"Total Eclipse" Klaus Nomi (1981)

Happy Record Store Day 2015!,

Today, I thought I'd dig up a little chestnut I rediscovered by way of a buddy when we sat up talking about lost and forgotten new wave classics. Whilst talking about the German bands and artists, this guy came up.

I will never forget the first time I saw Klaus Nomi. It was an early Sunday morning in 1982 and I was watching MTV for as long as I can before my mom assumed control of the TV for her religious shows.

Then this video came on. And I immediately saw his genius. (Or at least after I spit out my Grape Nuts.)

Yes, one minute he was channeling Joel Grey, the next, Beverly Sills. But more than anything else he was making his male pattern baldness work for him.

Not even Phil Collins could do that.

Normally, balding male pop singers grudging accept their follicle fates and pluck it all off eventually. Or hide it under cowboy hats. Not Klaus Nomi. He used his to become the human embodiment of Astro-Boy.

He also simply had the greatest rendition of "You Don't Own Me". Ever.

This LP does not contain a Klaus Nomi cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Just sayin'. 

Sadly, Klaus Nomi passed away from AIDS in 1983. He was 39.