Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 118

Chart Week: September 8, 1984
Song: “Sunglasses At Night” – Corey Hart
Chart Position: #9, 16th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 the week of September 1.

Every era of music has its own unique set of identifiers that some listeners use to immediately discredit and dismiss a song. Two entries ago, I discussed string sections in Seventies rock. In the Eighties, it was the synthesizer. To many music fans, often young men, the presence of a synthesizer meant a record was artificial; a soulless studio creation by people lacking musical skills. Or worse.[1] Tweak some knobs, punch some buttons, type in some code and you’ve got a synth pop track.

Like most critiques, there is some measure of truth in there. There were a lot of awful songs in the Eighties recorded by people with no talent other than owning a programmable keyboard.

But that line of thought also ignored that most synth pop songs were, like traditional rock music, built by artists with genuine talent coming up with the melody and chord progressions, lyrics, and then arranging it all to make a coherent whole. Sometimes all this was done on guitar or piano before taking it to the digital space. Synth pop songs still had to tap into universal truths to become hits, meaning they had more soul than they were commonly given credit for. The process to record them was just different than when the Beatles worked at Abbey Road or the Stones spent time in a French Chateau making Exile On Main Street.

Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses At Night” is high on the list of derided synth pop tracks. Written off as fluffy, manufactured crap by some, it has a surprising depth that isn’t hard to discern if you give it a chance. However, too many people were distracted by the track’s unforgettable, unstoppable synthesizer hook and Hart’s physical appearance to get that far.

“Sunglasses At Night” almost didn’t happen. Hart was working on his debut album, First Offense, in England. He was nearly done, but kept coming back to a melody that he liked. It was stuck in his head but he couldn’t find the momentum to complete it. He decided to sing some placeholder lyrics to it – “My Cigarette Is Wet” – and set it aside, something to focus on for his next album.

While he was in England, he bought a pair of classic Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, which were coming back into vogue. However, because of the dreary UK weather, he wasn’t able to wear them. After returning to Canada, he donned the shades constantly. So often that his friends made fun of him for never taking them off.

Lightning struck! “I wear my sunglasses at night” fit the melody he had been sitting on! Hart went back to the studio and finished the song, a last minute addition before First Offense was pressed.

That little moment of inspiration changed Hart’s career. Although he had released a single eight years earlier when he was just 14, First Offense was his debut full-length album, and “Sunglasses At Night” was the lead single from it. It didn’t take long for listeners, whether they loved him or hated him, to know who Corey Hart was.

That opening synth line is one of the most recognizable of the decade.[2] It sounds like circus music twisted to wring out all the fun, turning it dark and foreboding. Those opening notes were enough for some folks to reject the song. Its title didn’t help. I recall a lot of people thinking it was about a guy who was too cool and bragging about it, looking down on others. It didn’t help that Hart was a very handsome man. And French Canadian, for crying out loud! He might as well have been Boy George to a certain segment of the pop music audience.

Despite all that backlash,[3] “Sunglasses At Night” made it to #7 in the US. It remained in the Top 40 for almost four months. From late July through September, you heard it nearly as often as Prince, Bruce, and Cyndi. MTV, for obvious reasons, loved Hart as well, keeping the video in high rotation.

“Sunglasses At Night” is a good song. Maybe very good. Hate all you want, but the opening synth line is immediately recognizable and iconic. Hart’s voice is interesting. It does have a lot of sexy-boy pout in it, but when he cuts loose, there is some grit there as well. Maybe a poor man’s Charlie Sexton, to drop an obscure reference on you. The obligatory, cheesy guitar solo is a lot better than others of the same ilk. You could easily convince me it was Steve Stevens, Billy Idol’s guitarist, playing it.

And, honestly, I think the lyrics are pretty good. They fit the noir-ish vibe created by the music. Is he wearing his sunglasses at night to follow a woman he loves as she cheats on him? Does he wear them because she’s cheating with him, and he’s trying to hide from their shared sin? Is he a private eye? Or, as the rather dumb video suggest, is he some kind of political dissident who is wearing sunglasses because…well, I’m not really sure what anything in the video has to do with the lyrics.[4] Whatever the reality of the situation, Hart does a nice job portraying its moral ambiguity. The whole “This is wrong, but it feels so good”-ishness of it all.

OK, maybe not B.F.A. in creative writing material, but I like how there is uncertainty about the meaning of his lyrics, and how they set up a compelling story for the listener to contemplate.

One of my tests for songs like “Sunglasses At Night,” which I’ve heard hundreds of times over the years, is how do I react to it now. Some songs I loved with I was 13 I can’t stand anymore. This one I’m just fine with. I’ll turn it up just a little when it comes on. And depending on the circumstances, I might yell out with Hart on the chorus. See the light that’s right before your eyes, this one is a 8/10.