Back in the eighties if it wasn’t rock, I probably was not very interested. In my opinion at that time, Cyndi Lauper’s tunes were for young teenage girls, kidstuff. If it came on somebody else’s radio, it was tolerated but not taken seriously. They’d never play that bubblegum music on my radio station.
Now that three or four decades have passed, and my perspective on so many things has changed, it’s almost like looking at music from that long ago (not so long ago?) era and seeing with new eyes and hearing with new ears.
What I didn’t appreciate then was, Cyndi Lauper had talent. She could sing very well, she could be outrageous in her wardrobe, and she was clearly uninhibited, what with her outgoing, extroverted personality. (Insider tip: she’s still living, so she probably still is a free spirit.) In summary, she was fun and entertaining for those who were not rock music snobs. That might, in part, be why the popularity of rock music faded toward the end of the century and the younger generations mostly didn’t take up rock’s banner: it just wasn’t fun anymore.
Listening to her music now, I must admit that I judged her unfairly all those years ago. Cyndi Lauper is another act that’s woefully underappreciated.
1983
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (4:27)
1984
Time After Time (4:57)
1984
She Bop (4:38)
1984
All Through the Night (4:36)
1984
Money Changes Everything (4:55)
1985
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (3:39)
(from The Goonies soundtrack)
1986
True Colors (4:07)
1986
Change of Heart (4:24)
1987
What’s Going On (4:25)
1989
I Drove All Night (4:38)
