Let's go back to the 80s

Let's not. The 80s were dreadful.

I loved Thompson Twins, Howard Jones & Erasure. The others not so much.

Thompson Twins suck. Listen to Pet Shop Boys, Cocteau Twins, New Order, OMD, Japan, and Spandau Ballet.

Zzzzzzz...

I'll add Tears for Fears.

I loved Mad World (the cover from Donnie Darko is great as well) off their first album.

"Head Over Heels" is my favourite off of Songs from The Big Chair.

And I adore Sowing the Seeds (and Woman in Chains).

New Order rising from the ashes of Joy Division.

Altered Images, Squeeze, The Go-Go's, The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen

Kate Bush

Echo and the Bunnymen. YES!

I've been listening to Carly Simon's soundtrack for "Working Girl", and it's very of the time, it's uplifting, and always puts me in a good mood. My favorite cue is the one at 9:35 (a Baroque variation on the movie's theme "Let The River Run").

Fuck, I love this movie. It's an anti-depressant.

I want to respond to the other comments, but I quickly want to say that I watched Working Girl a few weeks. That movie REALLY holds up. So smart, funny, and fully-realised for a "rom-com."

And, yes, R10, that soundtrack, particularly that song is a blessing.

I was a teen and the drugs were more fun, but aside from the music it was a depressing decade and the reason we are where we are today -empty, consumerist, aimless.

Pete Cox from Go West...still gorgeous to this day. 'Echo Beach' by Martha and the Muffins (sad I know)

I'll throw in the Psychedelic Furs.

Another 80's fave

The '80s are (is?) my least favorite decade in the 20th century, for all the reasons everyone who was paying attention already knows. One of my bright spots was music. Here are my favorites (mostly people I'd already been listening to in the '60s and '70s).

Hold Out – Jackson Browne

Graceland – Paul Simon

Go Insane – Lindsey Buckingham

Tunnel of Love – Bruce Springsteen

Live ’75-’85 – Bruce Springsteen

Pontiac – Lyle Lovett

s/t – Lyle Lovett

Synchronicity – the Police

Don’t Tell a Soul – the Replacements

The Broadway Album – Barbra Streisand

Tim - the Replacements

Les Miserables – Original London Cast Recording

Leonard Bernstein’s CBS recordings of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies

Mad Love – Linda Ronstadt

Get Closer – Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt’s three albums with Nelson Riddle

Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind – Linda Ronstadt

Hello, Big Man – Carly Simon (one of her best albums; I didn’t hear it until about five years ago, and am so glad I finally found it)

Stupid Girl – Carly Simon (also a favorite)

Coming Around Again – Carly Simon (another favorite)

Torch – Carly Simon (my definitive version of “I Get Along without You Very Well”)

Gaucho – Steely Dan

The Nightfly – Donald Fagen

The early 80s new wave was fun…Haysi Fantayzee for one…by 1983 it peaked, in 1984 it became more mainstream and by1986 it was over.

[quote I want to go back and relive that time in music.

Honey, believe me, you don't.

OP The Thompson Twins had 6 or 7 members at first but really landed with the trio.

Inxs was amazing live. Front 242 “HeadHunter” i once won a dance contest to that song. Nitzer Ebb, Sisters of Mercy, Aha, Information Society, Ministry “Twitch” and before. Prince of course. Rob Base “It takes Two;” Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Level 42, PSB, Depeche Mode of course, the Cure. the Church, the Smiths, Gang of Four, Mission UK. So many good acts.

R19 the Trio and a Fairlight CMI if I remember.

[quote] I want to respond to the other comments, but I quickly want to say that I watched Working Girl a few weeks. That movie REALLY holds up.

No, it doesn't. It belongs in a time capsule for the 80s. A Cinderella story where the Cinderella pines not for a Prince but for a job with a cutthroat, mercenary corporation, which she gets, along with the dick of a man who works for the cutthroat, mercenary corporation (I guess he was the "Prince"). That was considered the pinnacle of success in the 80s, getting a cushy job with a big corporation. Everything was all about money. That was the shallow 80s. I was glad to see it end.

I loved the 80s, but I was a teenager, so that may be why. Someone already mentioned Kate Bush, so I will add Danielle Dax.

Here is her song Hammerheads. It has the same basic beat as Kate's The Dreaming, but faster.

Jesus & Mary Chain

The guy from Thompson Twins always looked in need of a hug.

Second greatest decade for popular music after the 70's. Maybe third after the 60's. Everything else was pretty tacky. The hair was ridiculous which might actually be a good thing too. Architecture was plain awful and fashion gaudy. Again, compared to today, style was at least original and never seen before. From a gay perspective AIDS was killing hundreds of thousands with no effective treatment. Anti-gay hysteria was off the charts. No gay man who survived that era would want to go back, even if means being stuck with today's godawful music.

R1 is right. The music was good but everything else about the '80s was nasty.

I should have been more specific.

In the OP, I meant going back to the 80s exclusively in the world of music. I'm speaking in pure fantasy, but I failed at communicating that. That's all.

Thank you for your submissions. Please continue.

The Icicle Works - "Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)"

I absolutely love the 80’s.

I was just listening to Cocteau Twins’ “Lorelei”.

It’s such a fucking dreamy masterpiece. It sounds like the gates of heaven opening.

I also love discovering 80’s music that’s kind of obscure today.

