After too many haircut jokes (thanks to movies like The Wedding Singer) and lineup changes to count, A Flock of Seagulls is still airborne. Founder Mike Score, an actual former hairdresser, is the sole remaining original Seagull, and his Liverpool-formed group deserves to be listed among synth-pop pioneers like Soft Cell, OMD and ABC more than it does written off as another ’80s one-hit wonder. Granted, it’s hard to outrun a song as big as “I Ran,” an early MTV staple thanks as much to Score’s unique, angular coif as its stuttering guitar riff and the electronic drums of Score’s since-departed brother Ali. But the Seagulls’ catalog has several other songs that are bound to jog ’80s babies’ memories, like early club hit “Telecommunication,” “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You),” “The More You Live, The More You Love” and — first among equals — the haunting, majestic “Space Age Love Song.”
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2011.
