Retro Spins: Men At Work - Business As Usual

Men At Work
Business As Usual
1981

Men At Works Business As Usual (November 1981) took a little time before it charted in July of 1982 with Who Can It Be Now which worked its way up to the number two spot until starting to slip in November of that same year. However, at this point, the group had a second hit make its way to the chart - Down Under, which would become its most popular song of all time. The song would make it to the number one spot by January of 1983 where it would stay for a few consecutive weeks before starting to fall slightly before taking the number one spot again in February. The track would continue to drop through the remainder of the year, but be joined at the same time by the follow up album's single, Overkill.

When I turned on the album I immediately had a thought. Business As Usual was like listening to an Oingo Boingo album with the absence of the charm, quirkiness, fun and range of Danny Elfman's lyrics and his multi-range vocals. It wasn't terrible by any means. Unfortunately, its greatest weakness is that it's just okay.

With the exception of hits such as Who Can It Be Now, Down Under and Be Good Johnny its remaining songs really aren't all that catchy or memorable. Quite honestly too many of them sound the same as well. I couldn't tell you which was which and I literally just finished listening to it.

I'm not ready to give up on this one. I think I'm going to give it a couple more days and listen to it again to see if any of the songs (other than the obvious hits) pop out and stay in my head for more than two seconds.

Men At Work - TBD.

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