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If you were a teenager in 1983, I have one question for you: what were you wearing? Or, just let me see a picture. I'll tell you in an instant what music you were listening to. Long hair, concert T-shirt, jeans and Vans? You probably weren't much into Depeche Mode. Wearing a lot of PURPLE?? Let me guess...
But fashion wasn't just an expression of musical taste. It was identity. Music was fashion, and vice-versa. MTV put every Pop artist on television. Teenagers fed off the styles they saw in videos and TV shows, and the media just as often stole their looks from kids on the street.
And then there was the music. The change in Pop was the most dramatic shift since the late Sixties. The Eighties introduced lots of unmistakeably new sounds: synthesizer and techno beats, teeny-bopper girl rock, a hot new R&B, the second British Invasion, and Heavy Metal. A lot of it was different, but very bad. A lot of it was good.
Here are the best, ready to wear:
Don't Stand So Close To Me - The Police (1981)
Bette Davis Eves - Kim Carnes (1981)
Tainted Love - Soft Cell (1982)
I Ran - A Flock Of Seagulls (1982)
867-5309 (Jenny) - Tommy Tutone (1982)
Our Lips Are Sealed - Go-Go's (1983)
Little Red Corvette - Prince (1983)
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (1983)
Down Under - Men At Work (1983)
Photograph - Def Leppard (1983)
When Doves Cry - Prince (1984)
Pink Houses - John Cougar Mellencamp (1984)
May 10, 2010
May 09, 2010
Photograph - Def Leppard (1983)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #90 [unavailable on iTunes]
A shout-out to my good friend Kevin, for filling my high school days with all the glam-rock, hair metal, head-banging 80s cheese I could ever want.
Was any of it good? Looking back: not much. Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Cinderella, RATT, Poison, Slayer, Judas Priest, and of course Def Leppard.
The volume of bad songs matched the volume of the hairspray.
Which is why Photograph is so surprising. It's got winner hooks, lyrics that aren't completely ridiculous or misogynistic, and a Pop-inspired sound I wanted to hear long after we all got haircuts (yes, even Kevin).
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #90 [unavailable on iTunes]
A shout-out to my good friend Kevin, for filling my high school days with all the glam-rock, hair metal, head-banging 80s cheese I could ever want.
Was any of it good? Looking back: not much. Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Cinderella, RATT, Poison, Slayer, Judas Priest, and of course Def Leppard.
The volume of bad songs matched the volume of the hairspray.
Which is why Photograph is so surprising. It's got winner hooks, lyrics that aren't completely ridiculous or misogynistic, and a Pop-inspired sound I wanted to hear long after we all got haircuts (yes, even Kevin).
Bette Davis Eves - Kim Carnes (1981)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1981, #1
Her hair is Harlowe gold,
Her lips sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll turn her music on you,
You won't have to think twice
She's pure as New York snow,
She got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you,
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo stand off sighs,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll let you take her home,
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on her throne,
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you,
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you, when she snows you
Off your feet with the crumbs she throws you
She's ferocious, and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you,
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
Billboard Top 100, 1981, #1
Her hair is Harlowe gold,
Her lips sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll turn her music on you,
You won't have to think twice
She's pure as New York snow,
She got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you,
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo stand off sighs,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll let you take her home,
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on her throne,
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you,
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll expose you, when she snows you
Off your feet with the crumbs she throws you
She's ferocious, and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
And she'll tease you,
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious, and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
All the boys think she's a spy,
She's got Bette Davis eyes
Don't Stand So Close To Me - The Police (1981)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1981, #71
Don't Stand So Close To Me could make this list on its lyrics alone.
A drama unfolds from the very first line:
Young teacher: the subject of school-girl fantasy.
Few would endorse such a relationship, but the torment the two characters endure makes them sadly sympathetic.
Loose talk in the classroom / To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staff room / The accusations fly
The chorus doesn't even have to explain who's saying it to whom, or why it's being said.
By the end of the song, it's not clear where this is all headed, but the Lolita reference tells us it can only be somewhere unfortunate.
