Posts Tagged ‘80s survey’

This is the fourth in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are moving backwards in time from 1989 to the start of the decade. These compilations are designed to give more context to the music of the ‘80s, and give a sense of how various niches and trends overlapped in this cultural moment.

With this set we officially enter the middle of the decade, which I believe is the part that is best remembered today, at least in terms of cultural signifiers and cheesy songs that never seem to go away. This is an exceptionally dorky crop of songs, and while a lot of it stands on its own pretty well, it can feel a bit overwhelming or even stifling all together. It’s actually pretty understandable how flagrant rockism could thrive in this era – every song that feels even a bit raw and edgy seems like a miracle in this context.

Thanks to Chris Ott, Paul Cox, and Chris Conroy for their assistance in curating this set.

If you want to go back to previous collections in these series, they’re all right here: 1987, 1988, and 1989. The 1985 survey will be ready sometime in late February or early March.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” / Genesis “Invisible Touch” / Paul Simon “You Can Call Me Al” / Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait” / Prince “Kiss” / Cameo “Word Up!” / New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle” / Stacey Q “Two of Hearts” / Janet Jackson “When I Think of You” / Robert Palmer “Addicted to Love” / Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark “If You Leave” / Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over” / Howard Jones “No One Is To Blame” / Madonna “Live to Tell” / Heart “These Dreams” / Cocteau Twins “Love’s Easy Tears” / The Smiths “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” / Sonic Youth “Expressway To Yr Skull”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls” / Bananarama “Venus” / Duran Duran “Notorious” / The Bangles “Manic Monday” / Wham! “I’m Your Man” / Kool and the Gang “Stone Love” / Dolly Parton “Think About Love” / The Moody Blues “Your Wildest Dreams” / Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life” / R.E.M. “Fall On Me” / Big Black “Kerosene” / Killing Joke “Adorations” / The Art of Noise “Paranoimia” / Beastie Boys “Paul Revere” / Boogie Down Productions “South Bronx” / Cyndi Lauper “True Colors” / Berlin “Take My Breath Away” / Depeche Mode “Stripped” / Arthur Russell “Let’s Go Swimming”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Lionel Richie “Dancing on the Ceiling” / Jermaine Stewart “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” / Samantha Fox “Touch Me (I Want To Feel Your Body)” / Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith “Walk This Way” / Huey Lewis and The News “Hip to be Square” / Slayer “Angel of Death” / Metallica “Master of Puppets” / Megadeth “Peace Sells” / Peter Cetera “Glory of Love” / Whitney Houston “The Greatest Love of All” / Whodini “Funky Beat” / Schoolly D “Saturday Night” / Teena Marie “Lips to Find You” / Tina Turner “Typical Male” / Eurythmics “Missionary Man” / The Jets “Crush On You” / Zapp “Computer Love”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

