Friday, August 10, 2012

Lay All Your Love On Me

This week's edition of Retro Friday features the band Information Society, and the song "Lay All Your Love on Me."

Information Society is an 80's American band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band is comprised of Kurt Larson (aka Kurt Valaquen/Kurt Harland), Paul Robb, and James Cassidy. The latter two reunited the band in 2006, initially with Christopher Anton as lead vocalist, and then Kurt Harland rejoined them as lead vocalist by 2008.

The group's breakout hit was the 1988 single "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)." An energetic dance hit with that 80's synthpop hit sound, it went straight to No. 1 on the dance chart and spent 39 weeks on the chart. It also peaked at No. 3 on the hot 100 pop chart. The single included a vocal sample of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) from Star Trek, saying "pure energy," and also opened with a sample of Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), also from Star Trek, saying, "It's worked so far, but we're not out yet!" The samples are from the Star Trek episodes "Errand of Mercy", and "I, Mudd" respectively.

My favorite Information Society song, however, was "Lay All Your Love on Me." Originally recorded by ABBA on their 1980 album Super Trouper, it was re-recorded by Information Society in their signature 80's synthpop style. I guess my love for ABBA probably contributes to me liking this song so much, but it is one of my favorites!

My friends and I just loved Information Society in high school. This band is pretty much what got me addicted to seeing bands live, front and center, in the mosh pit.

When you go to high school in the Los Angeles area, they have this thing at graduation called "Grad Night." What is "Grad Night" you ask? Well, after your graduation ceremony, they put all of the students on buses and take them to Disneyland for a lock-in of sorts. You are there from after graduation until 7am when they bus you back home. One other feature of "Grad Night," besides having free reign of Disneyland, is that they also had several music groups throughout the park for entertainment. The year I graduated the bands were ... New Kids on the Block (yuck), Samantha Fox (ehhh), and Information Society. We were SO excited about getting to see Information Society that we waiting in line outside the venue so that we could make sure we got a front row spot ... and we did. It was awesome. That night was amazing, and seeing them front and center was a big part of it. Well, among other things, but I digress.

And now for your listening pleasure, "Lay All Your Love on Me:"

 Cheers!


1 comment:

  1. Appreciate you sharing your Music History and your eclectic tastes

    ReplyDelete