1982
Probably my favorite mix of the 80s, 1982 had some classic, classic records, and the inclusion of nearly everything on here is self-explanatory. Here is "Billie Jean" my pick for the best of Thriller, "Planet Rock" and "The Message," maybe the two most important hip hop songs of the first wave, "Come On Eileen" and "I Melt With You," fantastic songs by underrated groups.
Two of the greatest appear on the timeline for the first time: The Clash had their biggest hit with "Rock the Casbah" and the record it came from, and even if it doesn't measure up to their other work, it's a great pop song. Then there's the last big single from Marvin Gaye, who would be killed just two years later. Both artists were integral to their respective genres, and there will be a lot more of both of them in this project.
Two artists I wish I could have fit in more are XTC and Frank Zappa, both included here with huge songs that aren't quite typical of their sound. Though both have strong cult followings, neither made much of an impact in the mainstream, and while Zappa was extremely influential as a musician, his particular songs didn't have the same impact, so his music is, currently anyway, underrepresented.
Elsewhere on the mix, "Temptation" is my favorite New Order song, and closing out the mix are three of the biggest 80s singles from the essential 80s groups Culture Club, Duran Duran, and Flock of Seagulls, who are playing in Los Angeles soon. I'll probably miss the show, unfortunately.
Enjoy 1982, and comment below. I used ysi again, so we'll see if it gets cancelled. Hopefully it wont, but let me know if it maxes out before next monday.
EDIT: Well, it happened again. I'll be using sendspace from now on, because someone doesn't like me. Oh well.
The new link.
1. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
2. Planet Rock - Afrika Bambata
3. The Metro - Berlin
4. Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
5. Senses Working Overtime - XTC
6. Rock The Casbah - The Clash
7. I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett
8. Valley Girl - Frank Zappa
9. Town Called Malice - The Jam
10. Save It For Later - The English Beat
11. The Message - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
12. Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye
13. I Melt With You - Modern English
14. Only You - Yazoo
15. Temptation - New Order
16. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club
17. Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
18. I Ran - Flock of Seagulls
posted by bza @ 2/27/2006
5 Comments:
wow... your blog is great!!
;)
so what's the deal with billie jean though? i can so vividly remember the video for that song, but i was born in '82, so when was that video made? or maybe it was just so good that mtv never stopped playing it until the early 90's.
Interesting question.
Thriller is one of those records that no one can place in time, simply because it was so huge for so long. Many people think it come out later in the decade, but it was intially released in 1982. "Thriller" was the first single, and it had a mammoth video in the form of a short movie directed by John Landis.
"Billie Jean," equally huge, didn't reach number one until 1983, and in fact, the whole album charted well into 1984, when it won Grammys (I'm not totally sure why it was eligible so late).
The record was so big that I wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone much younger than you remembers the video. "Billie Jean" is one of the biggest hits ever, and anyway, remember when Mtv played videos that were more than six months old?
Hey, this is definitely the best mix thusfar and is getting me frighteningly excited for the 70s. Thanks again for doing this project.
This mix looks great, but the download is unfortunately already dead. Any chance of a repost?
Thanks for the great work!
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