The Chronic Curmudgeon

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July 26, 2006

Mudge's Favorite 134 Songs of the 80s: Into The 90s

Admit it... you're secretly digging this little list. Go on... confess. Here we go into the top 100...

100. Russians, Sting First of all, it's a time capsule -- a reminder of a time when two nuclear powers sat poised with thousands of missiles aimed at one another, fingers on the triggers. If you are too young to remember what the Cold War was really like, imagine spending your childhood not just dreading war, but hoping that -- if it did come -- you'd be one of the lucky ones who died instead of living to see the horror of the next day.
The lyrics to this song take me back in time to that period, to that mindset... and it's both scary and sad.

Then, add in the fact that musically, Sting's done something very cool here... the use of minor keys, and backlooping the strings... not only did he craft a pop song that flat out sounded Russian, but he lent it a foreboding tone that more than evoked the emotions that the lyrics came from. And there has perhaps never been a plainer, more direct, more effective expression of fear in music as the final line of Sting's chorus in this song: "I hope the Russians love their children too." Haunting video, and haunting song.

99. Burning Down The House, Talking Heads Awesome concept for a video: inner child takes over not just metaphorically, but physically. As for the song, it's got one of the best rhythm lines in pop history; for me, the drums and Tina Weymouth's bass line make this song. It's fun to move to, it's fun to sing in the car, it's just fun. Check the video here.

98. Sunglasses At Night, Corey Hart Say what you want. Go ahead, tell me it's a terrible song. Tell me the lyrics are insipid. All I have to say is, whatever. Because I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this song; it was playing during a very signifcant 60 or so seconds of my life that happened when I was 16. I think that you'll understand why it brings a smile to my face even today. Yeah, it's a cheesy song. But you can't pick what songs the radio DJ plays, and sometimes you just don't care about changing the station. You know? (I guess it did help that there was a pretty steady drumbeat going on in the song...) And yeah, I know that you've got visuals in your head that may scar you for life -- you're all out there screaming "My eyes! My eyes!" So to help get those thoughts out of your head, check out Corey's video here. And Corey?? Thanks, buddy.

97. How Soon Is Now? The Smiths I never really got into the Smiths; I thought Morrissey was a whiny wanker, and I felt no need to join the other emo progenitors wallowing in their self-proclaimed misery by embracing the Smiths. (It probably matters that I was a pretty happy teenager who actually didn't mind high school and had a pretty good time there.) But Morrissey and his pretentiously indulgent lyrics aside, the guitar line for this song kicks ass. And it was for the music and that guitar line that I liked the song, and that it makes the top 100 now. Check the video here.

96. Don't Come Around Here No More, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers All right... back at #119, I put a-ha's Take On Me in the countdown solely on the strength of its video; here is the second example on this countdown of a song that's on my list entirely because the video rocked. In fact, I'd argue that this video was one of the three best of the decade. Petty's trip through Lewis Carroll's looking glass translated perfectly to the sitar-laced, mysterious-toned song. This is a fabulous example of marrying a creative director's vision to a song that fits it; one of the three best videos of the 80s drives "Don't Come Around Here No More" into my top 100.

Posted by Christopher on July 26, 2006 12:02 AM

Comments

Posted by: Jill at July 27, 2006 01:18 AM