Here's the second item spun off from this morning's party chat with void and jiffer. So, rev up those nostalgia engines and tell us all about those New Wave bands you are embarrassed to have liked.151 responses total.
New wave bands-does that mean like bands that came in and out kind of like the New Kids, nirvana, Bush, etc?
Actually there is music from the 80s I still listen to like Camper Van Beethoven, Laurie Anderson, Throwing Muses, Bongwater to name just a few I can remember off the top of my head.
Right now the radio is playing "It's My Life" by Talk Talk from 1984. BTW, their only other record was called "Talk Talk," a relatively minor hit in the States.
#1 slipped in
I've made a party tape of mostly 80's music, including Soft Cell, The Specials, English Beat, Wall of Voodoo, Suburban Lawns, Ramones, B-52's, and the Tubes. I play it often, and sometimes when other people are nearby!
Even though I was very *very* young in the '80's, I occasionally hear some of John Mellencamp's stuff from those years. I think it's pretty good.
recently i got the dead tapes from my older brother. Apparently in his love for techno music he is trashing alot of his 80's stuff! Its amazing to think i was a mere teenage for this stuff! makes the 80's a bit more heart warming yet freeky for me! I actually had rainbow streeked hair and black lip stick and a total menace! GOT TO LOVE THE 80'S especially when you start toforget them! (itis this a sign of old age?)
Saw the video for "Love Shack" recently. Boy it brings back memories. <abchan is beginning to feel old too>
That song is cool
but did ya know, ru paul's in that video.. before she was famous... had a fro:)
BTW, did anybody notice what was drawn on the wall when the male lead was singing in "Love Shack" by the B-52's?
B-52's were in the _Flintstones_ movie the other night, playing at some party. At another party, _Walk the Dinosaur_ by Was not Was (was) being played on the record player.
Damn it, I'm not ashamed of the 80's..though I think Devo's "Pop Music" is probably one song that turned people off to synth. Myself, I find myself caught between nostalgia and discovery. For example, I' m slowly being sucked into the Depeche Mode cult, and I remember I really didn't get into their music (buying it that is) until after Violator was published; and yet I remember when People Are People hit the charts. A lot of 80's artists I am just now discovering because I remember one or two songs of theirs. The B-52's Mesopotamia, DM's A Broken Frame, Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, etc. are some albums that seem fresh enough to me. It's better than abuse of power chords, bar chord crap, butt rock, and the garage band punk s**t people seem to love these days.
The early 80's had some pretty good music, but the late 80's kinda sucked. I like the current stuff better than the late 80's. Bands I like(d): The Police, King Crimson, ... hmmm...
I agree. While the late 80's did have some good things, the music of today far surpasses it. By the way, has anyone ever seen the B-52's in concert. I never have, but I've always wanted to.
1980's memories, #1: Richard Thompson emerged from the obscurity which had cloaked his brilliant 1970s folk-rock albums, and he also emerged from several years of seclusion in an Islamic commune. His reappearance was announced to me when a friend kindly mailed me RT's self-released, all-instrumental album STRICT TEMPO. A year later came the final Richard & Linda Thompson album, SHOOT OUT THE LIGHTS, and amidst the breakup of Richard & Linda's marriage came their first American tour. I didn't hear about that show in Detroit, but I believe I caught every other Thompson appearance in the area for the decade. The first show was at the City Club in Detroit; Thompson was touring solo acoustic, and there was nearly a brawl between the quiet Thompson worshippers and the hoi polloi drinking and talking at the bar. The next show was at Second Chance; it was a large band tour. Thompson brought alternating solo and band tours to the Ark through the mid-80s. The 1985 and 1986 band tours, which included Clive Gregson and Christine Collister, are among the best rock shows I've ever heard. (Other shows from those tours have been saved for posterity: there is a legit video of the '85 tour, and a boot CD of the '86.) Thompson's live work in that period was outstripping his studio albums. His writing declined somewhat from the incindiary levels it reached in the 70s, and I think his work really could have benefited from a woman's lead voice. But he was still capable of turning out a few great songs on each album: "When The Spell Is Broken," "Turning of the Tide," "Al Bowlly's In Heaven." His commercial profile went from non-existent to very low. Polydor dropped him after two albums; Capitol picked him up as a prestige signing.
Bill- The Tubes were a riot! They were the _Mad_ magazine of
rock'n'roll. I've even heard the Bill Spooner solo album
that Ralph Records would like to forget it ever released.
Too bad, too, 'cause there were some interesting tunes
on it.
