Boombox Blitz: Lovers Touch satirize hair metal in ‘I Need It’

Welcome to Boombox Blitz, an artist spotlight series showcasing overlooked singers, songwriters and musicians who are quietly taking over the world.

Glam metal (also known has hair metal) was an unforgiving, sometimes outlandish sub-genre of heavy metal back in the ’80s. From Poison to Precious Metal to Kiss to Bon Jovi, and every possible configuration in between, the format celebrated big hooks and even bigger hair (and the sleeker the better). In paying homage to such a flamboyantly addictive trend, which never skimped on the melodramatic staging, Canadian indie-rock trio Lovers Touch light a match with their own high-octane fist-pumper. “I Need It” is smothered in glitter-ball synths and the pummeling of guitars against slick drums. “Now and then I get an urge to go back home / I turn my mind off, turn the television on / Back to the day I met you, asked you for your name / That was then and now is now and it’s not the same,” frontman Shane Hooper sings, flicking on his unquenchable desires for a past lover.

He fiddles with his heartstrings with a quiet urgency underneath the glossy exterior, silky ribbons getting caught in his vocal cords. Even in the new visual, filtered with classic ’80s everything, from perfectly-teased wigs to zany attire and matching accessories, Hooper seduces the audience with longing looks to the camera. He draws you into his sticky web, and there’s no hope of ever escaping. Bandmates Dexter Nash (lead guitar) and Noah O’Neil (bass) lend their equally-quirky virility and free spirits to the proceedings; it’s as much an outright parody as a statement piece of their own craftsmanship and willingness to be as daring as possible. There’s a twinkle in their eyes that penetrates from screen to the viewer’s soul, and by the end, you’re trapped between layers of gold-speckled paint with nothing to do but dance.

“The video is sort of a parody on Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ music video,” says Hooper. “With the synth line being a nod to Mr. Halen, we decided it would be fitting to go all in and play up the ridiculous hair metal theme.”

As the production ascends into heavenly euphoria, so do the lyrics. “Late nights going insane I need it / Your love weighs on my brain I need it,” Hooper yowls with beastly barks, the footage superimposed and blurring into the next shot. “Our hearts one and the same I need it / Our hearts fire again I need it.” The weighty lyrics are alleviated with punctured goofiness before it eventually erupts with a yeehaw bookend.

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Photo Credit: Daniela Pagliarello

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