An Alt 80s Education @alt-80s-edu - Tumblr Blog

XTC - Senses Working Overtime (1982)

I was looking for music not on the radio as a kid. XTC was one of the earlier bands I found. But they were different than most bands I knew at the time. They had already stopped touring and seemed to concentrate on musicianship and songwriting and didn’t care what style of music they did that in. The variety of their sounds were confusing and just made me like them more. This is one where there is a very hummable chorus so instantly accessible. Yet, it’s not your usual pop fodder. If you are looking for something different and interesting this is a band we will need to dig deeper into. They don’t disappoint.

#alt 80s #alternative #xtc #dukes of stratosphear

Hard to choose a B-52s song because they have a lot of really iconic stuff, much of it very polished and indicative of the decade. But this wins out for me because it hits a few important highlights. Original guitarist Ricky is still alive at this time and without him you don’t have the angular guitars and surf rock sound that defined the band and also made them timely alongside some of the best music of the time (I’d say he Ricky was ahead of the curve). The song showcases Cindy’s vocals and isn’t merely going for a cheap surreal laugh as some of their other tunes do -- there is some gravitas to what is being sung. This song is from the beginning of the 80s and by this time the B52s were already a thing..., that weird edgy band from Athens, Georgia, and after 4 years they were starting to hit their stride. Plus it’s just a great song.

I think it’s ok to slow down our march towards edgy and dark to remember that the 80s were also a time of infectious pop and bubbly synths. It will be celebrated here too. This is like coming home to what we already know about the 80s. We’ll get back to exploring what we don’t know... later... after we hit replay on this gem to give it another well-deserved listen.

Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up (1989)

A great song from the end of the decade. I wanted to choose something that was both musically accessible but not inherently radio friendly. This is also a good launching point for us to come back around to to Bauhaus a band that influenced me and had many great songs as well as Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets. (Circling back to the blog after a long time gone and I realized that this track was missing -- removed from Youtube. The thing is I wasn’t sure what track I had chosen based on my vague description. I wonder if I guessed right. I think I need to be clearer or add artist/title and release date for historical purposes).

#Peter Murphy #Bauhaus #Alt 80s #Alternative #Love and rockets #Tones on Tails

Before there was the eccentric solo artist Bjork, there was the Sugarcubes. Her dynamic vocals were present from the beginning and this was their first alternative 80s hit. This is a little less poppy and a little more personal but it’s an extremely powerful song with a superlative vocal performance.

I find it hard to believe that anyone in this world doesn’t know Depeche Mode because I consider them to be pretty mainstream -- but if you didn’t them then this song is about as good as any as a starting point. This album in many ways for me was revelatory and looking back on DM’s career I still think it sounds more timely and relevant then much of the rest of their output. Songs like Everything Counts and People are People mean more to me on a personal level however. My only fear is that this song will already be known by most, and I missed another opportunity to share a different musical gem.

New Order is pretty famous as 80s music goes and most people know at least a few of their songs. This one has a good mix of that 80s synth but with a biting angular guitar and vocal style to give it a bit of edge. Yet it’s irresistibly upbeat and poppy. If you like New Order you are in for a treat because the band has loads of hits and their entire catalog is pretty entertaining. They also have the history since the band was formed out of the ashes of Joy Division (which we will get to eventually on this blog). My own history with New Order and their influence on my own personal music tastes is pretty significant. I listen to an enormous amount of electronic music now, and it can’t be understated how important New Order was on electronic music that was to come. But I remember being a kid, raised on Rock music and in the 70s having a personal hatred towards Disco music. So you can imagine my shock when I was first confronted in my teens by the fact that a band I loved was the epitome of dance music. The driving repetitive rhythms and heavy use of drum machines, it was so obvious if I just opened my eyes. By the time New Order released their album Substance chock full of 12″ dance versions of all of my favorite songs of theirs... well the world had finally accepted their genius and I had to accept that dance music wasn’t the devil. Now it’s just part of my musical vocabulary and many of the musicians I love make that style of music -- and for that I must thank New Order.

