Out There!: Reunited by Greg Kihn

As I continue to expand this blog, occasionally I will add some of my past writings. Below is the first feature I wrote for my good pal Mike Heyliger's music blog, Sonic Clash. If you are a big fan of music and want to read some great album reviews or analysis on what's hot in the world of pop, definitely check it out at www.sonicclash.com. You might also enjoy some of my blogs about some random music from my past.

The Greg Kihn Band is one of the forgotten bands of the 80’s whose hits included The Break-Up Song (OH OH OH OH OH OH OH!) and Lucky. And of course they are probably best known for their iconic video, (My Love’s In) Jeopardy which still gives me the creeps even to this day. Although the video is now dated, it still ranks as one of my favorite music videos of all time. Everlasting images from this classic video include a couple joined at the hip by a cheap piece of plastic (got to love those 80’s special effects), the wedding guests turning to zombies, a huge creature with a tentacle attacking the groom (played by Greg Kihn in a non-Oscar winning performance), and Kihn fighting off the monster with a ripped off wooden piece from a pew. You have to wonder what kind of budget the director was working with to be able to make such a masterpiece. 80’s Cheese at it’s best! With the lack of creativity in today’s pop culture world, I’m surprised a hip hop artist hasn’t sampled this tune or filmed a video that pays tribute. They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Anyway…

At the end of the video after Greg Kihn has gone through this ordeal, he runs out of the church with a bottle of champagne and into his cadillac. He sees through the corner of his eye a girl who looks creepily like Pat Benatar leaving the chapel across the street. It appears she also is having second thoughts about taking the plunge into marriage as she throws her veil to the ground outside the chapel across the street. He nods at her to come with him. She hops into his car, and they drive on down the highway. Where did they go? We found out in the follow-up video for Greg Kihn’s rarely known next single, Reunited?

When this video debuted on MTV in 1984, I was five years old. Surprisingly, my memory is very good and and I remember seeing the video premiere back then and liking the tune. I also was happy the video wasn’t as creepy as Jeopardy, but happy the video was as cheesy. It would be another twenty plus years until I would see the video and hear the song thanks to a rapid music search two years on Youtube. The video contains even more cheese than Jeopardy although it looks there may have been a larger budget as the production values were a little better. The actual song has a great hook and a simple melody that makes you feel like bobbing your head to the beat just like the characters in the video. Unfortunately for Greg Kihn, the song quickly came and went. Although it went to #9 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, it couldn’t even crack the Top 100 Singles chart.

As a music completist, I needed to find out more about the tune and of course add the song to my collection. A task easier said than done. Reunited was not on iTunes or any other on-line music service. I could have purchased the actual physical copy of the greatest hits album, but that would have been too easy. I wanted to get my hands on the actual album, Kihntagious, but it was near impossible to find. Amazon listed it as an import but had no copies available. No record shops had it, and I sure wasn’t going to find any of his non-compilation albums at my local Best Buy. Thanks to somebody who might have transferred it from vinyl to MP3 on a peer to peer network, I was able to get a version for my collection.

Reunited must be on the list of Top 100 Forgotten Songs Of The 80’s. For you music enthusiasts out there, it might be a song you have forgotten about that you should add to your collection. It’s a five star song in my book. If the song isn’t your cup of tea, at least enjoy the music videos above!