“Too Shy” (1983) – Kajagoogoo * Written by Kajagoogoo * Produced by Colin Thurston and Nick Rhodes * 45: “Too Shy” / “Take Another View” (US), “Too Shy (instrumental) (UK) * LP: White Feathers * Label: EMI
That rising synth at the beginning of “Too Shy” is the sound of a digital entertainment wave sweeping across the US during the summer of 1983. Anyone between the ages of roughly 8 and 17 will remember the lifestyle shift of when video game systems and cable TV became more deeply entrenched into suburban American households, changing young perceptions of summertime itself. The song’s video, by ’80s British Invasion group Kajagoogoo, with their bleached/dyed hair and gibberish name, aired in heavy rotation on MTV during that summer, pushing the song to #5 in the US. But these outer aspects, in retrospect, overshadow the track’s virtues as sophisticated song- and studiocraft, co-produced by Nick Rhodes, whose cachet with Duran Duran, the kings of all ’80s bleached/dyed and gibberish-name groups, gave it added commercial blessing. The instrumental mix of “Too Shy,” on the b-side of the UK single, shines a worthwhile spotlight on Nick Beggs’s bass lines, reminding us of how much value British New Pop placed on the low end and how so many of its players had internalized American funk, fusion and R&B. Lead singer Limahl’s enunciated delivery reinforced an inclination among American pop bands to try and sound British, just like in the ’60s.