And there’s no shortage of reverence for the group from its musical descendants, too: “All pop music is rearranged Sparks,” Grammy-winning producer Jack Antonoff, who has worked with Lorde and Taylor Swift, says in the film.
And yet, you say you can’t place the name? Can’t quite hear a song of theirs in your head? As beloved as the Maels are, you’re not alone.
This title song from their eleventh album was used in the 1983 romantic comedy Valley Girl, which starred Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman, and was loosely based on Romeo & Juliet…
When Kiss turned the gig down, Sparks got tapped to play the theme park ride’s opening concert in the 1977 Sensurround disaster flick Rollercoaster.
A hit in the U.K.
As lovers of experimental cinema, the Mael brothers spent years collaborating on projects with filmmakers Jacques Tati and Tim Burton, only to have them fall through.