Ask the 80s Music Buff

[MsRobyn]

So last night in chat, we were talking about 80s music, and by the time I went to bed, I was feeling pretty old. But I genuinely love 80s music, and I know a lot about it.

Let me give you some of my bona fides first. I was born in 1971 and graduated high school in 1989. I remember the birth of MTV. As a college student, I did a show that someone called "NPR meets the 80s." I still have a huge interest in it, too, and but for the rights issues, I'd love to do a regular podcast.

I'm happy to ask any and all questions.

[The Original An Gadaí]

Was there significant opposition to new romantic/electronic music in general when it started becoming popular?

[MsRobyn]

Not really, no. In fact, many New Romantic artists saw a good bit of airplay on MTV. I can't say if there was much hand-wringing on the part of the Baby Boomers mourning the loss of their beloved music, but from a Gen X perspective, this was our music, not our parents'.

[dread pirate jimbo]

How much impact on the American music scene did Canadian artists have in the 80s? I know Bryan Adam's Reckless album was pretty big, Alannah Myles had a hit with "Black Velvet," and I believe Honeymoon Suite made a blip on the radar, but what about some of the acts us Hosers consider ubiquitous to the 80s sound? Bands like Platinum Blonde, The Spoons, Grapes of Wrath, 54-40, The Kim Mitchell Band, One To One, Chalk Circle, The Parachute Club, Luba, Red Rider, Haywire, Gino Vanelli, Dalbello, Martha and the Muffins, Corey Hart, The Box, Gowan, FM, Glass Tiger, Frozen Ghost, April Wine (more of a 70s band, I know), National Velvet, Triumph, Toronto, Rough Trade, Loverboy, Strange Advance, Lee Aaron, Helix, Zappacosta, Sheriff, and the Payola$ (I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from).

[jayjay]

Was there significant opposition to new romantic/electronic music in general when it started becoming popular?

From my recollection, people were so eager to forget disco by that point that the field was wide open. I don't really remember any "oh, my god, that music sucks so bad!" (except for maybe individual acts, but not whole genres) from that time period. Of course, when disco died I was all of about 10 or 11 years old, so take that with the appropriate dose of salt.

Synthesizers were all the rage, though...they're really kind of a sine qua non of early 80s pop.

DPJ: I recognize Corey Hart (1-hit wonder..."I Wear My Sunglasses At Night"), Loverboy (had some success past the 1HW stage) and Gino Vanelli (the only ones I've heard from him are "I Just Wanna Stop" and "Living Inside Myself").


"Rough Trade"? Really? That's...somewhat surprising...it's more something I'd expect a gay biker bar to be called...

[featherlou]

You're not far off, jayjay - a history of the band Rough Trade. They weren't really interested in being mainstream. Their song "High School Confidential" (complete with lyrics, "She makes me cream my jeans when she comes my way," and "What's the principle doing, screwing with her?") is still played regularly on local FM.

[featherlou]

I graduated high school in 1984, and I listened to everything I could get my hands on then - I guess I'm an 80's music buff, too, but I just consider it the music of my youth. Have you continued listening to current music, or are you more interested in 80's music still? Do you like the current resurgence of the 80's sound?

[dread pirate jimbo]

DPJ: I recognize Corey Hart (1-hit wonder..."I Wear My Sunglasses At Night"), Loverboy (had some success past the 1HW stage) and Gino Vanelli (the only ones I've heard from him are "I Just Wanna Stop" and "Living Inside Myself").


"Rough Trade"? Really? That's...somewhat surprising...it's more something I'd expect a gay biker bar to be called...

"Sunglasses At Night" was Corey Hart's biggest hit north of the border as well, but he had several more chart toppers after that. "It Ain't Enough," "Boy In The Box," "Never Surrender," and a few others over three or four albums kept him and his pouty lips on the charts for awhile. Same with Loverboy ("Turn Me Loose," "The Kid Is Hot Tonight," "Working for the Weekend," "When It's Over," "Lovin' Every Minute Of It," etc.), and Gino Vanelli ("Black Cars," "Hurts To Be In Love," "Wild Horses," etc.). Without doing any research into it, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that they're all in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as long-time superstars.

