Hey guys! And probably ladies too, I don't have any real idea of what my audience demographic is like. Anyway, I think I can safely say that from my first post, I have not exactly been secretive about the fact that I really, really like a lot of 80's music, a lot. 80's pop gets a lot of hate, but the fact of the matter is that whether or not you want to admit it, 80's pop is some of the most simply fun, purely enjoyable ear candy ever made. Honestly, if you can listen to Take On Me without having your love of life increased, you have no soul. Forget DeBeers, A-Ha is forever.
Anyway, I was trying to think of a reasonable theme to use as an excuse to talk about the eighties, and at first it seemed like New Wave was the answer. There are all kinds of great hits that fall under that genre, right? Turns out that that is true, but it's true in a very inconvenient way, because apparently every song and band in the eighties except for glam, heavy metal, and the last vestiges of disco all fell under the category of "New Wave". It is seriously the most catch-all term possible. It's like classifying Nirvana as "90's": Technically accurate, but deeply insufficient as far as actual description goes.
So, since apparently every song that was made in the 80's was New Wave, let's just talk about songs that are great and have lots of keyboard in them, starting with Blondie. I wouldn't say that I'm huge fan of Blondie, because I'm only really familiar with singles, and I have no idea how good their other stuff is. BUT, that being said, I am a huge fan of their singles. Call Me is pretty much a perfect song, and it isn't nearly as good as Heart of Glass, which in turn is inferior The Tide is High, which I will always love because it has both ridiculously catchy steel drums, and a fantastic trumpet section. The only possible complaint I could have about Blondie is that I can't sing along with the best part of their best song, which is of course the trumpets meshing in with the steel drums in the intro of The Tide is High.
As long as I'm on topic of kicking trumpet solos, I feel morally obligated to mention Our House by Madness. It doesn't have any keyboard, but it does have roughly one full orchestra's worth of brass, along with a string section and maybe the best noise ever to come out of a bass. Seriously, check out the 14 second mark; you will not be disappointed. And on the topic of one-hit wonder British bands with fantastic string sections, Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners. Bad segues aside, I love Come On Eileen. Fun fact: when I was twelve or so I would regularly hijack CD's from my sister Rachael just so I could listen to this song on repeat. Then when I sixteen, I found out that the music video is a bunch of sketchy homeless lookin' dudes wandering around London wearing nothing but overalls, and I felt comforted knowing that my taste in music has always been impeccable.
This next one does not have quite as happy an ending. Have any of you ever seen the music video for Soft Cell's version of Tainted Love? I don't think anyone with good taste will argue that it is definitively the best version of Tainted Love ever made, and also that Tainted love is a fantastic Song, but HOLY DANG is the music video creepy. To be fair, I don't exactly have a clear knowledge of the eighties, but after watching that video I'm pretty sure I'm glad I didn't live through them. My mental image of the eighties is basically women in expensive pantsuits with padded shoulders and unreasonably feathered hair staring at each other and wall street executives through the ugliest glasses any generation has ever managed to produce, but every time I watch Tainted Love that Utopian (???) idyll is covered with a thin veneer of, just, the creepiest sexual tension imaginable. Let's talk about something else.
Like Erasure, for example! Erasure is amazing. They are not a band that I listen to often, but that does not mean they aren't great. Erasure has the unique privilege of being one of the most joyously campy bands ever to make music that's actually enjoyable to listen to (along with Disco Tex of course [I'm sorry, I have a problem]). Seriously, as stupid as their songs may be, they are also really good. Always is a really good song. A Little Respect is a really good song. And Oh L'amour is just hands down fantastic. Also, they did a cover of Video Killed the Radio Star (originally by the Buggles, of course), and I still can't decide which one is better.
And yes, I do like Video Killed the Radio Star, mostly because it's awesome.
I have another couple of dozen songs I really want to talk about on this topic, but I''m running out of clumsy segues, so I'm just going to save them for a later date, and leave you all with one last song: Forever Young by Alphaville. Man, I never realized how many eighties songs that I love had killer brass solos, but it turns out to be a surprisingly large amount! We have been left with a rich history of trumpets, mullets, and neon jumpsuits. Truly we are blessed.
Also, here's a bonus song! I'm a pretty big Beck fan, and I'm also very fond of the film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. This is actually kind of convenient, because it turns out that Beck wrote like half of the soundtrack for the film, and it's rad. Garbage Truck is my personal favorite, but Scott Pilgrim is one of those rare movies where the soundtrack is actually worth picking up, regardless of the film. It is seriously good.
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