The music fits the words perfectly: tense, uncomfortable, slightly sad. The high pitch in Sting's voice comes off like a minstrel bearing a timeless, cautionary tale.
Billboard Top 100, 1981, #71
Don't Stand So Close To Me could make this list on its lyrics alone.
A drama unfolds from the very first line:
Young teacher: the subject of school-girl fantasy.
Few would endorse such a relationship, but the torment the two characters endure makes them sadly sympathetic.
Loose talk in the classroom / To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staff room / The accusations fly
The chorus doesn't even have to explain who's saying it to whom, or why it's being said.
By the end of the song, it's not clear where this is all headed, but the Lolita reference tells us it can only be somewhere unfortunate.
The music fits the words perfectly: tense, uncomfortable, slightly sad. The high pitch in Sting's voice comes off like a minstrel bearing a timeless, cautionary tale.
Pink Houses - John Cougar Mellencamp (1984)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #86
Johnny Cougar... John Cougar... John Mellencamp... John Cougar Mellencamp...
Rock Superstar - humble working man.
Small-town Midwest boy - champion of liberal causes.
Walking contradiction.
He's the only guy I can imagine giving George W. Bush the Dixie Chicks Treatment, and still getting his music in Chevy Truck commercials.
Well, like the song says, "ain't that America?"
Pink Houses makes you feel that very same way, lamenting the sometimes pointlessness of how we all live, while celebrating it at the same time. If the black man with the black cat and the house near the interstate thinks he's got it so good, well, then who's to say he doesn't?
I miss the perspective and courage we had in those days to see and embrace our contradictions.
I think John would agree.
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #86
Johnny Cougar... John Cougar... John Mellencamp... John Cougar Mellencamp...
Rock Superstar - humble working man.
Small-town Midwest boy - champion of liberal causes.
Walking contradiction.
He's the only guy I can imagine giving George W. Bush the Dixie Chicks Treatment, and still getting his music in Chevy Truck commercials.
Well, like the song says, "ain't that America?"
Pink Houses makes you feel that very same way, lamenting the sometimes pointlessness of how we all live, while celebrating it at the same time. If the black man with the black cat and the house near the interstate thinks he's got it so good, well, then who's to say he doesn't?
I miss the perspective and courage we had in those days to see and embrace our contradictions.
I think John would agree.
When Doves Cry - Prince (1984)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1984, #1
There goes that Prince again!
Prince is like the Napoleon Bonaparte of sex. He's like 5-foot-1, scrawny, kinda pale, a bit feminine-looking. Yet there he is: surrounded by Amazon goddesses on every side, swarmed by rabid female fans (and probably quite a few male ones) who would do anything, ANYTHING for five minutes alone with the guy. What gives??
My God, if I had HALF this guy's mojo, I'd...
Never mind. (...IlovemywifeIlovemywifeIlovemywife...)
Billboard Top 100, 1984, #1
There goes that Prince again!
Prince is like the Napoleon Bonaparte of sex. He's like 5-foot-1, scrawny, kinda pale, a bit feminine-looking. Yet there he is: surrounded by Amazon goddesses on every side, swarmed by rabid female fans (and probably quite a few male ones) who would do anything, ANYTHING for five minutes alone with the guy. What gives??
My God, if I had HALF this guy's mojo, I'd...
Never mind. (...IlovemywifeIlovemywifeIlovemywife...)
Down Under - Men At Work (1983)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #4
Remember the Australia craze??
Olivia Newton-John, Crocodile Dundee, "G'day, mate! Put anotha shrimp on tha bawbie!", koala bears, kangaroos, Aborigines, Foster's Lager (okay, so I still like the Foster's)...
The Aussies were so cool! They were like the Californians of Great Britain, but 10,000 miles away - all sun-bathed and blond and beautiful, partying on the beach (in January!), with the funny accents and all.
We wore their clothes, learned their catch-phrases, ate their food. People with money flew there on Qantas and tried it all out first hand. The rest of us went to Outback Steakhouse.
And Men At Work gave it all a theme song. Catchy, musical, easy to sing along to (or fake it, anyway), with lots of native-sounding Australian musical influences.