I love the band Altered Images. I discovered them when they were on an Old Navy playlist when I worked there back in the 2000’s. “Love to Stay”, “Happy Birthday”, “I Could Be Happy”, “Don’t Talk To Me About Love”!

Same with Yaz. I learned a lot of forgotten 80’s groups working at Old Navy.

I love Book of Love! I love “Modigilani (Lost In Your Eyes)”.

I love New Wave and indie / goth, darker stuff.

Oh and Vicious Pink’s “Cccan’t You See”!

And question for the people who grew up in the 80’s.

How did you gets the type of accessibility for indie and underground 80’s music? Like Siouxie and the Banshees were obscure in the US for years, they didn’t chart on the charts until the late 80’s.

Like how did people get ahold of indie groups?

Yes, Cocteau Twins!! I didn't really discover them until the 90s. My college roommate introduced me. I'm forever grateful.

I love Fagen's Nightfly as well.

How about some Simple Minds. Well, everything except The Breakfast Club song. Hate that one.

Tracy Chapman’s one hit wonder. Reminds me of sharing a house on Fire Island with my best friend who was in the early stages of AIDS. We both loved it. Sadly he didn’t make it, but this song can take me right to that specific time and place.

And what about like early 80’s dance / hip-hop

Strafe’s “Set It Off”

“Planet Rock”

Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”

Debbie Deb’s “Lookout Weekend”

Laid Back’s “White Horse”

What was like Madonna listening to when she was dancing at the Danceteria and all those cool 80’s nightclubs in NYC?

Like what was cool in the clubs?

Does anyone else also love Lime’s “Babe We’re Gonna Love Tonight”?

R33 Local record stores would play indie music, MTV actually played music videos nearly 24 hours a day and many of those hours were devoted to indie artists. In my city, there was a radio station that was "alternative" nearly every night from 9:00 p.m. onward, so I discovered tons of cool stuff then.

R35 that’s heartbreaking!

Here's another all-time favorite movie theme from the period (1985). It's absolutely wonderful, regardless of how ridiculous the film is (which you might call a "guilty pleasure" for me, if I felt guilty about it).

R33 oh that’s cool to know! So record shops would carry obscure stuff too?

R40 Yes very much so

I feel like I’m flooding this but I also love Fine Young Cannibals and “I’m Not The Man I Used To Be”. It’s so sad.

To me, there was a definite difference between early 80s and late 80s - primarily because New Wave was pretty much dead by 1985. There is also something of a pre-Madonna and Madonna Rules The World divide. I associate Thompson Twins and Duran Duran (and Culture Club) more with early 80s and Dead or Alive and Erasure with later 80s. Depeche Mode was always around, though.

R42 I also loved "As Hard As It Is" from FYC

R33) I spent a month trying to find Blue Monday by New Order after hearing it once. This was before the internet. You just had to keep asking at different record stores. The records stores around the colleges were way more hip than the big mall stores.

R43 well I can even see it broken into 2 parts because the early 80’s had that carry over of post-punk and then that transition into full New Wave. Best example is probably Joy Division turning into New York.

The Lightning Seeds (later 80s)

I meant broken into 3 parts.

The late 80’s to me is like Fine Young Cannibals and Steve Winwood and “King of Wishful Thinking” and that type of stuff lol.

R43 The first time I heard madonna’s name was while listening to WLIR in early 1983 when they gave Burning Up some play. At the time I much preferred Q (later, Stacy Q) who had a single called Playback

The 80s were when I went to see the most bands, almost all of whom peaked during that decade. Most of these were in small clubs or university campuses in California. Those I saw play live back then and liked best:

Cocteau Twins

The Cure

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Lone Justice

The Sugarcubes

Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Go-Go's

X

Wire

Depeche Mode

New Order

Let's Active

Talking Heads

The Beat

The Pretenders

Love and Rockets

The B-52's

R.E.M.

Ramones

Romeo Void

“Cuts you up” came out in1990. It’s visually, a very 80’s video, but it definitely sounds like a new decade.

I always thought that the front man for "A-Ha" was hot.

I plan on posting the fuck out of this thread tomorrow but I’m a tired old whore at the moment. ‘night, angels.

Love is a stranger...

R54) I couldn’t get enough of that song.

There *was* something about it, r55.

[quote] Tracy Chapman’s one hit wonder.

She had more than one hit. She also had a huge hit called "Give Me One Reason." It was played about a million times. I absolutely hated it. WEHT Tracy Chapman anyway? She was praised to the skies at one time. Does she even record of perform anymore? She seems to have disappeared from the music world.

Ellen Foley

80’s Madonna is the best Madonna

New wave and 2nd British Invasion were the soundtrack to my college years and my coming out.

Some amazing music released during that period, starting in 1981 and peaking in 1983. By late 1986, it was over. But during those five years, the tunes were innovative and exciting. Such good music.

Only other period I could compare it to would be the first British Invasion in the mid 60, also a period of amazing and innovative music.

[Quote] those five years, the tunes were innovative and exciting

My gayling years in the world most exciting city. I am blessed.

I Eat Cannibals by Toto Coelo (1983). Only in the 80s!

[Kudos to the poster who linked Haysi Fantayzee above. I always put Shiny Shiny and Cannibals back-to-back on my mixtapes.)

Great times, and fantastic music!

Another defining song of the decade...

Fuck yeah!

