Out There!: "Eaten By The Monster Of Love" by Sparks

Sometimes when I run out of ideas for songs to add to the collection or simply forget what I am missing, I'll browse through compilation albums. If it's good enough to be on a 70's or 80's compilation album, then it should be in my collection regardless if the song was actually a hit. About two years ago, I was scrolling down an itunes list of best songs from the 80's. I had the majority of the songs, but there was this one tune called Eaten By The Monster Of Love by a band named Sparks (no relation to Jordin Sparks). I kind of knew a little about the band thanks to an old co-worker of mine who graciously shared with me and of which I graciously never uploaded. He might have even given me the song I am referencing, who knows? So I got down and dirty trying to locate the song on a P2P network (okay, so sue me!) and I believe it took a few days until I was able to obtain the song. When I listened to it, I was floored not only by how catchy it was, but that I sort of remember hearing it somehow in my youth. Based on the fact that I watched a lot of 80's movies on HBO to see some skin and the song was featured in Valley Girl, that might be why I remember it.

So who actually was Sparks? Why, they were a band formed in Los Angeles in 1970 by the Mael brothers that focused on quirky and cutting edge lyrics. The band has been able to adapt over the years by adopting various types of musical genres including glam pop and electronic dance. In fact they are still around. Before there were bands like They Might Be Giants, Morrissey, and The Smiths, there was Sparks who were the lesser-known forerunners of the alternative genre. Sparks peaked in the early 80s with a few hits including Eaten By The Monster Of Love which was a throwaway track on their 1982 album, Angst In My Pants. Yet thanks to an appearance on the 1983 Valley Girl movie soundtrack, the song made a few waves. Not enough, though, to have any life on the Billboard Charts. If I'm not mistaken, The Monster Of Love was actually about a young boy thinking his penis was a monster shooting out liquid. "Don't let it get me, don't let it get me! " Hmm, interesting!

Ladies and gentlemen... Eaten By The Monster Of Love by Sparks.

There is no actual music video, so I used the scene from Valley Girl of which it appears and also found a recent live appearance of the classic tune. Be warned, it's very catchy!!