Stalker Pop, Part 3: The ’70s
Before the holidays I started a series on stalker pop (early stalker tunes here, and some ’60s obsessions here).
And now we head into the ’70s, which doesn’t seem to have been a prime era for tunes about people who feel just a little too strongly about those they imagine they love. But I asked Pete for some suggestions, and I think he and I came up with some worthy examples.
Starting with this charmer:
“Stranglehold” is your basic mid-’70s hard rockin’ all-day wonder, coming in at just under eight and a half minutes, and it serves as a frame for a long, long guitar break. It’s also a barely coherent address by a man to a woman who dumped him, including the peculiar warning, “If your house gets in my way, baby/You know I’ll burn it down.” What can you possibly say to that?
But the woman in question has bigger problems anyway, as our hero repeatedly declares his “stranglehold” on her while paradoxically advising her to stay out of his way (no problem. Really). The Ian Gillan-esque vocal isn’t Nugent, but Derek St. Holmes, and it’s a bit stretched and not terribly persuasive. Just as well, since this classic rock warhorse is essentially a death threat.
And so is this, albeit in more sophisticated terms:
Yes, I realize that there are lots of people who see this as a sweet, nostalgic love song. Those people are wrong. “Alison” is just one sample of the blazing misogyny that is the overriding flaw of Elvis Costello’s early work (see also “Party Girl,” “Men Called Uncle,” stalker classic “Watching the Detectives,” “B Movie,” and any number of others).
A man encounters a woman he was once fond of, and he starts off by letting her know he’s heard the gossip about her: “I hear you let that little friend of mine/Take off your party dress.” (If this is how he opens a conversation, it’s not much of a mystery why this relationship didn’t work out.)
Alison’s gotten on with her life and gotten married, but our singer isn’t buying it, and is sure she’s just manipulating her hapless husband. And he’s just so very, very disappointed at how she’s turned out: “Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking/When I hear the silly things that you say.”
So much so that perhaps he’ll do something about it: “I think somebody better put out the big light/’Cause I can’t stand to see you this way.”
“My aim is true” indeed.
Here’s a little cheerier but still stalky song, from 1979:
Deborah Harry’s vocal is a bit less inept than usual on this undemanding tune, which expresses the simple determination to “getcha getcha getcha getcha.” And by any means necessary, including late-night drive-bys, following buses, and lurking around in malls. There is a moment of mixed emotions as Debbie says she will also “lose ya lose ya lose ya lose ya,” but soon we’re back to the topic at hand: “I’m gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha.”
The lyrics are startlingly creepy on paper, but listening to the words on Blondie records is an unrewarding thing to do and I’m not sure many people put a lot of time into it. And this is undeniably a catchy little tune — sonically, this was right out on the edge for pop radio in ’79.
This is getting long, so look for a couple more stalkers of the ’70s to be up over the weekend.
Categories: Sweet Emotion
1 Comment »
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January 13th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Glad to see this subject back.
I’ve always loved Ted Nugent, even though, as stated in prior writings,
my audio equipment didn’t. Still, the lyrics are just plain scary.
Elvis Costello’s “Alison”,well the lyrics are to the point I guess.
I know people who have been there, so I wouldn’t
consider it a stalker song really. Maybe “Alison”
is just misunderstood? Maybe if the singer
actually asked “Alison” what was going on
all would become much clearer?
I happen to like Bondie, and this song is totally
a stlaker song. I have to admit it.
Once I read the lyrics, though very repetitive,
they are very creepy indeed.
One song I would add to this list, and I know there are more, is
Cheap Trick’s, “I Want You to Want Me”.
Not creepy per se,
just very needy,
“I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I’d love you to love me.
I’m beggin’ you to beg me.
I’ll shine up the old brown shoes, put on a brand-new shirt.
I’ll get home early from work if you say that you love me.”
Still, I would argue the song fits
Thanks Bridey, keep this one going