Simple Minds other big 80's hit, "Alive and Kicking"

Don't forget that little ginger guy from UK who could sing and dance his ass off, Rick Astley...

I loved Simple Minds! Saw them at the Universal Amphitheater in 1985. Shriekback opened for them:

R33, In the UK we had John Peel on BBC Radio 1 every week night playing sessions by new bands, and also playing records that had been sent in by bands that would not get airplay anywhere else. He went to gigs all over the UK constantly looking for new bands, and if he liked them he would give them a boost by playing their music on his show. He was hugely influential, and his sudden death was a great shock to many.

I was all about the British Invasion:

Clash/Big Audio Dynamite

Joy Division/New Order

Yaz/Erasure (leave it to Vince to find a woman who sounds like a man, and a man who sounds like a woman), plus a gilded Jason Statham dancing in Speedos in one of their videos.

ABC

Spandau Ballet

Heaven 17

Thomas Dolby

Souxsie and the Banshees

Art of Noise

Eurthymics

Dépêche Mode

Wham!

Culture Club

80’s Queen/David Bowie

Tears for Fears

Joe Jackson

Scritti Polliti

Madness

Squeeze

Then the one-offs:

Ministry- Every Day is Halloween

Gang of Four- I Love a Man in Uniform

Chas Jankel- Questionnaire

Level 42- Something About You

Crowded House- Don’t Dream It’s Over

College radio played a huge part in popularizing and publicizing alternative and indie music in this era.

As an L.A. kid, it was all about KROQ!

There was also a UK fanzine Smash Hits that would get imported from the UK. It’d always be about six months behind, but I could get it at the Mall near UMass. This thread brings up such memories. Thanks for mentioning Squeeze R70 I remember being obsessed with the below song.

I can’t believe The Blow Monkeys haven’t been mentioned yet.

Yes, E-L! I LOVED Squeeze! Black Coffee is probably my fave, but this is also a jam:

I was just listening to this a couple of days ago.

Before Bronski Beat, there was the Communards!

Bronksi Beat!

R3,

One of my faves from them.

One of the most surreal moments of my life was seeing the mighty lemon drops at the communist youth festival in Ravenna Italy the summer of 1987.

I was staying with a pen pal and her family were big commies and her parents insisted we go at least for one day. She had no idea who they were. And I was all oooh a British indie band in person (although I wasn’t particularly a fan)

Why must the Reagan/AIDS troll shit on every 80s thread? It wasn't a horrible time for many people.

Pet Shop Boys

Another from Squeeze!

Tina Turner had her big comeback in 1980's....

I Don't Want To Lose You - Another great from 1980's by Tina Turner.....

R68 I'm so happy that someone mentioned Shriekback! They're one of my favorite bands of all time.

I heard this on my walk to work this morning and felt it belonged in this thread. Oh1980s, thy synths and thy drum machines they comfort me.

Flock of Seagulls always is total 80s immersion

The first time I ever heard "Hold Me Now" by Thompson Twins was the first time I was ever in a gay bar (the original Buddies on Boylston St in Boston). It's impossible to hear that song now and not think of that.

^ Hahahaha! My first Gay bar song. I new I was finally home...

^ Followed by my 2nd Gay Bar song...

This song still hits me in all the feels.

@r89 *knew* So, don't you start

Living In A Box

"My first Gay bar song. I new I was finally home... "

Joan always said you'd know where to find the booze and the boys

[quote]Before Bronski Beat, there was the Communards!

The Communards came after BB, not before.

The Fame soundtrack...

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me & Promises

And The Human League

Four genres from 5 places that changed my life: UK synthpop, Chicago house, Italo disco, NY/Miami Freestyle.

Madonna had Art of Noise's "Moments in Love" playing while she walked down the aisle to wed Sean Penn.

Jellybean's "Sidewalk Talk" was a joyous single.

Oops, here's Sidewalk Talk

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Gary Numan - Cars

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax

Joe Jackson's Body and Soul LP, from beginning to end, one of my favorite albums of all time.

Haircut 100 with Nick Heyward.

Billy Idol's Les Yeux sans Visage

Herbie Hancock with breakdancers blowing everyone's mind at the 1984 Grammys (the caption is wrong).

At the 1985 Grammys, Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Thomas Dolby, and Howard Jones had the synthesizer showdown.

For me it’s Bananarama in all its iterations, but original lineup with Siobhan is my favorite.

The most beautiful '80s vocalist...

My sides!

Duran Duran, Journey, Wham, Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson ruled MTV and the radio! I would listen to my Journey albums for hours in my room pretending I was Steve Perry 2.0 in concert.

This is one of the '80s most beautiful ballads

This song is everything I love about the 1980s

The Stranglers - Golden Brown

Dorce M.D.'s - Tender Love

Don't forget me

Belinda Carlisle never looked better than in this video with Susannah Hoffs on backing vocals

R97, this was my favorite by Human League:

R115 here, *Force*. Typo.

INXS - Don't Change

Nona Hendryx

New Order is timeless in a way that Duran Duran isn't. I loved them all, but today I still only listen to New Order, The Cure, The Smiths and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

I saw the Thompson Twins in 1984 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. With Re-Flex.

I heard Duran Duran “The Reflex” a little while ago, incredible. What a distinctive sound they had.

