Robbed Hit of the Week 6/11/12 - Sparks' "I Predict"...

Sparks - "I Predict"

from the album Angst In My Pants (1982)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #60

This week's "robbed hit" is by the off-center new wave duo Sparks. Fronted by California-born brothers Ron and Russell Mael, they were more in tune with German electro-pop like Kraftwerk or Yello than anything going on in America. The Mael were both art students, which reflected in their work on record, on the record cover (which I bought unheard from the local record shop just for the cover), and in the still nascent music-video form.

In the 70s, the band had quite a following in Britain, with their single "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" becoming a #2 single there. They had a total of eight top-40 hits there in the 70s, before the new wave invasion made their sound palatable in America. "I Predict" was their first charting single, from their eleventh album, which gives them points for tenacity.

Nothing like a David Lynch-helmed video with Ron in drag with his Hitler mustache to bring the party.

GOD I LOVE THIS RECORD.

Of course this was a hit in the alternative clubs of the day, but it was way too "out there" for mainstream radio. This makes Culture Club look passive. But it did get as much of a following (mostly in LA) to make the lower half of the pop chart. The album made the top-200, and the band even got a spot on Saturday Night Live giving them big time exposure.

The duo would go on to have a few more dance club hits, the biggest being "Music That You Can Dance To" which went to #6 on that list  in 1986. They also had a few more top-40 hits in the UK in the 90s, but this would be their last hurrah on the American pop chart. UPDATE: Dummo me! They did have one more single on the Hot 100, teaming up with the GoGo's Jane Wiedlin on "Cool Places". Thanks, Ben! I forgot because it was a bit lighter than their other stuff, and so John Hughes-movie appropriate.