The music of today far surpasses it? No, I don't think so..I've never seen sorrier acts than I have in recent years. Most garage band s**t is stuff just about anyone can play with just a little practice. Damn the abuse of power chords! The 80's was a time I could depend on a hit-- and I can't say the same now. Perhaps the late 80's did suck, but that's when some super-alternative bands were getting really good..Depche Mode, Suzanne Vega, The Cure, Erasure, and the short-lived Bananarama. Don't forget, Real Life also made a re-make of their early 80's hit "Send Me An Angel" in the top of the 80's decade. Short footnote: Big kudos to Ken and Mark for encouraging me to come here-- they sure know a hell of a lot more about pop music than I do! (Besides, when you become a music major, you learn just how much you don't know about music, too)
What was your last hit?
It probably was "Love Shack" or even "Roam," when the B-52's did _Cosmic Thing._ It's not my best example, since I thought _Good Stuff_, their last album, was very underrated. I mean, Fred Schneider sings beautifully now. The Bangles' "Eternal Flame" was another beautiful gem. I'm sure I could go on if I knew which of my 80's faves were after '85. My next CD purchase will likely be this "Remembering the 80's" collection (and yes, at $119.85, it will be worth it for 6 CD's worth) advertised on TV because every single hit they list I seem to remember loving a bunch! But like I said, alternative acts were hitting the mainstream after 1985-- Suzanne Vega had "Tom's Diner," Erasure had "Chains of Love," INXS had "Need You Tonight," etc. I also thought the late 80's was a building time for Depeche Mode-- they finally broke through the charts again, this time a bit more solidly, with "Personal Jesus" in 1990. Their 1988 album _Music For The Masses_, I think, helped build that momentum.
Well, I like the 80s, too, but let's not get carried away...it had its limitations. In defense of the genre, it's worthwhile noting that Jamie West-Oram, guitarist for the Fixx, was in on a Laurie Anderson album, recently. While obscurists might recall Anderson's 80s hit, "O Superman", the 80s can hardly claim her, of course. Anderson has been a highly interesting experimental performance artist for the past two decades (see experimental music area for more details!). On the other side of the coin, the 80s was the hit-factory decade. I'm not sure some of the musicians could've gotten all the attention the did without MTV. All that said, I've stll got a lot of good memories of the 80s.
Besides music, the 80's was a fabulous time for a new and developing medium we call the rock video. Man, that stuff was just eye candy, dripping with abstract art and dramatics. I remember some of it-- the old days when MTV was cool, with synthesizer wizards spinning percussive magic, and European New Wave bands painting the tube with telegenic flair. Thus, I think Mark is right about MTV in one sense. However, I think we are paying the consequences of it in this decade, not in the last. Most of the music business in the 80's was pretty soaked with at least passable talent. MTV was providing the UK and Europe with a creative outlet, at least in the first half of the decade, and thus, it was the first bridge from the underground to mainstream music (bypassing radio DJs). Now MTV caters exclusively to the masses-- and is no longer a trend-setter. Bands with questionable talent are flourishing, and I think MTV is playing a bit part in their immature rise to stardom..er..a big part. Watch MTV's spawnchild channel, M2, and you'll see what I mean. So MTV helpedthe Europeans get the attention they desrved in the 80's, but now they are backing up the mainstream acts they used to ignore somewhat. It's ironic--New Wave was a culmination of punk and pop music, and the sorry acts floating about now are just a belated extention of where punk left off last, fading into technopop. What is called grunge or alternative now largely Is a descendant of punk. Someone mentioned that techno will claim the lead in retro-80's styles. I'm excited about it. I've seen the new techno vids floating about MTV's new show AMP, and it will definitely revive the old glory of 80's vids, but with a lot more imagery. Of course, industrial and experiemental music roots will be brought out with more emphasis than in the 80's, and musicians will explore this facet of synth on a more widespread basis. Europe will not be leading this time-- I saw a lot of Japanimation/Anime touches to the videos, as well as clips of urban streets with Japanese signs. Computer animation will also be a staple. Ambient music will likely gain more ground, too. It has already caught on since it failed to do so when it was being developed in the late 70's. Check out the experimental music item if you haven't already-- it's got some great extensions relating to this discussion!
Also, Mark, in regards to your comment about the 80's being a hit-factory, that's one reason why I like the decade so much. Party music was gaining momentum as a trend ever since the late 70's, and I think it peaked when disco acquired the name 'club music.' (Club music is starting to improve in quality again, but it will be a while-- possibly, it will be replaced with techno.) You know of course, my good friend, that I listen to high quality music when I wish to be an active listener. I'll be the first to admit that 80's music is usually just stuff that makes me want to dance. I will also admit some 80's bands improved at the top of the decade and the first few years of the 90's (another plug for DM and the B-52's). I am finding music trends don't fit neatly into decades.
