Marty Balin, "Hearts"

The summer of '81 was an unsteady time for me, considerable family upheaval having taken place that spring. We were staying in the attic of my grandmother's house, where I took consolation in our humble 8-track collection and the adult-contemporary radio station my mom often turned on. A lot of Air Supply, a lot of REO Speedwagon, bits of Journey, Foreigner, Styx.

But the one song I heard that summer perhaps more than any other was "Hearts," the sole significant hit for former Jefferson Airplane/Starship vocalist Marty Balin. I didn't know this fact at the time — though I did know "Miracles" and "Count on Me" by then — I just liked the song's chiming-bell keyboard refrain and Balin's crooning expressions of concern and compassion. Is everything all right?

Another thing I didn't know at the time was that everything was not all right with the "Hearts" video. Monumentally bad. Balin, never a mainstream sex object, nevertheless tries and falls disturbingly short in his attempt to be one here, in a video whose theme is "I'm in Alcatraz, so I have to get myself off; at least I have this guitar and this poster." The video's icky on many levels, and I have to wonder if it didn't kill Balin's career like the infamous "Rock Me Tonite" vid, with its slutty prancing, killed Billy Squier's.