This album's sound pretty much was the blueprint for the rest of Robert Palmer's career, and damn near killed Duran Duran stone dead. My enduring memory of the Power Station wasn't this song, or even their cover of Get It On (Bang A Gong), but, rather, their somewhat hapless appearance at Live Aid. For whatever reason, Robert Palmer wasn't able to make it, so they brought in Michael Des Barres to replace him, and to say it was a mess would be an understatement. (Actually, a LOT of Live Aid was a mess, but people tend to remember the glorious bits like Queen's set.) The way he sang Get It On was particularly hilarious, with his voice oddly warbling on the chorus. "Get itttttttttt onnnnnnnnnnnn, Bannngggggggg a gongggggggggggg"-it sounded like he was sitting in a car driving over a bumpy road and singing at the same time.
This was around the same time that New Coke came out, and failed miserably. I was out one summer night with the usual gang of misfits I ran around with, and one of them had made some rum and coke with New Coke, and we were really less than impressed with it. The New Coke. The rum we were just fine with. The Power Station came on the radio, and I started ragging on their dreadful performance at Live Aid, and imitated how Des Barres had mangled the chorus of Get It On. One of my friends then came up with the brain wave that given how shitty New Coke was, perhaps the Des Barres led Power Station could do commercial jingles for Coke, and sang a sample. "Coke is itttttttttttttttttttt, it's the shitttttttttttttttttttttt, Coke is ittttttttttttttttttttt!"
Ruined a perfectly good shirt, knowing the time likely pastel colored, spitting out my shitty New Coke and rum at that one.