Songoftheday 11/20/13 - She's got a face that shows what she knows, she's heard every line...

Romeo Void - "A Girl in Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)"
from the album Instincts (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2

Today's Song of the Day is by the new wave band Romeo Void, who came together in San Francisco with singer Debora Iyall and bass player Frank Zincavage in the late 70s.They released their first album It's A Condition in 1981, and from it had a minor club hit with "White Sweater". A year later came what would be their most remembered song, "Never Say Never", which went to #27 rock and #17 dance, but was played by college radio everywhere. It remains one of my favorite non-hits of the early 80s.

That success set the stage for their third album Instincts, which was produced by David Kahne (who would go on to helm Tony Bennett's Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged album) The first single, "A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)", was written by the band and put them more into pop/rock territory, and nabbed them pop radio airplay...

"A Girl In Trouble" made it into the top 40 in October of 1984, while also climbing to #11 on the dance club play chart in Billboard and #17 on the rock radio format list. However during the promotion for the album, the band unceremoniously were shunned by the label for their lead singer's weight, which is fucking awful. Debora Iyall and the band later appeared in Band Reunited, but that would pretty much be the end of the band as a unit. It's a shame, because they were awesome and Iyall pushed the boundaries of what a rock star should be.

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Here's Romeo Void appearing on American Bandstand..

...and the dance mix that just missed the top-ten...

..and lastly, here's Iyall performing it live in 2009 acoustically..

Up tomorrow: Heavy Metal gods so soft in this romantic oceanic makeover.