Eurythmics on the 1984 Grammy Awards
A legendary performance is born – February 28, 1984:
It is 1984 and the world-wide music scene is enjoying what the Rock and Roll press dubs “the second British invasion” (referring to the original British invasion of the 1960s which saw the rise of such supergroups as the Who, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles).
Enjoying round-the-clock exposure on the then-new medium of MTV, as well as significant support from U.S. radio programmers, bands such as Eurythmics, Duran Duran and Culture Club spearheaded the musical invasion from the U.K. Not only known for great songwriting, singing and playing, these new bands possessed a facile gift to use visual media to get their ideas across. The video clips from these bands were ground-breaking and highly influential.
Eurythmics are enjoying immense popularity in the U.S. after the #1 success of their single “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. The eye-catching video (as well as their other video “Who’s That Girl?”) quickly led the press to dub the band as “gender benders” because of Annie Lennox’s various looks. While not quite the whole story, Eurythmics did perform a slyly tongue-in-cheek response to all this by doing “Sweet Dreams” live on the 1984 Grammy Awards with Annie decked out in male drag (or dressed as the alter-ego known as “Earl”, as Eurythmics referred to “him” in subsequent interviews). The performance would become legendary amongst fans and music lovers.
The first thing one had to ask when the performance started was “Where’s Annie?” You heard the rich, soulful voice singing “Sweet dreams are made of this” and saw Dave Stewart, resplendent in the coolest shimmering jacket ever worn, but who is that guy with the suit, tie, black hair and sideburns? It dawns on the audience like an electric bolt – it’s Annie! – and immediately the performance becomes transcendent. Strutting and slyly playing for the camera, Annie does a masterful job in her disguise. An audience of millions is watching this brilliantly subversive commentary juxtaposed with a musical performance, and the sheer impact of it all led the Grammys to include it in their video series of Grammy’s Greatest Moments.
It should be pointed out that this was February 1984, before the advent of performers like Madonna, and audiences were not accustomed to having sexual hot buttons pushed and challenged this way by “pop stars”.
Reportedly, the stunned and slightly confused audience didn’t quite know what to do when the performance ended, leading bemused show host (the late John Denver) to comment that he could have sworn there was a girl there during rehearsals.
At the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga performed as a male alter-ego named Jo Calderone, an appearance which drew comparisons in the press between her character and Annie Lennox’s character from the 1984 Grammys. When Lennox did it in 1984, it provoked amusement, bewilderment and some outrage. When Lady Gaga did it in 2011, it was perceived as just another of her over-the-top disguises. While Lady Gaga has not commented on this similarity publicly, Annie Lennox was quoted at the time as saying she felt it was an homage on Lady Gaga’s part.
