Rising in the charts

I was introduced to the music of Richard Marx with the song Take This Heart and I continued to take an interest in his work for many years. This was probably due to an opportunity I had to meet him, but also to my youthful heart going a bit slushy on the poor chap for several years. Another of his songs stands out as special in my memories, Hazard.

I had just labeled Richard my favorite performer, having gone a bit soppy on his looks as well as his lyrics and vocals, when I realized that for the first time in my entire life, I actually had a favorite performer who was in the charts at the time I loved them. In the 70's, I had mostly liked 60's bands or famous singers from earlier years. In the 80's, I had enjoyed many 1970's ballads. Now it was the 1990's, and I actually adored the music of a 1990's performer. This was strange for me. I did not usually like anything that was currently popular. Having registered this fact, his next hit on the charts stood out as special for that very reason. As Hazard burst into many a living room from TV and radio coverage, I actually drooled along to the video and sung along to the same music as other people were also enjoying at the same time.

When I purchased his album, it was in the top of the charts also. This was exceptionally unusual. Most of the music I purchased was bought from second hand record stores, not the modern music shops with current hits. Hazard was the very first song I went out to purchase whilst it was still in the top ten songs and also the first song I bought that rose up the charts after my purchase. There were a few other songs that were in the charts as I purchased them, but they were always going down and out, and my purchase was never one of the million to make them rise - except for Hazard.