Altered Images “Happy Birthday” 1981. Today, March 17th, is Altered Images’ singer Clare Grogan’s 60th birthday (b. 1962). Happy Birthday is the new wave band’s debut LP. It hit #26 on the UK album chart and spawned the band’s biggest hit: the title track “Happy Birthday” (#2 UK). It’s definitely the best song on the LP and my personal favorite birthday song out there. That track is also briefly featured in John Hughes’ 1984 classic film Sixteen Candles though it did make the soundtrack (unfortunately). (Fun fact: the song “True” by Spandau Ballet, which also appears briefly in Sixteen Candles, was inspired by Spandua’s Gary Kemp’s unrequited love for Clare Grogan.) The rest of Happy Birthday is OK early 80’s new wave – enjoyable but not particularly exciting. My only other standout songs besides “Happy Birthday” are “Idols,” “Beckoning Strings” (which kind of reminds me of Pixies) and the Cure-ish “Insects.”