To my left, one of the greatest bands to ever stagger onto a stage, THE REPLACEMENTS! When I think of the 80's, it's not necessarily the Flock of Seagulls or Cyndi Lauper that spring to my mind, but more like these dudes...amongst others. What say you?
Hit me with your favorite songs/ albums/ etc from the lost decade... Now officially substituting Rick 8 for Chuck P!
Enjoy! And no one has guessed my lyrics in awhile....where's Tuttle when I need him? Come to think of it ...WHERE IS TUTTLE? Come on buddy, that baby ain't here yet...
Was there music in the eighties?
ReplyDeleteOXO- (song) "Whirly Girl".
ReplyDelete(OXO was an obscure pop band from Cuba that performed on American Bandstand one fine Saturday. They played, er, lip-synched this song and I was hooked instantly. I bought the 45 and it had a cool B-side song too. You can find it on ITunes, but it is a re-make by the band's lead singer. It's a fair remake.
PRINCE- Anything and everything by this maniac.
BRUCE - "Born in the USA" (The whole damn cassette was good! And I haven't said those words in twenty years!)
SLY FOX- (song) "Let's Go All The Way".
(Prom. A tie around my head. It seemed like a good idea at the time.)
ZZ TOP- (album) "Eliminator".
After watching their video for "Sharp Dressed Man", I felt like I had lost my virginity.
LL COOL J.- (song) "I Need Love".
(The song playing when I actually lost my virginity.... and put on a pair of pants that had been laying in a bed of fire ants.)
U2- (album) "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree".
(At the time I thought "Hey, these guys are really cool. I wonder if they'll be around for very long.")
ETC. ETC. haha.
Lots of dicoveries in the 80s musical and non-musical.
No way i could choose just five from the era that defined my formative years.
ReplyDeleteBut here are some songs
*Jukebox Hero- foreigner
My love affair with this song is well documented. It pretty much IS the quintessential dirty white boy rock song of the early 80s.
*Come On Eileen- Dexys Midnight Runners
One of a hundred early MTV songs i could reference. Finding those silly videos made Music Television so much fun. Remember when videos were happy and fun??!!!!
*Let the Music Play- Shannon
One of a hundred sub par dance songs i could reference. But this one always seemed a cut above the rest.
* Suzanne Vegas self titled debut album made an impression, as did the Violent Femmes first effort. I loved the early B52s...songs like Queen of Las Vegas and Counterfeit.
* I loved early hip hop. Who doesnt love the Sugarhill Gang....Apache is my favorite from them, but it really wasnt until Run DMC did Hard Times that i really started to notice what "the message" was with alot of it. I loved LL Cool Js "Bad" album and my love affair with rap pretty much ended with Public Enemys Fear of a Black Planet. I loved Brothers Gonna Work it Out and Burn Hollywood Burn.
QUEEN OF LAS VEGAS "Let's meet and have a baby now!!!"
ReplyDeleteAnd DAMN Millsy, I forgot all about Whirly-girl!!!!
Bastards Of Young (The Replacements)(By SUPERDRAG)
ReplyDeleteOoo...didn't know Superdrag covered that song. It was the Replacements however, who crafted it and I think it's one of the finest rock songs of that decade. In fact, from the opening chords of that song, I knew I was gonna be a "Mats" fan...and the name of the album it was on?
ReplyDelete"TIM"...how fitting...
Hey--
ReplyDeleteMusic I finally listen to, some of this of course is a rehash but here goes, songs and albums:
1. Thriller
2. Purple Rain
3. Krush Groove Soundtrack (yet I said it...)
4. Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome, By the Time I get to Arizona, 911 is a Joke,
5. The entire ovuere of New Edition, including Popcorn Love, Candy Girl, Is This the End, Mr. Telephone Man, Lost In Love, Count Me Out, Cool It Now, Can You Stand the Rain, If It Isn't Love + Ralph Tresvant's solo Sensitivity and Bobby Brown's My Perogative...add in Johnny Gill and Good God its a murderer's row!!
