Headed for something

This is my brain on the 1980s.

‘80s power ballads. Let’s just take a moment right now to breathe them in and hold that breath in for a count of forever, before releasing all that unrequited (or too requited) passion back out into the world. Every Rose Has its Thorn. Alone. Don’t Know What You Got ('til It’s Gone). Home Sweet Home. I’ll Be There for You. But the one stuck in my head right now is Headed for a Heartbreak by Winger.

First, there’s Kip. I don’t think many metal front men at the time wore headset mics because they needed the freedom to dance. He was Baryshnikov with a bass guitar, Patrick Swayze in a shredded t-shirt, he had George Michael’s five o’clock shadow, and Jon Bon Jovi’s hair. (Ok, everyone at the time’s hair. I mean, it was the ‘80s.) And, for the true metal heads, he’d played with Alice Cooper.

But while Brett is wondering if the DJ on the radio ever felt like this, while Ann hears the ticking of the clock waiting to reveal her unknown love, while Jon tells us how he’d be there for us, the air for us, would live and die for us, Kip had other plans.

In short:

It was you that set me free / You were here when I came/ You’ll be here when I’m gone / So don't be waiting for love / 'Cause I'll be waitin' to ramble on / Headed for a heartbreak / ... / (Don’t make me hurt you)

The lyrical magic conjured here. It’s a stew of hurt that he can’t prevent because, well, that’s who he is. It’s the ultimate “don’t try to fix me” song made for the quintessential “but I can fix him” person. It’s a warning, to someone he loves but I guess maybe doesn’t but maybe could if... no, better not even try.

Don’t you think he feels the pain?

It‘s a classic tale, and maybe that’s why this one has stuck with me - it’s Danny and Sandy in Grease, it’s all the vampires that Anne Rice wrote about, and it’s a way more palatable message than Winger’s other hit, Seventeen. Or it might be the similarly themed Jonas Brothers + Marshmello song Leave Before You Love Me that brought me back to it now. I wonder if Headed for a Heartbreak being made in the MTV era helped the song get more radio airplay because of the video-readiness of the frontman or if it was the opposite, first popular songs then videos. (A question maybe Milli Vanilli can answer? The ‘80s was a weird time.)

Winger blew up a piano at the end of their video, which was a year before George Michael more meaningfully blew up that jukebox, and 2 years before Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit killed hair metal all together, and still I am grateful to have had the ‘80s power ballads for the short while we did, because… well, karaoke?

Thank you for being here and following along in this randomness. Which is your favorite ’80’s power ballad? (Honestly, by the time this one came out I was already into The Cure, and Nirvana couldn’t come soon enough for me, but I still know too many lyrics to all of them somehow.)

PS I was recently interviewed by the good folks at Canvas Rebel about freelancing in film and tv and pivots - check it out here.