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Monday, February 20, 2023

Songs of '83: "She Blinded Me with Science"

Yet another one-hit wonder! (And still not the last.) Thomas Dolby recorded and released this song in the UK in 1982 (where it was a complete flop), after having conceived and story-boarded the whole video, and maybe even after having hired Magnus Pyke--a legit biochemist who had become, after decades of public service, a radio and television personality in England--to play the mad scientist for all I know. The song itself was practically an afterthought. Associating a multi-media composer and dabbler and entrepreneur like Dolby with long-suffering, hard-working bands like Dexys Midnight Runners, who similarly only had one shot at American pop radio, isn't really fair, but hey, that's the music business for you. Re-released in the United States as part of a whole EP, it entered the Billboard charts 40 years ago today, and the rest is history. (Or maybe "science.")