This week’s Awesome Song has it’s roots in the 60s, was released in the 70s and then hit its stride in the very early 80s !
Flash & The Pan was started in 1976 in Australia by two former members of The Easybeats, famous for their 1966 hit “Friday
On My Mind” (which was later memorably covered by David Bowie). One of
these members was the legendary George Young … older brother of Angus
and Malcolm of Oz heroes AC/DC. Although they lasted until 1993, their
one-hit wondrousness peaked early with their debut song “Hey St. Peter”.
Released in 1976, but not making its way to north America until July
1979, “Hey St. Peter” was an early New Wave classic, featuring
innovative vocals, unique song structure, inventive synths and even a
really bad video! Watch for George Young playing dress-up like little
brother Angus in it.
It was one of those songs
that radio wasn’t really sure what to do with… I remember it being
played on rock stations in NYC, and then later on it was also played on
new music stations as they came into being - a rarity that any song
would be on both at the time. It even turned up on Richard Blade's
Flashback Favorites, Vol 1 so it’s New Wave heritage is not in doubt. I
see it as an early example of what New Wave would soon become - an
early foray into something different, unique & AWESOME!
Fiction Factory grabbed the #27 spot on my Top 200 with "Feels Like Heaven", their greatest chart success. "Hit The Mark", another song from the same album (1984's Throw The Warped Wheel Out), is one of my favorite tracks by the band.
"Hit The Mark" was never released as a single, a fact which illustrates once again the general uselessness of most music label A&R men. For a band so starved for hit songs to not even release a potental charting track is inexcusable.
The funky bass work and gutteral synths alone make this song one of Fiction Factory's best efforts.
Ultimately, however, "Hit The Mark" Just Missed It!
Be back next week with another great tune that didn't quite make the list.
Classic synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys have had a storied career - hits, awards, accolades…the list is endless. And they recently reached the very pinnacle of awesomeness… by winning spot #79 on Marc’s Top 200 with the great song “Opportunities"!
I remember hearing “West End Girls” on NY New Wave radio station WDRE when it won “Screamer of the Week” honors in November 1984. It’s OK, but I prefer their more upbeat tunes like “It’s a Sin” and “Always On My Mind”. But my favorite song of theirs and this week’s Awesome Song, has to be the one that solidified with a bear stranglehold their status as long-standing premiere gay dance icons. The timeless anthem known as … “Go West”!
The song, originally by the inimitable Village People, is a soaring hymn of open frontier, new life and endless opportunity. The video is mind-blowing too, with CGI effects and primary color cold war imagery interlaced with muscular flag bearers in spandex & wife-beater shirts, their buttocks patriotically clenched, as they march up the stairway to socialism. Never did figure out what it all means … but it does seem to work.
Much as I like the Pet Shop Boys and their Go West …. I have to admit … I like the Village People’s original version of the song better! Total guilty pleasure…. I am not that much of a fan of their other music, but something about their Go West is just amazing. Let’s enjoy both versions of this superb song!
After leaving experimental band Tin Tin in 1984, English new waver Stephen Duffy recorded his debut solo LP, The Ups and Downs, in 1985. Lead-off single "Kiss Me" was actually a reworked Tin Tin song from 1982.
This new version of "Kiss Me" caught lightning in a bottle, surging to #4 on the UK charts and making Duffy a solo star almost overnight. Unfortunately, the next two singles languished at the lower reaches of the British charts and Duffy was unable to replicate the success of "Kiss Me". By 1986 he had abandoned his solo career and put together a new group, Lilac Time, which also contained his brother, Nick Duffy. Lilac Time went on to achieve moderate success in Europe over the next few years, until it too broke up in 1991.
Be back next week with another tune that almost made the cut.
As New Wave (as we know & love it) was coalescing in the late 1970’s and early 80s, it drew upon many different styles and musical influences. Many artists emerging at the time were rooted in other styles .. but still had an element of New Wave to them. Many touched upon New Wave just for a bit, while others went whole hog into it. In the late 70s UK “male singer-songwriter” realm, everyone knows Elvis Costello - his first 3 albums (his best!) had elements of punk and a heavy reliance on synth’s cousin, the Hammond organ. We saw pub-rock acts like Graham Parker and Nick Lowe incorporate New Wavery things into their music every now & then. Eddy Grant did pop-reggae with a new wave edge. Joe Jackson definitely fit the bill - his first two albums in 1979 were fantastic … the title track of his second album “I’m The Man” was even good enough to score #147 on Marc’s Top 200!
