admin
22 December 2023
I push the \"play\" button on my CD player. Suddenly, I\'m 11 years old again, staying up late, waiting for a song to come on the radio so that I can push \"record\" on my tape recorder and capture the final song on my first compilation tape. I\'m waiting for \"You Dropped a Bomb On Me\" by the Gap Band or \"Electric Avenue\" by Eddy Grant, whichever comes first.
In those days, you had to get a song when you could. You never knew when a song would disappear forever. Whole days revolved around the radio-- one finger placed on the \"record\" button, never knowing what gem would suddenly surface. Always looking for that one elusive song that would only come on when you were on the other side of the room. I\'d have to dive across the desk just to get it. And then, of course, the DJ talks over the whole end of the song.
When Hot Hot Heat\'s new album starts up, my recording finger twitches-- I\'ve still got the reflexes. Ahhh, those long days of waiting for an amazing song to unfold from the speakers-- I could have easily been waiting for a song from Hot Hot Heat. That feeling beyond deja vu; when a sound, taste, or smell triggers a memory so strong, it causes your heart to drop in your chest, and you forget to breathe for just a second. If you could bottle that rare, exquisite feeling, you could make the world a better place.
Hot Hot Heat makes me feel that way-- that giddy feeling beyond nostalgia, where you truly feel like you\'re there again. The disc is called Make Up the Breakdown, and it\'s an amazing meld of Eighties pop sensibilities with an edge of something modern. You get a strange mix of Dexy\'s Midnight Runners (\"Come On Eileen\") and the Cure (\"Boys Don\'t Cry\"), with some Duran Duran-evoking bass riffs. There is even an almost-ska Police-style breakdown in the middle of one of the tunes.
Their songs are as addictive as crack, and allow me to understand how great it would be if I had been old enough to actually appreciate the music of my youth. What a rare talent to be able to evoke that sense of nostalgia with out being cheesy; to create something both new and old, and to make even a jaded, old music snob like myself believe in something good again.
VISIT HOT HOT HEAT HERE.
PURCHASE THIS OR SIMILAR ITEMS
In those days, you had to get a song when you could. You never knew when a song would disappear forever. Whole days revolved around the radio-- one finger placed on the \"record\" button, never knowing what gem would suddenly surface. Always looking for that one elusive song that would only come on when you were on the other side of the room. I\'d have to dive across the desk just to get it. And then, of course, the DJ talks over the whole end of the song.
When Hot Hot Heat\'s new album starts up, my recording finger twitches-- I\'ve still got the reflexes. Ahhh, those long days of waiting for an amazing song to unfold from the speakers-- I could have easily been waiting for a song from Hot Hot Heat. That feeling beyond deja vu; when a sound, taste, or smell triggers a memory so strong, it causes your heart to drop in your chest, and you forget to breathe for just a second. If you could bottle that rare, exquisite feeling, you could make the world a better place.
Hot Hot Heat makes me feel that way-- that giddy feeling beyond nostalgia, where you truly feel like you\'re there again. The disc is called Make Up the Breakdown, and it\'s an amazing meld of Eighties pop sensibilities with an edge of something modern. You get a strange mix of Dexy\'s Midnight Runners (\"Come On Eileen\") and the Cure (\"Boys Don\'t Cry\"), with some Duran Duran-evoking bass riffs. There is even an almost-ska Police-style breakdown in the middle of one of the tunes.
Their songs are as addictive as crack, and allow me to understand how great it would be if I had been old enough to actually appreciate the music of my youth. What a rare talent to be able to evoke that sense of nostalgia with out being cheesy; to create something both new and old, and to make even a jaded, old music snob like myself believe in something good again.
VISIT HOT HOT HEAT HERE.
PURCHASE THIS OR SIMILAR ITEMS
artid
1406
Old Image
5_10_hothotheat.jpg
issue
vol 5 - issue 10 (jun 2003)
section
entertainmental