Missing Persons - "Words"

(Debuted August 28, 1982, Peaked #42, 11 Weeks on the Chart)

Missing Persons was an L.A.-based band made up of three former Frank Zappa session performers: husband-and-wife team Terry and Dale Bozzio, along with Warren Cuccurullo. Zappa associate Patrick O'Hearn and Chuck Wild were also members. The line-up gelled after the recording of Zappa's LP Joe's Garage, which explains the rampant experimentalism behind the band's music. Dale Bozzio had her own distinctive delivery, which often included "hiccuping"as she sang...something quite evident in "Words."

"Words" and its followup "Destination Unknown" are played often of 1980s stations and appear in compilations, which obscures the fact that neither song made the pop Top 40 during its chart run. They both peaked at #42 and were as close to the Top 40 as Missing Persons would ever get. Both cuts appeared on the LP Spring Session M -- an anagram of the band's name --  and both were staples of MTV during that channel's infancy.

Strife between the Bozzios led them to split the group (and their marriage) in 1986. Cuccurullo went on to join Duran Duran later that year, cementing his standing as a figure of 1980s music even as he might not have been as warmly embraced by the fans.