The Pursuit of Happiness - Love Junk

Unless you happened to be one of a small number of people that had access to MTV in the 1980s (which from what I recall at the time seemed to show the same programmes every four hours or so) then like me you were restricted to watching The Chart Show to have any hope of seeing any decent videos.

The Chart Show had three guest charts on a weekly rotation - Rock, Indie and Dance. Indie was okay (and bear in mind Music For Nations was an indie label), but the Dance chart was an annoyance (at least two 'songs' in their top 10 wouldn't even have an accompanying video and would be shown in the rundown with psychedelic graphics).

But the Rock chart was always the one, and was the only show on terrestial TV that you were ever likely to see, say, videos of the Dogs D'Amour.

It was during a new release section on the Chart Show that I first saw/heard 'I'm An Adult Now' (initially thinking it was 'I'm On The Dole Now') by the Pursuit of Happiness. OK, so they're categorically not a glam band, but that song (and the album, Love Junk) were big faves of mine at the time.

It's in the lyrics where they stand out - 'I'm An Adult Now' on the difficulty of entering the adult world (when DJ-ing at a friend's wedding a few years ago the groom requested this be played), while the almost-hit 'She's So Young' first comes across as a lazy love song but there are hints of something darker beneath.

I used to play the album regularly when working in a record shop and would get a sale pretty much every time. Sadly my one-man sales drive didn't make a great deal of difference, but they did survive to release a handful of albums, have been given a best-of and, more recently, Love Junk appeared in Classic Rock as a must-have-album that you might have missed (Motorcycle Boy's Popsicle made it into the same column - more on that anon).