1985
85 is really where the 80s we know and love from Time Life compilations advertised on late night tv comes out to shine. Tears For Fears had two big singles with "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule The World," I picked the one I like better. "Take On Me" is, of course, one of the great one hit wonders of the 80s, if not of all time, and "Don't You Forget About Me" is one of the most important songs of the 80s, most notably for its inclusion in the 80s Teen archetype The Breakfast Club. Also note the inclusion of Oingo Boingo's best song, "Dead Man's Party." I left out "Weird Science," which may have been a bigger hit, but the band in general is most notable for being Danny Elfman's launch pad into film scoring, where he created the original Batman score and the Simpsons theme.
Still, some great seminal artists can be found making great music in 1985. I included Prince, Talking Heads, Husker Du, Tom Waits, and The Pogues. Jesus and Mary Chain put out their classic, Psychocandy, and my favorite Smiths song was released.
I managed to also include "No UFOs" by Model 500 aka Juan Atkins, the godfather of Detroit Techno. It's a dance classic, and one of the most important Techno tracks ever. As hip hop recedes further, only two songs make the cut, with Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's classic "The Show," and LL Cool J's "Rock The Bells," off his best record, the definitively old school Radio. It wouldn't be hard to argue that LL is the most consistent star in rap history. Though he has fallen out of fashion at times (and his more recent music is certainly not respected) the fact that he was in on hip hop from its commercial infancy is most impressive. Similar contemporaries like Run DMC toil in relative obscurity now.
Mostly, though, the mid 80s were a holding pattern, with little changing or evolving. It's odd to see the beginning of Mtv, which has been so often criticized for short attention spans and constantly changing trends and fads, create music that, year after year, didn't alter very much. With the exception of "Model 500," there are no real music developments here. Everyone was simply looking for the next synth splash, while people who avoided that stuff had to "settle" for the gritty punk.
Enjoy, and comment below.
EDIT: Here is the new link.
1. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears - 4:11
2. And She Was - Talking Heads - 3:39
3. Take On Me - Ah-Ha - 3:50
4. Raspberry Beret - Prince - 3:32
5. Material Girl - Madonna - 3:53
6. Would I Lie To You - Eurythmics - 4:26
7. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo - 6:22
8. No UFOs - Model 500 - 3:24
9. The Perfect Kiss - New Order - 4:49
10. Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds - 4:21
11. Downtown Train - Tom Waits - 3:53
12. Cruisers Creek - The Fall - 4:15
13. Makes No Sense at All - Husker Du - 2:42
14. A Pair Of Brown Eyes - The Pogues - 3:42
15. The Show - Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick - 6:38
16. Rock The Bells - LL Cool J - 4:00
17. How Soon Is Now - The Smiths - 6:41
18. Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain - 3:03
posted by bza @ 2/06/2006
8 Comments:
thanks again as always...
hope the b-day went well...
going to order the the breakfast club from netflix today...
thanks!
Glad you respect "Take On Me." It is truly a work of grace. Not only did it have a fantastic video (one of the first to really exploit the music video as an art form, yes?), but the chorus is also one of the great falsetto moments in rock history. It's the holy grail for male a cappella singers.
I think it's really interesting how much of the pop music from the mid-80s was centered around beats and dancing. Yeah a lot of the most popular music of today is also bangable in clubs, but judging from this list, rock 'n roll had a much smaller impact back then than it does now.
Too bad that "Downtown Train" was a single. It's probably the least Tom Waitsy song on Rain Dogs which is, as you know, one of my favorite albums.
tom waitsy or not, downtown train is great.
as for the rest, i really like all the pop on here...tracks 1-6 are super great. Dead Man's Party seems slightly less exciting now than when I first heard it in my younger days. simple minds still gives me as much of a rush and as many chills as it did when i first heard it bookending breakfast club.
I'm kind of missing scritti pollitti's perfect way. it was not a huge hit, but a hit nonetheless, and maybe the most 80s song ever.
I am so unfamiliar with the whole detroit techno scene, so model 500 was a great discovery for me.
not feeling the fall. these mixes are my first introduction to them, and so far I don't get it. I've always been intimidated by their extensive catalog and mark e smith's appearence, so this marks the first time i've heard them. i don't doubt their popularity or importance or anything, but...
and damn, pair of brown eyes really gets my quarter irish going.
Hey, if you want to get into the Fall, ignore all their mid to late-80s junk and listen to their late 70s stuff. They started getting more danceable in the 80s, which is just no good.
Undoubtedly solid...as usual.
question...why the eurythmics over ready for the world's "oh shiela", sade's "smooth operator", or kool and the gang's "fresh"?. i would even consider bryan adams or don henley, but im just posing these for the sake of debate.
Any way you could repost the link for those of us who missed it on Monday and Tuesday? I've been enjoying the series immensely and look forward to the early 1980s. Thanks!
Hey, omni, good to see you on the blog.
The Eurythmics were a very important group in the 80s, and this isn't the last you'll see of them. The three songs you picked are good suggestions (I actually hadn't heard "Fresh" before) but I didn't include them because:
a. I think the "dooby dooby do" part of "Oh Shiela" is really really stupid.
and b. I'll be including "Smooth Operator" on 1984, one of those cases where my choice for a year really came down to my own judgement. The album was released in 1984, and though the song didn't hit big until 1985, it was on a lot of singles lists that I looked at from 1984. I also happen to think it fits better on the 84 mix, see what you think.
As for the link, I'm re-upping the mix right now. Thanks for reading.
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