Rough Trade have had a long history on Canadian airwaves, considering people only really remember two of their songs and just how raunchy and lesbian the lyrical content was. Shocking for the time.

[MsRobyn]

How much impact on the American music scene did Canadian artists have in the 80s? I know Bryan Adam's Reckless album was pretty big, Alannah Myles had a hit with "Black Velvet," and I believe Honeymoon Suite made a blip on the radar, but what about some of the acts us Hosers consider ubiquitous to the 80s sound? Bands like Platinum Blonde, The Spoons, Grapes of Wrath, 54-40, The Kim Mitchell Band, One To One, Chalk Circle, The Parachute Club, Luba, Red Rider, Haywire, Gino Vanelli, Dalbello, Martha and the Muffins, Corey Hart, The Box, Gowan, FM, Glass Tiger, Frozen Ghost, April Wine (more of a 70s band, I know), National Velvet, Triumph, Toronto, Rough Trade, Loverboy, Strange Advance, Lee Aaron, Helix, Zappacosta, Sheriff, and the Payola$ (I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from).

Some of them were fairly popular in the US. Bryan Adams and Loverboy certainly were, Glass Tiger had a couple of songs chart here, as did Triumph.I believe Sheriff did, too. Gino Vanelli has been consigned to the horrible ghetto called "soft rock", but he's had some popular stuff. Overall, though, Canada wasn't all that mainstream. The majority came from the US and from Great Britain, although there was some stuff from other European countries, like Germany and Austria.

[Thudlow Boink]

Bands like Platinum Blonde, The Spoons, Grapes of Wrath, 54-40, The Kim Mitchell Band, One To One, Chalk Circle, The Parachute Club, Luba, Red Rider, Haywire, Gino Vanelli, Dalbello, Martha and the Muffins, Corey Hart, The Box, Gowan, FM, Glass Tiger, Frozen Ghost, April Wine (more of a 70s band, I know), National Velvet, Triumph, Toronto, Rough Trade, Loverboy, Strange Advance, Lee Aaron, Helix, Zappacosta, Sheriff, and the Payola$ (I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from).

Most of these I've never heard of, and Loverboy's the only one I could name more than one song by.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Human League or Flock of Seagulls?

[BiblioCat]

Human League or Flock of Seagulls?

Flock of Seagulls, if only for the hair.

[MsRobyn]

Human League. No question about it.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Howard Jones or Thomas Dolby?

[MsRobyn]

That's a toughie. Howard Jones was pretty poppy, plus he could . His music also stands up pretty well, a quarter-century later. Thomas Dolby, on the other hand, was more experimental. He wasn't making music that everyone would like. And "She Blinded Me With Science" is cliched.

So I'd have to say Howard Jones.

[featherlou]

Yeah, but "Hyperactive" is an awesome song!

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Aside from being chart-topping hits of the 1980s sung by women what do "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles have in common (no cheating)?

[Oliveloaf]

What ever came of the Comunards?

[BiblioCat]

Aside from being chart-topping hits of the 1980s sung by women what do "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles have in common (no cheating)?

They were both written by Prince? I don't know why I know that....

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Aside from being chart-topping hits of the 1980s sung by women what do "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles have in common (no cheating)?

They were both written by Prince? I don't know why I know that....

Yep.

[jayjay]

What ever came of the Comunards?

They split up in 1988. Somerville went on to a solo career and Coles became an Anglican priest.

Jimmy released a digital-download-only album, Suddenly Last Summer, this year.

[Myglaren]

What ever came of the Comunards?

Jimmy Sommerville is still singing, one of the others became a vicar.

[maggenpye]

Aside from being chart-topping hits of the 1980s sung by women what do "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles have in common (no cheating)?

They were both written by Prince? I don't know why I know that....

So was Sinead O'Connor's hit Nothing Compares to U

A song I loved, the first five hundred times I heard it. Then it started to make me twitchy and I began to actively dislike it. Then, ignoring my protests, a boyfriend decided to make it 'our song' and sang it every time I answered the phone. I dumped him.


