Four years ago, when Premiere last featured 9/7/85 for its 80s AT40 rebroadcast, I reflected a little about some feelings I had at the beginning of my senior year of college. Those months still knock around in my head, especially when the first hints that summer is on its way out arrive. (Living my entire life on an academic year calendar likely plays a role, too.) Maybe there's more to say about all that someday, but for now I'll content myself with chatting up six tunes I didn't hear two days ago when I listened to this show again.
100. Belouis Some, "Some People"
I didn't know this one in real time but got with the program about a decade later, after it was included on volume 4 of the new wave compilation series Living in Oblivion: The 80's Greatest Hits. "Some People" is coming off a #67 high in its final week on the chart and would reach #33 in the UK the following spring. I just feel we all kinda missed the boat, what with the catchy chorus and cool-yet-creepy sci-fi vid about the stranger who comes to town and makes the youngster still within one jump out and dance...
92. Depeche Mode, "Master and Servant"
A staple these days over on SiriusXM's 1st Wave, "Master and Servant" failed to gain any pop chart traction as a followup to "People Are People." This is the first of a three-week run which stalled out at #87.
82. Oingo Boingo, "Weird Science"
Do you remember when Weird Science, My Science Project, and Real Genius all opened at theaters within about a week of each other, in early August 1985? I didn't go see any of them, but I did notice that micro-trend in teenage male science fiction comedy films and had thoughts at the time about a potential lack of originality on Hollywood's part.
Regardless, Danny Elfman's band scored their biggest hit with the title track to the highest-grossing of those three flicks, eventually reaching #45 with "Weird Science." Elfman was already on his way to a much more successful career scoring movies, having just completed the honors for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (which happened to be released when the three mentioned in the paragraph above were).
63. What Is This?, "I'll Be Around"
Band out of L.A. that at one time had a few future members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in it. They'd all gone on to other projects by the time this Spinners cover was recorded. Some nifty guitar work and typically fine production from Todd Rundgren couldn't propel it past #62, alas.
This is the only one of these six songs that I remember hearing in the late summer of 1985.
61. 'Til Tuesday, "Looking Over My Shoulder"
Sometime in my second year of grad school I checked out 'Til Tuesday's first two CDs from the Urbana Free Library and ripped them to cassette (don't worry--I made good eventually by purchasing the disks). That tape was a frequent companion on trips between IL and KY for a couple of years. While I think Welcome Home is a more mature, complete album, Voices Carry definitely has its moments, including second single "Looking Over My Shoulder." This was as high as it'd go.
55. King, "Love & Pride"
This balances things out in the post between the U.S. and the UK at three acts apiece. I will say that if you're going to use your lead singer's surname for your band's moniker, you could do far worse than this. The bouncy "Love & Pride" is also at its peak position; I just hope that spray paint they used on the rocks in the vid was water-soluble.
No comments:
Post a Comment