Songoftheday 12/5/12 - I cant get to sleep, I think about the implications of diving in too deep & possibly the complications...

Men At Work - "Overkill"
from the album Cargo (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week)
Weeks in the top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by the Australian rock group Men At Work, who were the big breakout artists of 1982 with their debut album Business As Usual, which topped the US album charts for 15 weeks and scored them two huge #1 hits in America with "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under". They went on to win the Grammy for Best New Artist at the start of 1983, further building excitement over their next move.

When their sophomore effort, Cargo, was finally released months after they finished recording (before they hit it big in America), the first single was an out-of-the-box success. However, "Overkill" wasn't the comic rock of "Who Can It Be Now" or the novelty schtick of "Down Under", but rather a quite adult record about loneliness and ennui...

The single reached the top-10 on the pop, rock, and adult-contemporary charts in the spring of 1983, as well as made the top-40 in Britain, Australia, and Germany. Their album also reached #3 as well, staving them off from the "Sophomore Slump" temporarily.

The one big thing about this record is this is the song that has grown on me more than any other of the 80s. I guess my more naive ears couldn't get over the off-kilter saxophone hook, but in time the lyrics really really sunk in, and now it's on my list of my top-10 favorite 80s hits.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Proving the song's emo cred, Dashboard Confessional took on "Overkill" in 2007...

...and MAW lead singer Colin Hay reprised his song on a classic episode of Scrubs...

Up tomorrow: some serious moonlight.