While others were listening to overblown synths and feeling all new romantic, I couldn’t get enough of these nasty buggers. From the Boys Next Door in the ‘70s to their supreme postpunkdom in the ‘80s as the Birthday Party, I wanted to marry every single one of them. This was their most sublime moment.

Op sure is stupid

[quote] Why must the Reagan/AIDS troll shit on every 80s thread? It wasn't a horrible time for many people.

It was a horrible time for a great many people. The 80s was not all fun and games, despite all the yammering about how "great" it was. It truly sucked in a lot of ways.

Closing out the '80s...

R123: I saw Thompson Twins with The Fixx at Magic Mountain (Los Angeles) in 1983. Great show!

My friend and I met Tom & Alannah afterward. They came out the backstage door to sign autographs & chat with the fans that were hanging around. (it wasn't a large group, maybe a dozen teenagers) They were really friendly. Meanwhile, Joe bolted out of the door wearing sunglasses (at night), ignored everyone, and started running toward the main gate. As if he expected a gaggle of teenage girls to chase him? (a la HELP!). I don't know, but my friend and I laughed about it.

I still have my Thompson Twins pins!

Bronski Beat

Romeo.

Void.

Soundtrack to my 20's.

I was there! 17th row, center, dancing my butt off.

Ahhh how could I forget The Style Council in my British Invasion list?

I saw Thompson Twins AND the Eurythmics in the Bay Area (I think it was Oakland?). My god, that was a fun show.

So many good songs posted here- thanks everyone.

Joy Division

The first time I dropped acid at #'s in Houston, I remember this song playing as it kicked in. Such a fun night!

I just farted

We know, we know.

Linda

Let's aerobicise!

Eurythmics had this great song in the film 9 ½ Weeks.

I spent some time in the mid 80’s, in Genoa, working on my Art History degree. We danced to this song everywhere. I still love it.

R127) I agree, the Reagan years were a bit scary for the youth of America. I think that’s why the music was so alternative. We leaned into something other that what was considered normal at the time.

Don't Stop Believin'

I was listening to this in the '80s...

No love for 80s hi-nrg or Stock, Aiken, Waterman? Italo disco ?

Mel and Kim!

I actuality didn’t care for it at the time but love it now as fond memories.

Neutron Dance

House? Techno?

Inner City's "Good Life."

Fuck the haters. The 80s had lots of fun parts, some serious, great music from people like The Smiths, but also a lot of fun, irreverant stuff.

There were no drum machines, no loops, no autotune.

You had to be able to perform. Sure, some lip synched on TV, etc., but you generally had to have some actual talent to become signed and get a label behind you.

I was into the darker stuff

Nine Inch Nails

Clan of Xymox

This Mortal Coil

And my Jr high angst theme, THIS CORROSION by Sisters of Mercy

Behold the greatest '80s song of them all

Sade! Hello??

Why has no one mentioned the Go-Go's Head Over Heels? It's still a great song.

Olivia owns this thread

Disco never died.

Fuck the 80s. If I wanted anything indie or obscure I had to special order it from Musicland and it wasn't cheap.

British gays, explain something in R78 that always has been on my mind.... Is that pool in video where Jimmy Somerville nearly gets gay bashed to death by cruising wrong guy a "council" or public pool?

Merely require information; in most parts of USA public pools aren't so expansive nor as nice.

One of my best 80's memories - I went to a concert with A Flock of Seagulls opening for the Go-Go's.

When I saw the Thompson Twins live they just played a bunch of "songs" that nobody knew or cared about. Then, the last song of the set, "Lies." Then they were gone.

Always liked Billy Idol back then. To my surprise he's out with something new today.

My favorite from TFF

oops

The Plimsouls!

Pia Zadora and Jermaine Jackson

The BONGOS!!!

This has actually been said to me...

Hey Little Girl

Wow, I thought I loved the 80s, but some of these are weak sauce. Maybe the 80s are best left to fond memories

One of my favorite jams......

Patti Labelle and fine as heck Michael McDonald. From back when Geffen Records was putting out some great recordings.

^ Love that song, but we used to laugh at the thought of Micheal McDonald and Patti LaBelle desperately longing for each other

Wall of Voodoo - "Mexican Radio "

[quote] There were no drum machines

Clearly you never heard Madonna's Into The Groove.

[quote]There were no drum machines

No drum machines? In the '80s?

The best soundtrack of the '80s...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Yoko's seminal "Walking on Thin Ice."

When we were apart, I was human, too. This song IS the '80s.

I Love The 80s!

Early Banarama (with Fun Boy 3).

They were rather unpolished starting out.

A forgotten slice of 80s New Wave epic loveliness from The Buggles from 1980. The video was years ahead of the game.

Charlie Sexton was a great beauty

Soft Cell - the OTT seedy faded glamour of it all. It baffles me that songs like this that pushed the envelope creatively were Top 5 in the UK charts week in, week out in the late 70s, early 80s. These days nothing like this would even get a sniff at commercial radio.

The first half of the 80s had incredible music. New Wave, great pop music and some really innovative and fun stuff. Unfortunately, the second half of the 80s were that godawful hair metal shit and also Adult Contemporary i.e. people like Bruce Hornsby, Gloria Estefan, Michael Bolton and Rod's Stewart's second wave. That music was just atrocious.

Sade

Helen Schneider...before she found her niche.

I have always loved "Who Do You Want To Be?" by Oingo Boingo. I'm 59 yrs old and I still L-O-V-E iT!