I've been realizing that I love the 80s much better than I thought I did. It's the time I first really got into popular music, and so I have a lot of it on tape. I'm trying to put together my definitive 80s mix tape, so I'm quite interested in remembering who and what was around. :-)
Just check out that Rhino collection, _Just Can't Get Enough_. I think there are about 15 volumes that cover some of the great 80s new wave stuff. Between that and the _Billboard Top Hits_ series, you ought to have it covered...
But I don't like New Wave. I'm terribly retro, I think -- I like Blue Oyster Cult and Warren Zevon and all the horrid glam-rock bands (even Whitesnake *shudder*) -- and so I got one of the Rhino _Heavy Metal of the 80s_ compilations, though only the first one... I have some of the Billboard, but I'm still looking for a few songs that I liked and no one ever puts on compilation albums (things like Rockpool's Tehy're watching Me and the one that I can recall the video for very well, but can't recall who or what... it's an older male in his apart- ment, and a teenbopper (neighbor? Friend's daughter?) comes in and attempts to seduce him, his fishtank explodes -- and it was late eighties, I believe, though I'm not positive, I keep thinking Billy Joel, but nothing of his clicks for that...)
Blue Oyster Cult was very cool...although they made their mark a little earlier. I'm willing to bet the video you're describing was a Billy Idol video. I think the song was "Cradle of Love", which was out around 1990.
Thanks, Mark. I kept thinking Billy, but didn't think it could be Idol. As to BOC, yeah, I know they started out earlier, but some of my favorite stuff is early/mid eighties. I'm pretty sure that the albums I like best were eighties. But I'm balnking on which they are -- the one with the Tarna song, and Club Ninja -- which no one else likes, sigh. I still think that some of that is my favoirite music ever.
Well, *I* liked _Club Ninja_. And _Fire of Unknown Origin_ ('81) was pretty
good, too...
Rockwell's "Watching me" -- wasn't that a Michael Jackson song produced under heavy Motown records influence?
Really?
I'm pretty sure it was a Rcokwell song. Michael Jackson did serve as a guest vocalist on the song, however, for the refrain...
RE #30-32 BTW, the artist named Rockwell was in reality the son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jr., and Michael Jackson provided vocals in that song.
Jackson provided the refrain. Kennedy Gordy (Rockwell) did most of the vocals.
In 89X's top 500 alternative tracks of all time, they had a suprising number of 80's groups. If I recall correctly, though, alternative wasn't really a genre back then, was it? Not with these groups, anyway
that thing was pretty screwy anyways... ./
Nah, the 80's were when the term "alternative" actually meant something. OP magazine's run was from about 1979-1985.
re #35: is "alternative" really a genre now?
Well, 89X now has a regular sunday morning show called time warp sundays from10-12 featureing the best alternative music of the 80's. go figure.
if only i was home during that time..
I've caught that show, occasionally. A real kick in the head...
a good kick in the head? tho i find that hard to imagine..
where are you, katy?
where am i? i'm here. in katyland... yeah, that's it.
(senna means, where are you on Sunday mornings, that you can't listen to the 89x 80's show.)
Also, Q95-5 (WKQI Detroit) is apparently reviving its "Club 95-5" show on Sunday nights, with emphasis on 1980's music.
oooh, gotcha.. usually i'm being dragged to church, and if that's not happening, usually i'm trying to get in that last little bit of hang out time in with greg before he goes back up north, but that's about to change, but that's off topic.... i'll try to catch it sometime, is it any good? (the show on 89x)
I wouldn't know, nor would I care, being someone who hates 80's music.. take it off the modern rock stations and put it in it's own category, please. it's time for 80's music stations to play stuff so i can avoid them.
You'd better avoid this item altogether then, Steve. Well, I guess I'm just a synth lover-- and that's why I love the 80's so much. I also like the fact that it was a hit-factory decade, although I don't adore all the 80's hits. I am glad that technopop is making a resurgence after all this love affair we have had with guitar music. I love guitar music, but somehow the 90's has found a way to show mostly the worst of it. Also the feminist folksy-blues style is beginning to grate on me just a tad. I believe Alanis Morrisette's career should die a agonizingly painful death if she puts out any more of this feminazi whining. One example she is of why I am not too pleased with the current music of the decade. But I digress-- perhaps things are improving. btw, wouldn't it be just crazy if fusion came back into style, or if musicians , er more musicians started jazzing up their rock acts?
