The Vapors “Turning Japanese”

Top 5 Songs found in mvyradio’s online auction . . .

If you’re married/in a long term partnership, you probably had that Right Thing moment some time early in your relationship.

It’s after you’ve gotten past the first couple of dates, so it’s not exactly a new relationship. But there’s still so much you don’t know about each other.

And you, unwittingly, innocently, say The Right Thing. You weren’t trying to impress or schmooze or suck up. You just happened to say The Right Thing.

They look at you, and they smile. And you know you’ve just passed some test, and you’re In.

This can happen at a job, too. You’re new, and you do the right thing, and your boss notices, and wordlessly indicates that your hiring has just been justified.

It happened to me in the November 2000. I’d been at mvyradio only a short time.

Barbara, who was the Program Director, had picked up the listener phone line, and had a furrowed brow.

“Who sang ‘Turning Japanese’? Hmm. Turning. Japanese. Um . . .”

The little rolodex in my brain flip, flip, flipped through the mental database taking only a microsecond to land on:

“It was The Vapors."

She smiled. I was there with the Right (meaning “obscure”) knowledge, at the Right time.

I’d said The Right Thing.


If you can’t remember all those cool, underground songs from the 80s---or if you DO remember, but don’t have them on disc---bid on the 80s bundle at our Friends of mvyradio eBay auction, which ends Friday at 1pm ET. There’s the 4 disc “Left Of The Dial” boxed set (description here), which is this amazing compilation of the alternative 80s, plus a David Byrne DVD and a David Bowie CD/DVD set.