The Power Station was a '70s-style supergroup reformatted for the '80s. Consisting of Duran Duran’s bassist and guitarist (John Taylor and Andy Taylor), Chic drummer Tony Thompson, and full-throated vocalist Robert Palmer, the band had an excellent pedigree in funk and stylish rock ‘n’ roll. The band’s eponymous 1985 debut achieves its initial intention of merging tantalizing funk rhythms with the substantial firepower of Led Zeppelin. The Power Station's breakout single was a simple but surprisingly fresh reworking of T. Rex’s 1971 glam rock hit “Get It On (Bang a Gong).” With its immense, driving riff, The Power Station’s version feels right at home between Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf” and Palmer’s “Addicted to Love,” which would come out the following year. The album’s secret weapon, though, is Thompson. Along with Chic overseer Bernard Edwards (who produced this), Thompson brings a heavy, low-end force to the work. The same type of tricky, tightly woven grooves that made a huge hit out of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” drive “Some Like It Hot” and “The Heat Is On," but here the intense rhythms are reinforced with the clout of hard rock.