The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game may be beyond old hat by now, but a version of the phenomenon will probably always be applicable to the business of entertainment. I found that out this week in a big way in the wake of yet another Sunday afternoon viewing of the underrated 1987 teen dramedy Can't Buy Me Love. (This may get a bit complicated, so strap yourselves in for some explanation.) Reminded yet again of my decades-long crush on that film's female star, Amanda Peterson, I quickly began personal research for my own personal list of the hottest actresses from '80s teen films. I immediately realized I wouldn't be able to tailor such a list directly for a site about '80s music, and yet I pressed on. By the end of the week my Amanda Peterson obsession had morphed into a full-blown fixation with the still impossibly beautiful Shawnee Smith, one of the memorable members of the acting ensemble in another 1987 classic, Summer School.
OK, so how does the Six Degrees concept fit in, you're surely asking? In brief, I arrived back at Smith today during a week of web travels that took me through the orbits of distant celestial '80s actresses from Mia Sara to Ione Skye to Daphne Zuniga. And though I had made dozens of connections as I researched this swirl of still-burning celebrity crushes, it finally occurred to me how I could relate this whole thing somehow to '80s music. So, with Shawnee Smith still on my mind (and in my Google search box), I decided to check the soundtrack listing for Summer School.
Ah, now that you're up to speed, let's swing back around to music, at least for a little while. Roots rock artist and unsung '80s solo act Billy Burnette contributed a song to that soundtrack, a slice of knowledge that ultimately led me to sample "Don't Say No," a very modest hit from 1980. A rollicking, rockabilly-influenced number that somehow garnered some attention among fans of new wave and early alternative rock, this tune deserves a wider audience. It probably also deserves not to be buried toward the end of this Shawnee Smith shrine, but sometimes it's impossible to do anything but go where the fickle human organs (I'm speaking mostly of the brain and heart here, by the way) take us. So... any suggestions on where I might be able to find a rental copy of the 1988 remake The Blob?
- Listen to "Don't Say No" and watch the music video here.
- Compare prices on Billy Burnette CDs here.
- Compare prices on Shawnee Smith DVDs here.
Album Cover Image Courtesy of MCA
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