![]() ![]() ![]() By the time of the first Wrestlemania in 1985, McMahon had brought in the TV star Mr. That freaky fascination in human bodies extended outside movies, too, and into other realms.Ī young Vince McMahon took over his father’s regional wrestling promotion and transformed it into the global cultural behemoth known as the WWF by largely doing away with old pro-wrestling storytelling styles and betting instead on vascular maximalists like Hulk Hogan. Universe had surpassed Stallone and arguably become the biggest movie star in the world. Sylvester Stallone, already a star, got more juiced-up and became an even bigger box-office attraction. That aesthetic started to take over blockbuster movies with 1983’s Flashdance, a film that will prove important to this column. ![]() Gyms popped up across suburban strip-malls, the same way that discos had done in the late ’70s.Īlong the way, someone figured out that jacked-up muscles fit well with MTV-style cocaine-haze editing. A whole lot more aerobics videos followed. The Jane Fonda’s Workout video came out in 1982 and became the biggest-selling VHS tape of all time. People have always been into bodies, but sculpted, oiled-up musculature - and the work necessary to sculpt and maintain that musculature - became a pop-culture fixation during the Reagan years. In the ’80s, people got really into bodies. In any case, “Physical” remains one of the great songs of the early 80s, and gave us a new Olivia Newton-John, but still a world-class star.In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. There were also remote areas of the United States where local radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the lyrics, which, however, were very explicit. The song was a hit first in the United States, probably thanks to the spell that Olivia Newton-John’s name still exercised, and then also in Europe and many other countries, such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada. But luckily there’s still one for Olivia he isn’t quite as toned and muscular as the others and is still a bit overweight, but in the end he’s what Olivia was looking for. There’s a little detail, which might be less ironic today than it sounded in 1981: those muscular guys come out in pairs holding hands with each other. After all, we were in the full era of aerobic gym! And so we all remember the video set in a gym where Olivia tries in every way to get a group of mid aged fat men back in shape, without results.īut when Olivia goes out to the locker, without her the gentlemen get busy, and when she comes back she no longer recognizes them: they are slimmed down, much more muscular, and they look even younger. If the title of the song was quite explicit about the type of physicality, the video totally changed its scope and referred it to the tone of the human body. The video for “Physical” was instrumental in the song’s success. Yes, because as we know MTV had just started its broadcasts, on August 1 of that same year, and so if you had a good video there were very good chances that they would broadcast again and again, because they really hadn’t many good videos!! It must be said that Lukather had the same feeling also for other famous songs by Toto, which instead became planetary hits, such as “Africa” and “ Rosanna“, songs on which at first he would not bet a penny.Īnd so “Physical” (the original title was supposed to be “Let’s get physical”) was released on September 28, 1981, two days after Olivia’s 33rd birthday, and it was one of the best moments to release a song if it had a good video. Actually, she wasn’t the only one with this opinion! Even Steve Lukather, Toto’s guitarist who performed the song’s guitar solos, was quite direct in saying that he did not believe in this song, that it had no chance of success. Olivia initially declined because the song seemed a little too cheeky and explicit, but luckily she changed her mind. They were thinking of Rod Stewart, but one of Olivia’s managers heard the song (Kipner himself was a great friend of Olivia’s) and decided to propose it to her. In 1981, the authors Terry Shaddick and Steve Kipner wrote a rather explicit song, thinking of a male performer who was relevant to the female audience. Three years after the worldwide success of Grease, which was released in the summer of 1978, Sandy, who by the end of the film had already transformed with leather clothes and seductive attitudes, is now definitely Olivia, a singer and complete star ready to conquer the world again. Olivia Newton-John was one of the absolute stars of the early 80s. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |