A Year of Blind Spots: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Joe is working through a list of albums that he considers "blind spots," i.e. albums that he's never heard but feels like he should.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Eurythmics

1983

What 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die has to say about Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics:

By marrying synthesized sounds with strong melodies and powerful vocal delivery, artsy post-punk popsters guitarist Dave Stewart and soulful tenor Annie Lennox effectively ended all the Eighties electro-pop rip-offs.

Although early singles (the Latino "This Is the House" and the jazzy "The Walk") failed to ignite, the stunning title track, with its thumping kick-drum pulse and haunting hook, became a worldwide smash (US No. 1, UK No. 2). The groundbreaking video was crucial to its success. Featuring an androgynous-looking Lennox (resplendent in a severe orange crop and man's suit), amid a field of cows, it was a clear subversion of the sexist, profit-driven culture of the 1980s. The effect was startling, rendering the shy but ballsy singer a cover star (Newsweek, The Face). The Eurythmics' concern for artistic control was reflected in the album sleeve with its D&A (Dave and Annie) logo.

Apart from its variety of musical styles—from the gutsy Sam and Dave cover "Wrap It Up" to the sublime "This City..."—the album is notable for its emotional intensity: the distinctly chilly "Sweet Dreams" was composed after the former lovers had had an argument in the studio and were not talking to one another, while the video accompanying the poignant single about obsession, "Love Is a Stranger," was immediately banned by unsympathetic U.S. censors, who dubbed Lennox a "youth-corrupting transvestite."

Bu the end of 1983, it was only right that the duo had become international stars.

What Joe has to say about Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics:

I'm kinda worn out from doing so many of these types of albums over the past four-plus years of Blind Spots. What I mean by "these types" is albums that have one single song that is so ubiquitous that I struggle to hear it with fresh ears, and yet when I attempt, its ubiquity overshadows the rest of the album, even when that album has worthy deep cuts worth exploring. It's happened time and time again in this column. And I know when it's happening when Willow says to me "Daddy, this song was in Trolls." You want a good measuring stick for what songs are played so much that the meaning has been sucked out of them completely? Just look at the godforsaken Trolls movie series soundtracks.

For the record, I really liked this album, pretty much up until the title track, which neatly bifurcates the album into the upbeat Side A and the downtempo Side B. Those first five songs are great! "Love Is a Stranger" starts us off strong, displaying new wave's disco roots boldly, to the point where I had to check whether there was a Nile Rodgers credit on there (indeed, a lot of this sounds like Sister Sledge on amphetamines). I love the maximalism '80s synth shit, and this Side A is chock full of it. "I've Got an Angel" isn't fast, but it's thick, with that huge crunchy synth wave underneath it all. "Wrap It Up" is a cover of a song I've never heard, but at least that explains why it sounds both familiar and unique to Eurythmics.

But then the big song hits, the one everyone knows, and I space out. Can't get through it. I don't think it's a bad song. I just think it's overplayed. It's fine in the same way that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was probably fine when it first came out. But it's been over half a century and we don't need to hear "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" ever again.

After that, the album deflates significantly. This is probably something I only realized because the first couple times I heard the whole thing, I was at the gym, and running on the treadmill became a lot harder while listening to "Jennifer." I've heard it plenty of times in non-gym settings since, and I can say that even the slower tracks feel artful and worth your time. It's just a lot slower, is all. Well, except "This Is the House," which is medium-tempo and has some great horns. If "Jennifer" was your second Eurythmics song, you might be able to guess who it is. "This Is the House" doesn't sound like "Sweet Dreams" at all, which is a good thing.

The final three songs definitely end things on a down note. Again, that's not a bad thing, but it's also not ideal. It kinda makes me think of how a lot of Talking Heads albums end on the slowest songs. Maybe that's just how things were, all the new wave bands signing a pact that the sequencing on their albums would start big and gradually peter out. I'm not here to question Euythmics' decisions. But I think that if they had continued at the pace that they set on Side A, then we'd be looking at a top-tier Blind Spot. As it stands now, it was pretty good.

And when it comes to these kind of albums, the "big hit overshadows all" albums, I'll take "pretty good" any chance I get.