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The Songs of The 80's
Although I listen
to a wide variety of music, I remember most fondly the songs of the 80's. I
graduated high school in 1981 and this was the music that provided the
soundtrack for my life during those wild and crazy days of college and
young adulthood.
Falco was a German act that had a hit with Amadeus. The movie of the same name was
the 1984 Academy Award winner for Best Picture. The song refers, of course,
to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the brilliant Austrian composer who died at 35.
Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes,
yet another MTV hit, was released in 1981. On a personal note, my wife
bears a striking resemblance to Ms. Carnes. She won't sing for me, though.
Dexy's Midnight
Runners
scored in 1983 with Come On Eileen. They used to play this at
Pogo's, the Wichita, Kansas nightclub I frequented from 1981-1984. That's
where I heard this 1980's joke: "What's worse than sweat on Olivia?
Come on Eileen." If I have to explain that one, you're not an 80's
fan.
The Police was one of the more literate
bands of the 80's. Don't Stand So Close to Me is a good example, with
references to Vladimir Nabakov and "Lolita." It took a white band
to really get reggae into the mainstream.
Human League was criticized as being a band without
talent. None of the members had any real musical skills, instead relying on
computer sequencers and synthesizers. But who cares? Don't You Want Me? is still a good song.
I knew of Men
at Work long before they hit it big. I heard them on some
late-late night radio show about overseas acts and thought, "Gee, I
wish I could get one of their albums." A couple of months later they
released "Who Can It Be Now?" followed by Down Under. I heard recently that one of
the band members was arrested for failure to pay child support. Kind of
ironic: Bang, bang, bang. Who can it be now? The police. Ha.
Funky Town was originally released in the
late 1970's by Lipps, Inc., but I've included it in this
section because it really marks the beginning of my personal journey into
the 1980's. It was a radio staple in 1980, in the US and Europe. I found
this out firsthand while on a school tour in Europe. My grandmother had
given me a hand-held tape recorder to tape the tour guides and such. I had
used it to tape a cassette of music to take with me for the long plane,
train, and bus rides. Normally I listened to it using an earphone, this
being the days before the Walkman and mini-headphones. But for some reason
I was playing the music through the speaker of my hand-held tape recorder
while waiting for the rest of my group outside the Castle of Chillon in
Montreux, Switzerland. "Funky Town" happened to be playing as a
couple of French girls went strolling by. I heard them singing the lyrics
in lovely French-accented English.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper.
The Spice Girls owe a debt of gratitude to Cyndi. She invented the
philosophy of "Girl Power." I liked "True Colors",
"Money Changes Everything", and, of course "She Bop" as
well.
Nu Shooz (who?) was a one-hit wonder
with I Can't Wait. It has a nice hook, and the
lead singer was cute. Enough said.
Joan Jett is still banging around the
tour circuit. I Love Rock 'n' Roll is a tribute to classic rock
'n' roll, before qualifiers like "punk", "hard", and
"alternative" were added to good ol' rock. When was the last time
you saw a juke box that cost a dime?
In the So Close, Yet So
Far Department, I've almost seen A Flock of Seagulls
perform live a couple of times. Once was in Wichita in 1992. They were to
perform at a local high school on the Saturday after I was to move to
Memphis. The second time was in Cocoa Beach , Florida in 1996 at the annual
Beach Fest. That time, we were sitting on the sand waiting for them to
appear when the promoters announced that the band was a no show. I Ran was their one hit, with much
MTV play. I remember that they were being compared to the Beatles back in
the 1980's. It must have been because they were from Liverpool because they
couldn't hold a candle to the Beatles, as far as I'm concerned. I like
their music, however, with its quintessential 80's synthesizers.
"Telecommunication", "Space Age Love Song" and
"Wishing" are some of their better songs.
The movie
"Flashdance" produced a number of hit songs, including "What
A Feeling" by Irene Cara. I didn't see the movie until years after it
came out, but I had seen the video for Maniac. The frenetic beat appealed to
me, and when I went to the club, I would dance like a maniac to
"Maniac." Imagine a 6' 3", 190 pound man pumping his legs up
and down like Jennifer Beals in the movie. I even used to dance that way in
hiking boots. What a nut. Michael Sembello was the
performer, but I've never heard anything else that he may have done.
A lot of MIDI songs
sound lame due to the restrictions of the medium, but this version of Mr. Roboto, originally by Styx,
is decent. The song as performed by Styx was pretty heavy on the
synthesizers, so the MIDI version is very close to the original.
I'm a big Dire Straits fan, and although Money For Nothing is not my favorite, it was a
major hit for the band. The video was one of the first to use computer
animation. If you get a chance, listen to the "Brothers in Arms"
CD. It has some radio hits like "Walk of Life" as well as my
favorites "Your Latest Trick", "Ride Across the River",
and "The Man's Too Strong."
Prince's 1999 I enjoyed for its use of
synthesizers, all the rage in the 1980's. Back then, 1999 sure seemed a lot
further off in the future. I'm not a huge Prince fan, even though I have
two of his songs on this page, but I did enjoy the semi-autobiographical
movie Purple Rain and the song of the same name.
I consider the "Purple Rain" soundtrack to be Prince's best work;
that includes what he has done since becoming "The Artist", or as
I've seen one MIDI page creator call him, "the symbol guy."
99 Luftballons by the German group Nena
was a big MTV hit, which is where I first heard it. I bought the album of
the same name (I have the CD now) and discovered that Side Two was in
German. Their music is as good or better as anything today. I still listen
to "Das Land Der Elefanten" and "Kino." You might
remember this song better as "99 Red Balloons", the English
version. I prefer the German version.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood scored with Relax, also featured in a film.