6. Heavy D and the Boyz, UTFO, Whodini, Run DMC, Eric B and Rahkim, Lisenced to Ill (Paul Revere, Hold It Now, No Sleep till Brooklyn), Big Daddy Kane, Guy, Al B Sure, Boyz II Men, LL Cool J, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam featuring Full Force, Jody Whatley, Cameo (It's like Candy, Word Up with the video starring Levar Burton as the dancing PI)
7. NWA and Eazy E...changed the face of rap forever
8. Started dating white girls and moved into: the Cure, Siousxie and the Banshees for a very short time, Depeche Mode, U2, INXS, the Outfield...
BTW, Joy, Let the Music Play was GREAT dance song, I killed it roller skating every Friday night when I was in 6th grade...
Let the snickering begin!!
Peace
Rick
No snickering necessary...but
ReplyDelete"By the time I get to Arizona" was early 90's , I believe.
If This Is It--Huey Lewis and The News ('ells yeah, baby!)
ReplyDeleteWaiting Room--Fugazi (broke it all wide open.)
Down Under--Men at Work (we all wanted to be from there after that song)
Durango95--Ramones (the one instrumental in the holy canon)
Bad--U2 (especially the live version off Wide Awake in America
I'll also give you:
Heartbreak a Stranger--Bob Mould
Copperhead Road--Steve Earle
Forest Fire--Dead Kennedys
I Saw Your Mommy--Suicidal Tendencies
21st Century Digital Boy--Bad Religion
Sucker MC's--Run DMC
Fight Like A Brave--Red Hot Chili Peppers
So What?--Ministry
O.K. here I go.
ReplyDeleteU2 War (Two hearts Beat as One)
U2 The Unforgettable Fire (The title track)
U2 Joshua Tree (Bullet the Blue Sky)
The Police Synchronicity (Wrapped Around Your Finger)
The Clash Sandanista (Charlie Don't Surf and Magnificent Seven)
The Talking Heads (Stop Making Sense)
R.E.M. Murmur
R.E.M. Life's Rich Pageant
The Cars (Candy-O and Panorama)
The Knack (My Sharona)
The Smiths (Meat is Murder)
Jesus Mary Chain (Psycho Candy)
Prince 1999 and Purple Rain
All the Police albums
Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Relax)
Bow Wow Wow
Adam and the Ants
Oingo Boingo
The Romantics (What I Like About You)
Oh what sweet Memories!!!!!!!!
Billy Squier Big Beat
Peace,
D$
Bad--U2 (especially the live version off Wide Awake in America
ReplyDeleteBilly Squier Big Beat
Ab-so-fuckin-lutely!
OH MY GOD! I completely left out MEN AT WORK! That's rediculous for someone who worshipped those fame-hating Aussies. "Business As Usual" and "Cargo" rocked my world.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all this music, I have got to get my list together..
ReplyDeleteA few glaring omissions for me....
ReplyDeleteMy fav 80s band was the Cocteau Twins. I think Elizabeth Glazers vocal stylings make Siguer Ros seem quaint by comparison.
And of course there was my inner rock chick that burst out and had an affair with heavy hitters Metallica. I also loved that first Guns and Roses album...who didnt. and a shout out to Sinead OConner whose debut album was so good.
Rick- so much of your list was the soundtrack for my early to mid teen years. How could i have forgotten Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam OR Sheila E. I remember running in gym class with my friend Tara and reciting every line of The Times Chili Sauce. And who can forget "The Show".
Not only did I forget Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew, I forgot my namesake Slick Rick!! What an omission!!! And there was also Dana Dane, who's song Cinderfella used to crack me up...Also, the UTFO guys broke off and did a song called Fairy Tale Lover that was one of the great slow jams of my 8th grade year...The Force MD's were great as well...
ReplyDeleteI also can't believe I left off De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and 3rd Bass...I get the Gasface for that!!
Then there was the Real Roxanne, Roxanne Chante, Roxanne's Grandmama, Roxanne's garbage man, Roxanne's Gynecologist...they beat that Roxanne Roxanne stuff into the ground...
