That KEYBOARDIST wrote Red Dwarf tune ?!?!?
Yep!
* Trevor Horn (Art of Noise, correct? In addition to Buggles...)
A veritable God in the 1980's music scene.
"Dollar" was one of the first bands that he worked with as a producer in the 1980s when he was transitioning away from being front-of-house as The Buggles into being the guy that was behind other-people's fame (like Art of Noise, ABC, Seal, etc).
* Gorgeous Vapid Blondes, 80's style (male and female singers) contrast awkwardly with musicians playing instruments. The juxtaposition is delightful—Le Sexy share the stage with Le Anti-Sexy.
I definitely had a strong hormonal reaction to seeing Thereza Bazar when I was a teenager. ;-)
As for the "vapid" bit, well this article says it all ...
"Is this the vainest has-been in pop?"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2323579/Is-vainest-pop-Ex-Dollar-star-David-Van-Day-wife-hope-30k-n-plastic-surgery-earn-unlikely-comeback.html...and the song, actually, isn't so bad, as far as bland pop goes. I actually listened to this several times in succession and I like it far more than I should. I am singing along to the chorus now...again! Why?
Yep ... I don't know WTF it is, but 35 years after hearing that song, I still like it, and find myself humming it, and the darned thing is just meaningless bland pop.
But it's just so damned
good at being "just meaningless bland pop" that it transcends the boundaries of space and time!
I also remember seeing this video on top of the pops bitd, and wondering "what the f*ck is up with the pseudo-captain's oufits?"
Ah ... a classic early 1980's band attempt to pull off the New Romantic style.
"Adam and the Ants" but without the bravura to carry it off.
I spent most of the summer trying to get my group of friends, (who are die-hard Trekkies) to get into Red Dwarf. I brought over the first season, and explained that it was the greatest space opera ever. They scoffed. After episode 3 they were hooked.
Early Red Dwarf is amazingly good. But, IMHO, it jumped-the-shark after a few seasons.
I hear that the newer reboot/shows are quite good, but haven't seen them since I live in the cultural-wasteland of LA these days, and my favorite English-TV website "theBox.bz" was shut down a few years ago.
<EDIT>
Nightwolve: I love Mr. Bean because it's totally OK to watch in front of the kids. Check out Mr Hulot's Holiday (there are a series of films, I forget how folks refer to all of them) and report back.
I can't stand "Mr Bean", but you get 1 meelion Brownie Points for mentioning "Mr Hulot's Holiday"!
A similar style of thing ... but done so much better!
Rowan Atkinson's mugging for the camera really spoiled "Mr Bean" for me.