Not just for that reason, but it was a part of it.

Visage Fade to Grey or Ultravox Vienna?

[featherlou]

Midge Ure rocks, but I have to give the edge to Fade to Grey just because I'm not familiar with Vienna. I like it after two listenings, though.

[dread pirate jimbo]

Aside from being chart-topping hits of the 1980s sung by women what do "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles have in common (no cheating)?

They were both written by Prince? I don't know why I know that....

So was Sinead O'Connor's hit Nothing Compares to U

... and "The Glamourous Life" By Sheila E. and "101" by Sheena Easton and...

[featherlou]

...and The Times' "Jungle Love" and Alicia Keys' "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" and...

[maggenpye]

None of which were sung off key at me down the phone long after the song had reached saturation and beyond on TV & radio. Not a single one of the others mentioned (apart from Manic Monday) even made the charts down here, not even Sheena and we were quite fond of Morning Train.

Vienna, seriously, the drum, the theatricality, the piano and pretty costumes. The angst, oh so much angst, it had everything!

[Laughing Lagomorph]

"One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head, or "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora?

(Since this seems to be turning into a group effort everyone is free to give an opinion, not just MsRobyn)

[tunaman]

Visage Fade to Grey or Ultravox Vienna?

"Fade to Grey". I've liked that song for... I dunno, 25 years? I thought "Vienna" was an overwrought piece of crap until it was used in the first season of Ashes to Ashes.

Random 80s Music Trivia:

- The video for the Eurythmics’ song “Who’s That Girl?” features Annie Lennox singing in a cabaret while her “man” (bandmate Dave Stewart) sits in the audience flirting with several women. The women Stewart cavorts with: Stewart’s future wife, Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama; Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston of Bucks Fizz; Kiki Dee (of “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” fame); Hazel O’Connor; Kate Garner of Haysi Fantayzee; Thereza Bazar of Dollar and Boy George’s friend and protege Marilyn (who is actually a man). The two other members of Bananarama can also be seen in the video. Interestingly, Jacquie O’Sullivan (Fahey’s eventual replacement in Bananarama) is also in the video.

- The cute chick in the "Come On Eileen" video is Marie Fahey, Siobhan's sister.

- Madness’ first 20 singles all made the Top 20 in the UK charts. In fact, from 1980 to 1986, there was a Madness single in the British charts in 214 out of 312 possible weeks.

- The Irish band The Virgin Prunes were neighborhood friends of Paul Hewson. It was the members of the Prunes that gave Hewson his "Bono" nickname, and the little boy on the Boy and War album covers lived across the street from one of the members of the Prunes.

- The name Trevor Horn is not very well known in the US, but it should be. He was the lead singer of The Buggles (of "Video Killed The Radio Star" fame), was the leader singer of Yes for one album (Drama) and later produced their 90125 album, he started ZTT Records (which featured such 80s icons as Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Propaganda). He was not available to record the Band Aid hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?", so he instead donated the services of his London studio to the cause. He has also produced records for ABC, Cher, Grace Jones, Seal, Propaganda, Tina Turner, Lisa Stansfield, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Pet Shop Boys, Simple Minds, Mike Oldfield, Marc Almond, Charlotte Church, t.A.T.u, LeAnn Rimes, and Belle & Sebastian.

- Contrary to popular belief, the Cocteau Twins are named after an old Simple Minds song, not the French artist.

[Laughing Lagomorph]

...
- Madness’ first 20 singles all made the Top 20 in the UK charts. In fact, from 1980 to 1986, there was a Madness single in the British charts in 214 out of 312 possible weeks.
...

This is amazing to me because they were such a marginal act in the States. They really only had one big hit ("Our House").

[featherlou]

I've heard other people who were around Britain mention how huge Madness was. They weren't any bigger in Canada than in the US. I should probably look into them someday.

Oh yeah, "One Night In Bangkok." I still like that weird little song.

[jayjay]

Oh yeah, "One Night In Bangkok." I still like that weird little song.

