Songoftheday 9/23/14 - Your lights are on but you're not home, your mind is not your own...

Robert Palmer - "Addicted To Love"
from the album Riptide (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's Song of the Day was the breakthrough solo hit single for suave British singer Robert Palmer, who started his career back in the 70s, at first in a duo called Vinegar Joe, and then releasing his first solo set in 1974. With dabblings in both roots-rock, soul, and reggae, he first appeared on the American singles chart in 1976 with a cut from his third album, "Man Smart, Woman Smarter". But with a smoother approach in the later 70s, he scored back-to-back albums with top-20 pop hits in America with the breezy "Every Kinda People" which won over with its steel drum riff, and the harder retro rock of "Bad Case Of Lovin' You", where it sounds like writer Moon Martin was writing a Chuck Berry through Mitch Ryder song. But this success didn't carry over to his native England until 1980, when "Looking For Clues" became his first top-40 hit there, and it took two years more for his first top-20 with a cover of "Some Guys Have All The Luck". But with his evolving sound coasting more towards a new-wave sort of funk, American radio cooled a little bit.

In 1985, when Duran Duran was taking a break from each other, Andy and John Taylor split to record a project called the Power Station, eventually recruiting Palmer to become the sole lead vocalist for their self-titled album. The result was a horde of Fab Five fans and increased MTV exposure, with a pair of top-10 pop hits in "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On (Bang A Gong)" that gave face and voice recognition to the singer he hadn't had as much before. Rather than touring with the supergroup, which also included Chic drummer Tony Thompson (and Tony's bandmate Bernard Edwards producing), Robert set out to record another solo album, Riptide. With Power Station mates Andy Taylor and Tony Thompson playing on the set, as well as Edwards producing, it sonically was an extension of the Power Station record, though even more funky (now that Edwards himself was playing the bass).

Looking back, it's easy to forget that the first single from the project, the groovalicious "Discipline Of Love" (which reminds me of "Some Like It Hot"), relatively stiffed, peaking at #63 on the US pop chart. But I loved that single, eager to pick up Riptide on its original release. So on hearing the then album track "Addicted To Love", I was like "this sounds like a good single for the radio. It sounds like he's remaking a ZZ Top song!". Well, radio did take a liking to this beat-you-on-the-head rock-ish throwdown, but what sent this song into immortal culture consciousness is the music video. Directed by fashion photographer Terence Donovan, the clip featured Palmer fronting a team of mannequin-like ladies expressionlessly and horribly miming playing instruments while swaying sometimes to the beat, sometimes not, with Robert coming like a dapper Playboy host and ringmaster...

"Addicted To Love" shot to the top of the American pop chart in May of 1986. The single also went to #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart and even crossed over to #36 on the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the record topped the chart in Australia, and made the top-10 in Canada, Ireland, and the UK, in the latter going to #5 and becoming his first and biggest top-ten single in his home country.

But while "Addicted" remains a favorite from the 80s to this day, it's more than just the video that gives the record legs; it really is one of Andy Taylor's best, making you totally not realize you're listening to the guitarist from Duran Duran. And the punch of Wally Badarou's keyboards will come in handy on his own later work with Level 42.

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Here's Robert touring behind the record in Asia in 1986...

Two years later, Tina Turner released a live version of "Addicted" as a single, which was a top-40 hit in Belgium and the Netherlands and a minor hit in England...

"Weird Al Yankovic" certified the songs iconic status by parodying it in "Addicted To Spuds"...

Sonic Youth side-project Ciccone Youth tongue-and-cheeked "Addicted To Love" for their Whitey Album in 1988..

More recently, Florence & The Machine released a cover as a B-side...

X Factor US winners Alex & Sierra performed "Addicted To Love" on the show last year...

Remixing team Motiv8 reworked the original vocals of "Addicted To Love" for a club release in 1997...

Another mix from Shake B4 Use actually brought the song back on to the British chart at #42 in 2003..

And finally, here's Robert live again in 1997 with the song...

Up tomorrow: Boston new wavers mine an old album for a hit.