Top 10 1980s tunes and why
I created a box set of 1980s songs for my brother for Christmas a few years ago. It was broken up into themes: Cool Kids, American Rock, Soundtracks, Anthems, Synth Pop, Hair Bands etc. I had a lot of fun making it and even more enjoyment listening to it with him.
The 1980s, for all it is maligned as a musical era, gave birth to a lot of things: the CD, the cassette single, the music video (this is debatable) as a commodity and visual marketing as a whole. Prior to 1979 (the year I consider the beginning of the 1980s musically), marketing and production were formulaic: go into the studio, make a record, release the record and tour in support of the record. If it failed, you went back in and made another - this time with a big name producer and spending months at a time. In the 1980s, musical technology came of age too: MIDI was formalized as a technology and it allowed for all sorts of amazing musical advances: songs could be sequenced, tempos could be set - for an entire song!?! This control simultaneously created freedom - freedom for people to make records faster and more economically.
Thus artists and labels in the 1980s made more records of more types in more genres and sub-genres than ever before. This led to an explosion of product in the market and a need for a different type of marketing - visual marketing. No longer was musical style the single defining characteristic of an artist. The hair, the clothes - the ensemble were now part of the public consciousness. I blame MTV.
We didn't have cable at my house until I went to college. Thus I didn't see MTV with any regularity until 1986 or 1987. My exposure to records to this point was framed largely by college radio (WDCV FM, 88.3 - the bottom of the dial but the top of the charts) and by my several tiimes per week visits to the local record stores. I credit much of what I know about music to reading record sleeves. Rolling Stone played a bit part but nothing beats the source.
On to the list. My favorite ten songs of the 1980s with occasional reasoning and commentary (in no particular order):
1. REM - So. Central Rain (Reckoning - 1984)
How much more can you say than "I'm sorry" and sum up so many things?
2. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now - (Hatful of Hollow - 1984)
The most ubiquitous guitar riff of the decade. Never gets old. Makes the fact that Johnny Marr is now in Modest Mouse even more meaningful.
3. U2 - Sweetest Thing (B-side to Where the Streets Have No Name single - 1987)
4. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Perfect Skin (Easy Pieces - 1984)
Lloyd Cole wrote the soundtrack to a lot of NYC lives. I just didn't know it until I lived there.
5. Felt - Primitive Painters (Ignite the Seven Cannons - 1987)
We all wanted to be shoegazers in 1985-1987. We wore leather jackets and tried not to smile. This song sums up that feeling. Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins singing made it perfect.
6. Shriekback - Nemesis (Oil and Gold - 1985)
I used to know I was at a good party when this song came on. It was - like "Groove Is In the Heart" by Deelite in the 1990s - THE party song of 1986-1987. At least where I was.
7. The Feelies - Slipping (into something) (The Good Earth - 1985)
I wrote a post about this record somewhere along the line. May be the most fun song to play live. Ever.
8. Oingo Boingo - Not My Slave (Boi-ngo - 1987)
This song was on the Something Wild soundtrack (with Melanie Griffiths - and the Feelies as the prom band). I helped my friend Kate move out of the freshman dorms to the soundtrack. We listened to it on her boombox (an 80s artifact to be sure!) over and over. Love cassettes.
9. The Stone Roses - Waterfall (The Stone Roses - 1989)
Most people who know me know this is my favorite record of all time. I had to choose one.
10. Modern English - Melt With You (After the Snow - 1983)
The song that sums up all my 1980s experiences - and probably yours too? This song is timeless - despite the frequent appearances in television commercials etc.
The 1980s, for all it is maligned as a musical era, gave birth to a lot of things: the CD, the cassette single, the music video (this is debatable) as a commodity and visual marketing as a whole. Prior to 1979 (the year I consider the beginning of the 1980s musically), marketing and production were formulaic: go into the studio, make a record, release the record and tour in support of the record. If it failed, you went back in and made another - this time with a big name producer and spending months at a time. In the 1980s, musical technology came of age too: MIDI was formalized as a technology and it allowed for all sorts of amazing musical advances: songs could be sequenced, tempos could be set - for an entire song!?! This control simultaneously created freedom - freedom for people to make records faster and more economically.
Thus artists and labels in the 1980s made more records of more types in more genres and sub-genres than ever before. This led to an explosion of product in the market and a need for a different type of marketing - visual marketing. No longer was musical style the single defining characteristic of an artist. The hair, the clothes - the ensemble were now part of the public consciousness. I blame MTV.
We didn't have cable at my house until I went to college. Thus I didn't see MTV with any regularity until 1986 or 1987. My exposure to records to this point was framed largely by college radio (WDCV FM, 88.3 - the bottom of the dial but the top of the charts) and by my several tiimes per week visits to the local record stores. I credit much of what I know about music to reading record sleeves. Rolling Stone played a bit part but nothing beats the source.
On to the list. My favorite ten songs of the 1980s with occasional reasoning and commentary (in no particular order):
1. REM - So. Central Rain (Reckoning - 1984)
How much more can you say than "I'm sorry" and sum up so many things?
2. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now - (Hatful of Hollow - 1984)
The most ubiquitous guitar riff of the decade. Never gets old. Makes the fact that Johnny Marr is now in Modest Mouse even more meaningful.
3. U2 - Sweetest Thing (B-side to Where the Streets Have No Name single - 1987)
4. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Perfect Skin (Easy Pieces - 1984)
Lloyd Cole wrote the soundtrack to a lot of NYC lives. I just didn't know it until I lived there.
5. Felt - Primitive Painters (Ignite the Seven Cannons - 1987)
We all wanted to be shoegazers in 1985-1987. We wore leather jackets and tried not to smile. This song sums up that feeling. Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins singing made it perfect.
6. Shriekback - Nemesis (Oil and Gold - 1985)
I used to know I was at a good party when this song came on. It was - like "Groove Is In the Heart" by Deelite in the 1990s - THE party song of 1986-1987. At least where I was.
7. The Feelies - Slipping (into something) (The Good Earth - 1985)
I wrote a post about this record somewhere along the line. May be the most fun song to play live. Ever.
8. Oingo Boingo - Not My Slave (Boi-ngo - 1987)
This song was on the Something Wild soundtrack (with Melanie Griffiths - and the Feelies as the prom band). I helped my friend Kate move out of the freshman dorms to the soundtrack. We listened to it on her boombox (an 80s artifact to be sure!) over and over. Love cassettes.
9. The Stone Roses - Waterfall (The Stone Roses - 1989)
Most people who know me know this is my favorite record of all time. I had to choose one.
10. Modern English - Melt With You (After the Snow - 1983)
The song that sums up all my 1980s experiences - and probably yours too? This song is timeless - despite the frequent appearances in television commercials etc.
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