Man, 1986 was a weird time for music.
Yes, that’s “Weird Al” Yankovic & La Toya Jackson on the American Music Awards. And THAT, my friends, was the freaky deaky that was all throughout music at that time.
Like the first half of the 80′s before it, 1986 was experimenting & trying to forecast what music could possibly sound like in, say, the far-flung 1990′s.
But shit, we were 4 years from that decade at that point. And we all know that in music, that might as well have been 1,000 light years away.
Anyway, here’s what the Billboard landscape looked like at the end of 1986, the top 20 singles of that year:
Yep, there’s a lot of “love” going on.
A few songs about “friends.”
And then there’s Eddie Murphy with Rick James for some reason.
And you had even MORE varied shit if you bought some “greatest hits of 1986″ compilation from Billboard.
Some repeats, some new shit from old bands, some last gasps of the early 80′s.
And then there’s the guitarist from Genesis, trying to steal Phil Collins’ solo spotlight.
Oh, and the guy from Squeeze, looking all tough/drunk/nauseous/all three:
Looks like SOMEBODY’S got a dirty diaper.
Okay, there’s actually a point here. One of my favorite bands was doing a little experimenting during ‘86.
THESE kimono-wearing prog wizards
If fans thought their previous album, “Signals,” was a fun, little synth-driven departure,
they got even MORE synthy cockslaps with "Grace Under Pressure.”
C’mon, Geddy. Isn’t bass enough?
Truth be told, I actually liked “Grace” when it came out, as well as its follow-up:
What can I say? It was the mid 80′s.
Yeah, that’s it. I blame the 80′s.
Anyhoo, these synth-driven albums were my gateway drug to a lifelong addiction to early (I’m implying BETTER here) Rush.
Lip gloss, kimonos & all.
And yet, I still feel a weird kinship toward those mid-late 80′s sounds. And that’s why I regret that I haven’t seen THIS until now.
Yeah, that’s SCTV’s Count Floyd doing the intro.
And Rush acting goofy as shit, reacting to him.
It proves that these 3 Canucks, who stunned the world with Ayn Rand lyrics & polyrhythmic jams are just a trio of fun-loving knuckleheads. Something I didn’t think when I first got into them.
And I guess I regret not knowing that they can sometimes give the makeup people from SCTV a run for their money.