(I believe the term "feminazi" should die an agonizingly painful death..) Alanis Morissette might come close to topping the list of acts whose careers I'd prevent if I had a time machine and a lot of free time on my hands but given the state of what's played on the radio these days if I were to start down that road it could keep me very busy indeed. Perhaps it's a matter of timing -- the 80s coincided pretty squarely with my adolescence -- but I quite like a lot of 80s music. Of course like just about anything 90% (or more) is crap but there're certainly all sorts of classic 80s albums (and even more single tracks) that I'd hate to be without..
I just got a solicitation from Time-Life for their "Sounds of the Eighties" series. If I can find it, Mike, I'll forward it your way.... :) I haven't listened to Alanis too closely, but my impression is that, thematically, she does a lot of "my guy treated me so bad" songs. This is a pretty old theme; it turns up in oodles of folksongs and doesn't seem to have any connection to anything Rush would describe as "feminazi." But, Alanis is for the 90's retrospective item!! :) I have some 80's memory dumps on Talking Heads and R.E.M. which will get typed in when I have some time.
Well, we have enough angry female singer-songwriter types that many of them no longer seem genuine, in the same way that later grunge or punk acts seemed to be following a trend rather than expressing any real anger or pain. Some, such as Tori Amos, Paula Cole, Laura Nyro, etcetera, I adore. Alanis is one that I could really do without.
i agree about the alanis being a bad act, but going to earlier, i wouldn't put her as a "feminazi" act, the songs of hers that i've heard (unfortunately), are not so vicious as "all men are bad, men should die, women rule, yada yada yada" that's feminazi to me, there are only 2 songs of hers that i can think of are really bitter ones.. and in my opinion those happen to be the lesser of her evils. on another women folksy bluesy stuff, i'm really liking the new ani difranco single that they're playing, a lot.
Hmm...haven't heard it yet. Which should come as no surprise, being as I haven't listened to the radio in some time.
Actually, I've heard all of the Alanis album, and not all the songs are bad-guy songs. In fact, one in current rotation is about a rather nice guy. So, even though I'm not rushing out to buy her album, I will have to give her credit for putting together a good album. And that's probably just as much due to Madonna's crack marketing team at Maverick Records, another musician I'm loathe to defend, but will, if pressed. (How's *that* for an eighties tie-in?)
Most impressive, mark...
Thanks, DV!
sometimes I feel like I"m the only one who likes Alanis... Her new stuff (well, new to me) is a lot better than her dance albums that came earlier in the nineties. Everybody seems to have taken one song and characterized the whole album with it... the album is actually quite excellent and covers a whole range of topics. Three songs deal with unpleasant men. Feminazi is a way overused term... even Rush Limbaugh says that it only refers to 30 or 40 radical feminists. I have a friend who characterizes the category of "progressive females" as bitch-pop, and includes alanis, Sarah Maclachlan, tori amos, and others in the category. The way he brought it up was rather amusing :) Actually, I like 80's music that bridges to the nineties, such as R.E.M. (though mostly from Document) NIN and U2. Perhaps they survived because their style of music was already moving to the nineties. I don't know. Pretty Hate Machine is an excellent example of the changing face of music--it combines 80's synth with 90's angst and hard edged feel.
It's interesting, the way music has been swinging back and forth between guitar rock and synth music. We now seem to be swinging back towards the synth end of things, which would be a welcome relief from grunge, grunge, and more grunge...
I don't really mind grunge that much, but the recycled power chord variation garbage is really getting on my nerves--for instance, Push by Matchbox-20 sounds exactly like five other songs that I didn't like when they came out.
Grunge as a style has nothing wrong with it, it's just the whole 'play any four chords over and over in the same order and call it a song' style of music that I object to. You could play the same four chords over and over again on a harpsichord, a banjo, or anything else--it would still sound dreadfull. (And yes, this includes Philip Glass... :)
Not a big fan of the early Kinks, I take it...
I think the thing which I find most depressing about what's played on so-called "alternative" radio these days is the persistent feeling that even if you've never heard this particular song before you've heard something nearly indistinguishable over and over again. Is there actually something to this or have I just reached my Popular Music Saturation Point?
Mike- isn't all art mysteriously redundant, to an extent? It's often surprising to go back and see similar ideas executed long ago, perhaps even in other places. It think this only points to the common endeavor of life...
re # 64 This is is true to an extent but I think what #63 is talking about is hearing the same old 4 power chords over and over again, followed by a sappy snynth ballad. IMO there is still good popular music old there though, I think the newish Luscious Jackson album "Fever in Fever out," is good, and I also like last years Throwing Muses album "Limbo." Other good popular music seems to be coming from the Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, Future Sound of London, Steve Earle, etc. Just keep your ears open and don't listen to commercial radio and you can find good music.
oh, I don't question that there's still tons of good music being produced.. it's just that I used to at least like some of the mainstream stuff and more and more I find myself only interested in the margins. I'm mostly wondering whether that's due to being oversaturated due to recent music trends or whether it's an inevitable result of getting older to which I should reconcile myself by trading in all of my Clash albums for Lawrence Welk..
