Archive Review: Cyndi Lauper's Twelve Deadly Cyns (1994)

I’ll never forget the first time that I heard Cyndi Lauper’s classic “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Friend Thom and myself were in a local electronics store looking at the brand-new Sony vertical turntables (yes, it was that long ago...). Back in those days, MTV was new to Nashville, and still a curiosity, so the store had one of their big screen televisions hooked up to cable and running the music network. From across the large showroom, I heard the first strains of the song, which pulled me in front of the screen. Thom soon joined me as the song, and its anarchic accompanying video, introduced us both to the talent of Ms. Cyndi Lauper.

Over a decade later, and “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” sounds every bit as wild, fresh, and wonderful as it did that afternoon in the hi-fi store. Lauper’s has her share of ups and downs since the early ‘80s, but she was – and is – no one hit wonder. A string of hits followed the success of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” great songs like “Money Changes Everything,” “Time After Time.” and “True Colors.” Lauper’s debut album, She’s So Unusual, went on to multi-platinum status, as did her sophomore effort, placing Lauper alongside Madonna as the dominant female artists of the decade. She went on to earn a fair degree of notoriety among fans of pro wrestling for her connection to Hulk Hogan and the WWF’s “Rock ‘N’ Wrestling” promotion before going “Hollywood” and sinking into the obscurity of bad film.

Lauper has been quietly orchestrating a comeback the past couple of years, with last year’s Hat Full of Stars album – as unrecognized as it was – being as fine an album as she’s ever recorded, proving again that Lauper sings as good as she ever has. The recent U.S. release of Twelve Deadly Cyns is a fine step towards a new appreciation of Lauper’s talents for, given my money, there are few artists recording today with her natural grasp of the style and substance of the classic pop/rock genre.

Released in Europe to a fair degree of commercial acceptance earlier this year, Twelve Deadly Cyns is a Lauper greatest hits album and more. All of the above-mentioned hits are present, as are other early Lauper gems like “She Bop,” “Change of Heart,” and “All Through the Night.” A mere handful of cuts are taken from her third and fourth albums, such as “I Drove All Night” from A Night To Remember and “That’s What I Think” from Hat Full of Stars. A couple of fine unreleased songs are thrown in, including an inspired revisiting of her trademark tune, titled “Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun).”

Even more so than her self-inflicted zany image and undeniably charismatic personality, Lauper’s immense vocal skills have always been her main selling point. Coupled with an almost otherworldly ability to pick and choose the best material from well-known as well as obscure songwriters like Tom Gray, Robert Hazard, and Essra Mohawk, Lauper reputation as a first class artist and performer deserves a long overdue rediscovery. Perhaps Twelve Deadly Cyns will lead the way to a well-deserved renewal of Lauper’s stalled career. (Epic Records, released 1994)

Review originally published by R.A.D! (Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll) zine