"Mr. Roboto" is a song written by Dennis DeYoung of the band Styx, and was featured on the band’s 11th album, Kilroy Was Here, which also became a rock opera. The song hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1983 and reached #1 in Canada. The band’s ambitious song and concept album dug into themes like censorship and the dehumanization of the working class. The band also thumbed their noses at anti-rock activists’ attempts to prohibit backmasking, which some thought contained hidden messages.  If you’ve ever wondered who Mr. Roboto was, or Kilroy for that matter, then this episode is for ..read more

 "The Safety Dance" is a song by the Canadian new wave/synth-pop band Men Without Hats, released in 1982. It hit #3 on the U.S. charts the following year. The song was written by lead singer Ivan Doroschuk after he had been kicked out of a club in Ottowa for “pogo dancing,” a bouncy dance that iwas a precursor to mosh dancing. Why do people have such a problem with dancing? And why did “The Hats” decide to set their music video in old-timey England around a maypole? We may never know, but we’ll get as far to the bottom of it as we can in this episode.  Support the show Visit our we ..read more

In this Very Special Episode of Sick Burns we look at one of the biggest charity records of the 1980’s -- a decade full of charity records. “A Very Special Christmas” has been a holiday juggernaut since the first album was released in 1987. A compilation of Christmas standards from music’s hottest 80’s stars, the album was produced by Jimmy Iovine, who was inspired to make something special to commemorate this special time of year after losing his beloved father during the holidays. He called out the big guns, dusted off the Phil Spector playbook, and produced something truly special. All proc ..read more

Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” went to #1 in the US and Canada in 1985. Driven by frontman Mark Knopfler’s strong guitar riff and an iconic guest vocal from Sting, it was incredibly popular on the new music television channel, MTV. This was not only because of its groundbreaking animated video but also because it name-dropped MTV in the lyrics. Inspired by a conversation Knopfler heard at an electronics store and written in a persona, the song also features a nasty homophobic slur that you may or may not hear in the version your local radio station plays today.  Check out the Money Fo ..read more

Between multiple interviews, a biopic and a broadway show, Tina Turner's story is well known.  But there's an HBO documentary about her and it confirms that she is the queen of rock-n-roll, the empress of resilience and the grand duchess of self-respect. Tina Turner's appearance in 1985's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was her second movie appearance-- she had appeared in Tommy  ten years earlier.  While we think her outfit in that movie was chef's kiss mwah!, she revealed in an interview in 1988 that she felt her character Aunty Entity would have been more fierce if she had more p ..read more

 Cold war chess matches and show tunes collide in "One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head. The song went to number one in many countries and topped out at #3 in May 1985 in the U.S. and Canada. The song was a single from the concept album “Chess” by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA (and Mama Mia fame) with lyrics by Tim Rice. It later became a musical, starring Murray Head.    In the musical, Head plays “Freddie Trumper,” an American Chess master who is in Thailand to face off against his opponent from the USSR in a big chess match. If that sounds familiar, it’s because ..read more

The American treasure that is Dolly Parton wrote “9 to 5” as the theme song for the movie of the same name, in which she co-starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. The song topped the charts in 1980, tapping into women’s growing frustrations in the struggle for equality and the never-ending challenges of juggling work and life. The movie follows three women co-workers seeking vengeance on their lecherous boss for his constant sexual harassment. The song and the film took their titles from the non-profit organization 9to5, which advocated for fair pay and equal treatment for women in the workp ..read more

Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant was a hit in 1982, reaching number 12 in the US and number 1 in the UK. How did Ant shape this common taunt for the excessively virtuous into an infectious hit? By coupling a toe-tapping rhythm with a super sexy, punk-rock look rooted in Napoleonic military uniforms and war paint. Naturally.  Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant: The original video  The Look:  Adam’s pelisse jacket with frog fastenings and braid trim, given to him by a friend, was from the film "The Charge of the Light Brigade." The style of coat was worn by hussars, a class of light military ..read more

When the “Godfather of Soul” James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006, his cause of death was listed as heart failure. But intrepid reporting from CNN’s Thomas Lake has surfaced dozens of unanswered questions about Brown’s life and final hours, most importantly to allegations that Brown was murdered. The story starts with one courageous woman named Jacquelyn Hollander who captivated Lake with her outrageous claims and her many, many receipts. In this special episode, we go down the rabbit hole of Lake’s multi-part article called “The Circus Singer and The Godfather of Soul.”  Check out Thom ..read more

There's nothing a big stadium concert crowd loves more than hearing the name of their city shouted by their favorite rock star. In the 80's, a few performers figured out how to work the names of many U.S. cities into hit songs, in what can only be described as pandering to audiences hungry for recognition of their American hometowns. In 1984, Huey Lewis and the News had a hit with "Heart of Rock & Roll," which worked 15 cities into a top-10 hit. In 1985, the Godfather of Soul James Brown made it to number four-- and scored a Grammy-- with  "Living in America," squeezing in nine menti ..read more