A History of Popular Music – The 1980s
Unlike the age we live in, which fetishizes a post-teen predilection for self-worship; pop culture in the eighties was fascinated by early adolescence. Blockbuster filmmakers like Lucas and Spielberg channeled cinema through a child’s unbridled imagination, and prominent sit-coms featured kids as leads rather than sidekicks, all during a golden age of breakfast cereal and the rise of video games. The music world seemed affected by the same wide-eyed wonder that made this decade an innovative highpoint in our history of pop.
Track List
Eurythmics – Somebody Told Me
Grace Jones – Nightclubbing
Au Pairs – Headache For Michelle (Remix)
Yazoo – Ode To Boy
Roxy Music – Lover
Yaz – Only You
Freur – Doot Doot
The System – Find It In Your Eyes
Geoffrey Landers – Say You’ll Say So
Depeche Mode – And Then…
Pixies - Hey
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Chills - Pink Frost
The Smiths - A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours
The Replacements - Swingin Party
Sugarcubes - Birthday
Cocteau Twins – Sugar Hiccup
This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
Talk Talk - The Rainbow
Joy Division - The Eternal
Robert Wyatt - At Last I’m Free
Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Shipbuilding
Billy Bragg - Tender Comrade
Spacemen 3 - Walking With Jesus
The Durutti Column – Tomorrow
Bruce Springsteen - State Trooper
Young Marble Giants – Final Day
Jane - It’s a Fine Day
Art of Noise - Moments In Love (12” B Side Idea)
Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet)
Sade - Love Is Stronger Than Pride
The Cars - Drive
Gang Starr – DJ Premier In Deep Concentration
Midnight Star – Curious
Mtume Juicy Fruit (Vocal Mix)
BOSE – Let’s Jam (Slow Jam)
Sister Nancy – Bam Bam
Paul Simon - Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes (Unreleased Version)
Culture Club - That’s the Way
Prince – The Beautiful Ones
Jane’s Addiction - Thank You Boys
From the almost inappropriate lack of cynicism to the hapless technology that dated faster than the hairstyles, the eighties were so impervious to embarrassment that it made subsequent decades feel like a walk of shame after a brilliantly regrettable night. This unchecked bravado contributed to a brash experimentalism that smashed music into as many sub-genres as we could count, and made its future seem as limitless as the power of a Commodore 64 computer.
Track List
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Rage Hard (The Young Person’ Guide to the 12” Mix)
Human League - Fascination (Improvisation)
David Bowie - Fashion
Talking Heads - Girlfriend Is Better
Yazoo - Goodbye 70’s
Eurythmics – Love Is a Stranger
China Crisis – Some People I Know To Live Fantastic Lives
Wham! - Everything She Wants
Janet Jackson – When I Think of You
Sheila E – The Glamorous Life (Club Mix)
Amin Peck – Girl of Me
Skyy – Call Me
The Human League - Things That Dreams Are Made Of
Alexander Robotnick - Problemes d’Amour (Francois Kevorkian Remix)
ESG - Moody (Spaced Out)
Man Friday – Love Honey, Love Heartache (Larry Levan Vocal Mix)
Loose Joints – Is It All Over My Face (Female Vocal) (Larry Levan Mix)
Indeep - Last Night The DJ Saved My Life
Blondie - Rapture
Imagination – Just An Illusion
George Smallwood – You Know I Love You
Soul II Soul – Keep On Movin’
Hall & Oates – Method Of Modern Love (Arthur Baker Remix)
Tears For Fears - Shout (Refine Tuned Mix)
Tones on Tail - Go! (Club Mix)
Prince – Tick Tick Bang (Unreleased 1982 Mix)
Nine Circles – Miss Love (First Version)
Home Service – O.M.F.I.L.
The Tanzdiele – Musik, Musik, Musik
Waitresses – The Comb
B Beat Girls – For the Same Man
Colonel Abrams – Trapped
OMD - If You Leave (Extended Version)
When In Rome - The Promise (7 Inch Mix)
Madonna - Live a Prayer (Church-a-pella)
The Joubert Singers – Stand on the World (Larry Levan Mix)
William Onyeabor – Body and Soul
INXS – Need You Tonight (Mendelson Mix)
Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy
Robbie Nevil – C'est La Vie
Duran Duran – Notorious
New Order – Dreams Never End
The Cure – Let’s Go To Bed
Roxy Music - More Than This
Yello – Live at the Roxy NY Dec. 1983
Beastie Boys – Hold It Now Hit It
Run DMC – King of Rock
Public Enemy – Don’t Believe the Hype
Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – Internationally Known
Malcolm McLaren - World’s Famous
