Tuesday 19 July 2016

John Farnham - Break The Ice (1986)



We have a real treat today. I just found out of my legit all time favourite songs has got the FM Bass! I have probably heard this song over a thousand times in my life, no jokes. It remains one of like 5 songs I can sing from start to finish. It is only for the fact that the song is so layered and well produced that I didn't immediately remember it has having such a strong Fm presence. Now it is all I can hear.

The song was written and recorded specifically for the movie "Rad" which came out in 1986, and was for a long time the number 2 rented movie of all time behind Top Gun (I can't remember where I heard that statistic, so let's just not look in to it any further...). When kids rented Rad back in the day, they didn't just rent it once, they rented it dozens of times. The sound track had a huge factor in that.
It was loaded with BMX racing and flatland action, and was one of those movies that sparked inspiration is children. You saw all these older kids and adults doing insane BMX maneuvers, while you were hearing this incredibly motivating music, all the while you watched a regular kid compete against pros.

It's basically The Karate Kid meets BMX, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to feel what the 80s were like. This song (and another by John Farnham called Thunder in Your Heart) is to Rad, what You're the Best is to Karate Kid.

Believe it or not, there was a time in the 90s when it wasn't cool or even ironic to like 80s music. as a teenager, it was something you actually had a lot of disdain for as being wimpy or weak or not cool enough probably because you were a small child when you first heard it, and didn't yet have room for the potent nostalgia of this iconic era. It's hard to explain. But this song was *the* song that, in the midst of all that 80s teenage angst, made me realize the 80s were in fact awesome. It was the one through line that for me, brought the 80s back to the focus. It was my gateway drug back in to the glory of the 80s. I could not deny this song.

And, it was recorded in 1986... Of course it had FM! I think it might be FM Bass layered with either another synth, or a real bass. I can't quite tell. But the FM is there, proud and true.

These lyrics, too. They never fail to give me the chills. Put this song on before any moment where you have to rise above and it will always apply. Yes, get ready to break the metaphorical ice!

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