On the other side of the pond, New Wave was a little later in fully forming… and most of the male innovators in the pre-new-wave-period were front men for bands, like David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jonathan Richman (Modern Lovers), Rik Ocasek (The Cars) etc. While not are all thought of as pure New Wave today, at the time their music was definitely part of the new wave of sound that was happening, and most of it was coming from groups in North America. There was however one notable exception, a New Jersey talent very much in the vein of the Englishmen mentioned above.
In 1980 a fellow named D.L. Byron released his first album, an edgy power-pop gem called “This Day And Age”. It had the manic energy of Joe Jackson, new romantic yearnings and that wonderful sense of urgency that makes such music great. No synths here - the new wave is all in the attitude - just like the other artists in England at the same time. We could literally pick any song off D.L. Byron’s first album as the Awesome Song of the Week. I’ve been listening to it in full for over 35 years now and I still never get tired of it! I’ve been calling it “The Best Album Never Heard” for a while now, and incredibly it still stands up to the test of time.
Trivia: D.L. Byron wrote “Shadows Of The Night” (Pat Benatar) and was on the soundtrack of the “trying too hard to be punk” movie “Times Square” in 1980 as well.
Let’s rock out in This Day And Age with D.L Byron … and if I have to pick one, well, we’ll have to just “Get With It” !
I'm not a huge fan of dark wave music, and I find most (Clan of) Xymox songs all sound the same. But "Imagination", from the band's 1989 album Twist Of Shadows has a pop sensibility that I like. They also allowed Anka Wolbert to sing, which to my mind is a definite step in the right direction.
Xymox's highest-charting song of all time, "Imagination" hit #85 on the US Hot 100 and peaked inside the top 50 in the UK. It also just missed making my Top 200 list.
Be back next week with another song that didn't quite get there.
Tempe, Arizona was best known for being a prodigious 'college rock'
incubator in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bands such as the Gin
Blossoms, The Refreshments, The Chimeras, The Pistoleros, Gloritone and
Dead Hot Workshop (amongst many others) came out of the desert with
original alt-rock college tunes at that time. The real
first Gin Blossoms LP was called “Dusted” and was a late 80s pinnacle of
vinyl (before they lost their lead songwriter/guitarist to suicide and
got corrupted by the A&R men). The Refreshments are best known for
their song “Banditos” which was on heavy rotation on alternative
stations at the time… as well as their instrumental which kicks off
every episode of the cartoon series “King of the Hill”. But the
Refreshments did much more than that - their (only) two albums are
amongst the favorites in my collection! Dead Hot Workshop are more of a
‘cult’ band … their best two songs are “River Otis” and “Burger Christ”
… all of these bands are worth a listen, a great snapshot of the early
90s Tempe scene.
But for this week’s
awesome song we go back even further … to Tempe AZ in 1982. At that
time an obscure band called the Jetzons crafted their one and only
album, “Made in United States”. An uptempo, rocking, new wave gem it
contains synths, complex vocal tracks, infectious grooves and funky
danceable melodies galore. The best song on the album is this week’s
awesome song, a number called “Hard Times”. But here’s the thing -
although made in 1982, “Hard Times” wasn’t properly released until 2008!
See, in 1982 the album didn't get much traction (like most of the
later bands mentioned above) and was mainly a cult phenomena. It took
over 25 years for their record company to compile all the Jetzons
recordings and they were all re-released with “lost tracks” including
“Hard Times”. The Jetzons found new audiences … as well as …
controversy!
Seems that after The Jetzons
originally faded from memory, the music for "Hard Times” was
“appropriated” for a Sonic the Hedgehog video game by none other than
the sleazy posse of the late, not-so-great, chart-topper, nose-chopper
(and suspected kid-bopper) Michael Jackson ! Of course everyone
involved denies everything (sound familiar?) but judge for yourself -
after you enjoy this weeks’ obscure but awesome song, “Hard Times” … by
The Jetzons (not Michael Jackson and not Sonic the Hedgehog!)
Neil Young had "Computer Age", Alice Cooper had "Clones", Ministry had "Revenge", and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees had "Robot", from his 1984 LP Secret Agent.
Synthesizers, robotic voice effects, syncopated drum machine beats, scratching, this tune has it all! "Robot" was never released as a single, but I really like the song, and considered it for my Top 200.
