Tuesday, October 25, 2011

P-P-Please Don't!

Some of the fossils from the 80s are better left forgotten and buried under the remains of failed musical experiments. Leave it to me to dredge them back up.

Max Headroom. If you remember the name you will hate me for reminding you.

Max Headroom was a commercial icon for Coca-Cola. He was a computer generated entity (actually he was a guy in a plastic mask whose image was highlighted by computer graphics) who stuttered and wise-cracked from his computer screen. Max became a popular sensation and was even granted his own short-lived TV show.

Synth band, Art Of Noise, thought it would be a good idea to use Max Headroom in a song. I'm sure it sounded like a good idea at the time, just like the time someone said, "Let's make Mr. T cereal!" Hence, "Paranoimia" was born.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Two Nights In Bangkok

Who's into musicals? I do like some musicals. Some are rich in original music from beginning to end. Others, however, tend to have one great song and a bunch of filler songs that unremarkablly sound the same.

Chess tends to fall into the latter category. I have never seen Chess but a friend once lent me the soundtrack on cassette. Other than the famous "One Night In Bangkok" I was given no inspiration to watch the story that went with the music.

The first time I heard "One Night In Bangkok" was a version sung by Robey:



Shortly after Robey graced the airwaves with this hit, Murray Head's version was released and Robey, sadly, was forgotten by many listeners.



Both versions are catchy and fun. Too bad that song is the only awe-inspiring piece in the soundtrack but neither versions can hold up an entire musical. Otherwise, many of you would not be wondering now, "Really? There's a musical called Chess?"

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Autumn Chills

I love this time of year. I love autumn and the American Halloween decorations. As far as decorations go, though, I'm not so much into the gory-bloody stuff, like plastic corpses and severed hands. I prefer the spooky and semi-cute stuff like glow-in-the-dark ghosts and battery-operated light-up haunted houses.

But as for videos, I love the creepy-gory every bit as much as the spooky-cute, and you can bet your last shoulder pad that some totally rad creepy videos came from the 80s. Here's a couple of my favorites:






Naturally, this is a very short list of the wonderful and spooky videos from the 1908s. I invite my tubular readers to list your own.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Hart Flutter

When I was in the 8th grade, we had what was called a Culture Fair, similar to a Science Fair, where everyone makes a display project for a grade, except that this was for a Social Studies grade.

I am reminded of Corey Hart's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" not only because it was famous at that time, but because on the other side of my project, facing the other way, was a project about music and about how modern artists work with older pieces. Mainly, it was about how Corey Hart modernized an Elvis Presley song.

A cassette was playing during the entire fair. Over and over, I listened to Presley's version, then Hart's version, then Presley's, then Hart's, etc. etc...

I am not a bit Elvis fan, but I do like that song, and I do like the other version too. It's just that both versions were hammered into me for a long time after the fair was over. I never wanted to hear that song again.

However, Hart's song turned out to be one of those hits that is famous at the time of release but is then forgotten. Even I forgot it.

In a store today, I overheard someone talking about a Culture Fair and I thought about that song. I've not heard it for over a quarter of a century now and decided to give it an ear. I'm glad I did. It's very pretty and worth listening to it several times, so long as it's not overdone.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Planted 80s Music

Born from the 70s came the 80s. Many artists appeared fresh in their own right as 80s hit-makers, others simply continued their talents from what they started in the 70s.

Then there were some from the 70s who went on to do something different.

Robert Plant is best known for being the lead singer for 70s band Led Zeppelin. After the breakup of the band in 1980, he went on to play in other bands and experiment in solo work. He didn't quite have the flair then that he was famous for in LZ, but I think I like him better as a solo artist.

It could be that I just never went through the experience of being a fan while they were a band, and that often has an impact of how one relates to a band. Actually, I only took some interest in the late 80s when a guy I liked said LZ to be his favorite band.

I have to admit that Plant has talent and can be very pleasing to listen to. I can't say that I am glad that LZ broke up. Perhaps Plant could have continued to make the same music that I liked better with the use of that band. I am glad, however, that he did continue to make music and not simply fall into the cracks of oblivion, the way members of dissolved bands tend to do.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Sailed Close

I love it when a band can step outside of the norm of what all the popular radio stations are playing and boldly release a song that is its own sound.

Enya did just that. Her music falls into the category of the spiritual sound of New Age, which many people reject as "boring." However, her songs rose above the average New Age sound and caught the attention of the mainstream radio stations and fell into the same music hit lists with pop and soft rock.

And she did it with synthesizers and the multiple dubbing of her own voice, making her a one-lady band.