The sex symbols of New Wave, so cool they're hot back in the day.As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the synthpop boom saw the rise of new sex symbols with a cool modern (by modern I mean 1982) edge. Two of the best known were Terri Nunn of Berlin and Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons. Nunn and Bozzio led the way to a new kind of music with the enticement of hot girls and awesome computerized times. Berlin's Pleasure Victim (1982) EP and Missing Person's Spring Session M (1982) were 80's perennials, in no small part due to these performers. So let's take a look -
Terri Nunn first made an impact in the 70's as an actress and even came close to scoring the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars (1977). She had appeared as a guest actress in popular TV series like Lou Grant, Vegas and TJ Hooker. But her career never went to the next level and she returned to music (she left Berlin temporarily to pursue acting). Thanks to the synthesizer rush of their breakout hit "Sex (I'm a...)", Berlin became the New Wave band du jour in 1982. Terri Nunn was the good girl gone bad...but in a good way. Their career went down with the end of the synth boom, but oddly their career was resurrected as an Adult Contemporary band when they were called in to record "Take My Breath Away" for the Top Gun soundtrack (1986). The smash hit supplanted "Sex (I'm a...)" as Berlin's signature song even though it was an entirely different genre. Terri Nunn still fronts Berlin with a different lineup than the original members.
Dale Bozzio was different from Terri Nunn in her image, where Nunn looked contemporary Bozzio looked space age. With her teased, multi colored hair and see through plastic bras Bozzio was like Barbarella gone wild. Her hiccup vocal delivery added to the quirky allure and as one You Tube commenter noted, Gwen Stefani bears a slight resemblance to the New Wave darling. Missing Persons wasn't able to follow up on their initial promise at all so interest in Bozzio herself dropped shortly after. Like Nunn, she has continued the band name Missing Persons with different members but without that big hit song like "Take My Breath Away" they're not remembered as often. The video that shows Dale Bozzio and co. to their best effect is "Words".
A brief warning, the Berlin video is still a little racy even after all this time.
Berlin "Sex (I'm a...)"
Missing Persons "Words"
4 comments:
Not much of a Berlin fan. I like that Missing Persons song tho. I do find the chick kinda scary looking. :)
Hi some kinda wonderful! Yes, Dale Bozzio could be kinda scary looking though I heard her husband at the time (the drummer I think) described her as looking like a popcicle.
I was wondering if anyone had made the connection with these two, so nice to see your article. Although different, both were female frontwomen for LA based New Wave of the same time & Both unmistakably big influences on Lady Gaga, let alone Gwen Stefani. I feel Metro and No More Words were bigger songs than Sex... & although success momentum was tricky. Both their 80’s records are enjoyable listens for sure. Cheers for paying tribute to these stylish, creatively bold & terrific singers.
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