#MusicMonday – June 10, 2019

You are to me, all that Music Monday should be, and I dedicate this day, to you always.

So I am five days away from getting married.  I find it hard to believe that setting a date fifteen months in advance could go so fast, but here we are.  I was told last year that the next year was going to be quick, and to enjoy every minute, and not stress out.

I’m not going to tell you that time wasn’t without its stressors (some of it due to my own inability to relax) and worries about being a Bridezilla (which I never was), but it was all worth it.  Now, in the home stretch, I’m going to make these next few days as exciting as they can be, leading up to The Big Day.

Naturally, you’d think I would devote today’s music choice to my wedding song, and that would be a big nope.  I’d rather not reveal it on here (I’ll trust anyone who already knows and may read this won’t reveal it).  Instead, I’ll devote today to a love song I’m sure was the theme song of many a Big Day in the mid-late 1980s, and beyond.  Because despite when it was released, it is the perfect wedding song.

Let’s go back to 1987, and listen to a group that was beginning to enjoy crossover success.

The group is Atlantic Starr, and the song is “Always.”

“Always” is a song featured on Atlantic Starr’s 1987 album All in the Name of Love.  By this point, the group had released six albums (this was their seventh) and went through several personnel changes.  And despite all of this, they still hadn’t really achieved major success until only a few years earlier, when their 1985 album As the Band Turns yielded several R&B hits (including Quiet Storm favorite “Secret Lovers”).  The group had released the soundtrack song “Armed and Dangerous” (from the movie of the same name) in 1986, and by 1987, the group was moving into Wedding Song Territory.

They even made sure to mention weddings, starting families, and have a music video all about these topics.

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Someone really wanted Atlantic Starr to set the tone for many a memorable first dance.

Heck, I used to think these singers were a pair!

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Released in May 1987, “Always” really seemed to aim for that June Wedding stereotype no one else in my family went for when planning their wedding dates.  We’re an October wedding-type family, except for me.  Dare to be different, I always say!

And dare to love, like we think these guys do!

“Always” reached #1 four times over on United States charts – the Billboard Hot 100, US Adult Contemporary, Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs, and the Cash Box Top 100.  The song made  reached #14 for the year-end (1987) Billboard Hot 100 chart.  It has been covered, and featured in several popular daytime soap operas in 1987 (Another World, General Hospital, and Loving) and 1988 (All My Children and The Young and the Restless).  And I’m sure many weddings in both years.

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The music video wasted no time in saying there’s going to be a giant family involved in the love affair of the couple in the music video.  It will look like 1987 forever, but that’s ok, they got their family.

After the success of this album, Atlantic Starr’s success softened slightly.  Vocalist Barbara Weathers left the group after this album to pursue a solo career.  After a few years and dwindling sales mixed with a few hits, Atlantic Starr’s association with Warner Bros. ended.  The group still performs today, and even appeared on one of those soap operas that helped make “Always” more than just a single, Another Worldin 1992.

I’ll love this single always, the way I have since I first heard it as a four-year-old.

Who knows, maybe it will make the cut at my wedding?

No, it isn’t my wedding song.  That stays a secret for a few more days.

Have a great Monday, and enjoy the music!

 

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