"Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" - Glenn Medeiros

It would be easy to just make fun of the uber-80s-ness of Glenn Medeiros’ “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” video. The soft lighting. The ultra wide shoulder pads and extremely angled clothing. The romance on horseback. And a for real question — have you ever chased a love interest among the crashing waves on a beach? There was no 80s trope unturned in Medeiros’ video.

But this is today’s pick not because of the video or even the song, but rather, the singer. Medeiros was from Honolulu, where I was a freshman in high school when this song became a No. 2 hit on the Billboard charts in 1987. Pre-internet, Hawaii really was separated and a world away from the continent (known at the time as the mainland), and music options were limited. If you were lucky, Bon Jovi came through town once in a year to play a show at the Blaisdell Center arena. So it was a really big deal in Hawaii when local boy Medeiros shot to the almost-top of the charts. Outside of Don Ho, that didn’t really happen (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Jack Johnson and Bruno Mars were still years away from their stardom).

But what makes Medeiros awesome, at least to this newsletter writer, is what he did after stardom. He got PhD in educational leadership from USC, and went on to become a principal at St. Louis High School, a private all boys school on Oahu. That might be the most punk rock thing a pop singer ever did. Put that journey into an 80s music video. Your mileage may vary with this track, and that’s fine. Nothing’s gonna change my decision to post it.

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Class of ‘90 rulez.