{"id":12317,"date":"2023-11-08T22:01:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T03:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=12317"},"modified":"2025-11-08T09:48:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:48:33","slug":"reaching-for-the-stars-vol-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2023\/11\/08\/reaching-for-the-stars-vol-93\/","title":{"rendered":"Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 93"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chart Week: November 5, 1983<br \/>\nSong: \u201cAutomatic Man\u201d &#8211; Michael Sembello<br \/>\nChart Position: #34, 7th week on the chart. This was the song\u2019s peak.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>A quick RFTS to fill the place of the Friday Playlist as we are taking an adult fall break for the next few days.<\/p>\n<p>The 100th entry in this series is getting very close. I\u2019ve been reading through most of the previous posts, both to refresh my memory and to look for trends. When we hit the century mark, I\u2019ll pull together some stats and observations to share.<\/p>\n<p>For this week\u2019s edition, we hit a familiar topic: a forgotten song by an artist generally assumed to be a One Hit Wonder.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Sembello was a musical prodigy.<a id=\"fnref:1\" class=\"footnote\" title=\"see footnote\" href=\"#fn:1\">[1]<\/a> By his mid-teens he was already serving as a session guitarist for established stars. When he was 17, Stevie Wonder invited him to contribute to two songs on <em>Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale<\/em>. Two years later Sembello was a featured artist on Wonder\u2019s mega-classic <em>Songs in the Key of Life<\/em>, playing on every track and earning a songwriting credit for \u201cSaturn.\u201d He continued to work with Wonder through the remainder of the Seventies. He also wrote and produced for other artists, including Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n<p>In 1983, he recorded his first solo album, <em>Bossa Nova Hotel<\/em>. Through a series of industry connections one of its cuts, \u201cManiac,\u201d was added to the soundtrack for <em>Flashdance<\/em>. You may have heard it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Michael Sembello - Maniac (1983)\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/evyKPVS_M7E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cManiac\u201d hit #1 for two weeks, was nominated for both Grammy and Academy awards, and landed at #9 on the final Hot 100 of 1983. For better or worse, depending on your perspective, it is one of the most recognizable and unforgettable songs of the decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManiac\u201d was officially a single from the <em>Flashdance<\/em> LP, as <em>Bossa Nova Hotel<\/em> did not hit record stores until September 1983. Sembello warned people that he was not going to release another song that sounded like it. He wanted listeners to forget about his big hit and instead focus on his wide-ranging talent.<\/p>\n<p>That should have been a clue that his next single would be a dud.<\/p>\n<p>This song\u2026oooof. It is cheesy as all get-out. At the same time, it is so blandly anonymous its cheese almost doesn\u2019t register. I\u2019ve listened to it several times this week, and each time my brain thinks it is hearing <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/N7bI-bke1aE?si=uEXkobPLVU5hQA3J\">\u201cNumber One\u201d by Chaz Jankel,<\/a> one of the featured songs in the movie <em>Real Genius<\/em>. Sembello\u2019s voice is less processed here than \u201cManiac,\u201d and it comes across slighter because of it. Whether you liked \u201cManiac\u201d or not, it was a song that grabbed you and forced its way into your head. Nothing about &#8220;Automatic Man&#8221; is compelling enough to register and create long-term memories. It didn\u2019t help that it lacked the connection to the visuals of Jennifer Beals\u2019 (and her dance double) scenes in <em>Flashdance<\/em> that \u201cManiac\u201d had.<a id=\"fnref:2\" class=\"footnote\" title=\"see footnote\" href=\"#fn:2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The video, though? It is amazing! I had never seen it before this week. I\u2019m am prepared to say it is one of the greatest videos ever made. There is just so much confusing and bizarre stuff going on that you can\u2019t look away. Kind of the total opposite of the song.<\/p>\n<p>This was the final charting single of Sembello\u2019s solo career, and it dropped out of the Top 40 after just two weeks. He continued to work with other artists, most notably Chaka Khan and New Edition. But he never re-captured that magic from the summer of 1983. One critic called Sembello \u201c\u2026Michael McDonald\u00a0with a\u00a0rhythm machine, but that would be unnecessarily cruel to McDonald. And the rhythm machine.