Summer In Stereo #86

Happy Birthday Prince!

In honor of Prince's special day, HERC abandoned the usual random selection process for his Summer Song Review and selected the first of what will be several Prince tracks that will eventually show up before the 100 Days Of Summer are over: "U Got The Look (Long Look)".  The song originally came out on March 1987's magnum opus Sign O The Times. Married exactly one week at the time, HERC asked his pregnant bride if they could spare $25 the double disc CD cost.   Just as she has done nearly every time he's asked for anything since, she granted his request and HERC dove headfirst into the sprawling album ears first.  "U Got The Look" opens the second disc in the set and in July 1987, it was released as a single.  An extended version of the song, nearly three minutes longer, could be found on the twelve inch single.  This was the Long Look.  The song is about that instant animal attraction, love in its most primal state and that burning yearning. It is the very definition of rock and roll and like all good music should be heard rather than talked about.

George Michael fired the first shot in the Lusty Song of the Summer of 1987 battle with his slinky booty call "I Want Your Sex", released as a single a mere month before "U Got The Look". The song was summarily banned by the BBC and featured on the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop II, both of which contributed greatly to its success. Michael ended up releasing the song in three parts: Rhythm One: Lust was the single version getting airplay; Rhythm Two: Brass In Love was originally the single's b-side while Rhythm Three: A Last Request showed up as yet another single's b-side and was a bonus track on the album Faith when it was released in October 1987.  All three parts were stitched together into the Monogamy Mix on twelve inch single.  In a small coincidence, both "I Want Your Sex" and "U Got The Look" peaked at #2 on the Hot 100.

But then HERC goes back to the late Summer of 1978, just before school started again, when his 12 year old self heard Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" for the first time at a sleepover at a friend's house.  The hot topic of discussion that night after listening to the song a few times was where in the heck were the bases located on the female of the species?  HERC seems to remember the consensus among his group of ignoramuses was that kissing a girl on the lips was first base, touching her "top parts" was second base and grabbing or even touching her butt was third base. After much deliberating, they concluded that getting a girl pregnant would be a home run.  Doing all of that in one night would be a "grand slam."  Since nearly all of the girls their age lacked discernible "top parts" and only one of the guys had ever kissed a girl on the lips (on a dare), they were resigned to the fact that each of them had at least skipped directly to third base, which was easily obtainable during PE or lining up after recess.  Opportunities for further bases presented themselves as HERC's gang entered Junior High and seventh grade.  Before Christmas, HERC was a bit of a legend among his friends, as he had reached first base with two girls and second base with one of them all the while the third base hits kept racking up because the guys had decided accidentally touching a girl's butt counted so there were A LOT of "accidents".  It would be eight more years before HERC hit his first grand slam.