Musical punishment, circa 1985

January 3rd, 2009 8:01 pm · 12 comments

Spent last evening with some very old, very good friends who also graduated from high school in 1985 or thereabouts. So now we’re all older and slightly wider around the middle, all with young kids… and spent the evening dipping a little too heavily into the beverages for a bunch of 41-year-olds.

As always, you get to telling the old stories, again. And we start talking music, and I’m thinking about that year in music, 1985.

It may have been the worst year in the history of popular music.

As proof, take a look at this list:

1. Careless Whisper, Wham!
2. Like A Virgin, Madonna
3. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Wham!
4. I Want To Know What Love Is, Foreigner
5. I Feel For You, Chaka Khan
6. Out Of Touch, Daryl Hall and John Oates
7. Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Tears For Fears
8. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits
9. Crazy For You, Madonna
10. Take On Me, A-Ha
11. Everytime You Go Away, Paul Young
12. Easy Lover, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey
13. Can’t Fight This Feeling, REO Speedwagon
14. We Built This City, Starship
15. The Power Of Love, Huey Lewis and The News
16. Don’t You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds
17. Cherish, Kool and The Gang
18. St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion), John Parr
19. The Heat Is On, Glenn Frey
20. We Are The World, U.S.A. For Africa
21. Shout, Tears For Fears
22. Part-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder
23. Saving All My Love For You, Whitney Houston
24. Heaven, Bryan Adams
25. Everything She Wants, Wham!
26. Cool It Now, New Edition
27. Miami Vice Theme, Jan Hammer
28. Lover Boy, Billy Ocean
29. Lover Girl, Teena Marie
30. You Belong To The City, Glenn Frey
31. Oh Sheila, Ready For The World
32. Rhythm Of The Night, Debarge
33. One More Night, Phil Collins
34. Sea Of Love, Honeydrippers
35. A View To A Kill, Duran Duran
36. The Wild Boys, Duran Duran
37. You’re The Inspiration, Chicago
38. Neutron Dance, Pointer Sisters
39. We Belong, Pat Benatar
40. Nightshift, Commodores
41. Things Can Only Get Better, Howard Jones
42. All I Need, Jack Wagner
43. Freeway Of Love, Aretha Franklin
44. Never Surrender, Corey Hart
45. Sussudio, Phil Collins
46. Strut, Sheena Easton
47. You Give Good Love, Whitney Houston
48. The Search Is Over, Survivor
49. Missing You, Diana Ross
50. Separate Lives, Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin

 After 50 we get into a few songs which you might want to listen to again in the future. But I defy you to find three songs out of these first 50 that don’t make you cringe/retch.

Ah, the mid-’80s. I was younger, thinner and Republican. But the good old days weren’t always good.

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  12 comments  Tags: Uncategorized

There are currently 12 comments on this blog post
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clanker
1/3/09
7:14 PM
QUOTE (Lancaster Online @ Jan 3 2009, 07:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Post your thoughts and comments about this blog post.



Musically, I always thought of the 80's as the dark ages. The 70's had disco, but fortunately there was also funk, punk, and new wave. My ex, who is 10 years younger decided to have an 80's party once with school chums. What a weak party that was. Thanks goodness I was born with the start of rock 'n roll.
Lancaster
1/3/09
9:41 PM
QUOTE (Lancaster Online @ Jan 3 2009, 08:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Post your thoughts and comments about this blog post.


Agreed - pretty (very) bad
I liked a few though:

8. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits
16. Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds
18. St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion), John Parr
27. Miami Vice Theme, Jan Hammer
35. A View To A Kill, Duran Duran

This is from a person (me) who was into The Smiths, Violent Femmes, The Cure, Echo and The Bunnymen and Gang of Four at the time

The 80s pop music was very bad, but the more underground type stuff was very good.
The mid 80's was an awesome time in my life
Artie See
1/3/09
10:10 PM
QUOTE (Lancaster Online @ Jan 3 2009, 07:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
But I defy you to find three songs out of these first 50 that don’t make you cringe/retch.

8. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits (satire at its best)
10. Take On Me, A-Ha (admittedly EuroPop, but the video sealed it for me)
21. Shout, Tears For Fears (again the video makes the difference)
27. Miami Vice Theme, Jan Hammer (early techno)
39. We Belong, Pat Benatar (Admittedly borderline on being mushy, but ANYthing Pat Benatar does comes out good. That tiny little woman can really sing!)

There are other songs I MIGHT have included, but I do believe you would have argued with me about why. I do believe the biggest difference between you and I are (1) I appreciate good musical satire, (2) I like singers with strong, clear voices that are not overpowering (Pat Benetar, Bono of U2, the duo known as Tears For Fears, and even Petula Clark), and (3) I really like techno (for example, Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre).

The other issue is my perspective: I first became aware of popular music in the mid 1960s. To this day, I'm partial to basic rock, techno/psychedelia (such as Yes), and rich harmonies (3 Dog Night, Crosby Stills & Nash). To me, the mid to late 70s were a musical wasteland, with disco and commercial pop. The early to mid 1980s brought a resurgence in strong singers and melody, which was overwhelmed in the late 1980s into the 1990s by rap/hip-hop. It is only over the last few years that MUSIC has started to re-appear. Exception: the melodies, strong singing, complex harmonies, and techno influences of people like Enya (one of my all time favorites), Clannad, and Loreena McKennitt.

