Oooooooh!

Not feeling all bright and shiny at the start of a new week?  Well, let The Nest restore that twinkle to your eyes and your ears!  It’s Monday, and that’s the day we scan the skies for another great song that got lost in all of the light pollution from that giant galaxy of star-studded hits we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive!  You know DJ Scratchy’s muzak collections contains billions and billions of records, while the Sponkies wonder why you can’t see the Southern Cross from the US.  Let’s pour out another forgotten classic from the Big Dipper…

Back in the mid 80’s, a songwriting couple by the names of Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill were at a Whitney Houston concert in Los Angeles when they noticed a falling star in the sky.  It inspired them to write a song, which they first offered to Houston to record.  In case you think that’s strange…. yes, there was history between the duo and Whitney.  Rubicam and Merrill wrote her 1986 breakout #1 hit “How Will I Know.”  However, Houston’s label, led by none other than Clive Davis, flat out rejected the song… offering to go with another song the duo had written for Whitney’s next album, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”…

Ah, the good old days before Whitney jumped the shark and was actually worth listening to….

With Whitney a no-go, Rubicam and Merrill next gave Belinda Carlisle a chance to record their song inspired by a shooting star.  In the exact opposite fashion, her label insisted she record it for her upcoming album Heaven On Earth.  The former voice of The Go Go’s, in the middle of her brief solo career stardom, did record the song………. and HATED IT.  Carlisle had enough sway to keep the track off the finished album, and Rubicam and Merrill’s creation out of the public’s ears…

I don’t think Belinda Carlisle’s mad about us…

After being given the cold shoulder by two of the late 80’s biggest pop divas, the duo said “Fuck it, we’ll record it ourselves!”

The rest is 80’s One Hit Wonder history….

Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill were already a duo that had recorded an album under the name Boy Meets Girl, and for their second album Reel Life in 1988, they finally got their song “Waiting For A Star To Fall” the exposure it deserved.  It went to #5 on the US Hot 100, and Top 10 in several other countries around the world, while giving the duo that helped make Whitney Houston famous their time in the limelight as well.  This is such a happy-making song, and if it doesn’t make you happy listening to it…… well, then you must be Clive Davis or Belinda Carlisle.

Or Grumpy Bear…. no, even Grumpy Bear likes this song!

Keep an eye on the skies, and watch for another falling lost hit next Monday….