James Brown “Living In America” / Farley Jackmaster Funk “Love Can’t Turn Around” / Mantronix “Bassline” / Five Star “Can’t Wait Another Minute” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Cities In Dust” / Human League “Human” / Wang Chung “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” / Belinda Carlisle “Mad About You” / Primal Scream “Velocity Girl” / Public Image Ltd “Rise” / Big Audio Dynamite “C’mon Every Beatbox” / Erasure “Oh L’Amour” / Alabama “She and I” / Hank Williams Jr “Mind Your Own Business” / Van Halen “Why Can’t This Be Love?” / Kenny Loggins “Danger Zone” / Eddie Money “Take Me Home Tonight” / The B-52’s “Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland” / Mr. Fingers “Can You Feel It?”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Europe “The Final Countdown” / Falco “Rock Me Amadeus” / LL Cool J “Rock the Bells” / MC Shan “The Bridge” / The Descendants “Enjoy” / Dag Nasty “Circles” / Gang Green “Alcohol” / Rites of Spring “All Through A Life” / Lee “Scratch” Perry and The Upsetters “All Things Are Possible” / Oran “Juice” Jones “The Rain” / Simply Red “Holding Back the Years” / Bruce Hornsby “The Way It Is” / The Feelies “Let’s Go” / XTC “Grass” / We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It “Console Me” / fIREHOSE “Chemical Wire” / Shop Assistants “I Don’t Want To Be Friends With You” / The Fall “Living Too Late” / Elvis Costello and The Attractions “I Want You” / Hüsker Dü “Hardly Getting Over It” / Randy Travis “On the Other Hand”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Eric B. and Rakim “Eric B. Is President” / Kool Moe Dee “Go See the Doctor” / Lovebug Starski “Say What You Wanna Say” / Biz Markie “Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz” / Regina “Baby Love” / Mike and The Mechanics “All I Need Is A Miracle” / Mr. Mister “Kyrie” / Gene Loves Jezebel “Desire (Come and Get It)” / Iggy Pop “Real Wild Child” / The Georgia Satellites “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” / John Cougar Mellencamp “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ‘60s Rock)” / Echo and the Bunnymen “Bring On the Dancing Horses” / The Go-Betweens “Spring Rain” / The Chills “Pink Frost” / This Mortal Coil “Come Here My Love” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “The Carny” / Dead Or Alive “Brand New Lover” / Cutting Crew “(I Just) Died In Your Arms”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Volcano Suns “White Elephant” / Billy Joel “A Matter of Trust” / Murphy’s Law “Beer” / Embrace “Money” / Sly Fox “Let’s Go All the Way” / Stetsasonic “My Rhyme” / Wired “To the Beat of the Drum (On the Burn Mix)” / Robert Owens “Bring Down the Walls” / El Debarge “Who’s Johnny” / Bronski Beat “Hit That Perfect Beat” / Adonis “No Way Back” / A-Ha “The Sun Always Shines On TV” / Bon Jovi “Livin’ On A Prayer” / Chris De Burgh “Lady In Red” / Chris Isaak “Blue Hotel” / Giant Sand “Thin Line Man” / The Mekons “Hello Cruel World” / James “So Many Ways” / The Housemartins “Happy Hour” / Game Theory “Erica’s Word” / Carly Simon “Coming Around Again” / New York Mets “Get Mets-merized!” / Kronos Quartet “Purple Haze”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Queen “One Vision” / Steve Winwood “Higher Love” / Michael McDonald “Sweet Freedom” / The Pretenders “Don’t Get Me Wrong” / Doctor and the Medics “Spirit in the Sky” / Boston “Amanda” / The Damned “Eloise” / Sigue Sigue Sputnik “Love Missile F1-11” / Pointer Sisters “Goldmine” / Half Man Half Biscuit “All I Want for Christmas Is A Dukla-Prague Away Kit” / The Lyres “No Reason to Complain” / Cleaners from Venus “Living with Victoria Grey” / Roxanne Shante “The Def Fresh Crew” / Timex Social Club “Rumors” / Steve Earle “Guitar Town” / Cowboy Junkies “Baby Please Don’t Go” / Billy Ocean “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” / Dionne Warwick featuring Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Gladys Knight “That’s What Friends Are For” / Linda Rondstadt and James Ingram “Somewhere Out There” / Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam “All Cried Out”

This is the second in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are designed to give more context to the music of that decade. Most versions of ‘80s history focus on specific niches and canons, but mostly ignore or write off parallel and overlapping cultural trends. My goal in doing this project is to highlight all the different things going on from year to year, to better understand the original context of familiar songs and to highlight a lot of the music that has faded from cultural memory.

There’s a lot going on in 1988, but the thing that really hit me was how much of what was going on at that moment was in some way transgressive or deliberately abrasive. I think that’s all a very obvious reaction against the ultra-glossy music of the mid-‘80s and the hyper-conservative politics of the Reagan era. A lot of that vibe is still going strong in ’88, but if you listen to this set, you can feel the overall mood shifting towards the aesthetics of the early ‘90s, particularly in terms of alt-rock and hip-hop.

A word about chronology: I am trying to stick to the things that were actually released for the first time in each year, but am allowing some major records that were promoted over a few years to be represented in both. That’s why George Michael, INXS, Guns N’ Roses, Belinda Carlisle, and Michael Jackson are featured in this set. UB40’s “Red Red Wine” was originally released in 1983, but the mix included here was issued in 1988 and became a #1 hit in the United States.

Thanks to Sean T. Collins, Chris Conroy, Chris Ott, and especially Paul Cox for their assistance in putting this set together. The 1987 set should be ready to go sometime in November before Thanksgiving. You can find the 1989 survey mix here.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Sonic Youth “Teen Age Riot” / Public Enemy “Bring the Noise” / Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock “It Takes Two” / Salt-n-Pepa “Push It” / L’Trimm “Cars with the Boom” / Lita Ford “Kiss Me Deadly” / R.E.M. “Orange Crush” / Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” / Erasure “A Little Respect” / Wire “Kidney Bingos” / Sugarcubes “Birthday” / Bobby Brown “Every Little Step” / Marley Marl featuring Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane “The Symphony” / Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” / Lucinda Williams “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad” / Dwight Yoakam “I Sang Dixie” / Metallica “One”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

