Lordy. The creepiest man in pop, Ron Mael of Sparks is 80 years old today!
A band that was always miles ahead of the rest (with the exception of Bowie or Roxy Music) in innovation - even way back in 1974, the Mael brothers' music was already beginning to sound like some of the stuff we came to love in the post-Punk era, as in these two classics...
...and in 1979 their collaboration with the maestro Giorgio Moroder produced another two massive hits [in the UK anyhow - they never had major success in their native USA] that carried all the synthesised "hooks" and effects that more than matched the likes of Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and OMD in the inspirational synth-pop era to come in the early 80s...
Ron Mael's lyrics for the latter seem particularly pithy on today of all days:
This is the number one song in heaven
Why are you hearing it now, you ask?
Maybe you're closer to here than you imagine
Maybe you're closer to here than you care to be
It's number one, all over heaven
It's number one, all over heaven
It's number one, all over heaven
The number one song all over heaven
All hail.