Song Of The Day 8/30/2015: The Rave-Ups – “Positively Lost Me”

Good morning. This is going to be quick and dirty, because like the protagonist in KISS' "Beth," me and the boys were playing allll niiiiiiight, and I didn't have Song Of The Day in the can in advance as per usual. I'm living my life more freely and independently these days. I can't be held down by The Man's devotion to routine and indentured responsibilities. I'm a winsome butterfly shedding the lateral imprisonment of my cocoon. I'm as free as a bird. Now. So go ask someone else to fix your French dips and dust your corners. I'm too busy tossing my beret in the air in the middle of a Minneapolis intersection and watching it freeze in mid-flight. I'm gonna make it after all, and no man's gonna tell me to fit into his pretty little gift-wrapped box and do my womanly duties! This is about me, buster!!

So, sorry I'm late and all.

The Rave-Ups' "Positively Lost Me" is the greatest song ever to appear in a John Hughes movie, in this case Pretty In Pink. In fact, the Rave-Ups, who were from Pittsburgh, were actually in the movie themselves, playing the part of a bar band who were onstage when Ducky (Jon Cryer) had some critical moment of self-revelation that, forgive me, I just can't remember what was. The Rave-Ups showed up in the wake of the all-too-brief and all-too-horribly-named cowpunk phase of 1980's new wave, but in my opinion they were among the best of the bunch. The builds and releases in this song are perfect. Just like the '80s man! However, for reasons I'm sure seemed perfectly logical to some crank in an ill-fitting blazer, "Positively Lost Me" was not featured on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack album, despite its being the most distinctive music in the entire film. That could have done a lot for them. I mean, come on, did New Order or INXS really need that much help at the time? No, but the Rave-Ups did. Someday I'm going to get in that time machine, go back and fix that problem. Then I'm going to make sure to score a six-pack of Pepsi Light and bring it back to the present. Lemon-flavored diet cola didn't get the chance it deserved either.