&#8221; Well, I think that was unnecessarily cruel. Sembello did some cool things in his career. This song was not one of them. <strong>3\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Michael Sembello - Automatic Man (original music video)\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Uu_kBTbbulQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"footnotes\">\n<hr \/>\n<ol>\n<li id=\"fn:1\">Another repeating theme here. In my post about <a href=\"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2019\/03\/10\/reaching-for-the-stars-vol-23\/\">Charlie Sexton<\/a>, I specifically compared him to Michael Sembello. And a young <a href=\"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2021\/09\/21\/reaching-for-the-stars-vol-62\/\">Ollie Brown<\/a> was also partially discovered by Stevie Wonder. <a class=\"reversefootnote\" title=\"return to article\" href=\"#fnref:1\">\u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn:2\">Jennifer Beals is an underrated foxy chick of the Eighties. <a class=\"reversefootnote\" title=\"return to article\" href=\"#fnref:2\">\u00a0\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chart Week: November 5, 1983 Song: \u201cAutomatic Man\u201d &#8211; Michael Sembello Chart Position: #34, 7th week on the chart. This was the song\u2019s peak. A quick RFTS to fill the place of the Friday Playlist as we are taking an adult fall break for the next few days. The 100th entry in this series is getting very close. I\u2019ve been reading through most of the previous posts, both to refresh my memory and to look for trends. When we hit the century mark, I\u2019ll pull together some stats and observations to share. For this week\u2019s edition, we hit a familiar topic: a forgotten song by an artist generally assumed to be a One Hit Wonder. Michael Sembello was a musical prodigy.[1] By his mid-teens he was already serving as a session guitarist for established stars. When he was 17, Stevie Wonder invited him to contribute to two songs on Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale. Two years later Sembello was a featured artist on Wonder\u2019s mega-classic Songs in the Key of Life, playing on every track and earning a songwriting credit for \u201cSaturn.\u201d He continued to work with Wonder through the remainder of the Seventies. He also wrote and produced for other artists, including Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. In 1983, he recorded his first solo album, Bossa Nova Hotel. Through a series of industry connections one of its cuts, \u201cManiac,\u201d was added to the soundtrack for Flashdance. You may have heard it. \u201cManiac\u201d hit #1 for two weeks, was nominated for both Grammy and Academy awards, and landed at #9 on the final Hot 100 of 1983. For better or worse, depending on your perspective, it is one of the most recognizable and unforgettable songs of the decade. \u201cManiac\u201d was officially a single from the Flashdance LP, as Bossa Nova Hotel did not hit record stores until September 1983. Sembello warned people that he was not going to release another song that sounded like it. He wanted listeners to forget about his big hit and instead focus on his wide-ranging talent. That should have been a clue that his next single would be a dud. This song\u2026oooof. It is cheesy as all get-out. At the same time, it is so blandly anonymous its cheese almost doesn\u2019t register. I\u2019ve listened to it several times this week, and each time my brain thinks it is hearing \u201cNumber One\u201d by Chaz Jankel, one of the featured songs in the movie Real Genius. Sembello\u2019s voice is less processed here than \u201cManiac,\u201d and it comes across slighter because of it. Whether you liked \u201cManiac\u201d or not, it was a song that grabbed you and forced its way into your head. Nothing about &#8220;Automatic Man&#8221; is compelling enough to register and create long-term memories. It didn\u2019t help that it lacked the connection to the visuals of Jennifer Beals\u2019 (and her dance double) scenes in Flashdance that \u201cManiac\u201d had.[2] The video, though? It is amazing! I had never seen it before this week. I\u2019m am prepared to say it is one of the greatest videos ever made. There is just so much confusing and bizarre stuff going on that you can\u2019t look away. Kind of the total opposite of the song. This was the final charting single of Sembello\u2019s solo career, and it dropped out of the Top 40 after just two weeks. He continued to work with other artists, most notably Chaka Khan and New Edition. But he never re-captured that magic from the summer of 1983. One critic called Sembello \u201c\u2026Michael McDonald\u00a0with a\u00a0rhythm machine, but that would be unnecessarily cruel to McDonald. And the rhythm machine.&#8221; Well, I think that was unnecessarily cruel. Sembello did some cool things in his career. This song was not one of them. 3\/10 Another repeating theme here. In my post about Charlie Sexton, I specifically compared him to Michael Sembello. And a young Ollie Brown was also partially discovered by Stevie Wonder. \u00a0\u21a9 Jennifer Beals is an underrated foxy chick of the Eighties. \u00a0\u21a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[40,9,39],"class_list":["post-12317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-at40","tag-music","tag-rfts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16816,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12317\/revisions\/16816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}