Friday, April 16, 2021

#36 Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Carlisle makes her first appearance on the blog with card #36 in the 1991 Pro Set MusiCards set. She has another card right after this one, then her band The Go-Go's have a card ten spaces after that, plus she's got a card in the UK edition.


The back photo is pretty similar to the front, but now the background is brighter and the hand under her chin is touching her cheek as opposed to "the thinker" from the front.

"Front-rank" is a term you don't hear too often.

Prior to reading this cardback, hadn't known about the George Harrison collaboration. That's cool. Looking it up, the quiet Beatle appears on 2 songs: slide guitar solo on "Leave a Light On" and 12-string guitar and 6-string bass on "Deep Deep Ocean".

(George's solo starts at the 3-minute mark)

"Leave a Light On" stands as Belinda's last track to reach the US Top 20 (#11), following earlier hit singles "Mad About You" (#3), "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" (#1), "I Get Weak" (#2), and "Circle in the Sand" (#7). While her glory days as a "front-rank solo performer" didn't really continue into the 90s, she's kept busy over the years, both solo and occasionally reconvening with her bandmates in the Go-Go's.

I haven't really dug deeply into Belinda's catalog, but as a sucker for cheesy 80s pop, I love those aforementioned hit singles. And like most straight males who grew up in the 80s, I've always had a bit of a crush on her, the baby-faced cutie.

I think I'll try to check out some more Belinda Carlisle tracks between now and the next post, hoping to discover a hidden gem or two I didn't know about. Any of you readers fans of hers? What are your favorites?


This Month in 1991

Time to jump back three decades to see what I was up to as a middle school kid in 1991.


Cute seal.


Looks like I played hooky to celebrate Opening Day '91.. probably watched any televised games I could find. Graduation seems a little early, noted there on the 18th. Oh yeah, I think this was the year I accidentally went to a weird private school. Then on the 21st, "card show" has been scribbled out, and looks like I went to a baseball game instead. I can't find a ticket stub and don't remember anything about it, but this was likely a Padres game at Jack Murphy Stadium, which looking it up, checks out as the last day of a homestand. Not a great outcome for San Diego, as according to the box score, Ramon Martinez tossed a shutout for the Dodgers. At least I got to see Tony Gwynn get a couple hits; and Darryl Strawberry went deep for LA.

Hold the phone. Belinda Carlisle dated Mike Marshall of the Dodgers in the early 80s. Ha! That ties the post together just fine.

Ok, I'll call it good here and be back with the other Belinda Carlisle card soon.

6 comments:

  1. George Harrison's contribution to "Leave a Light On For Me" was mentioned a lot when the song was on the charts.

    Carlisle's solo career syncs up with college days for me so I've always had a soft spot for those pop songs and obviously always liked watching her videos. She's mentioned in the past that she wasn't terribly comfortable with her glammed-up image during her solo career (there is youtube footage of David Letterman drooling over her during a guest appearance on his show in which she seems way uncomfortable). She is really a punk/new wave chick at heart and those Go-Gos songs, if you listen to the deep cuts, were quite good for their time.

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  2. I don't know a lot of her solo stuff, although I think I did buy the Runaway Horses album at some point for the Beatles connection. But I do recommend the Go-Gos reunion single "The Whole World Lost Its Head" as an underappreciated gem.

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  3. I'm more familiar with the Go-Gos hits and I don't know any of her solo songs other than "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" but I do have some vague memories of her popping up on VH1 every once in a while.

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  4. Heaven is a Place on Earth is the only one I recognize by song title but I'm sure I would recognize the others if I heard them.

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  5. Whenever I hear one of her songs on the radio, it always takes me back to my youth. My favorite song of hers was Mad About You... but my favorite album is Heaven On Earth. It's one of those tapes where I'd listen to both sides start to finish. My friends would give me crap for being such a huge fan, but I didn't care. She was hot and had a great voice.

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  6. Mad About You is my favorite song of hers (Andy Taylor of Duran Duran played guitar on that one)...I bought the 45 when it came out. I also thought she was incredibly hot.

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