Ironically, the song is more a lamentation of Australian over-commercialization than just a modern Waltzing Matilda. But you don't care about that, so I won't ruin it for you!
I still have no idea what Vegemite is.
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #4
Remember the Australia craze??
Olivia Newton-John, Crocodile Dundee, "G'day, mate! Put anotha shrimp on tha bawbie!", koala bears, kangaroos, Aborigines, Foster's Lager (okay, so I still like the Foster's)...
The Aussies were so cool! They were like the Californians of Great Britain, but 10,000 miles away - all sun-bathed and blond and beautiful, partying on the beach (in January!), with the funny accents and all.
We wore their clothes, learned their catch-phrases, ate their food. People with money flew there on Qantas and tried it all out first hand. The rest of us went to Outback Steakhouse.
And Men At Work gave it all a theme song. Catchy, musical, easy to sing along to (or fake it, anyway), with lots of native-sounding Australian musical influences.
Ironically, the song is more a lamentation of Australian over-commercialization than just a modern Waltzing Matilda. But you don't care about that, so I won't ruin it for you!
I still have no idea what Vegemite is.
I Ran - A Flock Of Seagulls (1982)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1982, #67
This song breaks my heart every time I hear it.
As much as the boy loves the girl, hard as he tries, they can never be together. Bridging these huge cultural differences is beyond the abilities of a young romantic, despite what he wants to believe.
The doomed couple are just no match for her strict Persian upbringing, and the tensions between their two countries.
The Shah dying, the hostage crisis, the Islamic Revolution... some things can't be overcome by love alone.
Iran is, truly, so far away.
Billboard Top 100, 1982, #67
This song breaks my heart every time I hear it.
As much as the boy loves the girl, hard as he tries, they can never be together. Bridging these huge cultural differences is beyond the abilities of a young romantic, despite what he wants to believe.
The doomed couple are just no match for her strict Persian upbringing, and the tensions between their two countries.
The Shah dying, the hostage crisis, the Islamic Revolution... some things can't be overcome by love alone.
Iran is, truly, so far away.
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (1983)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #2
How good is Billie Jean?
At thirteen years old, with all my long-haired rocker friends, I wouldn't have been caught dead listening to Michael Jackson. Yet every time Billie Jean came on MTV, I watched it beginning to end (of course the video was insanely cool as well).
It's the best pop song ever made, hands down.
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #2
How good is Billie Jean?
At thirteen years old, with all my long-haired rocker friends, I wouldn't have been caught dead listening to Michael Jackson. Yet every time Billie Jean came on MTV, I watched it beginning to end (of course the video was insanely cool as well).
It's the best pop song ever made, hands down.
867-5309 (Jenny) - Tommy Tutone (1982)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1982, #16
Does having a brilliant idea for a song, a cool guitar line, good lyrics, and a sweet hook excuse a person for screwing up the home lives of hundreds of people around the country, most of whom are NOT named Jenny?
Of course it does!
I mean, so what if you had to change your phone number? This is art - art borne of bathroom graffiti. What better kind?
For a good time, for a good time CAAALLL!!!
Billboard Top 100, 1982, #16
Does having a brilliant idea for a song, a cool guitar line, good lyrics, and a sweet hook excuse a person for screwing up the home lives of hundreds of people around the country, most of whom are NOT named Jenny?
Of course it does!
I mean, so what if you had to change your phone number? This is art - art borne of bathroom graffiti. What better kind?
For a good time, for a good time CAAALLL!!!
May 06, 2010
Our Lips Are Sealed - Go-Go's (1983)
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[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1982, #63
We live in an age ruled by the pre-teen girl: American Idol, Miley Cyrus, Twilight. Everywhere you look, "tween" girls are a multi-billion dollar economic powerhouse. For over twenty years now, Pop music has focused first and foremost on this group.
But not long ago, no demographic got less attention. There was a time when an 11-year-old girl was expected to be respectful, hard-working, humble, and mostly quiet. They tended to wear simple jeans or long dresses, and had lots of long, straight hair. Their favorite TV show: Little House on the Prairie. A girl this age in 1978 was the wallflower at the School Dance of Life.