R185 again - and The Waitresses! Oh Patty Donohue, you left us way too soon, but you did sing lead on the album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? and I listen to "Christmas Wrapping during the holidays.

Can't leave the 80s without "Gloria"... RIP

R186 - when they came to my town they were billed as "The Waitresses - Minimum Wage Rock & Roll."

Why do you come here?

MEN WITHOUT HATS. I don't think they've been mentioned yet, and I like a lot of their music even though they are considered a one hit wonder for Safety Dance.

FOLLIES...

Dead Milkmen

More dead Milkmen

🦊 Samantha Fox 🦊

It was the decade that encompassed Julie Brown's career.

Don't donate your Rhino compilation CDs to the Goodwill just yet Boomers! These still sound great with a lot of lesser heard gems!

Dead Kennedy’s, Butt Hole Surfers, Circlejerks, The Slits, P.I.L, The Fucking Cunts! Where did I put my 80’s t-shirt collection? I’d be wearing those right now.

Pearl Harbour

I always thought it was a man saying: "Now he's in control, he is my lover."

It's Too Late - Jim Carroll

Woman by Barrabas.

Better watch out for the Skin Deep.

There were some great musical stories being told in the 80s.

R197, that link is a freakin' rabbit hole of the 80s and R196, thanks for the Julie Brown video.

Like every decade there are big differences between the start and the end. Julie's video is from '88 and the production values are totally different from Tim Curry's "I Do the Rock (actually released in '79, but probably "big" in 1980).

How much coke did Tim snort before filming this? And you really have to be of a certain age to know the names!

He's super freaky

This is the most anthemic song of the decade

[Quote] some of these are weak sauce. Maybe the 80s are best left to fond memories

Agree and that's what I love about this thread... the memories, your memories, my memories. Thank you all.

NOW. What is the best station for this kind of selection. I am not interested in the ones that try to be all obscure, indie and edgy from that period.

(Muriel should do something so we can get ask these links played as a playlist. Yeah, I know.)

R186 : God, I loved The Waitresses! I remember buying "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" (on cassette) and driving my friends crazy because that's all I wanted to listen to , or talk about, the first few weeks I had it. One of my them (who was really more of a friend-of-a-friend) finally had it, and said to me in front of a group at school: "Will you shut up about The Waitresses? They're not that good! They're just a thinking-man's Go-Go's."

{insert offended yelp} Bitch!! How very dare she?! I was totally offended on behalf of both The Waitresses AND The Go-Go's (whom I also loved), and stormed off in a huff. I think about her every year when I hear "Christmas Wrapping." LOL

This was always one of my favorite tracks off the album. It felt strangely relevant again, a few years ago.

R197: Ha! They'll have to pry my '80s New Wave collection from my cold, dead hands!

I was beyond excited when the '80s compilation discs started coming out in 1993-94. In addition to the excellent Rhino series, there was "Sedated in The Eighties", "Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites" and "Living in Oblivion: Greatest Hits of the '80s". I have about 20 total between the various collections.

Interesting video on the history of synth pop (40 minutes).

I loved RIchard Marx's hair back then.

Soft Cell - Tainted Love!

End of discussion!

Extended version of Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go was my jam.

This is the 1980s in a nutshell!

jump

Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses!

Play this song every year during holiday season since first heard it on radio. Wore out first CD, so went out and got another.

Just takes me back to a 1980's New York city during winter holiday seasons.

Rick Astley still looks good, bit of a dad bod not withstanding!

His career has enjoyed a resurgence lately, latest concert affected by covid-19 restrictions but finally went on.

Have you been "rick rolled"?

Blancmange- Living on the Ceiling and Don't Tell Me were great songs.

English Beat- I Confess usually got people on their feet.

This was released in ‘70, but it didn’t hit the states until ‘80:

Thé fabulous Nina Hagen…

I was in a resale store that featured celebrities cast-offs in Santa Monica in the late ‘90s or early ‘00s, and I happened upon a black Azzedine Alaia dress. I was excited to purchase it, but upon closer inspection, the dress was filthy, with stains and suspicious residue all over it. I look at the tag: Nina Hagen. How very punk to have an expensive designer dress, wear it to filth, then donate it as is.

Oh man, Lena Lovitch... total blast from the past! I owned the albums "Stateless" and the EP "New Toy." i saw her perform in New Haven, late 80s.

Wasn't Richard Marx hyped or backed by The Eagles? He did hit it big for a time (I think he's married to an 80s model and has been a Christian for years). Thanks for the video... watching it I realized the apt mgr also played Lt. Provenza on TV's The Closer/Major Crimes and he was part of Police Academy movies - whoa...

And to those who love(d) The Waitresses - I am so with you... people probably told me to shut up about them as well. They were so addictive. I also love the songs, "Quit" and "Go On."

Here is some Love and Rockets. I loved Express when it came out and always thought Daniel Ash was gorgeous.

I don't think anyone has mentioned MTV's show 120 Minutes which played alternative videos on Sunday nights in the late 80s. We gathered in our dorm to watch it every week.

The soundtrack for Valley Girl has some great entries to this list!

Chenille Sisters

R158, it looks like a typical local authority pool.

One of my favorite lesser-known bands was The Untouchables, an L.A. ska band. They had a couple songs chart in the UK (including #26 below) but were otherwise almost completely unknown outside of California. (if you've ever seen REPO MAN, they're the Vespa gang)

I was an extra in Repo Man, r228.

Aidan Quinn dancing to Romeo Void is all you need to know about the 1980s.

^^ Yep! Love that clip. We all danced like that!

There was KTLA morning news producer, a few years ago, that consistently blew my mind with some of the obscure '80s songs they played while fading-out to commercial. I was certain that he/she was a GenX-er from L.A. that grew up on KROQ. I almost wet my pants when I heard this song playing-out to commercial one morning.

George Michael at top of his game!

Always a favorite at the clubs, got people up and on dance floor!

This is a song I loved and can listen to to this day.

Interesting how some albums I associate with the 80s were released in the late 70s. Over time and many, many years we tend to conflate events into one much smaller jumble.

I was going to add some Blondie to this thread, but Parallel Lines was released in 78 and Eat to the Beat came out in 79!

Wild Planet by the B-52's is an album from 1980 - I thought is was a couple of years later.

I did some more googling and realized I get the late 70s, early 80s mixed together.

Catchy tune about a nuclear war.

99 Luftballons

French hottie, Axel Bauer, doing the whole Querelle thing

Uh, R233, read the thread title.

The problem with the seemingly never ending 80s revival, is that people only revive the shitty stuff: the crappiest songs and fashions.

Uh R233, go fuck yourself.

So the god damn song came out in 1990, it still had an 80's vibe. Did you throw out everything remotely from the prior decade 1 January 1990?

On second thought forget it; you fucking old bored incels have nothing else to do bit nitpick and start fights. It's your life work.

I love Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Flipper, Bad Brains, Hüsker Du, Pussy Galore, Jesus and Mary Chain, Big Black, The Butthole Surfers, Spacemen 3

In fact, I hated the 80s so much, that I circled the date 1-1-90 with a red pen in my agenda. By the mid to late 90s it seemed we were finally back on track with decent music and fashions, but then 9/11 happened and it all turned to shit again. And, of course, the 80s revival started.

The 80s started out great. After a lingering death Disco finally croaked. The new songs coming out were fresh and snappy and funny. If you were gay, the last half of the 80s were horrifying and no amount of "feel good" songs were gonna fix that. So when I say I loved the 80s, I'm thinking 1980-1985. I had a blast. And then I didn't.

[quote] It's your life

Don't you forGET!

See how it easy it is to remain within the 80s? And sorry, but Freedom '90 does not have an 80s vibe.

80s Ladies

You might as well Jump!

Loved The Thompson Twins, Depeche Mode, The Eurythmics, the British New Wave scene, etc... So many good memories of ethereal, creative music being released at a time when media was exploding, and I was in college and coming out and visiting clubs and the music scene for a first time.

[quote] The 80s started out great.

Not really. John Lennon died the first year of the 80s. Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. The first case of AIDS in the US was reported in 1981. It was a dismal start to a dismal decade.

R246 : Love me some Van Halen! (RIP, Eddie)......but there even better "JUMP" a year earlier.

"Church of the Poison Mind" - Culture Club

1981 - ABC's Lexicon Of Love - every damn track on the album could've been a single. Trevor Horn production genius at its finest.

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight .

My "getting dressed before I leave for the club" music.

Fun Fact: The Blonde woman in the video is Dominique Davalos. Her dad Richard Davalos played Aaron in East of Eden, and her niece Alexa Davalos played that Kira/Jack person in Chronicles of Riddick.

ABC's "Lexicon of Love," along with XTC's "Skylarking" are two of the most beautifully orchestrated, layered, produced albums that I owned in the '80s.

I listened to each of them over and over and over.

I have Lexicon on CD, which is great, because I had already worn out one LP. I've got Skylarking on CD as well, but it's got 'Dear God' instead of 'Mermaid Smiled' and that's always been a disappointment.

Another great one from George Michael.

One of my favorite holiday songs....

This is the 80s. Not MTV synth pop.

This is a bit of fun from The Belle Stars

The Judy’s. Love this song’s lyrics: “They vote each other for beauty queen…”

^^^ The Judy’s also did “Guyana Punch” about “drinking the Kool-Aid” with the reverend Jim Jones.

I saw The Motels in concert…they opened for The Cars.

Icehouse.

Of the ones OP lists, I still listen to Depeche Mode (as they're still around and releasing material), but I think their best was in the 1990s ("Violator" and especially "Songs of Faith and Devotion"). And Dead or Alive still rates a listen, especially their concert album and film from Japan, "Rip it Up."

Great stuff.

the Bobs

Devo's crinkle-cut french fry and the doughnut never gets old.

Midnight Oil had it's biggest hits in the 80s. They had three or four big albums in the decade.

(Dance like Peter Garrett.)

Nothing compares to you...

R266

Posted in error, disregard and carry on...

-/:;

R254

Does anyone else see the irony of George Michael singing a song about pining away for some frau while pulling some of the gayest faces!

OTOH had to love the 1980's, when you and group of close friends could rent a ski chalet for Christmas holidays.

George Michael really seemed to come into his own after leaving Wham.

Back story to "Last Christmas"....

With Halloween coming up, it's time to pull out the Oingo Boingo. .. Maybe you have to be from the L.A. area to understand this? .. lol!

Anyway, many people may remember "Dead Man's Party" and "Weird Science," since both of those songs were used in popular 80's films. But "Grey Matter" is actually my favorite.

R243 did you miss House music? Its disco on steroids. I was a teen in Chicago in the 80s when it was getting big. Man, those were the days!

The city would be filled with people out cruising in the summer, all over, everyone was blasting the same station. You should have heard the sound systems back in the day. I don't think they allow those anymore. People would drive around with giant speakers in the trunk, it was crazy!

Did you hang out at Medusa's, r273?

Ahhhh Chicago, home of Ministry….this is my anthem:

the 80's was a nightmare

Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot

I did not r 275, we spent a lot of time at Coconuts, that was our favorite place. We also would go to the Warehouse. 80s Chicago had so many fun places! The house parties also were epic in those days.

Speaking of Coconuts ... here's a different act from the 80s;

Kid Creole and the Coconuts doing "My Male Curiosity"

This is the song they performed in the 1984 film "Against All Odd" at The Palace in Hollywood, a venue featured in the movie. That place was so great. Saw many 80s bands there.

[quote]Does anyone else see the irony of George Michael singing a song about pining away for some frau while pulling some of the gayest faces!

Yes. Maybe you should just learn to move on and just enjoy the beauty of it. JFC, lighten up.

Met The Thompson Twins at a record signing at Tower Records in the Village in NYC. Still have the LP.

R277 must be the Reagan/AIDS troll. Would you still pick 2020 or 2021 over any year in the 80s?

I love George Michael. He was one of us. He had his demons. The best of us do.

@r269, "Does anyone else see the irony of George Michael singing a song about pining away for some frau while pulling some of the gayest faces! "

Yes, this. It was the moment my friends and I knew what we had always suspected that George was one of us. Hahahaha!

Pay no mind to r281, he's the DL hall monitor of finger wagging

One of the hallmarks of 80's acts was punk-inflected lead vocalists who did not have great voices to start with. The songs were really good, but to hear the voice on three or four songs in a row was hard.

My parents (my dad in particular) listen to First Wave radio on Sirius in the car.

One thing that strikes me is how many One Hit Wonder bands there were in that era and now many of them were British.

It seems there was a real sense of excitement about music in that late 70s/early 80s time period

And that most of the New Wave style songs on that Sirius station don't have a home on classic rock radio or playlists.

Even though it was before my time, I am familiar with bands like The Eagles, Steve Miller or pop like Madonna and Michael Jackson.

But outside of Duran Duran and couple of others, I'd not heard of most of these bands and my dad said they got very little airplay in the US, that it was more a "cool kids in record stores" sort of thing.

I'd go to a dance club that played only80s music.

"With Halloween coming up, it's time to pull out the Oingo Boingo. .. "

Um, excuse me...

Duran Duran and all that 80s MTV synth pop has nothing to do with New Wave.

From Billy Joel's Glass Houses album, "All for Leyna." Honestly, this has got to be the best, most accurate song about a teenage guy obsessed with a girl because she put out for him. Doesn't matter that I'm gay, I completely understood the character in this song.

Ah, early video... so basic.

I will never forget the first time I ever saw Madonna. I was 7 years old and at my babysitter's house when the video for Lucky Star came on MTV. I was absolutely enthralled. My babysitter and I were playing Candy Land and I stopped playing the game and just stood in front of the tv watching Madonna.

I challenge any of you to find two voices that harmonize as well as Phil Collins and Philip Bailey.

We Belong

The downside to this thread is that DLers, 70% of whom have ungodly awful frau-like taste in music, will continue to post links to the worst songs of the decade.

I'll bite R296, what aren't ungodly frau-like songs from the 80s... spill.

Just scrolling up this thread R297 = R280, R272, R287, R278 -- not the best of 80s, but not "frau" songs like R290, R294, R293, R292

I'll give you this one, which is about 44 women.

Check out the name of the woman at 01:01

Madonna's Lucky Star is hardly a frau song.

And her plastic surgery looks beautiful too!!! She is just reinventing herself!!!

When I think "80s frau music" I think Michael Bolton, Gloria Estefan and Rod Stewart, just off the top of my head.

Kraftwerk.

R302, you must've been the goth girl in high school who would preach about how Joy Division is transcendent.

The Cult; Siouxsie and the Banshees, Eurythmics; ABC; B-52's and I know this will no doubt piss off a lot of the datalounge "I hate U2 Club", but U2, Cyndi Lauper, Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads.

R302 That song is from 1978, not the 80s.

R304 What the hell are you talking about?

R305 But still, the English version heard in the video was released in the UK in late 1981, becoming a No. 1 hit there by early 1982, remaining in the top 75 for 21 weeks.

Very fond memories of seeing them in Northampton.

As a baby dyke I had such a crush on her.

Let me try that post again.

Joan Jett was so fierce.

Pete Wylie for the win! Also, The Rain Parade, Game Theory, Tex and The Horseheads, Agent Orange, The Fixx, China Crisis, Husker Du, OMD, INXS, Gary Numan, DEVO, and on and on and on....

Grace Jones, "Slave To The Rhythm".

ElderLez at R308... man, talk about a local reference! I too loved the Pajama Slave Dancers, owned their "Cheap ir Real" (wonder if I still do) and saw the band twice, Sheehan's in Northampton, ZONE Art Center in Springfield.

