The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a sweet dream for Eurythmics

Eurhythmy is a duo that exceeded everyone's expectations, maybe even their own. Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox took their first shot at musical fame with a band called The Tourists in the late 70s. The five musicians scored two minor hits on the UK charts, but had little success elsewhere, and in 1980 they separated. Stewart and Lennox formed Eurythmics on their own a year later, with little success. However, 15 months later, everything changed.

It was in January 1983 that I discovered the group. As one half of Ramondo and the Blade, the Los Angeles morning crew on the new wave-leaning KROQ, I had played their song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and received requests for it. topic. However, it wasn't until I saw the music video on MV3, the syndicated music television show airing weekday afternoons on L.A.'s KHJ Channel 9, that I realized it was something Special. The video didn't have a coherent story – a cow wandering around a conference room? – but it was Lennox's controlled, pitch-perfect vocals, coupled with his striking, androgynous looks and intensity, that made him so memorable. The man's suit and tie and brutally cropped, bright orange haircut contrasted with the femininity of his vibrant red lips and seductive eyes, making her an unforgettable figure as she pounded on a polished table to the beat driving song. I wasn't the only one who thought so: the night after the video first aired on MV3, while mixing at the 321 Club in Santa Monica, I was bombarded with requests for "the song of the girl in the clothes." of man”.

Lennox and Stewart stood out from their contemporaries not only by their looks, but also by their sound. The layers of music on "Sweet Dreams" and then on "Love Is a Stranger" are lush and hypnotic, providing the perfect backdrop for Annie's vocals to soar. It's rare that music can survive and thrive on such an irresistible look, but theirs did - and continues to do so.

Eurhythmy definitely deserves a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although they are often credited with opening America to the British New Wave, they were in fact musical innovators and chameleons. The duo tweaked their sound again and again, moving from synths ("Here Comes the Rain Again") to R&B ("Would I Lie to You?") to experimental alternative ("Beethoven") to a feminist anthem with Aretha Franklin ("Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves"), heartbreaking ballads ("Miracle of Love") to, yes, Grammy-winning rock ("Missionary Man"). hear shows like Eurythmics again on our radios.

Richard Blade can be heard on SiriusXM 1st Wave.

This essay is part of a series — in partnership with on-air talent from SiriusXM - to honor artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 5 in Los Angeles. Watch the entire 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on HBO November 19 at 8 p.m. ET, as well as a simulcast on SiriusXM's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Radio (channel 310). SiriusXM listeners can also catch live behind-the-scenes coverage and commentary on Volume on the SXM app and on Faction Talk (channel 103).

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