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1984 – the year of high energy pop singles

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1984. I was 15, and hadn’t yet gone goth. It was a great year for pop singles. Maybe a truism, but still worth celebrating.

There are the obvious hits – Born In The USA, Careless Whispers, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, I Want To Break Free, Purple Rain, Relax, Smalltown Boy, Smooth Operator, Take On Me – the list seems endless. And there are the syrup-coated songs it was hard to avoid – What’s Love Got to Do With It?, Joanna, Solid (As A Rock), Ghostbusters and of course I Just Called to Say I Love You.

But here are 20 songs from that year that made me move, and give me wobbly nostalgia when I hear them now* – 1. Shannon – Let the Music Play 2. Chaka Khan – I Feel for You 3. The Pointer Sisters – Jump (For My Love) 4. Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder – Together in Electric Dreams 5. Prince & The Revolution – Let’s Go Crazy 6. Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me 7. Dazz Band – Let It All Blow 8. James Ingram – Yah Mo B There 9. Cyndi Lauper – She Bop 10. Deniece Williams – Let’s Hear It » Continue Reading.

Giddy Carousel of Pop podcast

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Hi poopkids, as fans of the collective works of messrs Ellen and Hepworth, I thought you might enjoy the Giddy Carousel of Pop podcast (@GiddyPopPod on twitter). available on all your usual podcast platforms. Each episode sees myself and Simon G take the staples out of an old issue of Smash Hits from the Eighties and go through it with the finest of tooth combs. Each time we have a special guest to help us and episode one stars Dr Volume of this parish. Episode 2 coming soon!

Eighties Elton

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As part of my research on an eighties music podcast I am doing I have been enjoying this time period in the career of Sir Reginald of Dwight.

It is an admittedly mixed bag with a few surprising gems mixed in. What is the consensus on this forgotten decade (by no less than the man himself – he barely does any numbers live from this time)?

There is a case to be made that this period is underrated in the same way his heyday seventies are a smidgen maybe overrated? Thoughts?

Here is a gem to start with (lyrics by no less than Tom Robinson)

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/elton-john-part-1-1980-1982/id1486104117?i=1000455833451

Modern Music for 80s Nerd

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Very much an eighties child who also very much finds 98% of modern music leaves me cold with its pro-tooled, digital-sheened, auto-tuned, millennial-whoopy cynical generic blandness.

Can anyone recommend any millennial acts/songs that would please a lover of eighties music? I tried Hot Chip (after reading they would fit the remit) and they left me cold. Any suggestions? Cheers!

Happy Birthday, Your Madge

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Yes, Madonna celebrates a big birthday today. Dunno what the general opinion of her music is on here, but I’ve always liked her (she was the first pop star I had on my wall at the age of 7 or so; I think I thought she was “pretty” which I guess when you’re 7 is as far as it goes) and you can’t deny she’s had some excellent records.

Over on the Twitts there is a top 5 thing going on; I’m not suggesting we do that here (it’s an interesting read, mind), but it’s certainly worth some celebration.

Here’s probably my favourite (from around the time I put the poster up). A fantastic record, with some fantastically unsubtle innuendo.

The Next Bowie Box Set….

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With the announcement of Bowie’s “Berlin” box set, A New Career In A New Town, I’m wondering what the next one will be called? Given they are named after songs, i’d hazard a guess at Dancing With The Big Boys? Which would contain:

Let’s Dance Tonight Never Let Me Down Black Tie White Noise Serious Moonlight live Glass Spider live Re:Call 4

Any other suggestions?

A somewhat different music list – TV Cream 100 Greatest Singles

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I’ve been dipping into the TV Cream website for many years now – they style themselves as a 70s & 80s pop culture repository and though they can veer into the “Spangles & Chopper bikes” nostalgia zone, I mostly find them pleasingly irreverent…

Years ago they published a top 100 singles list, and have recently updated it… they’re not clear on how it was arrived at, though the comments clearly indicate some kind of voting system, but it’s a pleasingly bonkers celebration of 70s/80s pop & rock, and probably more diverse than many “cooler” charts out there… I’d also wager there’ll be a few “blimey, I’d forgotten about that” moments to be had too, especially in the YT clips they provide…

It might just be a bit too-uncool-for-school for us Afterworders, but I’d like to think it might also be a bit of an antidote to the angst-y handwringing we can sometimes be guilty of in analysing our listening likes & dislikes…

Top 10 in the comments (the number 1 might raise a few eyebrows), and the whole list is at the link, enjoy and have at it (and remember, don’t have nightmares…)

http://www.tvcream.co.uk/category/pop/100-greatest-singles-ever/

None Eightiesier?

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The checklist:

The sounds:

A full orchestra of multiple Yammy DX7s multiply plinking dee-ex-sevenily.

A whackjob snaredrum that makes you wince on every backbeat.

Faux bakerstreety alto sax break in the middle because the verses and choruses have got a bit boring.

The images:

Big hair

Big shirts

Extreme chest exposure

Big trousers hoisted up to navel level

Rolled-up sleeves

Pale pink and powder blue colourways

Pointless set design featuring weirdass geometric black and white shapes

Lame-o jerky animation inserts whenever Rod’s lame-o jerky dancing begins to pall

It’s got the lot! Can you do better, reader?