Pop Songs That Truly Defined The 80’s For Me (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my previous post, check out the first part here.

Beat It (Michael Jackson) – When it comes to 80’s pop, Michael Jackson is undoubtedly the king of the hill. This was when we first came out on his own to make his second record with Quincy Jones. For the benefit of the those born later, this was when Michael was still black and about 6 nose-jobs ago. The album, consists of 9 tracks, and sometimes cited as one of the most perfect pop record ever made. With the second single, Beat It (looking back, MJ as a gangster mediator seemed a laughable idea), Michael literally took over the world. This single followed ‘The Girl is Mine‘ and the equally popular ‘Billie Jean’. Suddenly, every kid was wearing white socks, shin high pants, one white glove and doing crappy versions of his moonwalk and his falsetto. Then MJ appeared on Grammy Awards with Emmanuel Lewis in hand (see the signs already?) to collect a gazillion awards and the is, HIStory, so to speak. I heard in return for playing solo on this song, guitar maestro Eddie Van Halen asked for one dance lesson from MJ. If there was one song to signify the universal appeal of 80’s pop, I’d be hard press to find another.

Moonlight Shadow (Mike Oldfield) 1983 – [tag]Mike Oldfield[/tag] isn’t your typical 80’s pop band, but this song (apparently about John Lennon) sung by Maggie Reilly is fabulous. I only caught the symbolism in the song much later in life, and it gives me a deeper appreciation of the piece. Funny thing about the song – when i first heard it, i didn’t know Mike Oldfield was a band, so i always assume it was either a girl with a guy’s name, or some dude with a REALLY freaky voice! (Like that guy from Air Supply…)

One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head) 1985 – I bet you didn’t know that this song was written by two of the guys from ABBA and Tim Rice, huh? It was for the musical ‘Chess’ (hence the chess references in the song). I remember at one time this song was so popular it was playing everywhere – shopping centres and music stores, although I doubt if many people understood the double entendres and jabs at Bangkok’s vice lures. One thing I love was the cynical, almost jaded sounding Head’s rap. Another one for the one -hit wonder compilations.

West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys) 1986 – Pet Shop Boys remains one of the most enduring dance groups today, and I absolutely love them. But this is where it all started for me. From the song it was too obvious of the promise the two guys held, but it showed enough for me to follow them. Looking back at their career, they have all too many great songs – Rent (another fav of mine), Domino Dancing, Se A Vida E… But this is the one that makes the list.

[tag]Purple Rain[/tag] (Prince) 1984 – Now [tag]Prince[/tag] was a different kettle of fish back in the 80’s. Heck, he’s still in a different time zone NOW (remember TAFKAP? The symbol? WTF was he thinking?!). The Artist Formerly Known As Talented (okay, okay, anjali, I’ll stop with the jokes…) was in his element back then. He played most of the instruments in his album, and wrote his songs. There is even a movie with the same name about his life (i think). But as talented and richly crafted as were songs (When Doves Cry, Let’s Go Crazy, 1999, Raspberry Beret), he never really endeared himself to the general public. This one goes down my books as one of those “what on earth was he singing about?” songs. (Maybe anjali can help me here…)

Touch Me ([tag]Samantha Fox[/tag]) 1986 – Our favourite page three girl. Some people I know still have her poster on the wall!

Through the Barricades (Spandau Ballet) 1986 – [tag]Spandau Ballet[/tag] was successful in their own right, although lots of 80’s afficiandos always point out that they were never as big as their ‘rivals‘ Duran Duran. But they weren’t short of hits – Gold, Only When You Leave, True (sampled by Seal) and Parade. But Through the Barricades, for me, is in a different class from the rest. Just like Rent by Pet Shop Boys, it was strong voice of the hardships in Thatcher’s England at that time, and inadvertently capture a photograph of a specific period in the tumultous 80’s. This strongs evokes lots of good and bad memories for me, I’ve blogged about it before (You can read ithere).

China in Your Hands (T’Pau) 1987 – I just love this song. I can remember waiting for it to come on shows like Top of the Pops and Europarade. I thought the band (named after a Star Trek character) with Carol Decker on the mic, would be the next great British band, but sadly after only a few years of success, they died out. The song spent 5 weeks at #1 in the UK. I still think Carol Decker is one of the awesome singers from the UK from that era. Too bad she didn’t go solo after it. I remember I bought the tape from this a music store from Subang Parade (top floor, it’s no longer there, can’t remember the name), and this song was the only one i’d listen to…

[tag]Eternal Flame[/tag] ([tag]The Bangles[/tag]) 1988 – Now the Bangles were a different breed in the 80’s. Instead of clueless, pretty airheads packaged together to sell synth-musics churned out ala Stock Aitken & Waterman, these girls were smart, played their own instruments, shared vocal duties (although Susanna Hoffs was always viewed as the lead singer) and played hard edged pop. With great songs like Manic Monday (written by Prince), Walk Like An Egyptian (I remember it was the No.1 song in the US for 1987) and Simon & Garfunkel’s Hazy Shade of Winter. But Eternal Flame, a song written about Elvis ranks as one of my favourite songs of all time. Pure 80’s magic. The Bangles are still around these days, although not headlining any festivals, but Michael Steele (the redhead one) is STILL a babe…

Everybody Have Fun Tonight (Wang Chung) 1986 – Back in those days, most of us watched a lot of wrestling. Not on TV, but on the wonderful VCR. You see, there was this intricate network of pirated VHS system where you can watch American wrestling programs all the time. You could get NWA, World Class and even some indie ones. But WWF was the biggest one, with at least 2 shows per week (Yes, WWF, not WWE). And at the end of the show, they always featured a montage of wrestlers and audience to the soundtrack of Wang Chung’s “Everyone Have Fun Tonight”. This was the second golden age of Kayfabe wrestling, the so-called Federation Years, before Vince McMahon screwed us all over. It was a great song, that one… it was interesting to read that the song was a last minute filler track for Wang Chung’s album. Even now when I hear it, it reminds me of the likes of The British Bulldogs, King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant and The Hart Foundation…

Epilogue
As with anything with the 80’s, I had a blast writing this. Eighties music for me encapsulated my growing up years, it was the days of waiting for the Sunday request featuring Janet Ambrose, of those pirated RM3 tapes, borrowing my friends’ ‘Smash Hits‘ waiting for those award shows on TV (Grammy Awards were usually one year late) and listening to Casey Kasem every week night at 10pm…

But soon enough, time passed us by, I left school for college, leaving behind the halcyon days. I moved on to rock, metal and other genres and the 90’s came with grunge, Seinfeld, Friends and Die Hard. But we’ll always be Eighties children at heart, won’t we, Patrick? 🙂

Honourable mentions (those that almost made the list):
Rent (Pet Shop Boys)
Sweetest Taboo (Sade)
Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Especially for You (Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan)
Sweet Dreams (The Eurythmics)
Don’t Answer Me (The Alan Parsons Project)

[tags]80s, 80’s, eighties, Michael Jackson, Casy Kasem, music, WWF, WWE[/tags]