We recently told you about the phenomenal success this woman has had: Today’s singer has sold over 50 million records worldwide. She has won awards at the Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, the New York's Outer Critics Circle, MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), Billboard Awards, and American Music Awards (AMAs). She is one of the few singers to win three of the four major American entertainment awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony).
We also told you how unlikely this success was coming from her difficult background as her quirky sense of style led to classmates bullying and throwing stones at her throughout high school, and she was eventually expelled, although she later earned her GED, which makes her later success that much more impressive.
Today’s song was the beginning of that success. It was her first single as a solo artist. She released an album in 1981 as a member of the group Blue Angel, but this one made her famous.
The song was a huge part of '80s culture. It became an anthem for female attitude and set fashion trends as the video showed her wearing bright, outrageous clothes that looked like they came from a thrift store (which they often did).
Today’s singer co-wrote many of her own songs along the way, but not this one. Like "I Will Survive," it's a girl power song written by a man. She told Rolling Stone that, “...It was originally about how fortunate [a man] was 'cause he was a guy around these girls that wanted to have 'fun' with him [in a way of which]... we do not speak lest we go blind," she said.
A theme in today’s singer’s work is acceptance. Most of the women seen on MTV were the kind of beautiful people rarely seen in the real world, but in a “way ahead of her time” move, this singer made sure that her video was populated with regular folks doing their thing.
In the book I Want My MTV, she explained: "I wanted [this song] to be an anthem for women around the world - and I mean all women - and a sustaining message that we are powerful human beings. I made sure that when a woman saw the video, she would see herself represented, whether she was thin or heavy, glamorous or not, and whatever race she was."
Cyndi Lauper...Girls Just Want to Have Fun...K103’s I Know That Song
CONGRATS Erin Guenzi of Hillsboro who was able to name the theme for this week: "Songs with 'girl' in the title." Erin wins free lunch from Jersey Mikes. Always a Sub Above