Stalker Pop, Part 4: Near-miss stalkers of the ’70s
We’ll spend a bit more time in the ’70s in this installment of the ongoing series on stalker pop. (Part 1 is here; part 2; and part 3). Starting with our first borderline call:
OK, something is really wrong with this dude. The wounded, weepy vocal by Eric Stewart makes what’s quite a nasty lyric on paper merely pathetic: “I’d like to see you/But then again/That doesn’t mean you mean that much to me/So if I call you/Don’t make a fuss/Don’t tell your friends about the two of us.”
After the peculiar, whispered “Big boys don’t cry” bridge — a female voice intended, presumably, to hint at why this guy is such an emotional train wreck — our hero assures his non-girlfriend, several times, “You’ll wait a long time for me.”
This falls into the stalker category only under the “generally weird relationships” banner. What kind of woman would tolerate such a whiny basket case? Or tolerate repeated (and repeated) assurances that he doesn’t care — even if they are delivered in the vocal equivalent of big sad puppy eyes?
And on rather a different note:
OK, it’s a bit elliptical, but this Scorpions song seems to be about a guy who is communing with his possibly (probably?) dead girlfriend by drinking brain-melting amounts of alcohol.
The verse is in metal-ballad country and even pretty, despite Klaus Meine’s rather desperate-sounding vocal. (He always seems to be reaching for that scratchy high end, doesn’t he?) “I wake up in the morning/And the sun begins to shine/The day did sneak up from the night/I see your face and I see myself.”
So far, so good — but then it’s “I try to stand it for a while.” Ah. So perhaps this is not a happy guy.
The chorus is catchy and mildly headbangy: “I’m in trance/Hey baby, can’t you hear me calling … I take too much in the Saturday night.” So he’s drinking heavily (well, the Scorps are German). But is the situation even bleaker than that? “I wanna try to stop this life.
A slightly more hopeful second verse nonetheless circles back to the pleading refrain: “I’m in trance/Hey baby, can you hear me calling?”
Not at all pure stalker pop, but certainly obsessive and quite strange. But not a bad record, for all that.
Another offbeat candidate:
Alice Cooper, “Billion Dollar Babies.”
(The original isn’t on YouTube, and the live versions aren’t any good, so this is Lala via Google.)
Alice isn’t stalking, exactly, since the object of his affection probably isn’t going anywhere: This bit of early metal (from ’72) is about a really great sex doll. This “rubber little lady” apparently provides all the affection Alice needs, though he worries about her fragile state: “If I’m too rough, tell me/I’m so scared/Your little head will come off in my hands.”
So, yes, the stalkee is inanimate. But it is obsessive, and, despite the subject matter, I’ve always kind of liked it. Alice in his heyday was goofing on his audience a fair amount of the time, and, along with being pretty funny, “Billion Dollar Babies” is a fantastic-sounding record. The sung-spoken sections, trading voices the second time around, are eerie and imaginative, it’s got a great metal bass line, the guitars are slamming, and there’s a terrific, just-off-the-beat scream after the first verse. What more could you ask from an Alice Cooper record?
Next time out: the ’80s, or the Decade of the Stalker, pop musically speaking. Including, of course, the biggest stalker hit of all (you know the one I mean).
Categories: Sweet Emotion
1 Comment »
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January 15th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
I just had to go find the lyrics to “I’m Not in Love” and they are beyond creepy to me. A put down in many ways for the poor subject of the song, but guys seem to master this at an early age. (I think a lot of women put up with this because even if the guy in question doesn’t love them, they are in love with the guy. Sad but true commentary)
“In Trance” doesn’t seem so much of a stalker song, but I agree, very obsessive.
Finally, Alice Cooper’s “Billion Dollar Babies”, what can you say about a man obsessed with a sex doll?
Great job Bridey!