I'm sure your alibis are water tight...

Last week, before I got regular Internet access again, I had a song from the 1980s stuck in my head.  I didn't know it last week, but the song was called "Alibis" and it was performed by Brazilian band leader, Sergio Mendes.  Sergio Mendes has been around for many years.  I think he's been leading bands since the 1960s.  His band has gone through different incarnations.

In the 1980s, Sergio Mendes had a few pop hits.  I wrote about a couple of them early this year, but somehow I missed "Alibis", which was a hit when I was about twelve years old.  It definitely has that 80s sound.  Check it out.

Joe Pizzulo sings lead on this hit, although since it was on Solid Gold, he was probably lip syncing.

Sergio Mendes wasn't unlike Santana in that different people sing lead.  Mendes is the band's leader, but he gets singers to be the frontpeople.  In 1983, Mendes rejoined Herb Alpert's A&M label and worked with Alpert's wife, Lani Hall, on a few songs.  A&M went defunct in 1999, but it hosted a lot of really great acts from my youth, including the Carpenters, Sting, Joan Baez, Styx, and Burt Bacharach, among many others.

I don't know why, but "Alibis" always reminds me of riding my bike back and forth to the barn when I was twelve.  It was a summer hit, if I recall correctly, and lent itself well on my Walkman.  I still think it sounds good today, thirty-four years later...

I am getting so old...  but I really do think music was better back in the day.  I have turned into my parents.

You Don't Have To Be A Star, Baby...

Gotta love this hit from 1977...

"You Don't Have To Be A Star"...

Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. sang this duet back in the days when disco was king.  I remember the song, but was actually more familiar with Marilyn McCoo because she was the hostess of Solid Gold back in the 80s.  I used to watch her all the time.

Here's Marilyn singing on Solid Gold... Andy Gibb is introducing her.

And here, Marilyn and Andy sing his hit "I Just Want To Be Your Everything".

I was never a big fan of Marilyn McCoo's, but I did have some fun singing her old duet today.  Check out the vocals on OBSEQUIOUS.

I think this turned out rather well.

Marilyn seems to do well when she duets... Here she is with Ricky Nelson on Solid Gold.

Of course, most people on Solid Gold were lip synching, with the exception of Stevie Nicks, who was apparently bombed out of her gourd when she performed.

Marilyn McCoo introduces Stevie... and comes off rather Star Search TV spokesmodel-esque...

Weekend music...

Damn....

Happy weekend!

Solid Gold!

If you were around in the 1980s and fancied yourself a music lover, you probably caught Solid Gold on your favorite independent channel...

Solid Gold was known for its sexy dancers...

Lead dancer Darcel was also in the film Xanadu...

Solid Gold was also known for its many lip synching guest stars.

Stevie Nicks is apparently one of the only people who went on Solid Gold and did not lip sync.

I used to watch Solid Gold on Saturdays when I was bored.  I could have just as easily watched Soul Train, but I wasn't all that into soul back in the day.  I also thought Don Cornelius was a colossal bore.  It was pretty fun to watch the dance line, though.

American Bandstand was also pretty big, but I wasn't really into Dick Clark.

Nope... I liked Dionne Warwick and Marilyn McCoo... And Grant Goodeve (of Eight is Enough fame) and even Andy Gibb had a turn hosting.

I kind of miss cheesy music shows.