Okay so just to clarify I did not, as the title of this article would suggest, "wake up laughing" (something that would be no mean feat on any ordinary morning, and something that would be that much more difficult to achieve on a morning where you awaken after only sleeping about 4 hours at the most, unless of course the laughter is signifying your slow decent into sleep deprived insanity). The title is moreso a nod to the late Robert Palmer, a musician who seems to be regularly monopolising a sizeable amount of play time on my mp3 player as of late, as well as quickly becoming one of those artists whose songs you find yourself humming/singing randomly without realising.
For the most part, I think it's safe to say that the majority of people from my generation can vividly remember their first introduction to the work of this effortlessly great musician, and it probably wasn't on the radio or anything like that. For years, the only Robert Palmer song that I knew was "Addicted to Love" and like many people who grew up in the late 80s/early 90s, this song will always be synonimous with the classic "Halls Soothers" elevator advert on tv (an advert which apparently is being played again these days, which in itself is a sign of just how iconic the ad has become. How many other halls soothers adverts do you remember? Me neither. It's up there with the "Juice loose aboot this hoose" and the softmints ad with "Mr.Soft" It's just something you'll always remember) Although I remember completely misinterpreting the ad as a wee nipper, always thinking that the Halls Soothers acted as some kind of aphrodesiac for that woman as she takes one sweet before proceeding to get all hot and bothered in the elevator! Kind of half expected the slogan at the end to say "better than viagra" or something like that.
Regardless of the imagery the ad conjures up, the song is belting away throughout, and even if people don't know to this day that it's a Robet Palmer song...if you ask anyone do they remember the Hall Soothers elevator advert, pretty much anyone would start by saying "Oh yeah...the lights are on, but you're not home..." perhaps the most famous first line of a song of the last two decades, second only to B*Witched's opening to their classic C'est La Vie "Some People Say Oi Look Loike Me Da...Are Ya Seeeeryus?"
And then, a couple of years after the ad stopped playing on tv, I discovered a magnificent invention (an invention that sadly would later go on to be the ruination of modern society), a television station by the name of MTV! Now, back in the day the "M" in MTV stood for music (couldn't even begin to guess what it stands for today other than maybe 'mind numbing shite') but one day the video for "Addicted to Love" came on! I was delighted to see that this was not actually just a fantastic piece of elevator music created solely for the advert, but it was in fact a real song, with several verses and everything...but not only that, "what's this visual feast that accompanies it?" I thought. Why it's, it's...a music video! And what a music video! Inspired and iconic in it's own way, it features the ever suave Palmer belting out the tune on stage in front of a microphone, as a handful of Mortisha Addams rejects who had their make up applied earlier in the day by a cannon at point blank range, rock out in the background with instruments that they're not even playing ...Perhaps "rock out" is the wrong term...They don't so much "rock", but rather more so "sway back and forth out of time with the music and out of sync with each other, with all the grace and elegance of a group of lobotomised ostriches".
The Classic "Addicted To Love" Video
Still a great video regardless, and although the song is best remembered for the Halls advert...Some people might remember it as being the theme song to the dreadul 90's rom-com with a difference "Addicted to Love". Always found myself wondering if the song was the inspiration for the movie, or rather just a name that they decided to use at the last minute when the writers were on their way to pitch the as-of-yet-unnamed romantic comedy. Regardless, the song plays throughout the trailer for the movie, and I'm fairly sure it plays during the end credits to boot. The movie is essentially a story about two miserable characters who just happen to decide to spy on their respective ex's who left them to be together (can you guess the ending yet?) They try their best to sabotage their ex's relationship...fall in love with each other in the process yadda yadda yadda...It's all just wonderful really. Really some of Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick's finest work.
Check out the Addicted To Love Trailer
But the point is this, regardless of where you know the song from...chances are you do know the song, and chances are you like it. So if you like it, maybe take the time to check out some of Robert Palmers other work, because a lot of it is equally as good, albeit not quite as well known. A true legend, and I genuinely would like to believe that he did often wake up laughing.
She Makes My Day
Woke Up Laughing
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