"Hurt" by Re-Flex

Song#:  1887
Date:  05/05/1984
Debut:  88
Peak:  82
Weeks:  4
Genre:  Synthpop, New Wave



Pop Bits:  This band's debut album, The Politics of Dancing, spawned their first US chart entry with the #24 title track. That song would be a hit at Dance getting to #8. This next single was still able to light up the dance floors and it got to #15. But it didn't do as well at Pop and was only able to stick around for a short month. It would be the band's final charting single in the US. After recording a couple of songs for the 1987 soundtrack to the film Superman IV, the band just kind of fizzled and never really got back together again.

ReduxReview:  "The Politics of Dancing" was a terrific new wave/synthpop tune that should have done better. It was going to be difficult to follow that hooky single up, but the band did a nice job with this second single. It sounds a bit like a mash-up of Duran Duran, a-ha, and ABC (in all the good ways). I don't think the song was necessarily hit-bound, but the more I hear it, the catchier it is. If you like these two singles, chances are you'll like the album. It runs along the same lines.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Following their debut album, the band went on to record their second album, Humanication. To start it off, the environmental protest song "How Much Longer" was released as the first single. Even though it featured an appearance by Sting of The Police, the only chart the song could get on was in Germany where it got to #59. Other than that, the song came and went to very little notice. That result along with the label disliking some of political-leaning songs they had recorded got the album shelved. Therefore, Re-Flex never had an official second album. Humanication would eventually see the light of day - 25 years later. In 2010, all the collected recordings of the band were compiled into a 5-CD box set title Re-Fuse. The set included their debut album and the full, previously unreleased Humanication LP.

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