I also like Gibb's "Juliet", from his previous album, 1983's How Old Are You? (which has got to be one of the worst record names of all time).
P.S. Speaking of new wavish songs from non-new wave artists...Kim Carnes had "Crazy In The Night" in 1985!
Be back next week with another great song that didn't quite make the list.
New Order made one appearance in Marc’s Top 200 with “Regret” at #87. One of their more upbeat tunes (despite the title), it undeniably qualifies as a solid 80’s New Wave synthpop gem … despite being made in 1993!
The first New Order song I ever heard was "Blue Monday” which was being played everywhere when it originally dropped in early 1983… every New Wave dance club and bar had it on heavy rotation. It came in a mysteriously unmarked disc sleeve and was followed by an equally inscrutable video. Timeless gem of a song that put them on the map, big time. Needless to say New Order and Factory Records went on to a storied career, hit after hit, neatly summed up with the release of the singles compilation “Substance” in 1988.
But my personal favorite New Order tune and this week’s Awesome Song is on their second LP, “Power Corruption & Lies”. The song “Age of Consent” opens that LP (the first real New Order LP in my opinion - the actual first New Order LP “Movement" was more a transitional segue from Joy Division) with that superb bass line from Peter Hook… then the drums … then the guitar … then the intensity of Bernard Sumner’s singing comes in…..and finally the incredible string synths ….followed by 5+ minutes of grooving…all while building up to the spectacular soaring outro. It never was released as a single so it didn't make "Substance” … but in my opinion it was their finest release - and of course it’s a song I never get tired of !
Peter Godwin took the #20 spot on my Top 200 with "Images Of Heaven". Another great song by the English new waver is "Baby's In The Mountains", the lead-off single from his 1983 debut solo LP, Correspondence. A dance chart hit upon its release, this song has been remixed many times for club play in dancehalls across North America and Europe. But like most things, the original is still the best. I did consider "Baby's In The Mountains" for my Top 200, but ultimately it didn't quite make it.
Godwin's ballad "Young Pleasure" (from the same album) is also great:
And "The Dancer" also rocks:
Be back next time with another song that almost made my list.
Fan’s of Marc’s Top 200 and Awesome Song of the Week know that every so often Marc or I slip one in that might not have synths, or isn’t exactly New Wave, or might be a year on either side the the 80s proper… this is one of those weeks!
The Housemartins formed in Hull, England in 1983. More a power pop outfit than anything else, they were unique in that they used humor and snappy upbeat melodies in parallel with sometimes depressing, sometimes religious lyrics and on occasion, angry socialist politics. Some very odd combos indeed! They released their first album in 1986 and were only around for about three years after that, releasing a total of two LPs and a fistful of EPs. But they were very successful - they had seven singles make the UK Top 40. Many of the Housemartins' songs are irresistible tunes, and their videos filled with the band clowning around as well as claymation. Afterwards, lead singer Paul Heaton formed The Beautiful South with a more downbeat sound but similar lyrical content- they went on for the next 20 years but none of their music came close to the great Housemartins. Their bassist had a more interesting path - Norman Cook formed Beats International and then went on to become world famous as music producer & top international DJ Fatboy Slim!
Let’s go back to 1986 for the first hit the Housemartins made - It’s Happy Hour !
-WAS
Bonus: Former Housemartin Norman Cook’s Best Song as Fatboy Slim - The Rockafella Skank (1998)… and what a wacky video !
Martha & The Muffins took the #168 spot on my Top 200 with "Women Around The World At Work", my favorite song of theirs. That tune was off their second album, 1981's This Is The Ice Age. The year before, however, they had burst onto the Canadian new wave scene with "Echo Beach", from their debut album Metro Music.
"Echo Beach" hit #5 in Canada and propelled Metro Music to platinum status. It also made #37 on the US dance chart. Martha Johnson and company soon became household names among music fans in the Great White North. "Echo Beach" nearly made my Top 200, but in the end just missed it. As an aside, at this time many Canadian women were hitting the charts, all pop artists with a pseudo-new wave sound. Here are some examples. #1 - Luba, who had two monster Canadian hits with "Storm Before The Calm" and "Innocent (With An Explanation)" in 1984 and 1986, respectively. While not actually a new wave performer, Luba attached herself to the new wave movement, associating with many bands and solo artists in that genre and wearing and affecting new wave fashions and styles.
