaries on Iraq (the humans try to settle on a planet only to be overrun by the Cylons and have a new government forced upon them. The humans resort to terrorist attacks and suicide bombers to fight for freedom) and America (the humanist president is ran out of office by blind, self centered idealist). It's heady stuff, but only by disguising it's comments in space can a television program get away with tackling these subjects. There are times when I wish this show would lighten up a little, but overall it's entertaining and lives up to its hype.
Speaking of hype and cheese, here's number 65:
Night Ranger - Midnight Madness (1984)
Now we're getting to the good stuff, most of the selections on the countdown are from the 80's at this point. I became a fan of Night Ranger from their first hit, "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", when I heard it on Casey Kasem's Top 40 show. The song was a fast rocking tune with a catchy chorus and blazing twin guitars. It's still one of my favorite songs to this day. I quickly ordered their cassette from Columbia House Records and wore side one out (didn't care as much for side two).
Night Ranger built a buzz on their hit and a rambunctous live show where drummer/co lead singer Kelly Keagy sat sideways at the end of the stage while guitarists Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis ran around bassist/co lead singer Jack Blades. Keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald sat on the other end of the stage with Entwhilian calmness. When Night Ranger released their second album, Midnight Madness, it quickly became the album everyone in high school had to have.
The first single, "Rock In America", was very similar to "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" with its fast beat, catchy chorus and twin guitar solos. Midnight Madness was one of the first records I had bought and I played "Chippin' Away" to death when I bought it. When they released their second single, "Sister Christian", everything changed for this band on what was for me the most confusing ballad I ever heard.
In the 80's before there was internet, the listener had to rely more on personal interpretation of song lyrics unless the music video literaly translated everything. Although I thought the song sounded nice I really didn't get this song. The piano intro was nice, the chorus was pleasantly bracing and the soaring guitar solo was fantastic. But the lyrics about "motoring" and telling Sister Christian that her time has come was impenetrable to me. Why was a nun motoring and determining her price for flight? Where was she flying to and why write a song about it? Why should I care?
Well, the song proved to be a triumphant hit single and the defining Night Ranger song taking them to platinum record sales. The song has had an afterlife in movies (most notably Boogie Nights) and 80's collections for years now. And the internet has cleared up for me that this song is about the drummer's sister graduating high school (now the video makes sense). But that's now, for two decades I really didn't get into this song for the above reasons. Confuse me, will you Night Ranger!
The third single was recently selected as one of the most Awesomely Bad Love Songs of all time, "When You Close Your Eyes". Another case of misunderstood lyrics, I thought this song was romantic about a guy asking a girl if she misses him. VH1 clarified the song is about a guy thinking about the first time he got laid in the back of a car and wonders if the girl misses him years later. Talk about ego! Still sounds great, though.
Just goes to show somethings don't improve with age, but nonetheless Midnight Madness is an all time classic in my book. The killer duelling guitars of whammy bar specialist Brad Gillis and finger tapper Jeff Watson livened up even the weakest songs. Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy were interchanageable as vocalists, but both sang with fire. I saw Night Ranger in concert twice and were never disappointed by their energetic live show. This album will always bring back the few pleasant memories I have of high school, a time of playing football in the park with friends and then blasting Night Ranger while arguing over who was their biggest fan first.
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