No no, see, what happens is that the Clash become *our* Lawrence Welk. :)
Actually I would say just the opposide is happening for me, it used to be I could only listen to obscure indie label stuff, but now I appreciate groups like the Beasties and Luscious Jacksonwho are on Capitol.
Beasties haven't released much recently. The funny thing is that one of the major albums that supposedly defined grunge... Ten, by Pearl Jam... is everything that grunge right now isn't. It's original, well composed, nonrepetitive, and well toned. In contrast, the supposed ripoffs--Early Stone Temple Pilots, Silverchair, Bush, etc etc etc are much harder edged, power chord oriented bands. (or were, the latest STP album is terrific, and doesn't have the slightest hint of grunge in it). Music needs to go somewhere, because right now it's mucking around on the last vestiges of grunge and not really moving on to its supposed savior--techno. I'm looking forward to the new Foo fighters release, but other than that most modern music doesn't have the freshness it did two years ago.
re #69 Make that MTV music isn't going anywhere. There is a *lot* of interesting experimental/world music out there. Techno is already dead it had played itself by the summer of 94 IMO.
>Techno is already dead ...and hence ready to be the next music mega-trend. Or am I being too cynical?
Grunge wasn't dead a the time it was trendy. Techno's great saviors are supposed to be chemical brothes and Prodigy, the way Nirvana and Pearl Jam were for grunge. But they haven't done anything chartwise or me-wise since they've been released.
Personally, I think the best chance techno has will come from those who blend it with other things. Some people consider them sellouts, but I think that the results of this sort of blending is more interesting than straight techno, which tends to be more or less a metronome for dancing to...
all the really amazing Techno I've heard has been on, like, ULTRA indie labels. . .I guess the thing about techno is that it's hard to make it national in the same way, because alot of it's image has to do with its being an indie thing. SO while amazing things are happening with it, you don't hear it on the radio . . .ah, well, that's never stopped te industry in the end in te past. . .
well, the industry hasn't started yet. I just heard the second techno song on the radio of the new wave.. there should be a lot more than that.
Hey, for all you 80's folks, there's a band playing in town tonite(check the current for where) called Machina and the Monsters of Rock(or just Machina" for short), they do these messed up eighties covers, and wear eighties cloths and stuff. . .they ROCK and they're hilarious, and they are all amazing players to boot. They should be playing in the area over the summer, definutely go check them out. . .
BTW, I recently picked up a copy of the CD "Village People - Live and Sleazy," which featured the track entitled "Ready For The '80's." If only we could have foreseen Reagan, Nicaragua, and the Cold War heating up one more time!
Katt- thanks for the recommendation on Machina and the Monsters of Rock. Sounds cool.
reply on the Techno music: Most good Techno music is coming from England. And all the suck stuff is created in the States. There are a few good ones but not too many. I am rather picky about Techno... and would rather stick to Robert Miles and a few others unless I got the oppurtunity to listen to the album before hand.
Well, it figures, Jen-- most techno was developed in England, West Germany, and the rest of Western Europe (to a very minor degree). In fact, most of the synthesizer genres were developed there too. They've done a LOT more with synth than we have. We're too afraid of it. btw, I still think ALanis sucks.. her voice just really gets to me. She is the antithesis of all the music that was created in the 80s for me. She did dance albums? hrm..
Not techno-style dance, mind you.
Someone mentioned way, way a back there that we seem to be swinging toward synth again. And someone mentioned in the electronic music item that musicians are going back to retro synth sounds, especially analog drum machine ones. Perhaps one indication that such a swing is indeed taking place is that Orbital is in this year's Lollapalooza concert. That's pretty significant considering the other acts are reggae, rap, industrial, etc.
mcnally is right-- 90% of music is crap. For every one good song, there is a ton of really bad ones. This includes the 80's. However, I concur with his preferences-- I don't like much mainstream music anymore. I _did_ like quite a bit of the mainstream music of the 80's, and that's why I sing its praises so often. But more particularly, I've had a taste for certain styles and genres, so there is some crossover. Modes of music fashion don't fit neatly into decades-- there was some music in the early 90's I really liked. But I also agree the early 80's had quite a sound-- synth, punk, and pop. Yeah.. I hope some of that retro comes back (especially the old analog synth sounds-- but in the case of Erasure, perhaps it's better Vince has been using some digital techno samples in his tone bank).
