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The Beat Goes On

LANSING, MI—Like most of you, my first exposure to the Call came through hearing their insidiously hooky single, "The Walls Came Down." When the local Dinosaur-Oriented-Radio station followed MTV's lead and began embracing New Music (sic),

December 1, 1983
John Neilson

The Beat Goes On

DEPARTMRNTS

HEARING THE CALL

LANSING, MI—Like most of you, my first exposure to the Call came through hearing their insidiously hooky single, "The Walls Came Down." When the local Dinosaur-Oriented-Radio station followed MTV's lead and began embracing New Music (sic), all of a sudden unknown bands like the Call were in heavy rotation, as they say in the biz. Loosely translated, this meant that hardly a day would go by without hearing the song's naggingly insistent ya-ya-ya-ya-yaya - ya - ya finale. Oh, no, I thought, this could be the next "Black Betty, bam-a-lam!"

Ya-ya-yas aside, the most prominent part of the tune was the strident yelping of vocalist Michael Been, doing a good impersonation of David Byrne doing an impersonation of a chestpounding, Bible-thumping preacher howling about horns blowing and walls falling down. Political change, Old Testament style, with just enough references to assassins, terrorists, and "nightly military raids" to keep it current. Not exactly "Hot Girls In Love," that's for sure.

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