N.W.A. “Straight Outta Compton” / Eric B and Rakim “Lyrics of Fury” / Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” / Slayer “South of Heaven” / EPMD “You Gots to Chill” / Ultramagnetic MCs “Ease Back” / Front 242 “Welcome to Paradise” / The Fall “Big New Prinz” / Morrissey “Every Day Is Like Sunday” / Anthrax “Antisocial” / Samantha Fox “Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)” / Paula Abdul “Straight Up” / Red Dragon “Duck Dance” / Slick Rick “Children’s Story” / The Dead Milkmen “Punk Rock Girl” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Deanna” / The Bangles “In Your Room” / Belinda Carlisle “I Get Weak” / Brenda Russell “Piano in the Dark” / U2 “All I Want Is You”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Enya “Orinoco Flow” / Cocteau Twins “Carolyn’s Fingers” / When In Rome “The Promise” / George Michael “Father Figure” / Boogie Down Productions “My Philosophy” / D.J. Magic Mike and The Royal Posse “Magic Mike Cuts the Record” / Talking Heads “(Nothing But) Flowers” / KMFDM “Don’t Blow Your Top” / Teddy Pendergass “Joy” / MC Lyte “Paper Thin” / Matthew Shipp & Rob Brown “Sonic Explorations (Section 4)” / Glenn Branca “Symphony No. 5 – Second Movement” / My Bloody Valentine “Lose My Breath” / Pixies “Where Is My Mind?” / Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians “What I Am” / Michelle Shocked “Anchorage” / Kip Hanrahan “Gender” / Kronos Quartet “Four, for Tango”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

Information Society “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)” / Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid” / Pet Shop Boys “Always On My Mind” / Prince “Alphabet Street” / Natalie Cole “Pink Cadillac” / Ornette Coleman “Bourgeois Boogie” / Prefab Sprout “The King of Rock and Roll” / Highway 101 “(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes” / Throwing Muses “Mexican Women” / Pere Ubu “George Had A Hat” / Butthole Surfers “Ricky” / Bongwater “David Bowie Wants Ideas” / Jungle Brothers “Straight Out the Jungle” / Billy Ocean “Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car” / George Harrison “Got My Mind Set On You” / Patti Smith “People Have the Power” / Unrest “Christina” / The Church “Under the Milky Way” / Cowboy Junkies “Sweet Jane”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Fugazi “Waiting Room” / Dinosaur Jr “Freak Scene” / Big Daddy Kane “Ain’t No Half-Steppin’” / S’Express “Theme from S’Express” / 2 Men A Drum Machine and a Trumpet “Tired of Getting Pushed Around” / Ministry “Stigmata” / Inner City “Good Life” / Duran Duran “Good Life” / Robert Palmer “Simply Irresistible” / They Might Be Giants “Ana Ng” / 2 Live Crew “Move Somethin’” / Kid N Play “Gittin’ Funky” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Peek A Boo” / Sly & Robbie “All Aboard” / Scritti Politti “Boom! There She Was” / Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” / George Strait “Baby Blue” / Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” / Neil Young and The Bluenotes “This Note’s For You”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Living Colour “Cult of Personality” / New Kids on the Block “Hangin’ Tough” / Eazy-E “Boyz N The Hood (Remix)” / Bomb the Bass “Beat Dis” / My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult “…And This is What The Devil Does!” / Run-D.M.C. “Run’s House” / UB40 “Red Red Wine” / Admiral Bailey “Jump Up” / Kylie Minogue “The Loco-Motion” / Leonard Cohen “First We Take Manhattan” / Elton John “I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” / A.R. Kane “Crazy Blue” / James “What For” / The Travelling Wilburys “Handle with Care” / The Go-Betweens “Streets Of Your Town” / The Mighty Lemon Drops “Inside Out” / A Guy Called Gerald “Voodoo Ray” / Womack & Womack “Teardrops” / INXS “Never Tear Us Apart”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Mudhoney “Touch Me I’m Sick” / Danzig “Mother” / Ciccone Youth “Into the Groove(y)” / Joan Jett and the Blackhearts “I Hate Myself for Loving You” / Game Theory “Room For One More, Honey” / Let’s Active “Bad Machinery” / Julian Cope “Charlotte Anne” / Sam Phillips “I Don’t Want To Fall In Love” / Kathy Mattea “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” / Megadeth “Liar” / Napalm Death “From Enslavement to Obliteration” / Halo of Flies “Drunk (In Detroit)” / Royal Trux “Zero Dok” / Pussy Galore “Adolescent Wet Dream” / Soul Asylum “Down On Up To Me” / The Timelords “Doctorin’ the Tardis” / Ice-T “High Rollers” / King Tee “Act A Fool” / Sir Mix-A-Lot “Posse On Broadway” / Sade “Paradise” / The Beach Boys “Kokomo” / Y Kant Tori Read “Cool On Your Island” / k.d. lang “Sugar Moon”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Daniel Johnston “Walking the Cow” / Beat Happening “Indian Summer” / Galaxie 500 “Tugboat” / Doug E Fresh “Keep Risin’ to the Top” / Stetsasonic “Talkin’ All That Jazz” / DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince “Parents Just Don’t Understand” / Pretty Poison “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” / Trevor Sparks “Bye Bye Love” / Fishbone “Ma and Pa” / Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 “Mr. Tuna’s Big Old Place” / The Primitives “Crash” / Caifanes “Te Estoy Mirando” / Camper Van Beethoven “Eye of Fatima (Pt. 1)” / Felt “Apple Boutique” / Pantera “Down Below” / Ultra Vivid Scene “Mercy Seat” / Spacemen 3 “Walking with Jesus” / The Smithereens “Only A Memory” / MC Hammer “Turn This Mutha Out” / Diamanda Galas “Double-Barrel Prayer” / GG Allin “Anti Social Masterbator” / Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

