Happy Anniversary!

No... It's not my anniversary. It's not even the anniversary of Route 1 (although, this is the 200th post since Route 1 debuted in March).
Today is the 25th anniversary of Yello's "Bimbo" single, released by San Francisco-based Ralph Records on Oct. 15, 1980. I purchased the single shortly after its release and I still have it, as you can see in the photo.
I know today is the anniversary because I have been immersed in a book I got this week.
George Gimarc's "Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock, 1970-1982" is everything it says in the title. Gimarc has produced a meticulously -- almost redonkulously -- researched tome laid out in diary form, detailing the daily happenings of the American, Australian and (mostly) British punk and post-punk scenes. It is basically 744 pages of facts about a musical form I have loved well before Yello released "Bimbo" 25 years ago.
You'll be reading more about Gimarc's book because I will be reading more of Gimarc's book. It appears to be the definitive history of the times that continue to shape modern rock music.
Now, a word about "Bimbo." I found it on mp3 and listened to it on the iPod as I went walking earlier in the week. I love it! Yello were the Swiss electronic band best-known for the (IMHO) overplayed "Oh Yeah," a.k.a. "that song from Ferris Bueller." "Bimbo" is far superior. It's a vocoder-led track in which vocalist Dieter Meier (a former member of Switzerland's national golf team!) intones that he doesn't "wanna be the standard guy" and tries to convince himself he is special because he hears "hip music, ain't got the blues." Overdubbed vocals, however, chant that he's nothing but a bimbo man.
Listening to the song now, I can see how its style has easily influenced the electronic dance acts of the present. Hard to believe, then, that it turns 25 years old today.