Song Of The Day 5/30/2013: Lydia Murdock - "Superstar"

Answer Songs Week: Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" was the original patrimony jam, and the song that most changed the trajectory of his career. In case you are so new to this planet you've yet to get the hang of silverware: Man meets woman, said Billie Jean, at dance club. They have intercourse. They stop having intercourse and presumably don't communicate again for some time afterwards. Months pass. Then Billie Jean meets up with the man and his apparent steady girlfriend and shows a picture of her offspring. Billie Jean claims the man's the father. Man denies the fact, broods, then walks away, now burdened by an inevitable legal battle, as well as a mysterious curse that makes concrete slabs on the sidewalk light up when he steps on them.

American singer Lydia Murdock answered "Billie Jean" with "Superstar," in which she casts herself as the spurned Billie Jean, who is as you might imagine "mad as hell." The song was apparently popular in the United Kingdom, where it actually got to #14 on the charts and landed Murdock an appearance on Top Of The Pops. Murdock could not sustain her career around the gimmicky song. Let's face it, she was no Buckner & Garcia.

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