Songoftheday 12/9/15 - If a boy had a chance a chance with someone like you, are you gonna break his heart let him cry for the moon...

"Electric Blue" - Icehouse
from the album Man Of Colours (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's song of the day comes from the Australian rock band Icehouse, whose 1987 Man Of Colours album finally broke them in America with the top-20 pop nugget "Crazy". For the second single from the record they got a little help from one-half of the biggest pop duo of the 80s. John Oates co-wrote "Electric Blue" along with Icehouse lead singer Iva Davies, and the influence of the 'Philly soul' sound is subtle, but still there in the background vocals including Oates himself. And like a good chunk of Hall & Oates, the verses are minimal; this musical come-on is all about the chorus. With a fleeting shots about a love that stammers you, the song is really in the vocal hook. The video featured a cameo from Australian model Cassandra Delaney, who would marry folk-rock legend John Denver that year...

"Electric Blue" became Icehouse's second and most recent top-40 pop hit in the U.S., reaching the top ten tier in May of 1988. The song also climbed to #10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, while making it to #36 on its Adult Contemporary (or 'easy listening') radio list. Internationally, the single topped the chart in their native country for a week, peaked at #4 in New Zealand, but stalled out at #53 over in the UK.

Icehouse would release "My Obsession", another more retro-pop-oriented record, as the follow-up, making the top-5 in Australia and #88 in America. To try to reintroduce the band to their new worldwide fans, the group released a greatest hits set, Great Southern Land, next in 1989, its added new track "Touch The Fire" stopped at #84 in the States and #13 in Australia. The band had some more modest success in their homeland after that for a little while, hitting #16 with "Miss Divine", which would be their so-far final top-40 hit Down Under. They've continued to record and tour since, with their most recent chart appearance being a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" in 2004 (#93, Australia).

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And here's Icehouse performing live for Australian television in 1988 (and intro'd by fellow countrywoman Olivia Newton-John)...

...and finally, Iva and Icehouse performing with co-writer John Oates in 2012...

Up tomorrow: An R&B singer takes a colorful ride with the Boss.