While that track (which owes a debt to Zapp’s “More Bounce To the Ounce”) and the giddy-yet-influential UK hit “Wordy Rappinghood” might be the best-known singles on Tom Tom Club’s eponymous debut of 40 years ago, the entire album is a funked-out funhouse. Want to fill up a dance floor fast? Thank Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth for one of the most reliable secret weapons in any DJ’s arsenal: Tom Tom Club’s groovalicious 1981 single, “Genius of Love.” It’s perfect: The spiky blurt of the song’s first five seconds is instantly recognizable before the beat drops, and its syncopated saunter - a surreal lyrical splatter of incarcerated woes, a laughing (unhappy) boyfriend, and name checks of funk, reggae, and rap luminaries (Bootsy Collins, Hamilton Bohannon, Kurtis Blow etc.) - is delirious club manna. Above, an archive of Alisa Ali's conversation with Corny O'Connell about his selection, Tom Tom Club's self-titled 1981 debut, and below, Kara Manning's overview of that release. Leading up to WFUV's 1981 Throwback Thursday on August 26 - dedicated to albums celebrating their 40th anniversary this year - all month on "Album ReCue" we're taking a deep dive into some of the '81 releases that mean the most to our weekday FUV hosts.
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