Friday Afternoon Diversion: Richard Marx Edition

By Scott Smith in Miscellaneous on Oct 13, 2006 7:00PM

If you’ve been keeping up with the site this week, you know that Chicagoist made a new friend in local rocker Richard Marx. And though we’ve had a bit of fun at his expense (and he at ours), we’ve also been spending quite a bit of time going over his old videos. So it seemed only right to make this week’s Friday Afternoon Diversion all about him.

The “take this job and shove it” theme that pervades the “Satisfied” video seems a particularly good way to celebrate the beginning of the weekend though Richard also reminds us that it’s not much better in Hollywood, where it “Don’t Mean Nothing” until you sign it on the dotted line. Of course, this had us wondering if this song was borne from the travails of his wife actress Cynthia Rhodes, who starred in Dirty Dancing and Flashdance.

One thing we did notice: no one can match the guy’s phrasing oh his own songs. Not Nick Lachey, not Xena, not an English-as-a-second-language class full of Chinese students. No one.

We were also pleased to find this clip of “Days Of Avalon” from the album of the same name. But of course, all days must pass into evening, whether the nights be of the endless summer variety or the kind worth holding on to.

For those whose workplaces blocks YouTube, you can always study up on your Richard Marx tablature or read over some of his out-of-context nuggets of wisdom (which are not anywhere near as entertaining as this week’s correspondence). Or you could start saving your pennies and see him in person while raising some money for Children’s Memorial Hospital. If you go, tell him Chicagoist says "hi."

In any case, we’re glad there are no hard feelings between Richard and us. Besides, it’s not like we were anywhere near as critical of Mr. Marx as this guy was.