This is the first in a series of survey mixes designed to give more context to the music of the 1980s. The frustrating thing about we typically deal with cultural history is to focus on specific niches and canons, but in doing that, we lose track of parallel and overlapping cultural trends. I hope to create a set of collections that will give you – and me! – a better understanding of chronology for the music of this era, and to highlight a lot of music that for whatever reason usually gets cut out of retrospectives today.

I’ve decided to start with 1989 and move backwards towards 1980 because it feels a lot more interesting to me that way – the end of the ’80s isn’t nearly as canonized as the start, and before making this, I felt like I had a more vague grasp on what came out in 1989 despite that being a pretty crucial year for me in terms of becoming a young music obsessive. (I was the sort of kid who would make a point of listening to American Top 40 with Casey Kasem every Sunday morning.)

Also, you know, there’s the Taylor Swift factor. There’s been a lot of half-baked writing about how much today’s biggest pop stars are drawing on the ’80s, but I think if you really go through this survey you will find that those artists may be inspired by the blockbuster aesthetics of the ’80s but sound very much like right now, and the artists who really sound like 1989 tend to be the more indie/alt/undergournd artists.

Thanks to Rob Sheffield, Sean T. Collins, Paul Cox, Chris Conroy, Tom Ewing, Douglas Wolk, and Ivan Onosov for their assistance in curating this mix. If you have ideas about what absolutely needs to be included in future ’80s surveys, please let me know. The 1988 survey should be out sometime in October.

NOTE: EVERYTHING HAS BEEN RE-UPPED SINCE THE FIRST UPLOADS MAXED OUT.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Madonna “Express Yourself” / Nine Inch Nails “Head Like A Hole” / Prince “Electric Chair” / Digital Underground “The Humpty Dance” / Roxanne Shanté “Feelin’ Kinda Horny” / Janet Jackson “Miss You Much” / Al B Sure “Nite and Day” / Aerosmith “What It Takes” / The Cure “Lovesong” / Liza Minnelli “Losing My Mind” / E-Zee Possee “Everything Starts With An E” / Ministry “Burning Inside” / Red Hot Chili Peppers “Higher Ground” / Big Daddy Kane “Warm It Up, Kane” / Special Ed “I Got It Made” / YZ “Thinking Of A Master Plan” / A Tribe Called Quest “Description Of A Fool” / Soul II Soul “Back to Life”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance” / Beastie Boys “Shadrach” / Biz Markie “Just A Friend” / De La Soul “Eye Know” / Fine Young Cannibals “She Drives Me Crazy” / Michael Penn “No Myth” / Roy Orbison “You Got It” / The B-52’s “Love Shack” / Pixies “Here Comes Your Man” / Love & Rockets “So Alive” / 3rd Base “The Gas Face” / Public Enemy “Fight the Power” / 2 Live Crew “Me So Horny” / Superchunk “Slack Motherfucker” / Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down” / Lyle Lovett “Cryin’ Shame” / Lenny Kravitz “Let Love Rule” / Babyface “Whip Appeal” / The Bangles “Eternal Flame”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Depeche Mode “Personal Jesus” / Technotronic “Pump Up the Jam” / Young MC “Bust A Move” / Native Tongues posse “Buddy” / Ten City “That’s the Way Love Is” / Chris Isaak “Wicked Game” / Syd Straw “Future 40’s (String of Pearls)” / Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” / Beat Happening “Cast A Shadow” / Debbie Gibson “Electric Youth” / Adamski “N-R-G” / Meat Beat Manifesto “God O.D.” / EPMD “So Wat Cha Sayin’” / Emmylou Harris “Heaven Only Knows” / Pere Ubu “Waiting for Mary” / Morrissey “The Last of the Famous International Playboys” / The Verlaines “Whatever You Run Into” / Blake Babies “From Here to Burma” / Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

The Stop the Violence Movement “Self-Destruction” / Consolidated “Consolidated” / Nitzer Ebb “Hearts and Minds” / Public Image Ltd “Disappointed” / The Stone Roses “I Wanna Be Adored” / The KLF “Kylie Said to Jason” / Billy Joel “We Didn’t Start the Fire” / 10,000 Maniacs “Trouble Me” / The Replacements “Achin’ to Be” / George Strait “Ace in the Hole” / k.d. lang “Full Moon Full of Love” / Guns N’ Roses “Patience” / Neil Young “Rockin’ in the Free World” / Lou Reed “Busload of Faith” / Def Jef “Poet with Soul” / Chubb Rock “Ya Bad Chubbs” / Black Box “Ride On Time” / Kylie Minogue “Hand On Your Heart” / Orbital “Chime”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Spacemen 3 “Revolution” / Mudhoney “Here Comes Sickness” / Mötley Crüe “Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)” / Bailter Space “Grader Spader” / Fugazi “Margin Walker” / New Order “Round and Round” / Jody Watley “Real Love” / Nice & Smooth “Early to Rise” / Jungle Brothers “Doin’ Our Own Dang” / Malcolm McLaren “Deep in Vogue” / Lil Louis & The World “French Kiss” / Frazier Chorus “Dream Kitchen” / Milli Vanilli “Girl You Know It’s True” / Cyndi Lauper “I Drove All Night” / Sugarcubes “Regina” / Snapper “Death and Weirdness in the Surfing Zone” / XTC “The Mayor of Simpleton” / The Cult “Fire Woman” / Warrant “Heaven”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Roxette “The Look” / Phil Collins “Two Hearts” / David Byrne “Marching Through the Wilderness” / Elvis Costello “Veronica” / Wire “Eardrum Buzz” / Lush “Thoughtforms” / Natalie Cole “Miss You Like Crazy” / Mary Chapin Carpenter “Never Had It So Good” / Don Henley “The End of Innonence” / Divine Styler “Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’” / Queen Latifah “Wrath of My Madness” / Erasure “Stop!” / Crucial Robbie “Proud to be Black” / Phish “You Enjoy Myself” / The Sundays “Here’s Where the Story Ends” / Throwing Muses “Dizzy” / Straitjacket Fits “She Speeds” / Cannanes “Vivienne” / Richard Marx “Right Here Waiting”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Soundgarden “Big Dumb Sex” / Jesus and Mary Chain “Head On” / Dolly Parton “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?” / Clint Black “Killin’ Time” / The The “The Beat(en) Generation” / Hugo Largo “Hot Day” / Galaxie 500 “Strange” / Tears for Fears “Sowing the Seeds of Love” / LNR “Work It to the Bone” / Rhythm Device “Acid Rock” / Low Profile “Pay Ya Dues” / Gang Starr “Words I Manifest (Remix)” / Ice-T “You Played Yourself” / MC Lyte “Cha Cha Cha” / Clement Irie “DJ in My Country!” / Pet Shop Boys “It’s Alright” / Slint “Darlene” / Faith No More “Epic” / Operation Ivy “Knowledge” / Nirvana “About A Girl” / Sebadoh “True Hardcore”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Queen “I Want It All” / Cher “If I Could Turn Back Time” / Tone Loc “Wild Thing” / LL Cool J “Big Ole Butt” / Schooly D “Gangster Boogie” / Frankie Knuckles “Tears” / Maurice “This Is Acid” / Starlight “Numero Uno” / Bonnie Raitt “Nick of Time” / Daniel Lanois “The Maker” / The Neville Brothers “Yellow Moon” / Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ “Honeysuckle Blue” / Half Japanese “Daytona Beach” / Yo La Tengo “Barnaby, Hardly Working” / Mekons “Memphis, Egypt” / Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians “Flesh Number One” / Pavement “Box Elder” / Guided by Voices “Liar’s Tale” / The Vaselines “Sex Sux (Amen)” / Skid Row “I Remember You”