Len - "Steal My Sunshine"
1999
Jack FM is now my go-to fun music station. K-Twin was my fun station but they’re classic rock now and I’ve heard all those songs a thousand times. I’ve heard many of the songs on Jack FM a thousand times also but not all of them. Some had been lost to me over the years with my evolving (ha ha) tastes in music and preferences in radio stations. So when it’s time to lock in a radio station and read the paper or shave or stare into a scotch and think about life or writing or both (at times they are one and the same) sometimes I just gotta hear The Bangles’ “Hazy Shade of Winter” or Greg Kihn Band’s “Jeopardy” or some other gem from my past.
Or that night a couple of weeks ago where I was staring at my financial situation spreadsheet trying to figure out how to pay for said (cheap!) scotch … and groceries, health care, cat food … and had Jack FM on and some song I had never heard before came on and I kept turning up the volume until all the solutions to avoid going broke came shining through. Temporary solutions, sure, but patches are all that are needed until that property tax refund comes riding to my rescue in July. The song was “Steal My Sunshine” by Len, and honestly I hadn’t heard it before and if I had it did not stick with me. Good, because it came out in ‘99 and I have the feeling mid-thirties Tuomala would have thought it dumb and beyond redemption.
According to Wikipedia, Len's Marc Costanzo said he wanted to make a song like The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” (Len’s song is better) so he alternated vocals with his sister, Sharon. Throw in that the band is Canadian and all of this is as sweet as the song is with its Andrea True Connection bump and sunny vibe. As one-hit wonders go, this one is GRADE A. Throw in that Jack FM recently ran promos that feature clips from Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Caddyshack, and The Troggs' "Summertime" and it's clear that my Jack FM phase isn't going away any time soon.