Also, I am embarrased to admit this one, but I owned 2 Live Crew's As Nasty as They Wanna Be tape (yes...tape!) I was rolling into teen night clubs (which is funny in and of itself) in Virginia Beach that were blasting Me So Horny (maybe that was 1990 but I swear it came out in 89, the year I graduated...)
Tim X...I think your right about Arizona and maybe Welcome to the Terrordome as well, I don't remember, I was to buzy fightin' the powers that be...except for the crack about John Wayne, I liked him!! He would kick Flav's ass without breaking a sweat...
I'll also admit that one of the greatest concerts I ever saw was Big Daddy Kane, Oaktown 357, a couple of other people all opening for MC Hammer and he blew them all off the stage...Yes Hammer became a cartoon and he couldn't rap to save his life, but seeing him live, good Lord it was a religious experience...
Can't touch this...
Can't touch this...
Can't touch this...
You can all thank me for having that song in your head for the rest of the day!!
Peace
Rick
Plus there was also EPMD...
ReplyDeleteR
Who sang that song Shackles?? I cant remember....."shackles on my feet, are shackles on my mind, people, get up, off your behind".....
ReplyDeleteI was working at Starwood amphitheatre when the MC Hammer tour in question rolled into town. It WAS an experience, I'll say that...I too loved Third Base ("Pop goes the weasel cause the weasel goes POP!")
ReplyDeleteRight: Here we go!
ReplyDelete- THE REPLACEMENTS (particularly the albums TIM and LET IT BE)- I'll never forget the first time I heard the heard BASTARDS OF YOUNG at Cats Records. Mark Shenkel dropped the needle on a sonic assault that, for the first time, felt and sounded like someone singing for MY generation...I bought the ALBUM right there (It was called TIM for god's sake!) Sloppy, disjointed and brilliant all at the same time. They never quite recovered from Bob Stinson's death, but Paul Westerberg still makes some damned good music today. Without the MATS (and Husker Du as well) there would have been no Kurt Cobain, no Pearl Jam, no Seatle scene period.
SPRINGSTEEN- NEBRASKA and THE RIVER- Believe it or not, I never really liked BORN IN THE USA that much, but these stark, bleak portraits of the American landscape in the Reagan era were absolute instant classics.NEBRASKA has been the blueprint and jumping off point for the majority of the Americana scene of today.
U2- WAR through RATTLE AND HUM- Some of the finest music ever made. Great songwriting, soaring vocals and the Edge's dizzying guitar tapestries combined with the fattest backbeat in rock and roll. Brilliant stuff that stands up today.
JUDAS PRIEST (British Steel) and IRON MAIDEN (Number of the Beast & Piece of Mind)- Three of the greatest and TRUEST heavy metal albums ever made. Hard rock the way God (or maybe Satan?) intended it to sound!
PRINCE- CONTROVERSY through PURPLE RAIN- Sheer musical genius and groovy as hell! Some of the best dance music ever made.
JASON AND THE (Nashville) SCORCHERS- FERVOR and LOST AND FOUND- The greatest unhearlded band ever. These guys were just too far ahead of the curve for their own good. Without a doubt, one of the five greatest live acts of all time, but their records were pretty damned good too. Their version of Dylan's ABSOLUTELY SWEET MARIE is the definitive version of that tune...
And, just for the hell of it-
Psychedelic Furs (esp LOVE MY WAY)
Plimsouls
John COUGAR Mellancamp
Van Halen
Sammy Hagar
Van Halen WITH Sammy Hagar
Pat Benetar
Berlin (LOVE ME some Terri Nunn!)
Haircut 100
Soul Asylum (HANG TIME- GREAT album!)
The Ramones
The Clash
and...
NIGHT FUCKIN RANGER!!!! (Take that, haters!)
Jeesh...this was my decade. There's just too many to name...
How can I resist?? Okay, here goes . . .
ReplyDeleteI started the 80s firmly in the British pop music camp. I was living there at the time and what a time it was!! Bucks Fizz had just won the World Music Contest, Queen played on my dad's HI FI almost every day and Adam and the Ants were gods. I also loved Haircut 100, Toya, Kim Wilde and Blondie was HUGE over there during the early 80s.
