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August 14, 2006
Mudge's Favorite 134 Songs of the 80s: Classics
Here we go, the next four in my Top 134 countdown of my favorite songs of the 1980s. For those wondering why I haven't done a whole lot of blogging on other subjects lately, it's because my laptop is still ready to catch fire and needs desperately to be taken in for servicing... but I hate leaving things undone. So I fire up the computer for a few minutes each day, just long enough to blog the next part of the countdown... then have to turn it off before I burn my place down. So, if you're wondering when I'll be back blogging my usual drivel, it'll be after I finish this countdown, then get the laptop fixed. So if the countdown's not doing anything for ya, I apologize. Be patient. Please. Anyway, moving on, this group of four includes some absolute classics.
36. Sunday Bloody Sunday, U2 The first time I ever heard of or saw U2, it was on TV; I think PBS was showing the entire Red Rocks concert or something. But the very first exposure I ever had to U2 was this legendary performance at Red Rocks, when US audiences were getting their first sense of just how electric a personality Bono was, and how powerful this band was. To this day, 23 years later, Bono chanting at the crowd "NO MORE" still brings me chills. Great performance, great song.... but this is not a rebel song!
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35. Tainted Love, Soft Cell An early 80s classic with some very serious masochistic undertones. And, it's guaranteed to get every woman in the room to get up and start dancing -- which makes it a fun song to have in your collection. Everything about this recording is campy classic - from the eerie minor key, to Marc Almond's slightly creepy delivery, to the bizarre grouping of this song into a medley with a Supremes cover, "Where Did Our Love Go?" Soft Cell was a one hit wonder in the US, but oh what a hit -- it stayed on the Hot 100 charts for a then-record 43 weeks. To this day, it's a surefire dance floor winner.
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34. Biko, Peter Gabriel As long as we're highlighting songs that represented my first exposure to things, it was Peter Gabriel's haunting anthem memorializing the martyred activist Stephen Biko that first made me aware of apartheid and what it was, and how violent and evil the South African regime at the time was. (The Reagan-era textbooks of the time didn't exactly highlight issues of conscience anywhere in the world, you know?) I didn't hear it until a few years after it came out, but at least I heard it, and it reached me, and I learned. The song still haunts me today, and even though South Africa has experienced a rebirth and has re-entered the community of civilized nations, I still wonder what more we could have done, how many more lives the US could have saved, and why we as a nation chose not to do more. The first glimmering of a social conscience I ever had came from this song, and I have not forgotten Stephen Biko or his sacrifice. Peter Gabriel makes his fifth and final appearance on this countdown with 1980's incredibly powerful "Biko" at #34.
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33. Sister Christian, Night Ranger The power ballad to end all power ballads, this is the one piano song that no male is ashamed to love -- the one that gets any guy into immediate air guitar or air piano or air drums mode. Immortalized even further by the scene in Boogie Nights in which the coked out producer and dealer tells Mark Walhberg and John C. Reilly to be quiet as the build to the chorus plays, "Sister Christian" is perhaps one of the 80s' most emblematic and quintessential tunes. It belongs in virtually any collection of the decade's best. Power ballads? Oh yeah. Pop hits? One of the biggest of 1983. Rock anthems? It was Night Ranger's biggest.
I may take some hell for some of these choices, but I think the only argument I might get on this one is that it's not high enough on the countdown. An absolute classic.
Comments
We're 3 for 4 on this grouping... but U2 would have been much higher on my list... looking forward to the rest.
Posted by: tweetypie at August 14, 2006 09:17 PM
'Sister Christian' ..... outstanding, Mudge!
I woke up to U2 based on the Red Rocks show too - - completely captivating stuff
Posted by: Marquette Hoops at August 15, 2006 09:35 AM
'Sister Christian'. Wow. I'm glad I'm not the only one. And your 'Biko' commentary mirrors my own experience.
You know, it's been rather a long time since I've given into a sophomoric blog crush, but I just like you more and more with every climb up this particular ladder's rungs. Serious business.
On most of your other posts, which I enjoy and admire in equal measure, I find myself usually a) nodding in agreement, and b) feeling ill equipped to post well-articulated, worthy comments. I'll need to work on that, maybe. But for now, I am quite happy to have this little countdown to accomodate my sputterings.
Posted by: Jennifer at August 15, 2006 02:20 PM
Tweety - I am glad we're agreeing on a few more... since I know you've not been with me on a lot of the ones on my list so far. Glad you're still checking in.
MH - Yeah, it's hard to forget the Red Rocks show. Like I mentioned today on IM, when I was in the band I used to think that the absolute apex of where I wanted to be in life was to someday play my very own show at Red Rocks. And... it's damn hard to argue against Sister Christian, ain't it?
Jennifer - color me flattered. It's been a while since I was anyone's blogcrush. I hope I keep proving myself worthy of the crushing.
And thanks also for your very kind words about my other posts... I really appreciate that you read them, and that you have patience for when I get all riled up. I assure you, whatever reactions you have -- in agreement or disagreement -- are worthy comments, and I'll welcome them whenever you feel comfortable offering them. Thanks for reading and for joining our little community here!
Posted by: Curmudgeon at August 15, 2006 09:11 PM