Lollapalooza? Well, the Prodigy is also headlining. Other than that, most of the major acts are corner alternative, like Tool and Korn. Rap is quite rare, actually. "90's" music didn't really take off until Nirvana blew everything away with Nevermind.
In *any* genre, lumen, a large percentage is crap. You just have to know how to pick out what you're going to like from the piles of stuff you're not.
Correct, orinoco-- that's definitely true. For those of us on a limited budget, it is doubly true. I don't buy CDs new very often anymore, and I often try to find everything about a particular recording before I do buy it new. But as I said, I find much of the 80's mainstream and progressive music very satisfying, so I often go with that. I'm listening to Camouflage's _Methods of Silence_, for example. Different it is.
I tend to have lists of people I buy without any question and lists of thi8ngs I should replace from my huge collection of tapes. (Most of my eighties stuff is on tape. And most of my filk/folk stuff. Aiee.) Otherwise, if it's something new, I either listen at the store or borrow a copy first.
Forgive me for asking, but what the hell is filk?
FIctional foLK music. The music of Science Fiction & Fantasty.
I know I can get you to laugh within hearing one filk song. I can
probably get you to cry within hearing three songs. When you can
open the range of story and emotions with a fictional background, you
can have quite an impact on the listener.
Check out the sf.cf, oldsf.cf, or oldmusic.cf for item(s) on
filk music; if there isnt an item in this conference already. I'm sure
I gave a rather long rounddown on filk in the previous incarnation of
the music conference.
Mark mentioned the Billboard series of the 80's hits. I found the boxed sets of the chart toppers and found them a bit disappointing (2 sets of 5 CDs, each about 41.88?). I guess I must like sub-pop 80's more than I thought. I'm thinking about getting Rhino's collection of The Best of New Wave, but none of the music stores in my area carry it (or perhaps not all of them-- I've found "Best of New Wave" compilations in the past, but didn't check the label). I'd order a catalog from Rhino, but my folks threw out the mail-order catalog guide we got in the mail. So Mark-- how do I get a hold of this?
TRy www.rhino.com -- they have an on-line catalog, and I'm sure you could order a paper copy. Feeling rather out of sorts with 80's music -- it doesn't hold up as well as memory would have it.
VH1's "Eight Days of 80's" series started last Saturday, and will be running through the rest of this week, featuring 80's music videos, music movies (Fame, Breakin', etc.), VH1's "Behind the Music" interviews with 80's stars, and more. If you want to catch some of the most popular 80's music television, and other info about the music, don't miss! It's almost halfway over!
Rhino also has a really great heavy metal of the 80's set out...:)
Oh yeah..Rhino's always servin' up the nostalgia :)
I was a big Men At Work fan. That's my nostalgia for the day.
Apparently, the bandmembers weren't particularly fond of each other, which helps explain their short-lived, two-album career. I've heard a Colin Hay Band album, since the demise of the band, and it was pretty good.
could it be? I sped read all 96 responses, no mention of Duran Duran? I remember the whole British New Romantic thing...pretty boys in makeup and lace....Adam Ant? etc...okay..so I was a teen...but I liked it...Duran2's earliest stuff was their best...like their first album and rio...also their videos helped define that decade...along with another favorite ...peter gabriel ...(although he was around the decade previously as well) I dug out the old duran albums..not a bad listen although I don't think I could stomach the steady diet of them I had as a teen...What finally did happen to the cure? I explored teenage angst with them...long before they made the mainstream..might as well throw in Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, and David Bowies zoot suited mysterious m oonlight...btw..any one remember a british band by the name of scritti pollitti? The lead singer always sounded like he was on helium...(guess who had bbc in her head phones during that decade)
Ah yes, the British New Romantics :) Although Talking Heads is no more, David Byrne did do an album recently-- forgot the name. The Cure is still bouncing around-- I believe they did a tour two years ago after releasing _Wild Mood Swings_. Robert Smith also performed at David Bowie's 50th birthday party. Sarah says Depeche Mode is touring in the U.S. again, which I find exciting. I'll have to keep checking the Seattle papers to see if and when they come there.
Tickets went on sale for all DM concerts on Sept. 3rd...don't know if the ones out West went on sale later or not. They may be sold out. =( Check www.ticketmaster.com for details.
The only David Byrne I've heard is his album with Eno, which I take it is Not Representative of what he did w/the talking heads. I'll have to give some of that a listen sometime.
re #99: The event at the KeyArena is not indicated sold out. It's on December 7th, which is a Monday, but I'm still thinking of going. Not sure if I should secure it online or at a Ticketmaster location.
re #100: by "his album with Eno" I presume you mean "My Life In the
Bush of Ghosts", which, you're right, is not typical of his other stuff,
even the other stuff with which Eno was involved.
