It’s time to get back to my favorite decade. For the month of March, I’ll be looking back at some of my favorite jams from the 80s. These songs often came to me via MTV or the radio. NYC-area stations WDRE, WPLJ, WNEW, K-ROCK and Z100 introduced me to everything from irresistible pop confections to under-the-radar post-punk anthems. I would not be who I am today if it weren’t for the 80s. It was the decade when I discovered music can be a truly powerful thing. #31DaysOf80sSongs
The crossover phenomenon is an interesting one in the music world. It’s not something easily understood because crossover success isn’t a formula. Sometimes it appears like there’s no rhyme or reason to why certain songs or bands found their way across the aisle into other genres with immediate acceptance and success. In the case of Sade, her crossover success from her soul and jazz roots was the song “Smooth Operator”, an irresistible jazzy little thing with equally irresistible pop elements. It opened the door for me to discover that “Smooth Operator” was just the tip of the iceberg. Now there are at least a dozen other Sade anthems that I think are better, including “The Sweetest Taboo”.
There’s immediate intrigue from the get go on this track with those rim and snare hits. It feels jazzy, but then the opening guitar riff opens the door to a more sophisti-pop stance. I first came across “The Sweest Taboo” when I bought “The Best of Sade”, a compilation effort that chronicled a remarkably consistent career. The song’s theme is nothing unusual. The idea that someone’s love can bring out the best in you is very relatable. But the way Sade expressed this notion was unique. Those words “the sweetest taboo” rang like poetry. And what made the track stick in our minds was these instrumental flourishes – from the horn arrangements to the piano interludes.
“Every day is Christmas, and every night is New Year’s eve.”