Enter the Go-Go's. In a convertible. In giant sunglasses and short skirts. In big hoop earrings, and 80 pounds of costume jewelry. LOUD in every sense.
Everything changed.
To say this new image and sound captured the imagination of girls everywhere is an understatement. Girls this age have always had that penchant for fandom, but the Go-Go's (and soon after, Madonna) reflected their own style and personality back on them. In a sense, they were fanatics for themselves.
A tween girl isn't going to set the song-quality bar very high, but Our Lips Are Sealed is - surprisingly - a perfect Pop song. It's almost as if it was made by a machine. It's the right length, has hooks in all the right places, has that A-A-B-A song form, with a sweet little bridge in the middle, giving about 15 seconds to catch your breath like you might on an amusement park ride. Then one last flourish, and a little exclamation point right there at the end.
I can almost see the little heart-with-the-happy-face on the back page of my junior high school yearbook.
Billboard Top 100, 1982, #63
We live in an age ruled by the pre-teen girl: American Idol, Miley Cyrus, Twilight. Everywhere you look, "tween" girls are a multi-billion dollar economic powerhouse. For over twenty years now, Pop music has focused first and foremost on this group.
But not long ago, no demographic got less attention. There was a time when an 11-year-old girl was expected to be respectful, hard-working, humble, and mostly quiet. They tended to wear simple jeans or long dresses, and had lots of long, straight hair. Their favorite TV show: Little House on the Prairie. A girl this age in 1978 was the wallflower at the School Dance of Life.
Enter the Go-Go's. In a convertible. In giant sunglasses and short skirts. In big hoop earrings, and 80 pounds of costume jewelry. LOUD in every sense.
Everything changed.
To say this new image and sound captured the imagination of girls everywhere is an understatement. Girls this age have always had that penchant for fandom, but the Go-Go's (and soon after, Madonna) reflected their own style and personality back on them. In a sense, they were fanatics for themselves.
A tween girl isn't going to set the song-quality bar very high, but Our Lips Are Sealed is - surprisingly - a perfect Pop song. It's almost as if it was made by a machine. It's the right length, has hooks in all the right places, has that A-A-B-A song form, with a sweet little bridge in the middle, giving about 15 seconds to catch your breath like you might on an amusement park ride. Then one last flourish, and a little exclamation point right there at the end.
I can almost see the little heart-with-the-happy-face on the back page of my junior high school yearbook.
May 05, 2010
Little Red Corvette - Prince (1983)
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I wonder if, when Little Red Corvette came out, Billy Ocean, Lionel Richie and Jermaine Jackson all realized it was over?
Once Prince laid down
you had a pocket full of horses, Trojans, and some of them used...
no longer were all these excitable teenagers going to be satisfied with corny leftovers lyrics. Nor would they accept second-rate R&B music.
Prince was fearless - he could dance like James Brown, sing like Michael Jackson, even jam on a guitar like Eddie Van Halen (almost). He never hesitated to introduce a rock guitar or a horns or strings section, and of course, he was far more overt sexually than anyone before on the R&B Pop scene.
I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but don't miss how good this song really is. Like Prince himself, it's a virtuoso: sexy lyrics, dynamic music, slick melody, and soul all coming together to save an entire genre of music from lameness.
[1980-1984 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #25
Billboard Top 100, 1983, #25
I wonder if, when Little Red Corvette came out, Billy Ocean, Lionel Richie and Jermaine Jackson all realized it was over?
Once Prince laid down
you had a pocket full of horses, Trojans, and some of them used...
no longer were all these excitable teenagers going to be satisfied with corny leftovers lyrics. Nor would they accept second-rate R&B music.
Prince was fearless - he could dance like James Brown, sing like Michael Jackson, even jam on a guitar like Eddie Van Halen (almost). He never hesitated to introduce a rock guitar or a horns or strings section, and of course, he was far more overt sexually than anyone before on the R&B Pop scene.
I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but don't miss how good this song really is. Like Prince himself, it's a virtuoso: sexy lyrics, dynamic music, slick melody, and soul all coming together to save an entire genre of music from lameness.
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