Retro Video Unit (4/26/13)

With everything that was going on last week, I completely forgot about this. Sadly, once again this feature becomes an occasion to remember a performer who has passed away.

Christina Amphlett, lead singer of the Australian band Divinyls, died last weekend at only 53, a victim of both multiple sclerosis and breast cancer. The band will probably be best remembered for the 1991 hit "I Touch Myself," but Divinyls released six albums over the course of a decade and a half. While popular at home, most of their work received little attention elsewhere, and they remain one of the most underrated bands from the early 1980s.

Amphlett's stage persona, at least early on, was something like a mix of Chrissie Hynde and early Britney Spears (and I never, ever thought I would put those two names in the same sentence). She had the gift of an immediately identifiable voice, and she was a true badass, a trailblazer who became an icon for later performers like Shirley Manson of Garbage.

My favorite song of theirs is one of their earliest, "Boys In Town," and it happens to be one that I've had in mind for this feature for a while. As with many music videos from the early 1980s, it's a low-rent production, but is distinguished by the presence of a light-up mike stand. How cool is that?



And just for fun, how about a fierce live performance of the same song from the 1983 US Festival?



Thanks for the music. You will be missed.