Once I got back to the states, strangely enough, I was introduced to Duran Duran. I heart them!! And then I couldn't shake the British (Scottish) Pop thing for a while - Big Country, Sheena Easton, Banana Rama, Culture Club, Dexys and the like.
Along came Prince, A-Ha, Madonna, Michael Jackson, U2 of course - I sort of started liking all types of music, wasn't too picky.
Late 80s - Smithereens, Pretty in Pink soundtrack, REM
Then came grunge, baby . . .
Music, in the eighties! Who'd have thunk it?
ReplyDeleteDuran Duran hell yea! Hold Back The Rain!
ReplyDeleteI believe "keep your hands off my power supply" says everything about the eighties that needs to be said.
ReplyDeletex, bodeans, delfuegos, HUSKER Freakin' Du!!!!, dream syndicate (who can forget Halloween?), IRS era R.E.M., riff rath, the riffs, wooly mammoth
ReplyDeleteAs Todd Snyder says, "piles and piles of Tom Petty."
ReplyDeleteHe's on my list for the 80s, and the 70s, and in anticipation of the 90s and even the double-oughts. Love me some Petty. Many others, too, but y'all have pretty much covered it for me.
For years, Chris Rose has talked about starting a band that plays only covers of Petty tunes. He wants to call the band "Petty Thieves." Brilliant! I call drums...
bs
Best Tom Petty story ever-
ReplyDeleteWhen playing the NO NUKES concert in 80, he went on right before Springsteen. His manager came up to him and said,"Tom, when you go out there you'll hear something that sounds like boos, but it's not the audience booing. They're just yelling BRUCE"...and Petty retorted, in that great central Florida drawl, "Well, what's the differnce?"
Fletch, Dream Sndicate ruled! Freddie G and I saw them at Elliston Square in the summer of 89. Good times...
BTW Fletch...your list is suspiciously devoid of any Heavy Metal...what gives? THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was a big metal head in the late 80's.
ReplyDeleteAC/DC, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Guns n Roses (made rock tough again), LA Guns, and many more that would probably take me awhile to remember the names. A special shout out for rick and I Poison felt my pain with Every Rose Has Its Thorn - still rips me up inside...
Guilty pleasures - Prince, Huey Lewis and the News, Cyndi Lauper, and a few others that I never would have admitted to at the time.
There was a lot of crap, but all in all a pretty good decade for music.
oh, sorry tim. I would have thought that a healthy dose of eighties metal was something of a given. but, here goes...
ReplyDeleteSaxon-this town rocks
Krokus- Nashville's house band rockin' with Long Stick Goes Boom
Whitesnake-Slide It In, indeed
Ozzy...ahem
Dio
Accept
Aldo Nova-life IS just a fantasy...Do the gator!!!!
Waysted!!
and of course...Maiden rules!!!!
Steve, you openly admit to liking LA Guns but you refer to PRINCE as a guilty pleasure???? As Scooby Doo would say "Rooooo?"
ReplyDeleteBig points, Wretch, for bringing up WAYSTED!!!
I will try and list things not mentioned...
ReplyDeleteKim Carnes-Bette Davis Eyes
Steve Winwood-Back in the High Life Again
Human League-Don't You Want Me
Steve Miller Band-Abracadabra
Steve Perry-Oh Sherrie
Men At Work-Who Can it Be Now
Police-Every Breath You Take
Blondie-Call Me
Hall&Oats-One On One/Sara's Smile
GoGo's-We Got the Beat
Jackson Brown-Somebody's Baby
Soft Cell- Tainted Love
Michael Jackson ALL
David Bowie-Let's Dance
Eurythmics-Sweet Dreams
Culture Club-Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
Madonna ALL
Pretenders -Brass in Pocket
Prince ALL
Talking Heads-Burning Down the House
Eric Clapton ALL
Billy Idol-White Wedding
Phil Collins-Take a Look at Me Now
John Waite-Missing You
Cyndi Lauper-Time After Time/True Colors
Cars-Drive
Wang Chung-Everybody Had Fun Tonight
Paul Young-Everytime You Go Away
Sade-Smooth Operator
Joan Armatraden ALL
Simply Red-Holding Back the Years
Peter Gabriel ALL
Heart-These Dreams
Pet Shop Boys-West End Girls
Bangels-Manic Monday
NuShooz-I Can't Wait
Janet Jackson-Let's Wait Awhile
Suzanne Vega-Luka
Chris Issak
Geroge Michael
INXS-Need You Tonight
Rick Astley-Never Gonna Give You Up
Terrence Trent D'Arby-Wishing Well
Squeeze-Tempted
Geroge Benson-Breezin'/Give Me the Night/This Masquerade
Edie Brickell-What I Am
Donna Summer ALL
B52-Rock Lobster/Love Shack
Fine Young Cannibals-She Drives Me Crazy...oops, I guess I had to remention some...
