Martika - Toy Soldiers (#Martika30)

Original release date: 3rd July 1989 (UK)
UK chart peak: 5
US chart peak: 1

Buy Martika's debut album here (Amazon GB)
Read my anniversary celebration of this album here

The #Martika30 project:
By the time Martika achieved UK success in 1989 with the smash hit Toy Soldiers, it seemed to us naive Brits that she had just exploded onto the pop scene that was already saturated with young female singers. Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Kylie, Belinda Carlisle, Sonia et al were all regular fixtures in the top twenty of the official UK charts. In fact, she'd been plugging away with her debut album for well over a year in the USA - it just took England a little longer to pay attention. By the time it was released in the UK in September 1989, Toy Soldiers had been a top five hit and I, for one, was definitely ready for more. Luckily the album was a treasure trove of delicious Cuban rhythms, meaty & memorable hooks and a more serious side that would reveal different facets of Martika's own personality. The album was produced by Michael Jay who co-wrote most of the material with Martika herself. To the 15 year old me, it felt like this made the songs that little bit more personal. And for the young impetuous me who fell in love with an unobtainable boy every other week, some of the more uplifting & celebratory songs were like manna from pop heaven. It is why I am celebrating each single from the album on the 30th anniversary of their release in the UK (and a few that should have been singles). First up is the song which sent her career stratospheric...

Toy Soldiers:
In the late 80s and early 90s I took a keen interest in the US Top 40 countdown which played on British radio stations on a Saturday afternoon. In the pre-internet/streaming days this was the best barometer for judging what was happening across the pond - and a great way to listen to music that hadn't yet made the UK. It is how I first heard the song Toy Soldiers by Martika - a song that seemed so different to everything else I was hearing in the charts that I had to have it. In those days, the best way to capture a song prior to release was to have your fingers ready on the record button of your tape deck - and so Toy Soldiers became a part of my Sony Walkman playlist until I was able to buy it (just a few weeks after it entered the US top 40 at number 33 in mid-June 1989). I think it was the mix of the intense lyrics juxtaposed against the child choir led lyrics (and vocals) within the chorus which created something quite compelling and mesmerising. It was well documented upon release (and since) that the song was about a friend of Martika's battling with cocaine addition and this seemed to make the song (and Martika's vocal) all the more haunting...

When it was released in the UK, there were a few advertisements in the teen magazines but it seemed a rather muted launch for a song which seemed like it was chasing Madonna's exuberant Express Yourself up the US charts. Week after week both songs would leap ten places or so with Express Yourself always remaining one or two places ahead (although Toy Soldiers eventually leapfrogged Madonna, keeping Express Yourself at number two while she got a Billboard Hot 100 chart topper). I find the 7" in the new releases section and was rather delighted that it came with a brand new track on the b-side (more on that later). I was quite the collector of vinyl releases by new and established artists in those days - and took a punt that Martika was here to stay by adding the 12" to my collection a week later, mainly because it came with a double sided poster rather than any new mixes of the song. Despite an initial low chart debut (I was gutted when it didn't appear in the top 40 the first few weeks), radio soon picked up on the track as soon it beat Madonna to the top in the States and then the records just flew off the shelves. It entered the top ten in its fifth week on the chart before peaking at number 5 for a whopping 3 weeks.

While I was busy playing the heck out of Toy Soldiers, I was equally enchanted with the dark and mysterious vibes of Exchange of Hearts. This sensuous, mid-tempo groove seemed as grown up and lavish as an episode of Dynasty; a pulsing percussion which underscored Martika's fervent vocals deliciously. I was hooked (and rather pleased that it didn't feature on Martika's debut album, which was released in the UK as her single nestled at number five). For me, it made the single release even more collectible, particularly as I soon got to experience a longer version of Toy Soldiers which appeared on said album. And that song has made an indelible mark on pop culture. It took on a second life when Eminem sampled it for his song Like Toy Soldiers in 2005 which finally (in a way) took the song to the top of the charts in 2005 and fueled a wave of nostalgia for Martika hits when many folks scrambling to relive other of her many fine pop moments. For me, it will always mark the moment I fell hard for Martika - a love affair with her music which has yet to end.

UK chart run ~ 96-78-51-27-9-5-5-5-10-20-27-43-75