One of my favorite pop albums of the 80s was also the debut album of songstress Cyndi Lauper who unleashed a string of hits on an album that was infact half a collection of covers, and though not many noticed it, that went onto become one of the best cover albums of all time. Bet you didn’t know this.

Around the same time, the post disco era was midway from the 70s and way into the 80s when bands like Blondie, Hall & Oates, Soft Cell, Olivia Newton-John, Kim Carnes, Donna Summer were hitting out all over the place, making America the new hotbed for their sound and hitting big on the charts. Another pop singer was also coming along and months after Lauper launched her album, she sprang out of nowhere to become a pop icon who took over the charts also surpassing Lauper in the end. We are talking of Madonna who grooved around the same time when Cyndi Lauper debuted her album.

Lauper lead single Girls Just Want to Have Fun was the very template for female pop stars for decades to follow.

Over three decades later, the album is still loved and has nostalgic moments attached to it. From the opener by Georgia cult rockers The Brains with their signature song Money Changes Everything; Lauper twisted it to make it a rocky pitch with her rebellious girlish vocals, and it soon became an anthem of sorts that plummeted her to the top. New Wave songwriter Robert Hazard saw his quirky one-off Girls Just Want to Have Fun transformed into an earth-shattering, Grammy-nominated chart topper, while a cover of Prince's When You Were Mine put the groove with its synths in place with Lauper’s towering voice in charge. The last track Time after Time was probably the best song that Lauper wrote, her few own compositions that made her a household name.

Flip over and you can swing to She Bop a far cry from the1984 Arthur Baker remix spurted controversy when it was released. The Top Five hit was a wry ode to female masturbation.  Lauper’s heady mix of guitars and vocal range is the highlight here, while of course Jules Shear's mid tempo ballad touch on All Through the Night shows the slower of the then teen New Yorker. The reggae-affected guitar crunch of peppy Witness is full-bodied. I'll Kiss You, similarly, has squiggly synth effects with a strong chorus. He’s so Unusual if you didn’t notice it is good and the penultimate song on the playlist and ends with Yeah Yeah.

Lauper’s fashion style was to be seen to be believed. Her gypsy clothes, raspberry-pink hair, costume jewelry, and hyperactive behavior. It seemed no female artist had ever attempted this before, long before Lady Gaga, and even Madonna embraced such traits. This style ushered in a new wave of commercial pop while flaunting an exuberant confidence that, overnight, influenced a generation to dye their hair and embrace life with newfound vibrancy. Girls, indeed, just wanted to have fun.

‘She’s So Unusual’ sold over six million copies, won two Grammy Awards (out of six nominations), charted on the album Top Forty for sixty-five weeks, was critically acclaimed, and is still vastly entertaining us.

Going by the album, it can be safely said that the album hasn’t aged, for its still a great pop album from a great diva, and even 30 years down the line, it remains an enjoyable listen time after time.

Rating: *****

Label: CBS Inc

Release: June 1984

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira