Tag Archive for "eighties" tag

From 1983 and Toto to 1985 and this, from Dire Straits. (No, I’m not trying to pretend that 1984 never happened; we’ve all sung along to the most frivolous Wham! songs and felt ashamed afterwards. Get over it.)

This song, ‘Money for Nothing’ from Brothers in Arms – top of the UK album chart on this day in 1985 and the first album to sell a million copies on the somewhat new Compact Disc format – topped the US singles chart for three weeks, yet only made it as far as No. 4 in the UK. It won the year’s Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal. The video is a classic.

1985 was, of course, the year of Live Aid and the charity singles it spawned in the wake of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ (‘We Are the World’ and the David Bowie and Mick Jagger cover of Martha and the Vandellas’ ‘Dancing in the Street’). David, as you all know, who had been working with Bryan Ferry on his Boys and Girls album, as well as on the Legend soundtrack (at least, in the US, on the song ‘Is Your Love Strong Enough?’), would accompany him at the famed global event.

Two Eagles saw their best-known solo songs chart in 1985: Don Henley with ‘The Boys of Summer’, Glenn Frey with ‘The Heat Is On’. Katrina and the Waves gave us arguably the ultimate feel-good tune in ‘Walking on Sunshine’, whilst Foreigner’s contribution to the twelve months under scrutiny is perhaps the best power ballad of all-time. Or was that Mr Mister? (Could be a discussion for another time…?)

A few of my favourites from 1985, anyway, before I stand by to receive yours:

- The Alarm, ‘Deeside’
- The Dream Academy, ‘Life in a Northern Town’
- Simple Minds, ‘Alive and Kicking’
- The Smiths, ‘How Soon Is Now?’
- Tears for Fears, ‘Everybody Wants To Rule the World’

This was the Number One song in the USA’s Billboard Hot 100 chart on this day in 1982: ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’ by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.

Here are a few that I liked then and still appreciate now:

- The Clash, ‘Rock the Casbah’
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, ‘The Message’
- The Jam, ‘Town Called Malice’
- Survivor, ‘Eye Of the Tiger’
- Kim Wilde, ‘Kids In America’

There was only one album for me at the time, though: Thriller. Lots more now, of course, including some fantastic cover art (Depeche Mode’s A Broken Frame springs to mind).

A few more, then, perhaps less well-known:

- Aerosmith, ‘Bolivian Ragamuffin’ (from Rock In a Hard Place)
- The Gun Club, ‘Mother of Earth’ (from Miami)
- Paul McCartney, ‘Ballroom Dancing’ (from Tug Of War)
- Robert Plant, ‘Moonlight In Samosa’ (from Pictures at Eleven)
- Bobb Trimble, ‘If Words Were All I Had’ (from Harvest Of Dreams)

As an aside, one of the songs of 1982, which made it into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in March, was ‘Pac-Man Fever’ by Buckner and Garcia. It was one track from their album of the same name, which was made up of songs about different classic arcade games and featured samples and sound effects from each, such as Donkey Kong and Centipede. Remember them?

If anyone wishes to recall the video games they played in or around 1982, either at an arcade or at home on their Atari 2600 (with the very square, very stiff joystick) or perhaps Commodore 64 (which was launched in 1982), I’ll be happy to join you in your retro reminiscences.

And what of the movies we watched when our poor wrists and index fingers were sore? ‘Twas the year of E.T., Poltergeist… and Pink Floyd: The Wall.

We’ve looked at 1966 and 1975, now it’s time for something from the Eighties.

The decade’s best year for music, I feel (and you are free to tell me that you disagree just as long as you can back it up with better examples), is 1983.

From Pink Floyd, the vastly under-rated The Final Cut; ZZ Top produced their most successful, Eliminator; Metallica released their first (Kill ‘Em All), The Police their last (Synchronicity) and U2 their most delightfully political, War.

It was, of course, the year of Thriller, even if it was released in late-1982.

It’s also remembered as the year that Karen Carpenter and Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson, died. Both in tragic circumstances, Karen was just 32 and Dennis, 39.

Which are your favourite songs from 1983? Here are five of mine, starting with another respectful tip of the hat to that great evergreen, Ray Davies:

- Eurythmics, ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’
- The Fixx, ‘One Thing Leads to Another’
- Michael Jackson, ‘Billie Jean’
- Elton John, ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues’
- Bonnie Tyler, ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’

Thinking of it, it’s probably quite possible to compile an A to Z of chart artists from 1983 (-ish) without great effort. If you’re feeling up to it, in need of a pointless distraction from whatever you should be doing right now, see how far you can get with those unforgettable names, such as Kajagoogoo and Prefab Sprout.

You have to admit, the Eighties were and will forever remain… strangely amusing.

I’ll start you off with Adams, Bryan (‘Cuts Like a Knife’)…

Before plodding into another random topic, I’d like to apologise for what’s turned out to be another neglectful week. Thank you for bearing with me.

So, the Eighties. As much as it may well have been a fine decade for Christmas singles (thank you, Cliff), could anyone list ten chart-toppers that they still like?

Here’s one for you. Be sure to take note of the incredible pointed sideburns of Band/Live Aid’s all-too-often-forgotten hero, Midge Ure.

My first thought was that the best the decade had to offer would have to include a couple of re-releases: Jackie Wilson’s ‘Reet Petite’, in 1986, or Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me’, a year later. My second thought was rudely invaded by Glenn Medeiros, so I’ll probably never be able to recall it without breaking down. Sorry about that.

However, the following classics all topped the charts somewhere, proving that the Eighties weren’t quite so bad after all. What do you think?

- Blondie, ‘Atomic’
- Sam Brown, ‘Stop’
- Peter Gabriel, ‘Sledgehammer’
- George Harrison, ‘Got My Mind Set On You’
- Michael Jackson, ‘Smooth Criminal’
- John Lennon, ‘Imagine’
- Los Lobos, ‘La Bamba’
- Roy Orbison, ‘You Got It’
- Roxy Music, ‘Jealous Guy’
- U2, ‘With or Without You’

To help you list your favourites, have a look at this site, which conveniently lists the decade’s biggest hits from Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, as well as the more commonly cited UK and US (Billboard Hot 100) charts. With its help, you too can easily waste an entire afternoon finding out who to thank for the continued airplay of ‘Funkytown’ by Lipps Inc. (it didn’t make the top spot in France, Italy or the UK for some strange reason), or trying to decide which Michael Jackson song you liked best. (The gloved one notched up an incredible eight Number Ones in both Belgium and the States throughout the ’80s, and all those hours spent playing ‘Moonwalker’ on the Master System II made my song choice for me; if you played it, please don’t be ashamed to say so, and refresh your memory here.)

It goes without saying that a Worst list would be too easy, but feel free to make us cringe if something’s on your mind – with or without the help of YouTube et al. One that really grates on my nerves is this one. Such a horrible little song…