Remember "Body Double" with Melanie Griffith? She was hot playing
a porn star who gets involved in an elaborate murder plot. The lead singer
of Frankie also had a bit part in the movie. Look for him in the
"movie within a movie" scene in the sex club. The drum beat makes
this song.
Richard Marx' Right Here Waiting came out late in the 1980's,
around 1989. For some reason the song reminded me of an
old girlfriend, Cindy Shaw. Probably the references to
"oceans apart", etc., since she and I split up in 1984 and didn't
get back together until 1989.
I'm pretty sure Rock The Casbah by The Clash is
another late 1970's song, but I heard it most in the early 80's. A friend
of mine used to get pumped up for Karate practice by listening to it.
Something About You by Level 42 I
heard first on MTV. I liked the European scenes, especially on the
Underground. The lead singer's voice has a nice quality to it, kind of like
Chris Rea or Martin Page. Speaking of the Underground, I remember my first
trip on it in London. I was on a tour organized by one of my high school
teachers. We had ridden the train into Picadilly from Kingston-upon-Thames
and walked around, just a small group of us. We watched the crowd going by,
such as the guy in a full leather outfit, multi-colored hair, and
carrying...a briefcase. We caught the Underground back to the train station
right at rush hour. A friend and I are standing, hanging onto the straps,
although we couldn't have fallen down if we tried, we were that packed in.
I'm holding the front of my shirt because my passport and traveler's checks
are in a holder hanging around my neck. My friend, Joe Gant, says:
"Sure don't have anything like this in Wichita, Kansas." The
crowd roars with laughter.
I've always thought Annie Lennox had a great voice. Sweet Dreams was the first I ever heard of
her. Dave Stewart, the other half of Eurhythmics, is a
great talent in his own right, but it was that expressive voice and
impressive range of Annie's that made their music memorable.
Tainted Love by Soft Cell had
renewed exposure by being featured in the movie "
Coneheads." Dan Ackroyd even sings some of the lyrics as he's
"gnarfling the Garthaag." My girlfriend at the time, Sharon Gose,
bought a cassette of Soft Cell music back in the 80's, so I got to listen
to more of their music. I wasn't overwhelmed.
A-ha's Take On Me video was probably the biggest
reason this song was a hit. The song itself is catchy, if not classic. The
scene I liked most in the video was stolen right out of the movie
"Altered States." Our hero is fluctuating between the cartoon
world and the real world. He's banging off the walls and
with each impact he changes from cartoon to real, similar to William Hurt
changing from that weird blob-creature to his normal self in the movie.
Roxette's The Look always seemed to be playing at
Exertech, the 24 hour gym I used to work out at in Wichita. It has a good
rhythm for pumping iron. And the female half of the duo, Marie Fredriksson,
is pretty easy on the eyes.
Turning Japanese had a resurgence with the
release of Chris Farley's movie "Beverly Hills Ninja."- Never
have heard anything else by The Vapors.
Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles
has the distinction, as most know, of being the first song/video ever
played on MTV. It is kind of catchy, but really more late
70's than 80's. But I've included it here because I never heard it until
the 80's.
I have always found Aimee Mann, lead singer of Til Tuesday,
very attractive. I think it's the intense eyes. I could imagine the two of
us in some all night diner discussing the decline of art and music in the
post-industrial world over a cup of hot tea. Voices Carry was the group's breakthrough
hit, and it didn't hurt that Aimee is so beautiful in the video.
Wanderlust by Paul McCartney was on the
"Tug of War" album and has a nice orchestral feel to it. It might
have been my theme song in the early 1990's when I did a bit of traveling
around the US. As it was, Metallica's "Where Ever I May Roam"
became my traveling theme. But that's another decade, and another story...
Working for The Weekend was the story of my life back in
1981-83. It was, rare, however, if I waited until the weekend to party. How
could I miss "Nickel Pitcher Night" on Mondays at Pogo's? You
could get totally trashed on a quarter, drinking that Kansas phenomenon,
3.2% beer. Of course, too much drinking can lead to problems, such as the
time I came back to the table after dancing to some song, picked up a cup,
took a big swallow, and nearly threw up. I had picked up someone's tobacco
spit cup, full of beer and the minty fresh combination of saliva and
tobacco juice. Loverboy had a few other hits, including
"The Kid is Hot Tonite" and "Turn Me Loose." The lead
singer, Mike Reno, also sang a duet with Annie Wilson of Heart for the
movie "Footloose."
Devo's Whip It has to be their best known song.
Who can forget those flower pot hats? The spudboys remain a favorite of
mine. "Peek-a-Boo", "Through Being Cool", and
"Going Under" are a few of my personal favorites. If all you have
heard is "Whip It", you're missing out. Get a copy of "The
New Traditionalists" CD and give it a listen.
In the spring and summer of 1983 I used to hang out frequently at a video
gameroom/pool hall on West Douglas in Wichita called "Shane's
Games." You Shook Me by AC/DC was
always playing on the jukebox. Yeah, nothing like drinking a couple of
bottles of Boone's Farm wine and heading over to the gameroom to hang out.
You Spin Me Around by Dead or Alive
I remember from a time I went to some soda bar with my underage sister. It
is a rite of passage, taking your younger brother or sister out for their
first night on the town. The group featured some cross-dressing androgynous
singer. (from the album "Youthquake" on Epic Records)
Back to The 80's
Complete Alphabetical Listing
of All Songs in the Warehouse
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