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August 13, 2006
Mudge's Favorite 134 Songs of the 80s: A-Mudge-ican Top 40
I shoulda had Casey Kasem recording the intros to these last 40 songs. But we're into the homestretch here, the final forty songs of my favorite 134 of the 1980s. And now that we're into the final 40, I'm going to slow down... we've been doing five per day, but now we'll shift to four each day. We'll start off today with #40-#37.
40. New Thing, Enuff Z'nuff The year was 1989, and to be a star in rock and roll, you had to wear enough rouge, eye shadow and lipstick to make a hooker blush. Such was the case -- obviously -- for the boys from Enuff Z'nuff. You know, when I made this list out originally, I had this one up at #40 because I loved it when it came out. Now that I have it here at 40, while I do still like it, I am kind of miffed at myself for putting it over Purple Rain. If I was allowing myself "re-thinks," this one'd be a bit further down. But I'm not, so here it stays where I originally put it -- #40. Check out our highly pancaked and lipsticked heroes performing this song here.
39. Ah! Leah, Donnie Iris Power chord heaven. As far as I count, there's like four chords through this whole song. Which is just fine, me being a simple, power chord kind of boy. And all of us, boy or girl, can relate to the theme of this song... because we all have or had that one person in our worlds who we knew we would never have a long, lasting relationshiip with; the one with whom things just did not click on any level except one... but the connection on that one level was so intense that you kept (keep?) going back and indulging that incredible chemistry "just one more time"... because when you got around that person, neither one of you could show any kind of restraint. The other thing about this minor hit from 1981 is that it shows why some artists had their careers whacked by the video revolution. Iris made a video for this song, but in hindsight it might have been a bigger hit if he hadn't shown people how he looked. If Lewis Skulnick from "Revenge of the Nerds" would ever have been a rock singer, this is how he would have looked. And this may stand out as an example of really, really bad early music video making.
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38. Master of Puppets, Metallica You didn't really think we were going to get all the way through this without Metallica, did you? I'll admit, I am still very upset with them -- especially Lars -- for their role in the Napster situation, and I'll never quite forgive them. But I always loved this song, then and now. Marquette Hoops and I went to see them a couple of years ago at Giants Stadium, and they still rocked as well as I remembered. Was a great afternoon, seeing them (and a bunch of here-today kinds of bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park opening for them). As for the song... the video selection below isn't the original... but Metallica did a very interesting experiment a few years ago, performing a concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra -- the quintessential metal band playing a concert hall with one of the country's premier classical orchestras backing them with custom-written backing parts written especially for the show by composer Michael Kamen. I always thought it was a cool effort at being new and creatve, and so I'm borrwing the video from that performance.
(removed for lack of storage)
37. Life In A Northern Town, The Dream Academy Folkie-sixties commentary on family and memories is good. Folkie-sixties commentary on family and memories set within the context of a dying northern city during the rust belt years is better. Folkie-sixties commentary on family and memories set within the context of a dying northern city during the rust belt years that features a 12-string sound (even though it wasn't a 12 string) and a catchy singalong chorus is best of the three. This was the only major hit for the Dream Academy, but if I was gonna have just one hit, I wouldn't mind it being this one.
Comments
Donnie Iris remains a star in Pittsburgh and have at least one song played when I listen to WDVE, the big classic rock station in the Burgh.
On an unrelated note, what is the status of your laptop? I imagine it bursting into flame prior to completion of your 80's list.
Posted by: Hawk at August 13, 2006 11:08 PM
Dream Academy ahead of 'Master'?
OMG
'Master' is a great song -- but that S&M version stinks....I never gave Metallica credit for being clever or creative there, in fact, I'd argue that it was a lazy attemtp to keep their buzz going without having to create any new music of consequence. History shows that they regrettably jumped the shark with that release
Posted by: Marquette Hoops at August 14, 2006 09:51 AM
Hawk - I have been trying to put off taking it in until the countdown is complete. This can only be accomplished by short bursts of logging on -- which is one reason why most of my posts lately have been only on the 80s songs. If I posted on other things, I'd have to have it plugged in too long. It's gonna blow up on me soon. Ah, the sacrifices I make for this blog. ;-)
Tim - Yes, DA over Master. I like Master, but not as much. And... I disagree on the S&M album. I wouldn't want them to do every album like that, but it was a neat experiment. And I think they jumped the shark when Jason left the band, not with S&M. Just an opinion.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at August 14, 2006 06:10 PM
My brother is one of those people who will put a song on repeat and make everyone on the block listen to it all damn day. "Life in a Northern Town"--one of his strange obsessions. Will now be stuck in my head for the rest of the week.
Posted by: Jill at August 16, 2006 12:18 AM
