Liner Notes for my Penultimate 80's Playlist. Part 1
A week or so ago, I made a colossal 80's playlist over at good ol' MOG. I felt the need to offer some explanations for my selections. I came up with a bunch of rules that governed my selections but found that I broke most of them several times. So, pretty much, it's just a bunch of songs I like. Here we go!
1. 867-5309 (Jenny)-- Tommy Tutone. A great song about longing for the unattainable. Though I never called a bathroom wall phone number, the sentiment resonated with me as a teen.
2. 99 Luftballons--Nena. I prefer the German version, as I think the vocal is better. For an excellent vocal in English, please see the 7 Seconds cover. One of the many songs we got in the 80's, the upshot of which were "OH MY GOD! The idiots who run our countries have nukes! We're all gonna die!" And people wonder why we're all so screwed up...
3. Ah! Leah!--Donnie Iris. I dunno. I just like it. I liked his "Buddy Holly with a white fro" look. I like the fact that the title looked so stupid. I liked that it was one of the few songs they played on rock radio at the time that was neither from the 60's nor incredibly horrible.
4.All Hell's Breakin' Loose--KISS. Believe it or not, it was a big deal when these hideous men took their makeup off for the first time. I like this one because it's got the weird spoken verses. "I am cool! I am the breeze!"
5.All Night Long (All Night)--Lionel Richie. Well, first of all, this really exemplifies the unnecessary parenthetical phrase trend that marred so many 80's songs. Lionel was dangerously uncool even in the 80's, but I found this song completely irresistible.
6.Best Friend--English Beat.--It's a putdown of a narcissist. And you can dance to it!
7.Breakout--Swing Out Sister-- This song, for me, is like nice wallpaper. It's certainly not great art, but it seems to make the room a lot more pleasant.
8.Buffalo Stance--Nenah Cherry--I like this because a) it's ridiculous-- have you ever tried hanging in a buffalo stance for more than about ten seconds? Painful! and b) it was inescapable at college parties for about a year.
9.Can't Stop the World-- Go-Go's. I have always loved the Go-Go's. This song is a great power pop pep talk. I needed a lot of those as a teen.
10. Centerfold--J. Geils Band. I just always thought this was a clever idea for a song. Though the last verse is kinda date-rapey and creepy.
11.Church of the Poison Mind--Culture Club. Culture Club was renowned for Boy George's gender-bending persona, but they put out some (to my ears) very good r&B-influenced pop. Also Bob Dylan named this as the church he belonged to in some interview in the 80's.
12 Don't Change--INXS. I like this song, though I was disappointed to find that the lyric isn't actually "I found a dime I had lost." I saw them open for Men At Work in '83. Both bands put on an excellent show.
13. Down Under--Men At Work. So, for some reason this song about being from Australia featuring all kinds of Aussie slang that none of us understood became a monster hit. Good tune!
14.Erotic City--Prince. This doesn't really fit in with most of the list, but it was a huge party hit in the 80's. At the time, it was probably the single dirtiest thing I'd ever heard. It's still pretty dirty. Good ol' Prince. I liked him a lot better when he had a dirty mind. Bonus: At least some of this track was recorded in my hometown of Cincinnati, OH, on the same night Prince rocked Riverfront Coliseum on the Purple Rain tour.
15.Everything She Wants--Wham! I think George Michael is a better singer than people give him credit for. I like what he does here with the "My God--I don't even think that I love you" part. He really makes it sound like he just had this epiphany while he was singing.
16.Everywhere That I'm Not--Translator. I really enjoyed this song about missing someone when I was in the ninth grade. (I'm finding there are a lot of songs about longing and loss on this list. Hmmm). I'm not sure it's actually aged very well, but I have a nostalgic soft spot for it.
17.Faith-- George Michael. Don't hate. You know this is a good song. You know you wind up singing it every time you hear it.
18. (Keep Feeling) Fascination---Human League. To my ears, a way more interesting song than "Don't You Want Me." Fun, poppy, and some unnecessary parentheses!
19. Freak-A-Zoid-- Midnight Star. The dance funk of the 80's really gets short shrift these days, but Cincinnati's Midnight Star absolutely killed it with this whole record. I am a little confused as to why freak-a-zoid robots need winding up, but my friend Eric explained that it's actually "Steamfunk."
20.Freedom--Wham! Kind of an Elton John ripoff, but what a delicious one! I may have sung this at karaoke. Or I may have just intended to.
Well,I've got 50 more songs to go, so I'm gonna have to break this post up....
