Songoftheday 3/27/16 - How can I explain when there are few words I can choose, how can I explain when words get broken....

"Chains Of Love" - Erasure
from the album The Innocents (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's song of the day comes from the British electro-pop duo Erasure, who came together after former Depeche Mode founder Vince Clarke found himself again in need of a vocal muse after the glorious Alison Moyet departed Yaz (or Yazoo) for a solo career. After an open call delivered him a singer with as much flair as Moyet as well as camp in droves in the openly-gay Andy Bell, Erasure was 'born' in the mid-80s. Their debut album Wonderland was released in 1986; the first single "Who Needs Love Like That" became a minor hit in the UK at #55. A more modest reception that Clarke's earlier acts, yes, but from the start getting a growing and loyal following from the still-repressed LGBT community in Britain, with the video featuring both the gay Bell and straight Clarke in drag. The extended version of the song, backed with the #100 UK hit "Heavenly Action" on the 12" single, climbed to #8 on the American dance club play chart in Billboard magazine. The third single, "Oh L'Amour", was the right blend of whimsical melancholy that was the first to catch my ear, buying Wonderland in college in Chicago that year, as the single went to #3 on the dance chart. It wasn't a big hit in their native Britain, stalling at #85, but internationally they started to catch on, reaching the top-20 in Germany, Sweden, Australia, France, and Ireland. All the while, their gay fanbase in both Britain and America was still growing.

In 1987 the pair released their sophomore effort, The Circus, which took their retro-electro sound and dug deeper in the lyrical aspect of the songs, which paid off well. The lead single "Sometimes" would end up being their highest-charting non-EP single of their career so far, ending up in the runner-up #2 position on the British chart, and reaching the top ten in Germany (#2), Belgium (#2), the Netherlands (#2), and Ireland (#3), as well as on the US dance chart. Three more singles hit the British charts, with third release "Victim Of Love" becoming their first to go to #1 on Billboard's dance chart. Meanwhile, The Circus reached the top 10 on the albums chart in England, and spawned a successful double-disc remix set dubbed The Two Ring Circus.

By the time of the release of their third album together, The Innocents, Clarke had fleshed out Erasure's sound to fully graduate from the proto-new-wave roots into a full fledged yet utterly campilicious pop unit, with Bell's songwriting skills evolving into the clarion call for gay and lesbian youth worldwide, without alienating the "mainstream" music scene. In the winter of 1988, the first British single "Ship Of Fools" landed them their fourth UK top ten hit at #6. But instead of that, Americans got the second single to introduce The Innocents, "Chains Of Love". Written by Clarke and Bell and produced by Stephen Hague (who had big crossover success in America with similar acts like the Pet Shop Boys and New Order), the pop anthem had an unforgettable chorus, a totally sing-along verse that is pure vamp, and a video that pulled no punches in the sexuality department, clothing Andy with a rainbow-colored frilly shoulderless number by the end as he and Vince are dangled over a stage by literal chains (and harnesses)...

"Chains Of Love" was Erasure's first big pop success in the U.S., reaching the top-20 on the Hot 100 chart in October of 1988. The song was on Billboard's inaugural Modern Rock radio chart, spending two weeks as high as #22, while the remix reached #4 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the single went to #14 in Canada, #6 in Ireland, and #18 in Germany, though very surprisingly it stopped right at #11 in the UK.

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Here's the pair making an appearance on Club MTV (although their lipsynching, it totally validated them with the mainstream kiddies). Trust me, I was totally dancing around my dorm room watching this...

Here's the "Foghorn Mix" which appeared on the 12" single that helped get it to the top-5 on the American dance chart...

...while the Shep Pettibone "Unfettered Mix" was on a hard-to-find DJ promo at the time..

Erasure has of course included the song in practically all of their live shows. Here they are in 1990...

....and lastly, at a concert in 2014 in Boston...

Up tomorrow: A drummer from the beginning of time train-robs a 60s nugget for a #1 hit.