I was a timid child. Still am, to be honest. Few things make me more uncomfortable than talking on the phone, having to make calls being the worst. Luckily I was also the oldest child so I had a younger sister I could browbeat into doing those things I desperately wanted to do but was too afraid to do myself.
One such desire, of vast importance to many tweens back in the eighties, was calling the local radio station to make requests. This didn’t always work, mind you, but did so enough to make the effort to keep trying worthwhile. There was no internet or social media upon which to make such requests, in those days. You either phoned, usually on a rotary dial phone, or you just suffered through the pre-ordained playlist. It was also a big thing for newly minted lovers and lovelorn (read stalking) teens to call in and dedicate songs to each other.
In 1984 a hit song made the making of requests, and in particular dedications, all the more pertinent to the subset of the youth population not yet fully overcome with hormones. Those juvenile minds, okay mine, thought it would be a hilarious expression of my newfound, but still tentative, bravado and anti-authoritarian outlook to call the local pop rock radio station and dedicate this song to the principal of my school. Of course, the actual action of doing so was beyond my comfort zone, so I bullied my sister into doing it. She succeeding in getting through, made the request, and we sat for an hour by the radio waiting for the song to be played and my mischievous dedication to be spoken. It never happened. Jerk DJ!
Anyway, I’m kicking off the weekend with that very song, one I’m sure you all know and (secretly) love if only for the video it inspired. This one’s for you Mr. Miller, wherever you are. “We’re Not Gonna To Take It” by Twisted Sister from the 1984 THREE MILLION SELLING album Stay Hungry.
Official Video:
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