Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual [Black Vinyl LP, Import]

Cyndi Lauper's groundbreaking debut She's So Unusual, released in October 1983, transformed pop culture and shattered records as the first album by a female artist to produce four top-five singles on the Billboard Hot 100. After years of struggle, including the collapse of her band Blue Angel and a bankruptcy lawsuit that forced her to sing in New York clubs, Lauper signed with Portrait Records and delivered an album that captured the vibrant spirit of early MTV. Working with producer Rick Chertoff and The Hooters as her backing band, Lauper crafted a new wave masterpiece that blended synth-pop, pop rock, and reggae influences, all anchored by her distinctive four-octave vocal range and uncompromising artistic vision. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, spent 65 weeks in the top forty, and has sold over 16 million copies worldwide, earning recognition from the Library of Congress in 2019 for preservation in the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The album opens with The Brains' "Money Changes Everything," establishing Lauper's ability to transform covers into personal statements. Her feminist reimagining of Robert Hazard's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" became a global phenomenon, hitting number two on the Hot 100 and topping charts in multiple countries. The self-penned ballad "Time After Time," co-written with Rob Hyman, gave Lauper her first number one hit and remains one of the decade's most enduring love songs. Prince's "When You Were Mine" showcases her vocal versatility, while her tongue-in-cheek original "She Bop" climbed to number three despite its suggestive subject matter. Jules Shear's "All Through the Night" rounded out the historic run of top-five hits, while tracks like "Witness," "I'll Kiss You," and the title-referencing "He's So Unusual" demonstrated her range from introspective to playful. Lauper earned six Grammy nominations and won Best New Artist, while "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" took home Best Female Video at the inaugural 1984 MTV Video Music Awards.

This black vinyl pressing preserves the album's vibrant production, from the shimmering synths and gated drums that defined the era to Lauper's dynamic vocal performances. The pressing captures the new wave energy and pop craftsmanship that made the album a commercial and critical triumph, with Rolling Stone ranking it among the 500 greatest albums of all time. The iconic cover, photographed by Annie Leibovitz on the Coney Island boardwalk, features Lauper in vintage attire that perfectly encapsulated her eclectic, rule-breaking persona. This is the album that proved girls could do more than just want to have fun, they could rewrite the rules entirely.

• Format: Black Vinyl LP
• Standout tracks: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," "She Bop"
• Pressing details: Standard weight pressing of the 1983 debut album
• Genre/style: New Wave, Synth-Pop, Pop Rock, Dance-Pop
• UPC: 190759838112

A landmark debut that redefined what female pop artists could achieve, She's So Unusual remains as bold, colorful, and irresistibly fun today as it was four decades ago.

* The Spotify track list may not exactly represent the tracks and audio of this LP edition.

Track List:

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Side B:

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