Soundtrack of Your Life: '80s Pop

An occasional feature in which we mark the songs of our relative youth as played over public muzak systems. 

Date: 25 March 2016, 11:15 a.m.
Place: Cafe Passe, Tucson, Arizona
Song:  "The Safety Dance"
Artist: Men Without Hats
Irony Matrix: 2.5 out of 10
Comment: Just one of the peppy, irresistible tunes playing on a Friday morning at an alleyway cafe in the sunny Southwest. (It was followed by "Vogue," "Billy Jean," "Shout," "Personal Jesus," "We Got the Beat" -- you get the idea.) I listen to my share of oldies radio, and I'm fascinated by how those playlists evolve, presumably based on marketing, and how they seem to be coordinated across formats. I've heard "Safety Dance" three times in the past two weeks, on two unrelated radio stations and here at the cafe. In what corner office was it deemed that Men Without Hats was to be placed in heavy rotation? What factors were involved in the decision? Did they mention me specifically? I have the 45-rpm version of "Safety Dance." I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, "Hey, Billy Joel is shaking things up and having a little fun." (When I first heard Squeeze's "Black Coffee in Bed," I thought that Paul McCartney had snapped out of his doldrums.) I also associate the song with a memorable event in the summer of 1983. It was one of those summer graduation parties, this one a backyard blowout at our cousins' house. I had to work till about 8 or 9 at my weekend job in the kitchen of a caterer in the city. When I pulled up to my cousins' house on 4th Avenue, "Safety Dance" bopping out of the car speakers (was it still the forest green '74 Chevy Nova?), it was chaos. People were yelling and running. The cops were there. Turns out a major brawl had erupted. A semi-pro boxer sucker-punched my brother, leaving him hideously bruised. My Italian uncle was threatening to go Cosa Nostra on the thugs who had crashed the bash. It was a panic. I can't remember whether I ever got any mostaccioli. As a scrawny college boy, I wouldn't have been much help protecting my brother or avenging the attack. I was a pogo'er, not a fighter.

We can dance if we want to!