Doesn't anyone remember the one hit wonders of Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, or ZZ Top?
Wherein 5 seconds to name 5 better choices
There's a high school reunion this month I won't be attending. High school wasn't a bad experience, I just see no pleasure in attending a high school football game and standing around a hotel ballroom with people I barely remember. It is also apparent that I experienced a different decade of the 1980s than some of my former classmates. Polled on our favorite music, here are the choices for 80s band and song:
Or maybe this the demented reminiscing of just one disturbed committee member. For band, Not Listed is winning with 44%, with Loverboy next at 28%. For song, None of the above is doing even better with 60%. I am disappointed that it's Kenny Rogers with 0% of the vote and not Air Supply.
I don't expect them to program to my tastes, but offering choices that look like the 1980s high school reunion from hell doesn't engender feelings of good times. When I last attended a reunion, ten years ago, the music was typically generic. Nothing excessively lame, though the DJ's complete lack of any sort of ska was, well, lame.
There's a high school reunion this month I won't be attending. High school wasn't a bad experience, I just see no pleasure in attending a high school football game and standing around a hotel ballroom with people I barely remember. It is also apparent that I experienced a different decade of the 1980s than some of my former classmates. Polled on our favorite music, here are the choices for 80s band and song:
| Bon Jovi | Endless Love (Diana Ross & Lionel Richie) |
| Poison | Celebration (Kool and the Gang) |
| Motley Crue | Betty Davis Eyes (Kim Carnes) |
| Little River Band | Lady (Kenny Rogers) |
| Loverboy | The one that you Love (Air Supply) |
| Not Listed | None of the above |
Or maybe this the demented reminiscing of just one disturbed committee member. For band, Not Listed is winning with 44%, with Loverboy next at 28%. For song, None of the above is doing even better with 60%. I am disappointed that it's Kenny Rogers with 0% of the vote and not Air Supply.
I don't expect them to program to my tastes, but offering choices that look like the 1980s high school reunion from hell doesn't engender feelings of good times. When I last attended a reunion, ten years ago, the music was typically generic. Nothing excessively lame, though the DJ's complete lack of any sort of ska was, well, lame.
posted by bill at 1:00 PM
5 Comments:
Was it Exile that did "I wanna kiss all over, and over again?"
Then there was the (cough, cough) ever-popular Leo Sayer son.
And ... .
Nah.
"kiss YOU all over"
Then again, I'm not even sure of the name. Maybe it's not what I said, but something like "'til the night closes in." But for sure, no maybe about, don't want to Google. Even less do I want to check whether I have it in the collection. 'Cause, you know, sometimes introspection is something strictly to be avoided.
(Save THAT for when it count.)
vh: zhuha
Won't explain, but it made me think of the trend that started 'round about the same time but wasn't acknowledged 'til later.
Also, after it not even occuring me to note the VH (so passe) for months, I just was moved to do it two blogs in a row, within the blog-drive-by of the evening: XWL's and yours.
Heh.
I'm going to assume that the reunion is for Class of '82, so the target years for music would 80, 81, and 82 (even if it was a 4 year high school, freshman don't count).
Out here in Los Angeles we had KROQ ("The World Famous KROQ" as they liked to call themselves) which was a commercial station that was one of the first American radio stations to jump on the 'new wave' bandwagon.
They used to do a year-end list of the top 106.7 songs of the year, and as everything can be found on the 'net, so can these lists.
I'm struck at how easily I remember most of the songs (while completely forgetting a few others). Their list is very different from the lists you covered in 40 years of music, here's 1982 overall and 1982 KROQ style.
To borrow a trick from your past lists, here are just ten of the songs from the KROQ list
1. Rock the Casbah - Clash
2. I Ran - Flock of Seagulls
3. Sex Dwarf - Flock of Seagulls
4. Words - Missing Persons
5. Don't You Want Me - Human League
102. Radio Clash - Clash
103. Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson
104. Main Thing - Roxy Music
105. I Have the Touch - Peter Gabriel
106. Hot In the City - Billy Idol
And Exile, what to say about Exile? Other than there's something really, really Spinal Tap-ish about this video, plus that song is about 4 years too old (and talk about a 'wide stance' . . .)
air singing at my desk: "TIL THE NIGHT CLOSES IN!!!!!!"
As much as I can ramp up a jihad intensity of hate when discussing 80s music, I have a huge blind spot with 70s music. I am utterly unable to evaluate any of it. Most of the decade was spent crouched over crappy AM radios. Programming crossed genres much more than now and aside from truly evil songs like "Billy Don't Be a Hero" (which might not be evil if your name isn't Bill)it's all become a part of my DNA.
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE DANCIN
WANT TO DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY
LITTLE WILLIE WON'T GO HOME
TRY TELLING EVERYBODY BUT WILLIE WON'T GO
xwl, you have the correct year.
I've seen the KROQ lists and I can assure you that Minnesota radio was much closer to the Billboard list. Of the 10 songs you listed I'm only sure of "Don't You Want Me" getting heavy radio play at the time. For the others, you needed MTV or the Friday night video show on the USA Network. A few stations would run an hour or so of new wave music in the dead of night. My junior year I found I could barely pick up a Minneapolis community radio station that played all this bizarre music from Europe and California and introduced me to rap. You know, the normal stuff you probably think of as 80s music. That's how I ended up listening to Bow Wow Wow and Grandmaster Flash when all -- I mean *ALL* -- my friends were listening to classic rock.
It was a well discussed joke that before "Purple Rain" it was almost impossible to hear Prince on a Minnesota radio station.
Post a Comment
<< Home