American Top 40 PastBlast, 3/30/85: Dan Hartman, “Second Nature”

Last week I highlighted what I think might be the first video I ever saw on MTV. This week it’s a clip I don’t believe I’d seen until about ten days ago.  I’m not sure I even heard the song when it was climbing the charts; I doubt it got much play in the Lexington market. The video, fairly pointless and tending toward slapstick, feels in some way appropriate for such a catchy, upbeat tune.

Dan Hartman had gotten his start with the Edgar Winter Group, writing and singing “Free Ride.” I was a big fan of his 84 Top 10 hit “I Can Dream About You,” buying the 45 at a time when I wasn’t doing too much of that. “Second Nature” (at #39 in its second and final week on the show) was the last of his four solo Top 40 songs.  Hartman died of complications from AIDS in March 94 at the age of 43.