I have been just awful about getting up to speed this year!
We are once again working to raise funds for AIDS Walk Orange County. Please check out our home page. (We have an adorable picture posted).
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=437522&supId=322141665
“HEYYYYYYYY soul sistah.
AIIIIIN’t that Mister Mister on the radio?”
I don’t know about the rest of you, but the incessant blaring of this peppy sickly saccharine-sweet bubblegum tune by Train works my last nerve. Yet, this one awkward rhyme does make me stop to think – Mister Mister – it really HAS been a while, hasn’t it?
Back in high school, I was a devout Durany. Each and every day, I wore my fan buttons to school, and I had various pictures on my trapper-keeper. (Looking back – HOW did I not know that I was gay? JEEZ! Seriously?!) Yet, out of nowhere, a completely unknown band began the eventually dethroning of the pop kings of the 80’s. Songs like Broken Wing and Kyrie seduced even devote high priests of the Church of LeBon like myself into following the chart-topping adventures of these unknowns. From what I understood, the band consisted of various musicians who had each toured as back-up musicians of several well-known and well-toured successes. As such, by the time they all got together, they had a lot of talent and experience under their belts.
The crooning of lead singer Richard Page, backed by the strong instrumentation of the band led a wave of success after success – enough so that I was willing to put aside my life-long-fascination of all things Duran-squared to instead become a devotee of Mister Mister forevah-and-evah… or at least until the tragedy that was their next album.
When Mister Mister’s next album came out, I bought it without hesitation. The song “Something Real” had already been released, and was quickly climbing the charts. “Yeah!” I thought to myself. “Let the fun continue!” But… no. The album was… oh how does one put it… an absolute double-serving of Fail! Sadly, “Something Real” had been written at the same time as the rest of the songs from the previous album, Welcome to the Real World. The rest of the album was written later – after the band had grown much more calm, serious, and more… well… right-wing-Christian.
Somehow, someway, I completely missed the fact that Mister Mister was a Christian band. Naïve and clueless teen that I was, I got lost in the bubbly-happy joie de vivre, and didn’t actually read their lyrics. And while Welcome to the Real World had strong vocals and instrumentation, their next album became more ballady and really put their Christian message IN YOUR FACE. I was appalled – not so much by the message – but by the fact that the album was just honestly TRAGICALLY bad.
Not long after that, the band broke up – not with a bang but a whisper. And I think many people (myself included) just swept them under the carpet, only to replace them with the likes of Wham! (Again, HOW did I not know????).
Now, 20 some odd years later, when a Mister Mister song comes on the radio, we remember the tune and may even remember the time, but it isn’t unusual to have to search the memory banks to think about who the band was. “Ain’t that Mister Mister on the radio?” Most of us probably have to scratch our heads to remember.
