There’s hardly anyone on earth more awesome than Cyndi Lauper. Just look at her back in the 80s?with that hair and the clothes pins all over. She’s?like old school-Madonna’s quirky, unslutty little sister with a much better singing voice. She’s on The Goonies soundtrack, twice. And she basically rules.
Jump ahead a few decades and?Cyndi is?still wacky,?if somewhat more mainstream … still singing,?still touring, and?recently Tony-nominated?for composing the score to?Broadway’s new darling, Kinky Boots.
To?mark the?30th anniversary of??Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” …?one of the greatest pop songs ever … some of?Cyndi’s friends surprised her by putting together a?pretty awful, but still touching?video?of them lip syncing to the song.
The video includes?the basic list of middle-aged, New York hams: Kelly Ripa, Rosie O?Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, Katie Couric,?Kathie Lee and Hoda, plus?lots of Broadway people, presumably Cyndi’s friends, but no one outside that realm recognizes them.
The Whoopster was grumpily good-natured, as always. Kathie Lee and Hoda should have had a few more glasses of wine, because they’re pretty stiff … but Kelly and Katie do themselves proud. Overall, it goes on about twice as long as it needed to, but it’s?a nice gesture celebrating a kickass song.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about the?original “Girls” video. Keep in mind that this was the early 80s:?Michael Jackson was moon-walking, Flashdance and Return of the Jedi were in the theaters, MTV was still young, everything was gaudy, and everyone was snorting tons of?cocaine.
The video was perfect. It?hit the fucking nail right on the head, because it captured, very simply, girls having fun. They aren’t trying to?be dangerous or sexy or ironic. Just having fun …?despite Captain Lou Albano’s best efforts to spoil it. Cyndi?dance-walks through the streets of New York, with that crazy hair, waving around her big flouncy skirt like a bag lady Carmen Miranda,?without the slightest hint of self-consciousness. It’s perfect.
Alex says
Cyndi Lauper Rules!!! LOL I used to write that everywhere back in the 80’s. So much so that I got in alot of trouble for it. I spent most of my weekends in school on indoor suspension cleaning the school. That was my punishment for writing graffitti all over the place. I was also paddled quite alot too. Here we are 30 years later, and Cyndi Lauper still rules. I guess I was right all along. LOL