You know those young-adult novels that today's kids love so much? The ones based in dystopic universes where doomed lovers try to snatch a fleeting moment of romance before dark forces snuff out their young hearts forever? We didn't have those in the eighties, but we did have songs about nuclear paranoia, which served more or less the same purpose. As the arms race intensified, as Reagan and Gorbachev stared each other down, fears grew that these might be our last days. But at least we had a stellar soundtrack to keep up our spirits as we awaited the arrival of rockets from Russia. These were the days of "Atomic" by Blondie, "1999" and "Ronnie, Talk to Russia" by Prince, "Missiles" by the Sound, and "Breathing" by Kate Bush, to name a few. These were also the days of "I Melt with You," which painted perhaps the most idyllic picture of romance in the apocalyptic age. Over the decades, many fresh fears emerged to turn us into twitching, hollow-eyed wrecks, but the jangly headlong rush of "I Melt with You" remains an uplifting reminder that a catchy tune can outlive presidents and their space-defense initiatives.
LM: Whenever I tell people I'm working on a book about the most beloved songs of new wave, they respond with a litany of tracks—"Is this one in it? Is that one in it?" Invariably, "I Melt with You" is one of the first mentioned. Idealist lyrics like "Making love to you was never second best" recall a more innocent time before twerking and choruses like "Tonight I'm fucking you" (thank you, Enrique). And "Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace" is a lyric that could have been written only during the eighties. (When else might someone have attempted to mix two such unlikely fabrics?) At the same time, the music could have been made last week by a U.K. band like White Lies. Ecstasy in the face of Armageddon set to a danceable beat: It's the only way to go.
JB: "I Melt with You" for me falls into the same category as "Under the Milky Way" by the Church: I like it, I sing along to it, it never feels dated, and I'm sufficiently satisfied by it that I never feel the need to listen to another song from their catalog.
ROBBIE GREY: Punk was kind of dying off; it had become very commercialized. A lot of bands who used to play better music started playing three chords just to jump on the band wagon. We just decided to do something a bit more experimental. Other bands, like Joy Division, Wire, they started to do the same thing just to get away from punk's straightforward chord structures.
What we were doing, it felt very modern and very English. It felt special to be British because of the record labels like Factory and 4AD. And I remember when we first went to America, they called it the Second British Invasion. But England was a very bleak place back then. We came from Colchester, in Essex, a small town about an hour from London. They talk about a recession, but there is nothing like England in the late seventies and early eighties. There were times when people were only working three days [a week] because there was no money. There'd be no power—you'd be at home with candles. I used to go watch bands just to steal a microphone if I could get close to one.
So that's what the feel of England was, and I write about things I know. On the first album, [1981's] Mesh and Lace, "Black Houses" is all about the nuclear threat and all the nuclear pamphlets that were around at the time. You know, "In case of nuclear attack, paint your windows black and get under the table." [When "I Melt with You" was first released as a single in 1982] I don't think many people realized it was about a couple making love as the bomb dropped. As they make love, they become one and melt together. I remember writing the lyrics in my room in Shepherd's Bush in London in about two minutes. I was stoned. I remember kneeling down on the floor and writing on a scrap of paper these first lines: "Moving forward using all my breath"—so easy to say but so much content—and then: "Making love to you was never second best." They coupled together really nicely. And then, the bridge: "The future's open wide," [because] you've got a lot of negative stuff with the idea of the nuclear bomb.
"I Melt with You" was a love song, but it was also about the good and bad in people. "Mesh and lace" was the hard and soft. I liked the idea of having these different images in a pop song. The last thing we wanted was to write a song where boy meets girl, they go to the cinema and make love, and that's the end of it.
The music was put together in a rehearsal room in London. We just put pieces of music together, almost like classical music. We'd say, "Let's try that piece and that piece together." That's why [1982's After the Snow] is such an imaginative and special album. We really do have to doff our cap to Hugh Jones, the producer. He stopped me shouting. I used to just get on the microphone and just shout my words 'cause I wanted to tell people what I felt. He was the one who said, "Hold on a minute, Robbie. You can still tell people how you're feeling, but you can just say it." And "Melt" is the first song I did it on. That's why it's got that very close, not-very-well-sung feel to it on the verses. Let me be straight about this: When we were in the studio, the band had never written a pop song. We were looking at this creation that was coming out of the speakers and thinking, Oh my god, this is different! You know, the whole song just glides. If you took my vocals off, I think it sounds a bit like the Byrds.
MIXTAPE: 5 More Songs About Nuclear Bombs 1. "99 Luftballoons," Nena 2. "Two Tribes," Frankie Goes to Hollywood 3. "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes," Ultravox 4. "The Last Film I Ever Saw," Kissing the Pink 5. "Red Skies," The Fixx
Someone picked up an import from England and started playing it on mainstream radio in America, and it just went like wildfire. We used to play to 200 people in art college; the next thing we knew, we were in Daytona Beach playing to 5,000 people who know all the words to "I Melt with You." When we showed up at spring break, we had never played outside before, and we were so scared of losing all our atmosphere without a roof and walls. The promoter said, "You can play to 10,000 people out here or you can go inside and play to 5,000." We said we would go inside instead. That night, all the water was running off the walls, it was so hot. We were wearing coats coming off the plane in Florida—we didn't even know it was going to be hot, that's how clued up we were. And I'll never forget coming off the stage and saying to my manager: "That's it!
That's what it's all about!" I'd imagine if you spoke to most of the [British] bands from that period who went to America, [they'd say] they were blown away by the difference of audience reaction. European audiences were very thoughtful, very interested in the music—they wanted to see our artistic side. Whereas, when we got to America, people just wanted to have a good time.
"They talk about a recession, but there is nothing like England in the late seventies and early eighties….I used to go watch bands just to steal a microphone if I could get close to one."
THAT WAS THEN
BUT THIS IS NOW
Fondly remembered as the song that accompanied the closing credits of Valley Girl, "I Melt with You" has never really left the airwaves. In 1990, when Modern English rerecorded "I Melt with You" for Pillow Lips, their debut with TVT Records, the song made a reappearance on the Billboard Hot 100. Then, in 2010, the group recorded yet another version to be the title track of the male midlife-crisis drama starring Jeremy Piven and Rob Lowe. The band still tours and wouldn't think of leaving their most popular song off the playlist.
GREY: "I Melt with You," for me, was a bit of a burden for a few years early on. We were so big a band from about 1983 to about 1986—we were as big as U2—and we used to get a bit pissed off because everyone wanted to hear "I Melt with You." But not anymore—it pays all our bills. One of the biggest money moments of our career was when Burger King used it. We got $90,000 for that. To be honest with you, Burger King was a strange one. I think they just used [the humming part] to symbolize a [tasty] burger. We said no to a few things. One was a motorized bunny rabbit that was gonna sing "I Melt with You." We just wanted to say no to something.
I suppose "I Melt with You" can sometimes be a pain in the ass 'cause you want people to listen to your other music, but we don't complain about it. When you're onstage and you see people and they're full of ecstasy when you're playing it, it's fantastic. People say, "The first time I made love was to that song." Or "Thanks very much. I managed to get a load of women thanks to you and that song."
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