"Sometimes your better off dead
ReplyDeletethere's a gun in your hand, pointing at your head, you think you're mad, too unstable, kicking in chairs and knocking down tables in a resturaunt, in a west end town, call the police, there's a madman around, run em down, underground, to a dive bar in a west end town...
In a west end town, a dead end world, east end boys and west end girls, in a west end town, a dead end world, the east end boys and west end girls....West end girls!!!"
Yes, I was there...and I'll be here all week, try the veal!!
Peace
Rick
Bondd, John Waite in particularly MISSING YOU) is fantastic! I have seen him perform four or five times over the years, and I've always felt he was WAY underrated...and nice call on the NU SHOOZ tune! LOVED it...
ReplyDeletemissing you is great and everything, but how 'bout Midnight Rendevous?
ReplyDeleteGreat song- No need to sell me on the BABYS- loved em! I was GONNA say MIDNIGHT RENDEVOUS was 70's BUT it just barely made the 80's (Jan 80)- BTW Fletch, they released ON THE EDGE in OCTOBER of 80 (maybe their best album ever). Remember the days when bands released two kick ass albums per year? Ahhh- those were the days!
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteI was trying to give on honest representation of my tastes in the 80's. Now adays things are different, hell I was a teenager, what the hell did I know.
At the time I wouldn's admit to liking U2, now I have U2 cd's but not a single Ozzy or Iron Maiden, and no not a single LA Guns song has been played on anything I own in close to 20 years.
I am a recovering bad muicalholic. I listened to a lot of crap that I am too ashamed to admit to, LA Guns had kind of a brief flare up, riding the coat tails of GNR. By the 90's they were forgotten and GNR had imploded, such was the life of the 80's music scene.
Just ribbing you, big guy~
ReplyDeleteI, too, had an LA Guns album or two...their debut wasn't too bad. It's more the refering to Prince as a guilty pleasure that I was commenting on. I think Prince is one of the top five live artists I've ever seen...
I agree with your assesment of Prince. But to be a metal head in high school, Prince was unacceptable. God high school really sucked didn't it?
ReplyDeleteI look back and realize that I was trying really hard to be a "non-conformist" by making sure I was just like the other metal heads and not like the other cliques, I don't know what it was like for anyone else, but High Schools in Florida were very split amongst the different cliques back during the Reagan years.
"I agree with your assesment of Prince. But to be a metal head in high school, Prince was unacceptable..."
ReplyDeleteI see your point. I was looking at this through adult eys, and not that of a high school student. I, too, was ridiculed for my love of Springsteen by all the metal dudes i hung with who just couldn't FATHOM how I could like more than one genre of music!!
I must say, I remember listening to a Ratt tape while traveling to the cinema one to see probably one of the best music movies of the eighties, Purple Rain. Metal heads and Prince fans CAN live in harmony with one another!
ReplyDeleteyou can truly tell my list was made by a female and a bit older, I had just finished my Bachelors degree at UK...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think PURPLE RAIN kinda changed the perception people had of PRINCE. He was seen more as a rock artist,as opposed to the more R and B guy he was previously. PURLE RAIN made it kind of acceptable for a rocker dude to dig PRINCE. The guitar solo at the end of LETS GO CRAZY was as responsible for that as anything in the film...good point, SIRRAH...
ReplyDelete