#2 - Sherry Kean, who won the Juno award (Canadian Grammy) in 1984 as Best New Artist in the country. Formerly a punk rocker with The Sharks, Kean scored a massive solo hit with "I Want You Back" (#19 on the Canadian Hot 100), then went on to release a country album in 1986 before eventually leaving the music business to work in a museum. Like Luba, although Kean wasn't technically a new wave artist, she did everything under the sun to ride the coattails of the movement while it remained popular.
#3 - Finally, we have Nancy Martinez. More a dance artist than anything else, this latina singer from Quebec nevertheless made new wavers very welcome in her fanbase, as everything from comments in her interviews to the music played before her concerts seemed to indicate she was "one of us". Her 1986 hit "For Tonight" shot to #2 in Canada and reached #32 on the Billboard chart in the USA.
Be back next week with another great song that almost made my list.
For our milestone twenty-fifth entry of “Awesome New Wave Song of The Week” we’re going to go to a true New Wave original and largely hidden talent who has been at many key moments in New Wave history ….
Someone who gave Thomas Dolby one of his first jobs as a keyboardist. Someone who co-wrote and produced Dollar’s best song “Hand Held in Black & White”. Co-designer of The Buggles. Muse of Grace Jones when she made “Slave to the Rhythm”. Occasional backup vocalist for The Pet Shop Boys. Someone who not only performed - but co-wrote - the hit “Video Killed The Radio Star” !
He was even peripherally involved with Paul Lekakis of “Boom Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)” fame … Hey, nobody's perfect!
I speak of none other than Bruce Woolley !
In 1979 Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club released their only album, “English Garden” and on it were the original versions of two classic new wave songs later covered by The Buggles: “Video Killed The Radio Star” and ”Clean, Clean”. Upon its release it got fairly good reviews, but many listeners were puzzled by the strange new sounds and concepts being introduced so far ahead of their time … hey, it wasn't even the 80s yet!
The Buggles’ version of “Video” garnered the #162 spot on Marc’s Top 200. BW&TCC's superb original is a great rendition of the song - a less produced, studio-fied sound. (although I’m willing to bet that the Buggles’ added production and addition of the “oh-a-oh-a” vocals is what made it such a hit later on)
But this week the Awesome honor goes to “Clean, Clean” - I always loved the manic sound and Clockwork Orange stylings of the tune. It’s more similar to The Buggles' version and rocks out with brilliant guitar and the always recognizable master strokes of Mr. Dolby on synths.
BW&TCC never made another album but between “Video” and how many insanely popular songs he’s written for others I don't think he’s hurting for cash flow!
-WAS
P.S. Here's the original “Video Killed The Radio Star".
After signing a record deal in late 1983, Belouis Some released his debut album in April, 1985. The self-titled effort scored him three UK hits: "Imagination", "Jerusalem", and "Some People", which hit #33 in Britain and #67 in the USA.
The next year, Some contributed his best song, "Round, Round", to the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. The track wasn't released as a single, but it's awesome and almost made my Top 200 list.
I'm a fan of all things Molly Ringwald, but Pretty In Pink isn't one of my favorite films. Here's the video anyway, if you want to relive the nostalgia (I keep forgetting Kristy Swanson is in the movie until I see that last scene).
Be back next week with another song that just missed making it.
The legendary Black captured the #90 spot on Marc’s Top 200 with the title song of his smooth 1987 “Wonderful Life” LP. An international hit that is played everywhere (even on Cadbury commercials!), it’s a magnificent song. Little known fact - it's being sung from a point of irony, not appreciation! More obvious irony comes across in this weeks awesome song, “Everything Is Coming Up Roses” - the second track off the LP. The strangely timeless and un-cheesy-for-the-80s video is awesome too.
“Roses" was the first song I ever heard from Black and it immediately made me a big fan. The entire “Wonderful Life” album is superb, but if I had to pick a favorite track right now it would probably be “Finder”….
But then again …. “Just Making Memories" is really growing on me…..
Platinum Blonde scored places on my Top 200 with "Situation Critical" (#196), "Not In Love" (#173), "Standing In The Dark" (#118), and "Doesn't Really Matter (#39). These four songs are all from the Blondes' first two albums, 1983's Standing In The Dark and 1985's Alien Shores.
By 1987's Contact LP, the country's musical landscape had changed. New wave was on the outs, and slick Canadian rock acts like Glass Tiger, Haywire, and Frozen Ghost were ascendant (see below). In response, Platinum Blonde changed their sound and look. The first fruit of this effort was lead-off single "Contact", which hit #13 on the Canadian charts, their biggest hit since "Situation Critical" in 1985.
