Chart Week: August 4, 1984
Song: \u201cThe Warrior\u201d – Scandal featuring Patty Smyth
Chart Position: #33, sixth week on the chart. Peaked at #7 for two weeks in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who were the biggest songwriters of the Eighties? I\u2019m not talking about Prince, Lionel Richie, etc, multi-platinum artists who wrote their own music. No, I\u2019m talking about the songwriters for hire who cranked out hit after hit for other acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unless you subscribed to American Songwriter<\/a> back in the day, I doubt most of you could rattle off anyone who got their names in parenthesis next to record titles when they didn\u2019t actually sing the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this was your area of expertise, however, the name Holly Knight would pop into your head pretty quickly. To folks who knew, she was as sure a bet to write a hit as anyone in the Eighties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few of the songs she wrote or co-wrote in the 1980s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was also in the band Device, which had the fine, minor hit \u201cHanging On A Heart Attack\u201d in 1986.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Go check out the Songs Credited section of her Wikipedia page<\/a>. She wrote a shitload of music!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knight\u2019s song from that era that has probably survived the best is Scandal\u2019s only Top 40 hit, \u201cThe Warrior.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n (\u201cOnly Top 40 hit?!?!\u201d I can hear some of you asking. Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll get there.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Warrior\u201d is the finest example of the traits that were present in most of Knight\u2019s songs. Middle-of-the-road enough for pop stations, enough swagger for rock stations. Guitar, but not too much guitar, so listeners of all generations could enjoy it together. Uplifting music and soaring vocals. The entire piece is structured to elicit an emotional reaction from the listener, but never gets too pinned down by its lyrics to be about anything specific. More simply stated, perfect, mindless pop music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, those lyrics. Yeesh. It\u2019s a good thing Knight could write a hell of a hook because her words don\u2019t often stand up to scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Warrior\u201d was filled with bizarre lines that seem to point in one direction for the song\u2019s meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, isn’t love primitive? Who\u2019s the hunter, who\u2019s the game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t wanna tame your animal style I always assumed the song was about sex, likely of the wild, animalistic style.3<\/a><\/sup> But Knight said that in \u201cThe Warrior\u201d she made a conscious decision to shift what she was writing about. She wanted to \u201cwrite about fighting for something, instead of just being against something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uhhhh, OK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noble pursuit. But what is her narrator fighting for in \u201cThe Warrior\u201d? The whole \u201cshootin\u2019 at the walls of heartache\u201d thing implies fighting, for sure.4<\/a><\/sup> But she\u2019s more fighting against<\/em> heartache, right? Is her Warrior running around, keeping people from breaking up, like some relationship superhero? That might be kind of cool, and qualify as fighting for something, even if it isn\u2019t exactly fighting for peace or keeping kids safe or protecting the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The line that really bothers me, though, comes at the end of the chorus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I am the warrior If<\/strong> you survive?!?! That seems like a pretty big risk! Was Knight saying it is worth fighting to keep a relationship alive, but the process might kill you? Color me pro-breakup if those are the only two choices. To put it mathematically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heartache and loneliness > Being dead<\/p>\n\n\n\n No doubt I\u2019m giving Knight\u2019s words too much literal attention. She was hardly the first or last songwriter to pen lyrics that make no sense when you read them without the context of the music and vocals. I think it\u2019s pretty clear Knight wrote with a general idea in her head of what she wanted to say, but the melody was more important than the words she attached to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which brings us to where \u201cThe Warrior\u201d really shines: Patty Smyth and Scandal\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This track cooks from the beginning. Those bold, immediate guitar lines. Smyth\u2019s repeated \u201cOhhhhhhhs.\u201d Right away you know you\u2019re in for something special. While the band never elevates much from that opening, neither do they lose their initial momentum. Smyth\u2019s voice may not have been quite as powerful as Benatar\u2019s,5<\/a><\/sup> but she gives her all to \u201cThe Warrior.\u201d It\u2019s the kind of performance that makes you smile because you know she sang her ass off to get there. It is her voice that elevates the track, turning it into something memorable and classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The music and vocals combine to deliver the message that I think Knight was going for. To remain positive in the face of negativity. To believe in yourself. To seize the day. To never stop fighting. Etc, etc, etc. Banal, greeting cards\/motivational poster type sentiments. While the words may be corny, the music carrying them will make you a believer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to me saying Scandal (featuring Patty Smyth!) was a One Hit Wonder. Some of you may argue against this. I certainly did for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our mistake is thinking that the band\u2019s 1982, New Wave classic \u201cGoodbye To You\u201d cracked the Top 40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It did not! While it reached #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, it stalled out at #65 on the Hot 100. Which seems crazy to those of us who were listening to the radio in the Eighties, because it sure seemed like \u201cGoodbye To You\u201d was a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think what actually happened was DJs (and MTV) knew it was a good song that never got its due and began playing it again after \u201cThe Warrior\u201d hit. So many children of the Eighties remember it from its 1982 run, then that second life tricked us into believing it was more successful than it actually was. It also seemed like \u201cGoodbye To You\u201d appeared on a lot of Eighties compilation CDs I bought a decade later, which added to its legend. Great song, but not a radio hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHands Tied,\u201d the follow up to \u201cThe Warrior,\u201d stalled at #41, denying the band their best shot at a second chart hit. Smyth was in the process of leaving the band just as \u201cThe Warrior\u201d was breaking, and they never had another shot after 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jokes about Knight\u2019s lyrics aside, \u201cThe Warrior\u201d is a definite classic of its era. Heart to heart, she won. 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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A wild gift that you wanna give
Break out of captivity
And follow me stereo jungle child\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You won’t be caged in the call of the wild<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
And heart to heart you’ll win
If you survive<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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