It took America a little while to catch on to the brilliance of the Police. I think “Message In A Bottle” was not quite as commercial as “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”. It seems that acts need to break through first with more commercial songs and then they can branch out and go to less commercial places. No question, the Police were among the most brilliant acts of the decade.

I have a special place in my heart for the Pointer Sisters too. Damn, could they sing! Their harmonies were perfect and their voices were distinct – you could always tell who was on lead. I love Ruth's low vocals on “Automatic” especially. I've also questioned why Planet led off that LP with “I Need You”. That was a fine song, but not nearly as creative or original as the ones that followed.

I too was shocked “Message in a Bottle” only went that far – I mean, it's just as popular now as any other of their “major” hits. For my collection I never paid much attention because it was only on the first chart of the decade, but I love that it's here – never hurts to add a good song to the bunch.

I'm going to pull out the Poison record and listen to those two tonight. “Life Goes On” has such a generic title that I very well could know it – but I'm really curious to see if I know the two of them. I think I have to – I can't believe that I would have missed any Poison songs from that era.