I’m not a monster Kate Bush fan, but she has a few powerful tracks that need to be known if you are going to claim to be into Alt 80s music. This one is by far her most famous song and a beauty at that. We need to get away from all the testosterone I’ve posted lately, lest we wrongly get the impression that there wasn’t any great female musicians in this decade.

I’m finally hitting the tunes I really like or maybe i should say the ones that weren’t on the radio. Matt Johnson the lead singer and man behind the band is an incredible song writer and there are so many great songs to share. This one is a gem though, hope you enjoy!

I didn’t intend to head in the direction of the Pixies until quite a bit later into this project, but after some discussion with my friend we decided that much of the music I’ve offered so far is too tame and familiar. When I asked for feedback on which songs he liked on the blog so far it was determined it was all pretty good and no songs were particularly disagreeable. I took that as an invitation to head down some darker alleyways. As far as the Pixies go this is certainly one of their more accessible songs and is later in their career -- on the far end of the decade. But the Pixies were important in so far as they were a major influence for the music of the next decade and they make great music. This should be a fine litmus test on whether we can go darker or need to stay with the poppier music of the decade.

I decided that the Clash were the next artist that needed to be represented and while I would have loved to do something from their early days with a harder edge and actually was punk music, I think we need to start a little slower than that. Later Clash with a poppier sensibility but still clinging to a bit of biting political edge is a good way to transition for a band that were transitional themselves. They started rough and hard and ended on the radio all clean. They were also christened “the only band that matters” and had their album selected as the #1 album of the 80s and the #8 album of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. I was tempted to go “Magnificent Seven” here but I think this song meets our needs a little better and maybe even a little more to the character of the band and the times.

We’ve hit the 80s at least, but frankly, I’m going David Bowie here because he was such a huge influencer of alternative 80s music (and beyond)... and I’m not talking about his 80s music like Modern Love and Let’s Dance. In the early 70s Bowie was the counter-culture -- he led the way. He spoke to the youth, invited rebellion, showed us how to do it differently by celebrating the weird. He showed us that we can be who you want to be and don’t have to worry about pissing people off. By the time the punks came around and burned everything down to the ground, Bowie had already shown them how to do it. The template was already there, thanks to Bowie. His influence is so enormous it really can’t be understated.

I was a little torn on which way to go next. Part of me wondered if I’d lost my way. My intention for this musical journey was to merely paste in a few good Alt 80s hits and once hooked the reader would have been willing to venture into the decade’s darker corners. Admittedly the ultimate goal is to get the casual 80s listener to be open to the full spectrum of what the 80s has to offer. If you can’t handle that or are comfortable in your boring pop 80s bubble well... you may as well leave now. My destination is the dirty alleyways of the 80s where it’s messy and ugly. So you should get comfortable with that knowledge right now going in. So again I ask, did I lose my way? I find myself a few songs in giving a history lesson of sorts. I mean I could have just started with the Sex Pistols and Ramones, but I might have lost the casual listener before I even started. So what am I doing? I guess I’m looking for pop music that was rooted in or contributed to the counter culture. I was thinking I’d go Pretenders here because they fit that description pretty well but I think the Police who later become mainstream 80s music gods might be a great next step. Before there was Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic or Every Breath You Take, there was edgy Police. A little bit punk, a little bit ska and a little bit pop. Almost radio friendly, but not exactly there yet. But brilliant songwriters from the start. I’m going Police here. Makes sense for me because they are precursors of what’s to come.

I don’t limit Alt 80s as just music of the 80s. There is music that came before the 80s that defined what was to come but are essential to this music. Talking Heads, Ramones and Blondie all came up before the 80s but they (and many others) helped influence the next decade. But let’s just nip the, “this is before 1980″ argument right now -- and same for this came after 1989 as well. I’m not bound by those rules. Feel free to create your own website and define Alt 80s any way you see fit. Blondie is great because she’s smart, sexy, creative and showed the decade to come that you can make alternative music that gets played on the radio.

Gotta start somewhere and the Talking Heads are a familiar name. This song is one of their most accessible and radio friendly.

#Talking Heads #radio friendly #accessible

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An Alt 80s Education