It makes much more sense in the context of the show it comes from, Chess, which was written by Benny Andersen, Bjorn Ulvaes (both of ABBA), Tim Rice (more famous for other lyricizing) and Richard Nelson. A lot of people who don't realize it was part of a musical theater production are puzzled by all the chess references.

[Hippy Hollow]

I know "Our House" was the only Madness US hit, but their music is pretty well known in some arenas. Ska fans all know "One Step Beyond."

Prince wrote songs for many artists, typically those under his Paisley Park imprint. Horrors like "The Family" and "Maserati" (these are the group's names) might have put out an album comprised completely of Prince-penned tunes.

Prince didn't write "Nothing Compares 2 U" for Sinead. (I know maggenpye didn't say that, but a lot of people think that it was.) It was recorded by The Family and Prince himself. Likewise, "I Feel For You," which brought Chaka Khan back to prominence, was a song that Prince recorded years earlier.

Oh, and I'll take Howard Jones over Thomas Dolby, and "Tarzan Boy" over "One Night in Bangkok." And obviously, "Vienna" over "Fade to Grey."

Also, he wrote "Manic Monday" under a pseudonym - "Christopher" or "Alexander," can't remember which.

Ultravox were such an 80s band. Midge Ure had the perfect voice (and the cool pencil mustache). Lots of synths. BTW, did you know that "Midge" not his real name? It's James - Jim for short, and spelled backward you get...

[featherlou]

I like looking up the videos for these songs - it's like a time machine!

[maggenpye]

I know "Our House" was the only Madness US hit, but their music is pretty well known in some arenas. Ska fans all know "One Step Beyond."

(snip)

Ultravox were such an 80s band. Midge Ure had the perfect voice (and the cool pencil mustache). Lots of synths. BTW, did you know that "Midge" not his real name? It's James - Jim for short, and spelled backward you get...

Madness were fairly popular down here, though my memories may be skewed as my best mate was a huge fan, not just Our House but also Baggy Trousers, It Must Be Love, Welcome to the House of Fun, good stuff.

Midge Ure also co-wrote Feed The World (Do They Know It's Christmas?) with Bob Geldoff, since we're chucking writing credits about.

You guys are amazing with the amount of trivia you know.

I knew about earlier The Family recording Nothing Compares, but that leads us on to 'covers that you prefer to the original' - and that means ...

forget Lipps, Pseudo Echo did Funky Town waa-ay better!

[dread pirate jimbo]

forget Lipps, Pseudo Echo did Funky Town waa-ay better!

Pseudo Echo's version rocks!

Whatever happened to the Hoodoo Gurus?

[dread pirate jimbo]

...and The Times' "Jungle Love" and Alicia Keys' "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" and...

There was also "Oh Sheila" by Ready For The World, if we're listing Prince-penned tunes.

[Hippy Hollow]

...and The Times' "Jungle Love" and Alicia Keys' "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" and...

There was also "Oh Sheila" by Ready For The World, if we're listing Prince-penned tunes.

Is this a whoosh? 'Cos Prince didn't write "Oh Sheila." They milked the Prince-y-ness of that song, though. But that album was actually quite good.

maggenpye, the BBC did an excellent documentary of Band Aid, and had Midge actually returning to the camps in Ethiopia that Band Aid food was distributed. Awesome. Great stories of Boy George sleeping one off and having Bob Geldof scream down the phone at him, and a startled George taking the last Concorde over to arrive in time. I think one great thing about the 80s was the idea that music could be used to you know, do something. Band Aid had a computer game variant "Soft Aid" and I was proud to plunk down the four quid for it, even though half the games were pants. Midge is bald as a cue ball, but still a great musician.

So more trivia:

There were some Americans on the Band Aid single. Jodi Watley and the guys from Kool and the Gang sang on it.

Bob Geldof and Michael Hutchence were rivals in love over Paula Yates (annoying UK TV presenter). We all know what happened to Hutchence, tragically. But one of his last phone calls was an angry tirade to Geldof regarding the custody of Paula's daughter. When Paula committed suicide a few years later, Geldof adopted Hutchence's and Paula's daughter, Tiger Lily. But if you look at an early Boomtown Rats clip and early INXS videos, Geldof and Hutchence look like brothers.

