Episode 68: Chani Nicholas on Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” (1983)

Episode notes

The Album: Cyndi Lauper She’s So Unsual (1983)

She’s So Unusual dropped October 14th, 1983, and introduced much of the world to Queens’ pop punk tough girl Cyndi Lauper. She presented as a colorful character with colorful hair and colorful homies and charmed her way into pop culture with ten tracks recorded for CBS at the Record Plant, NYC.

The former front woman for rockabilly band Blue Angel took a demo written by Philly rocker Robert Hazard and retooled it to become an anthem for her and the Eighties. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” was the hit single that launched She’s So Unusual and Cyndi Lauper into fame and led the album to platinum success, with six singles, two Grammy Awards, and critical acclaim for days.

She’s So Unusual was the pick of astrologer/activist Chani Nicholas, who joined us to break down the relevance and resonance of the album in her life, Cyndi’s star appeal, the queer gaze present on the album, Cyndi’s quirky Cancerian coolness, and the her impact on music and the masses.

More on Chani Nicholas

• Meet the Woman Bringing Social Justice to Astrology (Rolling Stone)
• There’s a Reason for Chani Nicholas’s Cult Following(Shondaland)
• Where Astrology and Social Justice Meet: A Q&A with Chani Nicholas (Rewire.News)
• Twitter | Instagram

More on She’s So Unsual

• Classic Album: She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (Classic Pop)
• 30 Years of Pop Perfection: Why Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” Holds Up” (Complex)
• Wikipedia Entry on “She’s So Unusual”

Show Tracklisting (all songs from She’s So Unsual unless indicated otherwise):

• Time After Time
• Girls Just Want to Have Fun
• Money Changes Everything
• She Bop
• Divinyls: I Touch Myself
• When You Were Mine
• Prince: When You Were Mine
• When You Were Mine
• Money Changes Everything
• The Brains: Money Changes Everything
• Time After Time
• Money Changes Everything
• Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Early Guitar Demo
• Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Demo
• Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there.
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