Over the long haul, however, the new style didn't catch on, and "Contact" would prove to be the band's last top 40 hit. I've always loved the song despite it's warts, however, and I did consider including it on my list. Full disclosure: I have lost my voice belting out this song at several Platinum Blonde concerts.
Bonus: Haywire, Glass Tiger, Frozen Ghost - a calvacade of Canadian 80s rock!
Be back next time with another song that almost made my Top 200.
Many people are familiar with legendary pop-punk band The Buzzcocks and their enigmatic lead singer Pete Shelley (who as a solo artist scored the #136 spot in Marc’s Top 200). But before Pete Shelley fronted the Buzzcocks, the band was led by its co-founder, who departed after one EP - the one & only Howard Devoto. Devoto was even more an unusual character than Shelley - a true rebel & iconoclast, he was so punk rock that he prioritized his college studies over any punk rock nonsense! After the Buzzcocks he formed a pioneering post-punk band called Magazine who were way ahead of their time... and then he left the music industry entirely to work in photography.
But before he did, Devoto, tired of the whole punk genre, spent the years 1981-1983 crafting a wondrously tuneful solo new wave disc called “Jerky Versions of the Dream”. Coming from out of nowhere with great lyrics and a tight, well produced sound, “Dream” cast the eccentric Devoto in a whole new light. It even made a dent in the UK charts at #57, and was followed by a sold-out tour of Europe, Canada & the US. The stand-out track on “Dream” is the dense and emotive “Rainy Season”. I’m going with the unofficial video on this one, for many reasons - it contains the longer album version of the song, not the too-short edited single version. Plus, the quality of the sound is far superior. Also, the beauty of this tune is actually compromised by the horrific 80s cheesiness of the video.. look away, look away! And finally … Howard Devoto despite his ingenious music & innovative creativity… has a face made for radio.
Anna Maria and John Smithson's short-lived band Mobiles released only one album, 1982's Drowning In Berlin,before breaking up one year later. The title track reached #9 in the UK with it's eerie vocals and strange, paranoid video.
Follow-up single "Amour Amour" failed to crack the top 40, and it was all downhill from there. I did consider "Drowning In Berlin" for my Top 200, but ultimately it didn't make the cut.
Bonus! Here's "Fear", another great track by Mobiles.
Be back next week with another song that almost made my list.
This coming Sunday is April 1, so to celebrate April Fool’s Day we have a special edition of Awesome Song!
Killer
Pussy was a punk / new wave group out of Phoenix, Arizona that was more
of a kitchy novelty act than a band. They managed to put out a 4-track
EP and then cobble together one album during their career, “Bikini
Wax”, which is riddled with smutty songs, teenage humor & cheesy
jokes. Exhibiting a trashy punk aesthetic that by 1983 was already
pretty well past its expiration date, Killer Pussy was briefly popular
and actually got airplay on new wave radio at the time (albeit usually
after midnight
when censors were already asleep!). Echoing other radical punky fringe
bands like X-Ray Spex and the Plasmatics, Killer Pussy made up for lack
of talent with outrageous lyrics & crazy antics. That said, they
could be lyrically clever at times, and were certainly entertaining!
Dr. Demento and Weird Al would be proud of them.
Their
most well-known song is this week’s April Fool Awesome Song: “Teenage
Enema Nurses in Bondage”. Enjoy …. and April Fools !
A-Ha took the #48 spot on my Top 200 with their only appearance, for the song "The Sun Always Shines On TV". Another song by the group I considered including on my list was their Bond theme, the title track from 1987's "The Living Daylights" starring Timothy Dalton as 007. The movie was a middling entry in the James Bond franchise, but the theme song by the Norwegian new wavers is definitely one of the best. While the movie - and the song - can't quite compare to the magnificence that is 1985's Roger Moore-Duran Duran classic "A View To A Kill" (also starring erstwhile new waver Grace Jones who had a big hit with "Slave To The Rhythm" that same year), "The Living Daylights" is an awesome tune in its own right.
A-Ha hit #5 in the UK - and a disappointing #103 in the US - with "The Living Daylights", a far cry from the #1 US/#2 UK "A View To A Kill" (still the only Bond theme to ever get the top spot in America). But who can compete with "Bon, Simon le Bon" & the Fab Five? Videos included below.
Be back next week with another great song that almost made my list.
