Knee Deep In The Hoopla

People, it's been a busy summer. But don't fret. I'm determined to get back to the blogosphere as much as possible, starting now. I realize this makes all six of my readers ecstatic, so, you know, you're welcome. We've missed out on so much together over the past few months so let us not waste a minute more...

Starship. Not the Enterprise. The band. Which means, of course, that the earworm du jour is the Billboard No. 1 hit from 1985, We Built this City. I honestly can't tell you the last time I heard this song so how it got lodged in my brain is a mystery. But I think we're all glad that it did because now we can finally tease our hair and pull out our over-sized neon blazers (with shoulder pads, of course,) leg warmers, mini skirts and lace fingerless gloves, and start busting a move in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Thank God! Again, you're welcome.

So here's the interesting thing about this song. It was written by four people, none of whom was in the band Starship. So, first of all, it took FOUR PEOPLE to write this song. That alone is enough to give a person pause. Secondly, none of these people were from the U.S. (one was Elton John's long-time song-writing partner, Bernie Taupin) but the song makes references to only big American cities (as is so subtly shown in the video below.) And lastly, Mickey Thomas, the lead singer for Starship, is still touring (as Starship featuring Mickey Thomas...lame) and doing his really bad 80's-white-person-dance for crowds in such exotic locales as Shreveport, Louisiana and The Woodlands, Texas. I know, what a relief. As an aside, I am really good at 80's white-person-dancing and am happy to give a demo any time. Just holla.

And in case you ever wondered (and I know you have) what the hell "Marconi plays the Mamba" means well I still really don't know. But Guglielmo Marconi is largely credited with having invented the radio. And a Mamba is a highly venomous snake. So, hopefully that clears everything up for you.