It felt like the world would freeze: 30-Day Song Challenge, the Sequel, day 10 – a song you love from the ’80s
I’ve always thought that Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town” was just about as perfect a pop song as it is possible to write. The story captivates. The tune itself is so intuitive that it feels like it has been inside me my whole life, waiting for an artist to set it free. As for the performance and production, it is impossible to imagine a single, minute addition, subtraction or alteration that wouldn’t lessen the song’s effect.
If ever there has been a greater one-hit wonder I don’t know who it was, and it’s hard not to feel bad for the band. If they’d had a couple of hits before this audiences might have felt some momentum building that would have sustained them for a few more years. But “Life in a Northern Town” peaked at #7 in the US (how it didn’t blow the lid off the charts I’m still not sure, except that radio tends to suck) and they never again got anywhere close to that. How could they? Very few artists are this remarkable even once in their careers. After this one amazing song, it was all bound to be downhill.
I’ve heard “Life in a Northern Town” hundreds, maybe thousands of times; it affects me today the way it did back in 1985 and it will probably be the same if I hear it a million more…
Here are three videos for you. First, the official version you’ve probably seen before.
This is apparently an older video, set against a slightly grittier panaorama.
Finally, here they are on Saturday Night Live:
lullaby pit 
What a great decade! High school, the Army and college cover this decade for me and LOT and LOTS of great music. I’m going to submit The Call Let the Day Begin even though I could pick a dozen other songs from them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXywSZ-Zdmg
It’s odd to me that Life in a Northern Town would mean that much. I always just thought of it as a nice song.
The Call – another nice one. I recently met the BRMC guitar tech who did CPR on Michael Been as they waited for the paramedics to arrive. A great talent, but when all is said and done he died while on the road with his son’s band. Many people don’t get to go out in ways that are that fitting, do they?
So true. He was pretty young, but like you say, he was doing what he loved and with his son.
I didn’t realize there was anyone who loved this song as much as I do. My first job out of college was at an AM radio station in Podunkville, NY. Being the new guy there, I did a lot of overnights consisting of keeping the all night talk shows on the air, and timing a few commercial breaks. Sometimes there would be holes in the schedule where there was no other choice but to throw some music on.
The station had one of those newfangled (for the time) touchscreen computer systems that housed the music collection. As you would expect for an a.m. station the library was awful, consisting of the litest of music you can imagine from the 40s thru the 70s. But then, one day when scanning the contents of the library, there it was! “Life in a Northern Town.”
Needless to say, it became my go-to tune for filling those breaks. It takes on a rather ethereal feel at 3am in a building that has only you and a bunch of white-noise creating broadcasting equipment in it. I hope those three people that were listening enjoyed it.
I’m disappointed in you Sam.
I thought for sure that you would pick “Jessie’s Girl.” 🙂
This one, for me, is a no-brainer, and for those who know me, it’s an obvious selection.
“Begin the day!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tq-UsaRchI
“Jesse’s Girl”? That’s not even the best song on that album.