I must go ahead and thank Annie Zaleski, who commented last week about the group Chromeo. I’m frankly bothered and disgusted that their 2007 album Fancy Footwork has been sitting out in the world for two years — it even got a deluxe release last year — and not one person in my life tuned me into maybe the funkiest ’80s throwback group ever.

I’m disgusted at myself as well for not finding them on my own. How a marvelous funky-ass release like this could fly under my radar, I don’t understand. I can’t let others slip by, so now I must ask if there are other bands out there like this. iTunes led me to MSTRKRFT, who I’d heard of, but they aren’t quite as ’80s as Chromeo. Who else should I know about who sounds like they’re making lost Oran “Juice” Jones records? As far as this week goes, after listening to the Chromeo record all I have to say is: Ray Parker Jr. sounds even better!

Here are more artists whose names begin with the letter P, as we check out songs that charted no higher than #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the 1980s.

Pablo Cruise
“Slip Away” — 1981, #75 (download)

I’ve never really been a fan of Pablo Cruise but I have to admit that “Slip Away” is a pretty cool, laid back song. The intro to this track just makes me want to sit on my porch, close my eyes and enjoy a nice summer breeze. (I must be in a strangely good mood as shit like that last sentence doesn’t usually come out of my mouth.)

David Pack
“Prove Me Wrong” — 1986, #95 (download)

What an absolutely miserable song from the former lead singer and guitarist of Ambrosia. I’m not sure this song has an identity. It starts off with those super-fake sounding keys and drums and seems to want to be some kind of R&B number and then about a minute in it breaks into a riff that could be the little brother of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” and then goes right back where it began. This track was actually the second cut on the White Nights soundtrack as well as featured on Pack’s first solo record, Anywhere You Go. The only thing I like David Pack for are the countless hours of enjoyment he’s given me thanks to the cover of the Ambrosia album One Eighty, which regularly gets referenced in my house as “men hugging each other.”

Pajama Party
“Yo No Se” — 1989, #75 (download)
“Over and Over” — 1989, #59 (download)

Another heavily played song in my trivia days, “Yo No Se” is a song that I remember hearing a lot in ’89 and ’90 and yet possibly never heard the name of the group. I only remember the name now because of said trivia matches. The song itself is probably one of my favorites of the freestyle genre, though that’s a little tough to say since so many sounded exactly the same. It’s at least one that I remember quite vividly. However, I could have sat here for weeks and never given you the name of the Pajama Party follow up song. I don’t ever remember hearing “Over and Over” and yet that performed better on the charts than “Yo No Se.”

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