Yes, Trainwreck on Prom Night's great, but don't forget, "Homo Truck Drivin' Man" and the ditty, "No Dick" (lyric, "I've got a problem / That I can't lick / Girls don't like me / Cause I got no dick!")

Catching the aids in the 80s was awesome.

I almost posted Homo Truck Driving man R314! But upon upon re-reading the lyrics I thought it might be too offensive even by DL standards. I don’t remember where I saw them. I saw Jane’s Addiction at Pearl Street and it wasn’t that big room and it also wasn’t the Iron Horse.

“Noho o-ho, every third or fourth guy you meet is probably on blow - oh! Prettier than a big city, city-er than a scout camp, oh how I love to roam the streets of old Northamp.”

Do you remember who sang that?

Black Flag

R316, I don't know who sang that ditty about guys in Noho being on the blow, but doesn't surprise me... plenty of music I never understood the lyrics.

Northampton had its time in the sun locally, a good run of 30 years, but the bloom's been off the rose for some time. Definitely pre-COVID.

Don't forget Barbra's first music video.

Where did she touch you? How did it feel?

^That^ video is camp perfection. Babs smoking???

Barbra smoked off and on for many years.

Style Council/My Ever-changing Moods Eurythmics/Right By Your Side Sade/Paradise Tears for Fears/Everybody Wants to Rule the World Prince/Alphabet Street Heaven 17/Best Years of Our Lives Big Country/In a Big Country U2/With or Without You

The campiest Barbra video is "Emotion," which shows her vacuuming, dancing with Baryshnikov while her hair is dyed purple, and singing in a punk club.

The Fanatic. It was one of the BEST one-hit wonders.

@323, So much Celine Dion in the video look and sound

What's wrong with the 70s?

More Belle Stars! This is the Sign of the Times....

Overpowered By Funk

I didn't see anyone post Cutting Crew "Died In Your Arms."

I remember taking a flight to another state to visit my grandmother when I was 13 or so (I think it was my first time flying by myself). I sat next to a nice guy (I don't recall how old, but probably 20s or 30s) who carried on a conversation with me and we both agreed that this was a great song. I don't know why I remember this, but I do. I wonder what happened to him. I hope he's happy.

David Palmer + Duran Duran = Power Station

Big Audio Dynamite:

I--for one--appreciate DL's music lists. The more "obscure" the better. And by "obscure," I mean by DL standards.

I haven't heard "Teenage Riot" in a long time. The Judys aren't on Prime or Spotify goddamnit.

Please continue...

Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance

Dino Jr.

A lil quiet storm

Berlin had a few great songs. Loved the nod to Bonnie and Clyde

The 80's may have been the last decade when hetero men aimed to look sharp.

We just had an 80's music thread. There is more to the 80's than music.

R338 You go girl. Tell dem cunts off.

This is the day I paraphrased, diary. On DL, can you believe it? I wasted my paraphrasing gold on DL!

To paraphrase Truman Capote, if you never listened to music from any other decade, the music of the 80s was significant. If we're labeling that decade with anything else, what always remains with me is Spring 1983, when the whatever it was was killing off gay men. Nobody knew what was causing it. Nobody knew if the sex you were having was going to kill you. We knew nothing, except gay men were being exterminated by this 'thing'.

It was a long time ago, so I can only rely on the echoes of my memories, but I'm sure there was a great deal of fear of the unknown. Then, as the decade progressed, there was the sickening lurch when friends would call the clinic to find out the results of their AIDS tests. And the expression on their faces when the test came back positive. Those friends are long gone.

I tested negative in 1987, but of course nobody else did. It's strange to think about it now, that everybody I knew from that decade who was gay is dead.

Musically, to get back on track, This Mortal Coil's 'It'll End in Tears' has got to be one of the most brilliant collection of music I own.

R340 Everyone you know died of the aids? Were they all drug addict/prostitutes! I was born in the mid 70s and I never knew anyone who died of the aids. I mean I met people who had it but no one died. This one asshole I know who caught it in 1984 is still alive and cunting.

Pre-gangsta hip hop was way more fun.

Those few years make all the difference R341. There was an average span of 10 years from infection to death and the good drugs started appearing very late 96, early 97 so if you only knew gay men about your own age, you were the first generation that lived.

R343 Yes. Sounds like it. When I was 17 my first boyfriend was 24 years older than me. He was drop dead gorgeous and bisexual but had tinymeat. So his value was about zero. Anyway, his best friend Xavier, who like him also came from France, was in stage 3 aids when we first started going out. This goofball wanted to have bareback sex when his best friend had two feet in the grave! Luckily I discovered through my spies that he was jeeping behind my back so I dumped his ass quick. He ended up with a young sexy thing who fucked everyone in the city! LOL. Justice. My ex is now 71 and has made millions from real estate but I'm still glad I dumped his cheating ass and tinymeat.

Shocked, shocked I tell you, that an 80s music thread spiraled into an AIDS conversation.

This guy

There's a playlist of The Smiths performances on Top of the Pops. Great stuff.

Husker Du. One gay, one bi and one straight dude.

Nice combo from Bowie - "Fashion" (1980) and "Let's Dance" from the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour.

Let's see:

Pet Shop Boys Bronski Beat Thompson Twins Full Force and a whole lot hip hop then called rap.

R350 Hip hop was called hip hop back in the 80s. And there's a lot more to the 80s than wimpy mainstream synth pop.