This song is sombre too in many ways: “I made a pilgrimage to save this human’s race/Never comprehending the race had long gone by”. I think that may be why the song scored so big in America, unlike the band’s more sombre earlier material. Thanks to Reagan-era Evil Empire posturing, the early ’80s was a replay of that kind of fear that pervaded Western culture in the ’50s and early ’60s. The threat of nuclear war was in the air in the early ’80s, with ideological tensions running high. There’s nothing quite like the possibility of dying in an atomic blast to fire up the hormones! And this one was exceptional a bright and shiny love song that hinted at the threat of nuclear annihilation, a very early ’80s motif indeed. It would certainly ensure Modern English’s place in pop history, being one of the most tuneful pop songs of the decade.īut, apart from the clear roots in post-punk that this band had when they formed in 1979, what cultural nerve did this song hit to make it so popular?ĭespite the cover-ability of this song, it was an anthem for the times besides when new wave and post punk were still represented on mainstream charts. It would be the theme of the movie Valley Girl (starring a very young Nicolas Cage), where it gained its audience, and would appear in many other films besides, and with a number of cover versions from artists from Bowling For Soup to Jason Mraz. But, from the label that would champion artists that existed initially on the fringes, this song scored a placement on Billboard’s Hot 100 that year. The song appeared initially on their After The Snow album, their second on the now legendary and still-active 4AD label, released in May of 1982. It’s their 1982 smash-hit “I Melt With You”, an effervescent tune that lit up the charts, several movie soundtracks of that era, and ones to come. Listen to this track by British new wave concern Modern English.
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