Summer of 1982

It was the summer of 1982, 
my high school junior year,
with my loins burning for girls
and making money as a student
painter at Muhlenberg College
AND one of the best summers of
music ever (for me).
 
MTV launched on August 1st of 1981,
and we teen-agers were hooked to watching
the bands perform on the teli.
 
Heat of the Moment – Asia
Young Turks -  Rod Stewart
Do You Believe in Love -  Huey Lewis & the News
Freeze-Frame – The J. Geils Band
 
867-5309/Jenny – Tommy Tutone
Jack & Diane -  John Cougar
Waiting for a Girl Like You – Foreigner
Let’s Groove – Earth, Wind & Fire
 
I Love Rock-n-Roll  -  Joan Jett
Don’t Stop Believin -  Journey
Every Little Thing She Does in Magic -  The Police
We Got the Beat – The Go-Go’s
 
Rush came out with the Album Subdivisions
with New World Man, Countdown,
 The Analog Kid and Subdivisions,
the national anthem commiserating the angst
of teen-agers growing up in the subdivisions
of the suburban life.
 
One day I heard a song that I enjoyed
the groove too, and the great video
of dancers dressed up in Medieval Dress
and dancing in the English Folk tradition.
The Group was called “Men Without Hats.”
 
I could not make out all the lyrics clearly,
and in time I came to believe the song was
called “The Satan Dance!”
 
Even in the middle of the song
They spelled it out…..
 
Ssssss-Aaaaa-Tttttt-Aaaaa-Nnnnnn
                 DANCE!
 
This was the time before internet
became public in August of 1991,
and as an evangelical young man
preparing to go into ministry,
it was a song that bothered me
tremendously.
 
When I learned it was called
The Safety Dance,
I felt relief it was not
Glorifying “the enemy”
And I was able to
LOVE the song
again!

Ssss-Aaaa-Ffff-Ttttt-Eeee-Yyyyy
            DANCE!