Add to this the fact that I spent a month in Israel in 1998. I didn't have a car, but the view of the Mediterranean Sea from my hotel window in Herzliya made the difference (I could lay in bed, watch TV, and see the waves crashing on the beach all at the same time). For four weeks I was able to watch the European feeds of both MTV and VH1, an experience which changed my perspective forever. The amount of GOOD music which never reaches the shores of the U.S. is truly incredible. I can only assume that the record companies decide what is best for us to listen to.
reese
1/3/09
10:11 PM		I really take exception to #8; Mark Knopfler's hook on "Money for Nothing" was inspired. Pretty much everything else on that list is dead on. Most music after 1980 stinks.





reese
1/3/09
10:20 PM
QUOTE (Artie See @ Jan 3 2009, 10:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
8. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits (satire at its best)
10. Take On Me, A-Ha (admittedly EuroPop, but the video sealed it for me)
21. Shout, Tears For Fears (again the video makes the difference)
27. Miami Vice Theme, Jan Hammer (early techno)
39. We Belong, Pat Benatar (Admittedly borderline on being mushy, but ANYthing Pat Benatar does comes out good. That tiny little woman can really sing!)

There are other songs I MIGHT have included, but I do believe you would have argued with me about why. I do believe the biggest difference between you and I are (1) I appreciate good musical satire, (2) I like singers with strong, clear voices that are not overpowering (Pat Benetar, Bono of U2, the duo known as Tears For Fears, and even Petula Clark), and (3) I really like techno (for example, Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre).

The other issue is my perspective: I first became aware of popular music in the mid 1960s. To this day, I'm partial to basic rock, techno/psychedelia (such as Yes), and rich harmonies (3 Dog Night, Crosby Stills & Nash). To me, the mid to late 70s were a musical wasteland, with disco and commercial pop. The early to mid 1980s brought a resurgence in strong singers and melody, which was overwhelmed in the late 1980s into the 1990s by rap/hip-hop. It is only over the last few years that MUSIC has started to re-appear. Exception: the melodies, strong singing, complex harmonies, and techno influences of people like Enya (one of my all time favorites), Clannad, and Loreena McKennitt.

Add to this the fact that I spent a month in Israel in 1998. I didn't have a car, but the view of the Mediterranean Sea from my hotel window in Herzliya made the difference (I could lay in bed, watch TV, and see the waves crashing on the beach all at the same time). For four weeks I was able to watch the European feeds of both MTV and VH1, an experience which changed my perspective forever. The amount of GOOD music which never reaches the shores of the U.S. is truly incredible. I can only assume that the record companies decide what is best for us to listen to.


Artie, did you see that re-make of "Take on Me" that was floating around youtube a few months ago? It was kind of cute. I never really cared for the song; I thought it was a little too treacley (if that's a word) for my taste, and the video made no sense at all.

Totally with you about U2; they were the last "new" band I liked. I'm also a classic rock fan.
lanzate
1/3/09
10:51 PM
QUOTE (Lancaster @ Jan 3 2009, 09:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The 80s pop music was very bad, but the more underground type stuff was very good.
The mid 80's was an awesome time in my life


I remember Y100 out of philadelphia always played the good stuff. Nena, Men without hats, taco, Flock of Seagulls, Erasure-- Nothing that made the charts but great 80's music.
Nick Danger
1/3/09
10:58 PM		There is plenty of good new music being made these days. Tune in to WXPN on 88.7. Listen for yourself.
gsmart
1/4/09
12:49 AM
QUOTE (reese @ Jan 3 2009, 11:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I really take exception to #8; Mark Knopfler's hook on "Money for Nothing" was inspired


I'll buy that, and Sting's harmonies are killer.

Look, there was some decent music to come out of this period - the Police, maybe even Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Van Halen - 1984. Prince's "Purple Rain." R.E.M.

But this is the stuff I remember dominating the radio. So much garbage/nonsense - the '70s and then later the '90s produced so much better stuff,
Lancaster
1/4/09
1:13 AM
QUOTE (gsmart @ Jan 4 2009, 01:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'll buy that, and Sting's harmonies are killer.

Look, there was some decent music to come out of this period - the Police, maybe even Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Van Halen - 1984. Prince's "Purple Rain." R.E.M.

But this is the stuff I remember dominating the radio. So much garbage/nonsense - the '70s and then later the '90s produced so much better stuff,



Funny, but I always did think that was a distinct line between the music years 1984 and 1985 for some reason
gsmart
1/4/09
1:24 AM
QUOTE (Lancaster @ Jan 4 2009, 02:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Funny, but I always did think that was a distinct line between the music years 1984 and 1985 for some reason


I actually thought Tears for Fears' "Songs From the Big Chair" was a killer album. Very atmospheric, for a 19-year-old kid.
justplainjoe
1/4/09
3:15 AM		i can't listen to music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. it brings back too many bad memories,LOL

Artie See
1/4/09
2:33 PM
QUOTE (reese @ Jan 3 2009, 10:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Artie, did you see that re-make of "Take on Me" that was floating around youtube a few months ago? It was kind of cute.

I missed that. YouTube has never really appealed to me, unless I am in the mood.

Thanks for the heads-up.
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