Welcome to my blog site about my thoughts and feelings on 80s music. I am an author and artist in the Seattle area. My vampire novel Mist in Power is available on Amazon.com in both paperback and kindle.
Often times, a band, or a solo singer, who has been around for a while, will make a re-appearance and the latest generation would see it as a brand new band.
Of course that has happened to me on numerous occasions. Not knowing that Slade had been around since the 70s, when they broke through the American charts with "Run Runaway" in 1983, I thought that it was cool that this band of "old guys" was coming into the music scene and sounding great.
It's a good thing when bands stretch from decade to decade and generation to generation. Kids hear for themselves the similarities between the stuff their folks listen to and the latest hits, which both expands the music world, and brings everything together.
Howard Jones. Very plain name but became big in the mid 80s. Jones was own synthesizer one-man-band and he rocked!
When he first started touring, people were excited to see him, but they tended to go home from the concerts a bit underwhelmed. Not that the music wasn't as great live as it was on the radio, for he did a superb job, but it was the show itself. He was it. Just him surrounded by his synthesizers illuminated by some pretty lights. The visual for the "concert experience" was just kind of lacking.
With some extra musicians and backup singers thrown in, Jones' later concerts had the excitement they deserved and the audiences responded most positively.
While growing up in the 80s, listening to the United States radio, it was easy to forget that rock and pop music is not exclusively made in the North America and the United Kingdom. I have had the pleasure of finding some lovely pieces from other parts of Europe that have sadly been ignored in the states.
Kraftwerk was known for it's electronic sounds. In 1983, they made a song called "Tour de France" about their passion for bicycling. Although the song did well, the moment was bittersweet due to one of the band members, Ralf Hütter, being seriously injured in a cycling accident during recording. He recovered and went right back to biking.
The lovely Lena Lena d'Água was a Portugal sex symbol and pop singer of the late 70s and early 80s. Although her beauty did not make her immune to heroin addiction, her resilience pulled her through rehabilitation.
Boy bands are nothing new, even in The Netherlands. There was a darling band of teen boys called The Shorts who made it big with a hit with "Comment Ca Va" and were never heard from again.
Music videos play a large role in how music is advertised. Sometimes the video has nothing to do with the content or the feel of the song. Other times, it can be spot on.
The first time I heard "Love Blonde" by Kim Wilde, without seeing the video, I thought of high heels on a darkened sidewalk. I am so glad that it turns out that the entire feel of the song was included in the content of the video.
Music is all about experiments. Without them, music would be boring and long forgotten in the archives of history.
Angela Bowie, ex wife of legendary David Bowie, is largely known for her role in music experiments; or rather her being in the background of them. In the beginning of David Bowie's career, she was much of the driving force behind his outfits and his "Ziggy Stardust" look, which he was famous for, secondary to his actual music.
Although their marriage did not end on a happy note, causing many David Bowie fans to scorn her, I, for one, admire her creativity and the beautiful creature that she is.
But back to music experiments; I believe that even the failed ones are an important part of the whole music scene, which is where Angela comes in.
She did some solo stuff. Like I said, I admire her creative side and the role she played during the Ziggy years, but the woman has a voice that can take the paint off the walls. Really, a voice like that should not come from a female... anything; much less a tomboy goddess.
But, like I said, experiments in music are important. Whether we like or hate the outcome has little and everything to do with how it evolves over time. Even the songs that are sung with voices that sound like WTF all play a role in keeping the music experience from extinction.
Scarlet Party was a British group who got together to make some profound music. They were noticed largely because their lead singer, Graham Dye, sounded very similar to the late John Lennon. Sadly, they are not well known in America.
In the mid to late 80s, I used to shop at a used record store. There I bought an album from Europe featuring several famous European artists, including Scarlet Party. I was impressed with their song, "Eyes of Ice," and played it to a friend of mine, who asked me if the singer was Julian Lennon. I didn't know but I was pretty certain BOP magazine would have mentioned it if he had.
Because the internet was in its early stages at that time and finding obscure information instantly just didn't happen then, the most we could find out was that Julian Lennon was not involved with Scarlet Party. As for any other information, I had to wait for the invention of sources like YouTube and Wikipedia.
Styx is one of the rare gems that stand the test of time. I'm not saying that they're great but there is definitely something to be said about staying power and Styx's ability to achieve it.
They've been around since 1970 (and still going) and managed some decent songs over the years. I say some because many, if not most, of them sound like the lead singer wore his speedo about three sizes too small.
But the some that are decent are certainly notable exceptions. This hit from 1981 is one of my favorites.
Sometimes a song comes along where the meaning can mean both everything and nothing, while the feel of the song remains constant.
The Hooters made such a song. "All You Zombies" is highly religious and political in content and can mean a lot to someone listening for the meaning, but if the words were mumbled and could not be understood, or if one disagreed with the meaning but simply listened to the song for the feeling of the music, one can still feel a sense of tension, mystery, and hope.
While The Hooters was not considered a religious band, the success of their first hit was unusual due to the religious content. I, for the most part, dislike contemporary "religious" songs. I listened to a lot of it at one time and they (with notable exceptions) tend to sound alike, which takes a lot of the meaning away.
I have enjoyed listening to "All You Zombies" before, during, and after my "religious" phase. It set itself apart from mainstream contemporary religious songs because they dared to sound different, and therefore, the song has lived longer than most songs that are supposed to be "life-giving."
