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August 02, 2006
Mudge's Favorite 134 Songs of the 80s: Short Hiatus Version
Found out it's gonna take three weeks to get my computer back. Three weeks??? What the heck am I going to do? Somehow, I gotta get that user name and password. Anyway, since it's gonna be a little while before I'm back on, I figured I'd get you as close to the halfway mark as I can before my computer explodes into flame. So without further ado...
75. Hell's Bells, AC/DC I love this one so much, it's my ringtone. Yep, that's right: if you're ever out somewhere and you hear that gong and that foreboding guitar riff, the odds are I'm somewhere right nearby, and someone's calling me. (Unintentional funny moment at work of last week: while I was down getting coffee, I apparently got a personal call on my cell... when I got back to my desk, a colleague said, "Hey Christopher, your heavy metal phone was ringing.") I love this song because Trevor Hoffman comes into baseball games with it playing; because it was the theme song for my fantasy baseball team in 2004, when I won the league championship; and because it's just flat-out bad-ass. But I'll say this about Brian Johnson: no post-pubescent human male should be able to hit the register he does without the use of a pair of pliers and some torque. The video's here.
74. Jump, Van Halen At some point between Diver Down and 1984, Eddie picked up the keyboards. The result was that VH went pop in 1984, vaulting "1984" to #2 on the album charts and scoring the second biggest hit of the year with the album's lead single, "Jump," which went to #1 on the pop charts for 5 weeks. This is another example of a video driving a song higher; while it's "just" a performance video and not a concept one, it's one of those quintessential early MTV classics. And that five second clip near the end when Eddie, Dave and Michael sort of hop in sync toward the camera? One of rock video's most enduring images.
73. Home Sweet Home, Motley Crue One of the things that shocked me when I made this list is that the Crue made only one appearance; I really thought I'd been more into them as a teenager. At least that's the way I remembered it. But as much as I liked their drive-your-parents-crazy rockers (Dr. Feelgood, Shout At The Devil, Too Young To Fall In Love), it would seem that the only one I liked so much that it ended up on my list was this -- their single effort at power balladry. How the hell did that happen? At least I can say that I saw them during the Theater of Pain tour; hopefully that brings back some of my Crue credibility. Here's the video.
72. Who Can It Be Now? Men at Work Remember when everyone said that these guys were leading an "Australian Invasion?" Apparently no one told the rest of Australia (unless you count Air Supply -- and if you do count them for anything, you need serious help, like as in hospitalization). But the Men had two huge albums, including their debut "Cargo," off of which the lead single was 1982's "Who Can It Be Now?" And you have to love any song about paranoia -- especially when it's sung by a guy who ended up providing musical interludes on "Scrubs" 20+ years later. Check the video here.
71. Animal, Def Leppard Their irst top ten single after returning with "Hysteria," "Animal" signaled that the boys from Sheffield were back -- one armed drummer and all. And boy was I glad to have them back; Def Leppard was right up there with my favorite acts of the decade. If we judge by this list, only two bands (U2 and Guns N Roses) will show up here more often than Def Leppard before it's all over, so I must have really dug them. You know what? Even if it makes me a dork, I still do. Check the video here.
Comments
Hmm No Bangles yet.
Hysteria the song better be in your top ten.
Posted by: Corey at August 2, 2006 08:22 PM
Three weeks? Good lord. Don't you know any hacker types who might owe you one?
Anyway, maybe now I'll have time to catch up a bit. Since it's all about me. Ha!
P.S. MTV is 10 months and 10 days older than my daughter, a thought which poked itself right between my eyes yesterday afternoon. It also occurred to me that "Reality Shows Killed the Video Channel" might be an appropriate anniversary type song.
Posted by: Jennifer at August 2, 2006 08:23 PM
Sorry Mudge. One of your facts is incorrect. The first album by Men at Work was "Business as Usual" in 1982 which had "Who Can It Be Now?", "Down Under", and "Be Good Johnny" as singles. Cargo was the follow-up, with the haunting "Overkill" which Colin Hay sang on "Scrubs". The group won the Best New Artist Grammy in 1983, otherwise known as the kiss of death award. Their third album Two Hearts ended their career, as the bassist and drummer were fired before the album was made. "Business as Usual" was the first album that I bought (actually a cassette). They were different from everyone else at the time.
Hope you remember or find your username and password. It will be a long three weeks without reading your blog.
Posted by: Hawk at August 3, 2006 12:05 AM
An addendum on my comment. Men at work had one album prior to "Business as Usual" called "Keypunch Operator" in 1979. I decided to read what Wikipedia had on the group. Maybe this will be useful in a game or Trivial Pursuit someday.
Posted by: Hawk at August 3, 2006 12:09 AM
1. Love Van Halen
2. Love Def Leppard
3. Who needed an "Australian Invasion". All they ever needed to give us was Michael Hutchence. purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Posted by: Jill at August 3, 2006 01:29 AM
I LIKE HELLS BELLS TOOOOOO
Posted by: A Disturbingly Cynical College Student at August 3, 2006 10:35 AM
Corey - Sorry, man. No Bangles yet. No Bangles coming. Other than Susanna Hoffs having amazingly beautiful eyes, I'm just not a fan.
Jennifer - if it was a hard drive or some sore of software issue, I could probably have it taken care of in five minutes. But electrical wiring? I don't have any friends I'd trust mucking with electrical stuff. But I'm flattered that you'll be hitting rewind while I'm away and checking out past entries. Hopefully you'll still come back after that!
Hawk - I stand corrected, you are absolutely right. I even had that cassette, too -- what a brain fart! (And yeah, "Overkill" was great on Scrubs.) Thanks for the kind wishes; I hope I find that damn password somewhere too!
Jill - I love Van Halen. I love Def Leppard. And Hutchence was a great singer. But the purring over him... you're on your own there. I'm happy to let you handle that part.
DCCS - What? A song in the universe that we agree on? Oh lord, it's a sign of the apocolypse; I think I just heard a seal breaking somewhere! ;-)
Posted by: Curmudgeon at August 3, 2006 09:25 PM