I also loved that the 80s were the decade of the superproducer. Hugh Padgham, Steve Lillywhite, Glyn Johns, Martin Hannett... knob twiddlers that were behind all of the songs. Steve Lillywhite has a show on NPR where he talks about producing loads of records back then. If you're an 80s buff you'll love it.

Speaking of Steve Lillywhite, he was married to Kirsty MacColl, one of my all time favorite artists. A lot of times when Lillywhite was producing, he'd realize that the songs needed a backing vocal and would bring in Kirsty to do the job. As a result she sang backup on Happy Mondays, Morrissey, The Smiths, Billy Bragg, The Pogues, Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, and Talking Heads albums.

Last one for now: Kirsty was the writer and original singer of "They Don't Know," which became a huge hit for comedienne Tracey Ullman. There's a great line in a high register - "Baby!" that appears on the track. That was Kirsty - Tracey couldn't hit that note.

[Hippy Hollow]

More trivia!

Level 42 ("Something About You") originally featured Dominic Miller on guitar. He stopped showing up one day and hence the band went on to considerable acclaim in the UK and Europe. He got another chance at stardom as Sting's guitarist in the 90s to present.

Duran Duran's original singer was not Simon Le Bon. It was Stephen "Tintin" Duffy, who had a hit in the decade, "Kiss Me."

A legendary Manchester band was called The Nosebleeds. They never became famous, but two members did: vocalist Steven Morrissey (The Smiths) and guitarist Billy Duffy (The Cult).

[maggenpye]

I had a copy of Is That It? for a while, Sir Bob's autobiography up to Band Aid. It had lots of fun stories about the whole lead-up and event. In the book, Bob tells the story of Bono trying to pick Paula up in a bar by saying he was in a band - at that stage the Boomtown Rats were far more successful than U2, so she just laughed him off.

From what I remember of the times, Bob and Michael weren't rivals for Paula Yates, she and Bob divorced after he found her in bed with Terence Trent D'arby, she moved on to Hutchence well afterwards.

[chacoguy]

I just wanted to pop by and mention a little known band that hit their stride in 1987-
























The Grateful Dead

[Hippy Hollow]

maggenpye, according to Wikipedia Yates and Geldof were divorced in 1996, and she started an affair with Michael Hutchence in 1995. I was (am?) a rabid INXS fan, and I recall one of the arguments made about Hutchence's death being a suicide was that there was an angry call between Geldof and Hutchence - Geldof apparently threatened to cut off Yates' access to their children if she went to visit Hutchence in Australia, so she never made it to Australia - and that was the last night of Hutchence's life.

[maggenpye]

I remember all the speculation. It still doesn't make sense.

I'll give you the divorce dates (though it was filed in '95). She had finished her affair with D'arby, which his sites list as long term and hers don't mention, I can't find any dates, but it was before '95.

Sadly, Hutchence's long term, acknowledged drug use probably had more to do with his death than a phone call overheard by one 'unnamed' source, the coroner found "vodka, beer, champagne, cocaine, the anti-depressant Prozac and other prescription drugs" in his blood. Yates never accepted that it was suicide.

We'll have to agree to disagree on who was more at fault in a decade old divorce where two of the three participants have died with large amounts of drugs in their systems.

Weirdly, D'arby later fronted INXS very briefly.

[featherlou]

Speaking of Terence Trent D'arby - it looks like I have a lot of his albums to catch up on. He now goes by the name Sananda Matreiya. It sounds like he is almost as weird as Prince.

[tunaman]

OK, more trivia then:

- 10,000 Maniacs "Like the Weather" video was directed by... British comedian Adrian Edmondson, best known in the US as "Vyvyan" on The Young Ones. He also directed videos for Squeeze, Zodiac Mindwarp and The Pogues.

- The British band Japan started out as glam rock New York Dolls wannabes. By their third album, they had morphed into a dance-pop band, and by their fourth they had become an art pop band. The band decided that they no longer needed a guitarist, so they kicked longtime member Rob Dean out of the band. Dean tried to start several bands, but nothing ever came of them. After playing guitar on a few albums (including Sinead O'Connor's The Lion and the Cobra), he left the music industry. He's now known as "Robert Dean", and he's one of the world's leading authorities on Central American birds.