I love all of Talking Heads' albums through "Little Creatures" but
never really liked the last two ("True Stories", "Naked") (I do like
the movie "True Stories", though, and like the songs as performed in
the movie. The band's versions don't thrill me.) I also very much
like "The Catherine Wheel" and "My Life.." Byrne's solo career, though,
has been spotty at best. If nothing else, it's proven how important
Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth were to the band..
I've heard a song or two that I've liked from "Feelings", Byrne's latest
solo effort and was thinking of giving it a try.. Every time, though,
that I decide to do so I remember the times I've been burned and decide
against. Anyone care to offer an opinion and tip the scales firmly into
the "buy" or "don't buy" category?
anyone hear Byrne's "forest"? It's rather interesting...Mr. Byrne himself is rather interesting...definitly on my list of 10 people I'd most like to have coffe with :)
I've got both "The Forest" and a CD-single of remixes of some of the songs from it. I like the remixes better, the album is a little boring to listen to the whole way through..
In my mind the Talking Heads will always be a 70s band, and thus inappropriate for discussion here. :) Besides, haven't I done my riff on the Unforgiven David Byrne yet?
"Feelings," if not great material, is packaged very unusually. He portrays himself like a Ken-like Barbie doll..the back of the CD seems to look like a Barbie doll package description, and the liner notes show different detachable heads with various feelings. Plus, as the jewel box is clear, Byrne uses the print on the CD and the print on the inside of the spoke cover for a 'mood computer.' The CD has an arrow on it-- you spin it in the jewel box and look to see which mood is indicated. Odd.
Perhaps it'd be worth having an item on creative music packaging.. My favorite recent example was the Future Bible Heroes' "Memories of Love" CD where the liner notes for every song were a different sort of word puzzle..
I think we do. Browse around; I forgot the item number.
re #99, 101: Julie and I have tickets for the DM concert-- I can't wait!!
NP: U2, "The Best of, 1980-1990". I'd been eagerly awaiting this since the news stories announced it, some months ago. U2 has always been more of a singles band for me than an album band, and this set seems to sweep up most of the songs I care about. Copies shipped the first week contain an extra disc of single B-sides, including "Silver and Gold," which I have always been fond of. The record company claims this edition will be deleted next Tuesday, so if you believe them & if you care, don't wait on picking up the first edition. (The 2-disc version seems to be priced at $22 at most shops.)
What would you say of _War_, then, Ken? I *really* liked that album.
I looked the discs over in Best Buy earlier today. They seemed very heavily weighted towards the "Joshua Tree" and "Unforgettable Fire" years. To be fair, those were probably when they had their biggest hits. On the other hand, they're also the part of the band's career I find most intolerable. I'd much rather hear stuff from the War/ Boy/October period or the post-Achtung-Baby stuff.. It's not all that popular with many U2 fans, largely because it doesn't sound like the band's traditional sound, but the U2 album I like best (by a large margin) is Zooropa. I'd probably pick "War" as my favorite of the early stuff..
"War" is my favorite old album, and "Achtung Baby" is my favorite post-80's album. War had such a hard ad powerful sound, whereas Achtung was full of trance-like songs, rock, and pop. It was a good mood swing album. Zooropa is pretty good...I like "Lemon" for the dance rhythm (perfect for a strobe) and "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" because it has some neat sound effects in the beginning. "Zooropa" itself is okay, and I don't much of an opinion other than "they're pretty cool" for the other songs. "Some Days" annoys me, though...too boring.
I'm afraid that early U2 passed me by. The first current U2 release I bought was probably RATTLE AND HUM... just last year I picked up BOY as part of a 1980's revival program, but I didn't get any more.
do get _War_.. trust me, it's good as a whole
I was listening to the radio this evening in the car and some station was playing the U2 set mentioned above. One of the songs, 'Dancing Barefoot', struck me as sounding odd and I couldn't quite place what was wrong until I realized that I had never heard it as a U2 song but was familiar with the version by a band called Xymox (originally "Clan of Xymox" but by the time they got around to the album with 'Dancing Barefoot' on it they were just Xymox..) Next time you've got the disc handy, if you remember to do so, I'd be interested in whether the liner notes reveal who wrote it. I'd always assumed the Xymox folks but it sounded fairly natural as a U2 song..
Was this a different "Dancing Barefoot" from the one Patti Smith wrote?
