{"id":11493,"date":"2022-10-24T14:29:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T18:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/?p=11493"},"modified":"2022-10-27T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:08:58","slug":"buttkickin-halloween-songs-fallen-angel-alphaville-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/2022\/10\/24\/buttkickin-halloween-songs-fallen-angel-alphaville-1984\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Fallen Angel” — Alphaville (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I said, I want you baby, I said, I want some more
\nI said, I never ever felt it like that moment before
\nShe’s an assassin, she’s melting steel in my heart
\nBut I long for more<\/em><\/p>\n

She said, I want your body, she said, I want your soul
\nShe said, a fallen angel takes it but she’ll never let go
\nShe’s an invader, she’s from another world
\nBut I beg for more and more…<\/em><\/p>\n

This is one of those “Strictly-Speaking Not Quite A Halloween Song”<\/em> songs…<\/p>\n

But before I get to that, allow me a moment of self-indulgence, if you will.<\/p>\n

There is something so unmistakably isolating yet profoundly resonant about Alphaville’s 1984 album Forever Young <\/em>(and especially the title track) that you had to have been a teen of the 1980s to fully understand.<\/p>\n

There is a gloomy, wistful remoteness to that record, where catchy 80s synthpop meets Reagan-era Cold War paranoia in a screaming, desperate yearn to make an analog connection in an increasingly digital world. The music is catchy but melancholy, driving with a momentum that emotionally propels the listener while also cementing them firmly in place. The compulsion is inescapable: have one genuine freakin’ feeling despite the coldness of an ever-darkening universe.<\/p>\n

Forever Young <\/em>is the soundtrack to a last-ditch effort to find meaningful, lasting empathy… right before the USA and USSR launch ICBMS at each other.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to Fallen Angel<\/strong>, an undeniably catchy yet haunting album track that, on the surface, is simply about your basic femme fatale. Time after time we’ve seen this motif: the temptress, the succubus, the siren, the woman who, with barely a glance, has the staunchest of man-folk signing away their very lifeblood. To one bidder.<\/p>\n

She’s described as an alien, an invader, the titular “fallen angel” little more than a euphemism for a demoness. Paging Simone Simon… anyway, you could take this to some creepy extreme and compare her to a virus, a parasite, a cancer, but that’s getting into a little too much misogyny for my blood. Your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n

Fallen Angel <\/strong>is a wondrous slice of 80s European synthpop, but it retains those elements I brought up before: the isolation, paranoia, a bleak, mournful desolation and even sublimation of the soul that is somehow delivered with a patina of melodic beauty. It’s a delicate balancing act between hope and despair, and Alphaville masterfully pulled it off.<\/p>\n

She’s raising feelings cutting like a knife<\/em>
\nShe’s pouring fire into my liquid life<\/em>
\nThere’s no escaping from her mysteries<\/em>
\nShe gives me kisses of the strangest kind, she says<\/em><\/p>\n

I know you’ll like it, so come over here, she says<\/em>
\nAnd let that rhythm filter through your body, dear<\/em>
\nAnd then she<\/em>
\nShe always did it and she always will<\/em>
\nShe’ll stay a hunter till the end of time…<\/em><\/p>\n