- Japan's first three albums were released on a tiny record label called Hansa Records. Prior to signing Japan, Hansa had sponsored a "Battle of the Bands" type contest in the UK, with the winner to receive a record contract. But then Japan came along, and the label decided to concentrate on them exclusively. Instead of a record contract, the winner of the contest received a £2000 payoff. The band that won the contest? The Cure.

- Sting's first film role... is up for debate. Most sources say that his first film was the 1979 Who-inspired film Quadrophenia. However, Sting initially appeared as the lead singer of a gay band called The Blow Waves in Malcom McLaren's film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. His scene was cut from the final version of the film... however, due to an error several copies containing Sting's scene were sent out to cinemas in the UK. It was several days before the error was noticed and by then the "wrong" version had been shown several times in British theatres. You can see Sting's scene in the 2000 Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury.

- Speaking of the Pistols, when they made their infamous appearance on Today with Bill Grundy, the girl in the background that the drunken Grundy flirts with is none other than Siouxsie Sioux.

- Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes was (and still is) a technology nut. One day in 1982, he was in the studio with Andy Taylor, playing around with some new synthesizers and sequencers he'd ordered. The two had come up with some great stuff, and when Simon Le Bon showed up, they asked him to sing something - anything - just to get a feel for how the song would sound. The first thing Simon thought of was "Little Red Riding Hood"... so he started singing about the fairy tale. With a few tweaks, "Hungry Like The Wolf" was born.

- Early Bananarama records had a line on the back sleeve that said something like "for fan club information, write to: Bananarama Fan Club, 123 Jones Street, London, SW1 QE2". Believe it or not, all three girls lived together in an apartment, and that was their actual address. It's hard to imagine any group doing that today, much less a group of three cute girls.

- Annie Lennox is a member of the choir standing behind Pink during the "In The Flesh" scene in the film The Wall.

- The lead singer of the band Seona Dancing was... Ricky Gervais, now known as "the guy that started The Office".

- Remember that song "Fish Heads"? The video was directed by (and starred) a very young Bill Paxton.

- The Power Station was the result of an extended cocaine binge between John Taylor and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran and John Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson of Chic... in the men's room of a NYC nightclub.

- On June 4, 1976, the Sex Pistols played at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Only around 40 people attended the show, but the crowd included: Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, and Peter Hook (of Joy Division\New Order), Howard Devoto, Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle (of The Buzzcocks), Mark E. Smith (of The Fall), Morrissey (of The Smiths), Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor (of Queen), Tony Wilson (founder of Factory Records and the legendary Manchester nightclub The Haçienda), Martin Hannett (famous 80s record producer), and Paul Morley (English music journalist... who went on the marry Claudia Brücken of Propaganda). The show is so legendary that a book was written about it: I Swear I Was There: The Gig That Changed The World.

- The song “Jet Boy, Jet Girl” is about a 15-year-old boy that has a sexual relationship with another boy, who then rejects him for a girl. It was originally recorded in 1977 by a “band” called Elton Motello (which was actually singer and songwriter Alan Ward and a bunch of session musicians). The song was a minor hit in the UK, and it attracted the attention of Belgian songwriter Roger Marie Francois Jouret. He hired Ward's session musicians with the intention of doing a "translated cover" of the song, but his publishing company - RKM Publishing - decided that the song was too controversial, so Jouret (recording under the name Plastic Bertrand) simply had his friend Lou Deprijck write a bunch of nonsense lyrics. The result was “Ça plane pour moi”, which went on to be a big international hit. It was only after this that the British punk band The Damned covered Elton Motello's version, which went on to become one of The Damned biggest hits. (There seems to be endless confusion about this song!)

Also, if anyone's interested... Stephen Duffy and Nick Rhodes ran into each other at a fashion show a few years back and started talking about the "old days" of Duran Duran. The two had so much fun that they decided to record an album of original, pre-Simon LeBon Duran Duran tunes. Released as Dark Circles under the band name The Devils, the album uses vintage instruments, too. It's available from Amazon here.

