1987. I was in Britain for the summer. One of two down in Catford, SE6. The first time I was seven. The second time, I was 13. I'd been playing classical piano for awhile, spreading into jazz. I was also a big fan of keyboard music. While I was a year away from getting my own DX-11, I listened to pop/rock/new wave synth bands. One of the first ones that caught my ear was Johnny Hates Jazz.

While their song Shattered Dreams got more attention in the United States, this song dominated the radio waves of what I was listening to in London. The song's hook was completely Karaoke-Compatible™. The main keys sounded like they could have come from a Roland D-50, which was starting to eat the DX-7's lunch in the keyboard wars at the time. The horns added a nice touch to the soundscape.

While I was too young to appreciate the challenges of saying no to war, it sounded like the person in the story was speaking their mind and telling their truth in a definite and defiant way. I got to appreciate this song in London and also tell my friends about it before it made it to the states, which was pretty cool. It was one of the many songs I played on repeat in order to sink into the song, as it were. Good times.