Rockers Galore. You know the score.
In one of my intermittent good moods brought on by excellent Japanese food and delightful company this evening, I will send a double CD set of the tunes currently clogging up my stereo to the first/next/only (the latter is most likely) five people to post their top three (that's 3) favourite 1980's songs here.
posted by lukeski at 12:47 am
21 Comments:
Hmm, will have to have a think about that and get back to you. I am overworked (and yes, underpaid) and haven't had a festive thought in days. I'll sleep on it...
Just to make sure no stone of my clogged up thinking process goes unturned, I can tell you that I think the Smiths, whom I have just rediscovered, are going to get an airing when I finally come up with a full threesome. I'll have it with you by the end of the month...
Favourite?
Probably, if pushed, these:
How Soon Is Now? (The Smiths)
Then I realise the 80s were a decade that deserve to be burned in hell forever, as I was/am too young to experience/remember the time before Thatcherism triumphed. And my main record-buying phase was around the time that Stock, Aitken and Waterman were puking out their pop stuff á la Rick Astley and Sinitta. Not to mention Sabrina.
Then, if pushed, I think of The Cure and Friday I'm In Love or Boys Don't Cry.
And then of Depeche Mode / The Meaning of Love.
First records bought:
Happy Talk (Captain Sensible)
Love Me Tender (Roland Rat "Superstar")
and probably something by Culture Club, a long break, and the album "Raintown" (with "Riches") by Deacon Blue.
Current "Ohrwürme" from the 80s caused by evil shopping centre management:
One Moment In Time (Whitney Houston)
Various 80s Stevie Wonder covers
Rick Astley (various).
How Soon Is Now? would also be one of my choices. Quite unlike anything I remember at the time, or, indeed, have heard since. And it is currently backing ads for the final series of the West Wing here in the UK. Billie Jean by MJ, of course. Rebel Without a Pause by Public Enemy.
I thought the MJ music rule was that one was allowed to like anything sung pre-scalpel and bleach-being-applied-to-skin and nothing after. And BJ, surely, comes after. So justify yourself - is that a Simple Minds song? - even if this is your own blog and you can, of course, have opinions all of your own. Is BJ the one with the video with the dancefloor/pavement that lights up? I once danced 'pon a similar dancefloor in Norwich - although the underfloor electrification seemed to occur at random, as opposed to when foot-pressure was applied - and what's-'er-name singer from Norwich - is it Cathy Dennis? Is she now living in a bedsit in Harlesden? - was strutting friendlily away right alongside us. Does Groove is in the Heart count as 80s? My Deee-Lite tape was released in 1990, which could easily mean the song was from the 80s. Were they ahead of their time or what? I went to a horribly groovy gay club's opening night here once full of perfect bitchy queens and even they had to stop being cool when GiitH came on and strut their stuff.
If we're allowed to break the rules a bit and talk about first records bought, I am so chuffed to bollocks to say that my first single ever was Uptown Top Rankin' by Althea and Donna. It was my first and last cool moment. My first album was some shit by Evelyn King. Not so cool. (Although I loved "Love Come Down".) Still, no white trash, eh?
BiB - Cathy Dennis is a very succesful songwriter. Coining it. She wrote Can't Get You Out of My Head for Kylie and Toxic for Britney, among others.
Was that Peppermint Park then? Or Fifth Avenue?
Cathy Dennis: "Nothin' but a good time" was one of her hits, wasn't it?
I have no idea how it goes, but the words seem to fit together in a kind of "Bruno Brookes stuck inside my head saying this song title whenever anyone mentions Ms Dennis" way.
I can't remember any of her songs, per se, although I've got a feeling she was the type I was meant to pretend to fancy back in the closeted days of late teenagerhood. Dunno if I pulled it off.
The Norwich club was called Hy's, which a quick google informs me has now closed. Dunno if it was pants or not. Just remember the floor.
Hy's! Mein Gott! I had erased that from my memory...
I'm thinking it must have been summer 1991. I've been trying to think back to how little I must have had to drink on a night out back then. Oh...
Erm, songs. 80s. Fuck, that was a long time ago. Still thinking, Liukchik. OH! Duel by Propaganda. That must have been 80s. No Germans have even heard of them. So eine Schande!
OK. I have checked and there is no way I can claim Groove is in the Heart is an 80s song. Which is, I suppose, fitting. How could it possibly have been an end-of-an-era song when it was so clearly a heralding-a-new-era song? So, and in no particular order:
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by the Smiths (this is a slightly random and tokenised Smiths insertion, but it would have been sacrilege to leave them out when they WERE my 80s).
Iko Iko by Natasha.
Duel by Propaganda.
Do I win a prize?
Do I win a prize too?
You both do, of course. I am still waiting for other readers/lurkers to dive in and test the water. Or maybe you two are the only fans of 80's music/only readers old enough to remember any of it;) I know this not to be the case following the discussion of the dreadful PAul McCartney/Michael Jackson song 'Say Say Say' we had at work yesterday. It was a big hit on the Continent, according to our Spanish/Italian colleagues.
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"Say say say" was going to be on the top of my list, but after a long and painful meditation I have decided that I can only consider it my 4th favourite song of the 80's.
This is my list:
*1985: "Part-time lover" by Stevie Wonder (In square circle)
*1988: "First we take Manhattan" by Leonard Cohen (I'm your man)
*1989: "Strawman" by Lou Reed (New York)
Can I change "First we take Manhattan" for "Everybody knows" (same author,same album)?
Did I get the prize?
I was about to ask if I could change the Smiths song to 'The No. 1 Song in Heaven' by The Sparks, but it turns out it's from 1979. Fuck. I've decided now I loathe Morrissey and all links to the (distant) past.
Sparks. That brings back memories - the moustachioed/evil-looking pianist and the curly-haired fop with the funny voice. And they are brothers. And still releasing music. 'This town ain't big enough for the both of us' is a classic.
Ok, it's got to be...
Ever Fallen in Love?
Buzzcocks
Can't Stand Losing You
Police
Sweet Dreams
Eurythmics
I don't ever remember hearing any of these tunes being played at any night out i've ever been to. I've yet to hear Lukeski P hit the decks though...
So do i get free stuff now?
Nope - Buzzcocks track released in 1978. You could go for the Fine Young Cannibals version, though.
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