[tunaman]

the coroner found "vodka, beer, champagne, cocaine, the anti-depressant Prozac and other prescription drugs" in his blood.

How can you detect different types of alcohol in someone's blood? I mean, by the time it hits your bloodstream, it's all just alcohol, right? How could a pathologist tell if I drank vodka or gin just from a blood sample?

[maggenpye]

the coroner found "vodka, beer, champagne, cocaine, the anti-depressant Prozac and other prescription drugs" in his blood.

How can you detect different types of alcohol in someone's blood? I mean, by the time it hits your bloodstream, it's all just alcohol, right? How could a pathologist tell if I drank vodka or gin just from a blood sample?

Just quoting the article, didn't perform the autopsy myself. But they could have gotten alcohol samples from the stomach and drug analysis from the bloods.

[MsRobyn]

the coroner found "vodka, beer, champagne, cocaine, the anti-depressant Prozac and other prescription drugs" in his blood.

How can you detect different types of alcohol in someone's blood? I mean, by the time it hits your bloodstream, it's all just alcohol, right? How could a pathologist tell if I drank vodka or gin just from a blood sample?

The lab people can look for other ingredients besides the alcohol.

Food guru and my secret boyfriend Alton Brown was the director of photography for REM's video for "The One I Love." He was also a Steadicam operator for School Daze.

[dread pirate jimbo]

[quote=Hippy Hollow]

...and The Times' "Jungle Love" and Alicia Keys' "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" and...

There was also "Oh Sheila" by Ready For The World, if we're listing Prince-penned tunes.

Is this a whoosh? 'Cos Prince didn't write "Oh Sheila." They milked the Prince-y-ness of that song, though. But that album was actually quite good.[/quote:2s89nnmd]
Not a whoosh but an error. I swear I had seen confirmation from what I consider to be a reliable source that Prince had penned that tune. Apparently I was 100% wrong. Thank you for fighting my ignorance (can I say that here?)

I also loved that the 80s were the decade of the superproducer. Hugh Padgham, Steve Lillywhite, Glyn Johns, Martin Hannett... knob twiddlers that were behind all of the songs. Steve Lillywhite has a show on NPR where he talks about producing loads of records back then. If you're an 80s buff you'll love it.

Don't forget Nile Rodgers of Chic, who produced hits for Madonna, Sheena Easton, The Power Station, David Bowie, and others. I believe David Foster also really started making a name for himself as a producer in the 80s. And then there's also Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

Speaking of Steve Lillywhite, he was married to Kirsty MacColl, one of my all time favorite artists. A lot of times when Lillywhite was producing, he'd realize that the songs needed a backing vocal and would bring in Kirsty to do the job. As a result she sang backup on Happy Mondays, Morrissey, The Smiths, Billy Bragg, The Pogues, Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, and Talking Heads albums.

Last one for now: Kirsty was the writer and original singer of "They Don't Know," which became a huge hit for comedienne Tracey Ullman. There's a great line in a high register - "Baby!" that appears on the track. That was Kirsty - Tracey couldn't hit that note.

Love that song, and Ullman's other hit, "Breakaway."

[Hippy Hollow]

Not a whoosh but an error. I swear I had seen confirmation from what I consider to be a reliable source that Prince had penned that tune. Apparently I was 100% wrong. Thank you for fighting my ignorance (can I say that here?)

Why not? :wink: The writers according to Wikipedia were Melvin Riley, Jr., Gordon Strozier, and Gerald Valentine.

Don't forget Nile Rodgers of Chic, who produced hits for Madonna, Sheena Easton, The Power Station, David Bowie, and others. I believe David Foster also really started making a name for himself as a producer in the 80s. And then there's also Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

Nile... absolutely, can't believe I forgot him. Duran Duran, INXS, Debbie Harry, and Diana Ross all benefited from his ears. I know David Foster did a lot, but for some reason I think he did a lot of the schlocky stuff, am I right? Eno and Lanois - were they exclusively U2, or did they work with other artists?

Tracey Ullman is tops, I also love "Move Over Darling."