Althouse: "When I stand here, it makes me human."

October 7, 2008

"When I stand here, it makes me human."

A-ha ha-ha:

Via ChordStrike, via Instapundit.

Here's the original version, where you have to figure out for yourself what's going on.

26 comments:

john said...: He's Alive! Close up eyes! Take it Home! Look at 2:44! Grab the hand! You've been ___ ! ___; 10/7/08, 3:13 PM
ghytred said...: I loved that! Life affirming, to use a cliche.

Yes, the election's important; this sneaks in underneath that.

svs; 10/7/08, 3:19 PM
Mike Ballburn said...: That's something you don't hear everyday:
You're gonna get an ass full of pipe wrench.; 10/7/08, 3:35 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Better diner with raccoon eyes.

Got new skank. It's so reet.

You know you got a hot band when two sidemen O.D.; 10/7/08, 3:40 PM
bleeper said...: Hold it - which one was Obama?; 10/7/08, 3:41 PM
Unknown said...: It's pretty much a given that when people compile their lists of the best songs of the 80s Take on Me drifts toward #1. I'm doing some analysis along these lines and here's the top twenty (so far):

1. Take on Me - a-ha
2. Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
3. Every Breath You Take - The Police
4. Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
5. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
6. Africa - Toto
7. Tainted Love - Soft Cell
8. With or Without You - U2
9. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears
10. Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
11. Down Under - Men at Work
12. Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard
13. I Ran - A Flock of Seagulls
14. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
15. Jump - Van Halen
16. Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
17. Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns 'n Roses
18. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
19. You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead or Alive
20. True - Spandau Ballet

Feel free to disagree with all of these.; 10/7/08, 3:56 PM
Triangle Man said...: bleeper said...

Hold it - which one was Obama?

Funniest thing I've seen all day. Thanks!; 10/7/08, 4:24 PM
Jake said...: Bunty Bailey lives on MySpace!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=174488055; 10/7/08, 4:34 PM
rhhardin said...: ``Peek in the window'' is wretched song writing, the way they have it accented, on ``the'' and ``dow.''

Always follow the stress of natural language.; 10/7/08, 4:42 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Electric Whatever... I was just playing that video yesterday... in response to a question someone asked me: Why are The Pretenders considered important?; 10/7/08, 5:01 PM
MadisonMan said...: Feel free to disagree with all of these.

Where's the Wham!?

Somebody told me,
Boy everything she wants is everything she sees; 10/7/08, 5:03 PM
MadisonMan said...: (I'd dump #18 on your list).; 10/7/08, 5:04 PM
Unknown said...: jonmichael s --

What, no Prince?

And I'd include a Huey Lewis too (probably Power of Love); and a Scandal (probaby Goodbye to You).

And a Go-Gos.

But definitely a Prince. Take your pick.; 10/7/08, 5:08 PM
bleeper said...: The list must inclde Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love. No RP, no credibility. No justice, no peace. Wait, wrong rant...; 10/7/08, 5:22 PM
rhhardin said...: Why are The Pretenders considered important?

Rush's theme song.; 10/7/08, 5:25 PM
veni vidi vici said...: a-ha's "The sun always shines on TV" single has a hook that was lifted by U2 in their "Beautiful Day" single.

Back to the video: it's quite clear that the first words they say after the camera shuts off will be, "OK, let's fuck!"

Ah, the early 80's. What a great time to be alive.; 10/7/08, 5:26 PM
John Burgess said...: Two deep, moral lessons of the 80s in both videos, though the first makes the points clearer:

1. Follow your parent's advice and don't mix acid with caffeine;

2. If you're going to take the time machine for a spin back to the 50s, don't dick around with bike racers.; 10/7/08, 5:54 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Professor--

Why are the Pretenders "important"?

1) First two albums...both good ol' hard rock. Not punk. Not
'prog' rock.

Check out Tattooed Love Boys or Talk of the Town or The Adultress. These cats cook.

2) Vide the above video, Chrissie Hynde was Suzi Quattro with smarts. Sultrier than Ann Wilson. Prettier than Joey Ramone. Tougher than Joni. Got that rock fashion eyeliner thang happenin', too.

3) Cool lyrics.

4) Everyone in the band has a good hairdo.

5) Her two guitarists O.D'd on heroin. Rock Legend status is mandatory if that or any of the following conditions are met: a) your keyboardists all die; b) your drummer get his arm cut off; c) a plane crashes into your tour bus killing your lead guitarist; d) your plane crashes in a swamp; f) choking on vomit...etc. etc....

(3rd album is okay. After that, bizarrotown as Hynde went off the deep end with PETA and Greenpeace. She cracked a joke one day about firebombing McDonalds in London. The next day it happened!); 10/7/08, 5:56 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Hey, I was the one answering the question, not the asker. I had my answer. 1. They were one of the bands that kept straightforward rock alive in the mid-70s when it seemed to be dying. 2. Chryssie Hynde is one of the best early examples of a female rock star who modeled herself after the boys.; 10/7/08, 6:12 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: Althouse: There you go with your misogynistic exceptionalism again! [she quipped nastily and promptly.]; 10/7/08, 6:51 PM
veni vidi vici said...: C'mon peoples, the only reason the Pretenders is an important band is because of that Rush Limbaugh tune they wrote and recorded.; 10/7/08, 7:01 PM
Wince said...: Arrggg. This guy's gonna get an ass full of pipe wrench.

LOL.

Takes me back to 1986 when I was on stage at an A-HA concert during this song assigned to keep crazed young women from stage-jumping the band.

Good times.; 10/7/08, 7:25 PM
RR Ryan said...: Pretenders:Talk of the Town. Eurythmics:Love is a Stranger. Modern English:Melt with You. Nick Heyward:Whistle Down the Wind. There are lots more.; 10/7/08, 8:37 PM
janemariemd said...: Wow, I really loved that song in the '80's! I like the list, but agree you need a Prince song (there are several great ones), and how 'bout Yes? Owner of a Lonely Heart would be my pick.; 10/7/08, 10:02 PM
XWL said...: Speaking of Chrissy Hynde as well as songs transformed with the sex of the singer, one of the best examples of this from a role-reversal of expected norms is Stop Your Sobbing by both The Pretenders and the The Kinks.

To me, Ray Davies sounds a bit more sympathetic, like he wants to know what the problem is, and help the sobber cope with their problem, while Chrissy is more along the lines of, 'shut up, already'.

Ironic that they hooked up and had a kid together a few years after she recorded her version.

(and what's wrong with bringing up a post from 3 and a half years ago?)

(and the Kinks YouTube copyright infringement I whipped up myself, their version was woefully lacking on teh internets)

(I added an economic spin to it, since it seemed appropriate given current conditions); 10/8/08, 1:49 AM
Unknown said...: Again, this is a list I compile not influence.

Prince's highest song is When Doves Cry which is right around 35 (I don't have the list on me today.)

Careless Whisper by Wham! is at #22 after Beat It. The Power of Love clocks in around 70. The Go-gos do not show up in the top 100. Our Lips Are Sealed is at #160 or so. Scandal's the Warrior charts in the mid-200s.; 10/8/08, 9:29 AM