I don't know, I'm not particularly familiar with Smith's work, but it would kind of surprise me if it were.
dancing barefoot is indeed a patti smith song...it has also been covered by concrete blond...I've heard (and own ) the xymox version...definitly does not stick to the original as far as the arrangement goes...and some of the lyrics are a bit off....
Interesting. My band does the Patti Smith version, though a bit more rocked up. I had no idea it has been covered so much.
Ah, eire beat me to it. Yes, the U2 "Dancing Barefoot" is a cover of the Patti Smith song; to me it sounds like there is almost no change in the arrangement. I'm surprised that there are no songwriter credits on the "Best of" U2 disc. "Everlasting Love" is also a cover, but I can't remember who did the original.
I think Howard Jones did "Everlasting Love" in the late eighties, but there may have been someone else with a song by that name too.
There also was a song in the 1960's (1967, to be exact) entitled "Everlasting Love" by Robert Knight (his first, last, and only hit). This song has been covered by Carl Carlton and Gloria Estefan, among others.
I didn't realize it was even legal to do covers without giving credit to the original songwriters.
The "Best of U2" set is the only major label release I can think of which omits songwriter credits. I'm really quite startled by this, especially since there are detailed producer credits for each track. Yah, I thought it was a legal requirement too.
Kind of ironic after their record company tried to sue the band Negativland into oblivion a few years back..
I'll kick this item and use it as a hook to mention that the revival of STOP MAKING SENSE is playing for four days at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. Scott is calling for a Grexpedition to see it Friday night. Details in the system login message.
I *highly* recommend "Stop Making Sense" even if you're "sure" you don't like concert films. If you're in the Ann Arbor area you shouldn't miss the chance to see it at the Michigan Theater -- during the mid-80s in the years after the film's release, the Michigan would screen it every few months and it got to be a sort of tradition to go and dance in the aisles..
And I fucking missed it, all five showings. I'm really pissed.
You might be better off, actually.. The film is still great, but I found it kind of depressing compared to the experience I remember from its peak popularity here in Ann Arbor during the 80s. The showing I attended (Saturday, 9:15) was mostly empty, most of the audience was even older than me, and I was the only one who danced.. Crowd reaction to the film was largely positive but extremely passive. It was a lot more fun as a semi-regular campus event than it is as "just a movie".
Like the depressing nature of watching a good band play for a dead audience, only without the thrill of seeing the good band.....
Since I saw it for the first time on Friday, I had no past experience to relate to. I wasn't disappointed in the least by the film or its audience. Guess I'll have to find the right crowd when I watch it again.
Wow. A friend of mine is a David Byrne fan. Too bad it's not happening out here.
im embarrassed to like the remake of kc and the sunshine bands 'please dont go' by double you.
Please don't tell anyone that I -love- Hall & Oates. I mean, geez....look at their videos.
Reportedly, they had a BIG problem with music videos. I guess they didn't feel comfortable with the medium. When MTV played its millionth video, which was also their first, they had a special on the development of music video. They showed a clip of John Oates at a press conference with Madonna and Sting, among a few other stars. Oates complained that it wasn't quite fair to be judged according to this new medium, which required some acting ability. Acting ability and musicianship don't necessarily go hand in hand. Of course, Madonna rebutted it was very important.. but her whole life has been about "my mother died when I was so young, so I've been constantly ravenously hungry for any attention I can get."
yeah, she seemed to thrive in front of a camera....Hall & Oates definitely should have stuck to albums and concerts, though.....i think the single most embarrassing moment in music video would have to be the Journey video, where the guys are all down at the docks, in front of these (at the time) unused warehouse storage facilities (or something), and they're all playing a full band version of air guitar, pretty much.....and they're singing to this woman...and her hair....and they're all **so** passionate...and the bandanas...and the guys in their skin tight jeans.....GAWD....whenever i see it, i want to crawl behind the couch...i don't know whether to laugh or cry...
i laugh. alot. my fav video is the one for safety dance by men without hats....
i seem to think that video has something to do with skipping through fields with a flute and midgets.....but the memory is very hazy, so I could way off base... (er....-be- way off base)
Yep. That's the Safety Dance video. I really enjoyed "Life in a Northern Town" I guess it was the oboe.
is this another MWH 'classic'?
No. "Life in a Northern Town" was by Dream Academy.
heh im impressed. i played the oboe in jr high. i always though the lead singer of dream academy sounded like davy jones from the monkees
Funny, I've always though the monkees could use an oboist...
What about a million monkeys with a million oboes?
How does the saying go? "Give a monkey enough time with an oboe, and she'll perform a Bartok symphony." Right?
This one time...at band camp...
<chuckle>
<lol>
=)
Now I'll have scenes from that movie running through my head.
You have several choices: