Soooo, where’s Lost in the ‘70s/’80s/’90s been? Has that Hughes character been slacking off? Well, not quite.
It may be fairly obvious from my 400+ posts about the subject, but I’m a music junkie. Hardcore, even. That’s why when a new job opportunity presented itself, I not only jumped on it, but I pretty much grabbed it in a headlock until it cried “Uncle!”
I’m the new Senior Director of Online Marketing for Rhino.com. Cool, right? It’s a dream job for me – surrounded by other music freaks, I dreamed of swimming in pools of New Order and Monkees reissues, living happily ever after. I started last Tuesday with a head full of ideas and a smile on my face.
“And they told us what they wanted was a sound that could kill someone from a distance …”
In 1986, after years of trying to break Kate Bush in the States with only the minor Top 40 hit “Running Up That Hill” to show for it, EMI decided to capitalize on Kate’s recent success with Hounds of Love in the UK by releasing a best-of, which could also serve as a catch-up primer for the US. The Whole Story collected various tracks from Bush’s first five albums, along with a newly recorded version of her first single, “Wuthering Heights,” and one new track which was issued as a single to promote the disc.
“Experiment IV” (download) was a creepy tune that told the story of a top secret military operation where scientists were attempting to create a weapon using only sound. Unfortunately for them, they succeed. The single was accompanied by an equally spooky video that was banned from Top of the Pops, but got plenty of MTV play Stateside. It also featured Dawn French of French & Saunders and a relative unknown by the name of Hugh Laurie: (more…)
Netherlands-based Xymox had been kicking around in goth circles for most of the ’80s as Clan of Xymox, but when they signed to major label Wing in 1989, they shortened their name and expanded their appeal. Their major label debut, Twist of Shadows, was filled with more of the band’s Cure-inspired danceable goth, but this time the hooks were front and center.
The album’s first single, “Obsession” (download) set the tone, as the thunder that begins the track segues into an industrial-tinged dance beat as vocalist/guitarist Ronny Moorings (there’s a gothic name for you) sings in a Robert Smith style. The combination was irresistible to alternative dance clubs and video got a fair amount of play on MTV’s 120 Minutes (God, I miss that show):
But it was the album’s third single (after “Blind Hearts”), “Imagination (Edit),” (download) that brought the band the most mainstream attention. This time around bassist Anke Wolbert took the vocal lead over a New Order beat that was certainly more in vogue in 1990 than during the band’s mid-80’s efforts. They were rewarded with some sporadic Top 40 radio airplay and the single even charted in the lower reaches of the Hot 100, an unimaginable feat for a former 4AD band. (more…)
If you’ve been reading this column for the past four years or so, you may remember me calling out certain songs as one of “the top blahblah new-wave songs ever.” I’ve done it a few times, as I recall — most recently last Tuesday, in fact — and good commenter Pete stated:
“John, I’d be curious to know what your other top 5 new wave songs are …”
Well, Pete my friend, because you asked for it, here are not only my top 5, but my top 15! Who says it’s a waste of time to comment on Popdose?
First off, some ground rules:
While acts such as Roxy Music, Sparks and David Bowie certainly laid the groundwork, if not the entire friggin’ blueprints for what we call new wave, this list is limited to artists who came of age and were active during the classic new-wave period from 1979 through 1984, give or take as I feel like.
And what the heck is new wave, anyway? While we can argue it was just an umbrella term coined by Seymour Stein to cover any of his acts that weren’t overtly commercial, let’s agree for our purposes that we know it when we hear it.
It would be easy to rattle off ten or twenty songs that really should be on this list, like for example, New Order’s “Blue Monday.” But this is Popdose: we assume you’ve seen obvious lists like that a million times and the average Popdose reader is more knowledgeable and likes to be challenged. So, while we’re not gonna go all Pitchfork-y on you and rattle off names like Pylon or the Plastics, you may seem some less obvious choices.
This list will be from a very American point of view, since I sort of grew up in America and stuff. Don’t worry though – it’s probably the most Anglo-centric Americanized list you’ll ever read.
And last, but not least, this is my list, my opinions, my decisions. It is by no ways meant to be comprehensive, complete or the final word on anything. That’s why you’re going to leave comments after you read it, so I can either praise you for bringing up an act I forgot, or ridicule you for suggesting I left out the Bongos and how dare I.
This is a tough one. Is it possible to look past someone’s reprehensible criminal behavior and enjoy their art? A question asked many times about many people. In this case, we ask this question of ’70s glam rock god Gary Glitter, one of the biggest pop stars of that decade in the UK. After many attempts at a recording career throughout the ’60s, Glitter finally concocted a signature sound with the epic “Rock & Roll Part 2″ (1972). Originally a 15-minute jam, once the song was cut up into the mostly instrumental single version (complete with football cheer “Hey’s”), it made the Top Ten in England and the States, one of the few glam successes on this shore.
Glitter followed that up “I Didn’t Know I Loved You (’Til I Saw You Rock & Roll),” (1972) (download) a bit of a sound-alike of his first smash, albeit with vocals and a more melodic hook this time around. Let’s face it: Glitter’s songs all pretty much sound the same. The stomping beat, the crunchy guitars, the shouted “Hey’s” – but I’ll be damned if they’re not all catchy as hell. While his second single was another Top Ten hit in the UK, it did noticeably less business here, barely denting the Top 40. It would also be his final chart hit in the United States. It wasn’t for lack of trying – Glitter toured sporadically Stateside and even did some local television appearances, like this Los Angeles-based dance show where he performed his second single. But first, Gary had to judge a dance contest: (more…)
I have a soft spot in my heart for Ms. Wilde. After all, she was the very first artist to be featured on Lost in the ’80s back in … what was it — more than four years ago? Yikes. I maintain that “Kids in America” is one of the top-five new-wave songs of all time, and while Kim never really reached the heights of her 1981 self-titled debut again (artistically, at least — she did top the charts here in the U.S. in ‘87 with the limp Stock/Aiken/Waterman-lite remake of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”), it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Kim’s second album, Select (1982), was pretty much in the same vein as her debut, with her brother Ricky and father, Marty, handling all of the songwriting and production (both had had brief success as singers in the UK in earlier decades). In the liner notes for the album’s recent rerelease (thank you once again, Cherry Pop Records!), Ricky recalls being inspired enough by Ultravox’s success to move away from the more guitar-oriented sound of Kim’s debut to the colder, programmable-synth soundscapes of Select.
The Ultravox influence was readily apparent on Select’s first single, “Cambodia” (download),a downbeat, atmospheric song about an air force pilot who goes missing during a top-secret mission. Not exactly the stuff number-one singles are made of, but it topped the charts in several European countries, including France and Sweden. And my my, a lot of Kim’s videos tended to feature her rolling around in bed, fully clothed …
My bio for Popdose when it first appeared in January of last year began thusly: “John C. Hughes calls himself such to differentiate himself from the other John Hughes.” A lame joke, but one based in truth. Ever since I was 16 years old, I’ve heard the following from people after they hear my full name for the first time: “You mean, like the director?”
I wish.
The other John Hughes was responsible for a huge formative portion of my life, and that’s no exaggeration. The man introduced me to National Lampoon, he was the cool older brother whose music I’d listen to, he was the guy who made me believe I could escape small-town Ohio and make a living — get this! — doing something creative that I loved. I mean, after all, we even had the same name, so I could do it too, right?
I remember when Sixteen Candles opened. The Avon Lake Theater in Lorain County, Ohio, was included in a nationwide promotion where you got a free Sixteen Candles T-shirt and poster if you came to see the movie on your actual 16th birthday. That was enough for me — the movie opened on May 4, 1984, and I turned 16 on the 16th.
I had no idea one little teen movie could have such an impact. I loved everything about it: the paper-thin plot (Sam’s parents forgot her birthday!), the realistic cadence the characters used when they spoke, and the music. My Lord, the music …
John Hughes and I must’ve been related somehow. We had to have been. Thompson Twins. Paul Young. Spandau Ballet. Wang Chung. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Psychedelic Furs. Yello. Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Seriously — have you read the stuffI write about?
Elastica frontperson Justine Frischmann could certainly be called a central figure in the ’90s Britpop movement. After all, this was the former guitarist from Suede who gave that band its name, as well as dating its singer, Brett Anderson. Then, she split with Anderson and took up with Blur vocalist Damon Albarn in a storm of tabloid fury. But all that paled in comparison to the mark she made when her band, Elastica, became the first Britpop band to really break America.
Buoyed by the instantly catchy single “Connection” (so instantly familiar that Wire sued the group for nicking “Three Girl Rhumba”), Elastica’s self-titled debut stormed the charts on both ends of the Atlantic in 1995. “Connection” was all over MTV, even during the day – Oasis and Blur were still resigned to the 120 Minutes/Alternative Nation ghetto at the time. The single even peaked at #40 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, something other Britpop bands could only dream of in a sea of Candleboxes and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Elastica even went Gold.
Elastica’s second single in the US, “Stutter,” (download) was actually their first ever single overseas. A truly nasty tune (in the best way) about a boyfriend who’s having trouble getting it up for his girlfriend (oh, Brett! Or Damon!), “Stutter” was a punky blast of Blondie mixed with the Pretenders and a dash of Ramones for good measure. (more…)
It was feast and famine in 1986 for former New Romantics turned MOR balladeers Spandau Ballet. While the previous two years saw the group score more chart hits in the UK with their Parade album, plus a triumphant performance at Live Aid, the quintet’s fortunes in the States were less impressive. Their last US hit, “Only When You Leave,” peaked at a paltry #34 and none of the follow-ups even charted. It was another example of a group huge in Europe, but ignored in the States.
The band tried to change their luck by leaving longtime label Chrysalis and moving over to Epic Records (although both were distributed by CBS Records). Spandau also began talk of refining their sound a bit, moving away from the smooth-jazz crooning to a more rock direction — at least as rock as Spandau Ballet could muster. The results of this shift were hardly evident in Through the Barricades‘ first UK single, “Fight for Ourselves,” a limp attempt at a fist-raising anthem hampered by rinky-dink production from Art of Noise co-conspirator Gary Langan. Don’t believe me? See and hear for yourself: (more…)
Nothing frustrates me more than watching shows like VH1’s Top 100 One-Hit Wonders and seeing Michael Ian Black or Frangelinellica (or whatever) struggle to toss off witty bon mots about artists like A Flock of Seagulls (three-hit wonders, thank you!) or Spandau Ballet (another three-fer, gracias) – I mean, sure, conventional wisdom dictates that these bands had one really big hit everyone knows, but facts are facts, people. Just because the majority of Americans don’t remember “Pop Goes The World” doesn’t mean Men Without Hats are one-hit wonders. Ask a hosehead! They’ll tell you. This is serious business. Research! Journalistic standards! If we can’t get something simple like chart history correct, what hope do we have in finding out the truth behind Goldman Sachs?
Okay, maybe not that serious. But, still.
Andrea True is one of those artists always unfairly singled out as a one-hit wonder. But illuminating those forgotten follow-ups is the mission of the Lost in the… series, so I cannot shirk my duty. A former adult film entertainer, in 1976 True found herself in Jamaica filming a television commercial when an attempted coup kept her in the country longer than she anticipated. Being resourceful, she had disco writer/producer and former Jobriath sideman Gregg Diamond fly down to her, where they created the monster smash “More, More, More.” A full-length album of the same name soon followed, along with a second single, “Party Line,” which quickly flopped. (more…)
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Netherlands-based Xymox had been kicking around in goth circles for most of the ’80s as Clan of Xymox, but when they signed to major label Wing in 1989, they shortened their name and expanded their appeal. Their major label debut, Twist of Shadows, was filled with more of the band’s Cure-inspired danceable goth, but this time the hooks were front and center.
My bio for Popdose when it first appeared in January of last year began thusly: “John C. Hughes calls himself such to differentiate himself from the other John Hughes.” A lame joke, but one based in truth. Ever since I was 16 years old, I’ve heard the following from people after they hear my full name for the first time: “You mean, like the director?”
Elastica frontperson Justine Frischmann could certainly be called a central figure in the ’90s Britpop movement. After all, this was the former guitarist from Suede who gave that band its name, as well as dating its singer, Brett Anderson. Then, she split with Anderson and took up with Blur vocalist Damon Albarn in a storm of tabloid fury. But all that paled in comparison to the mark she made when her band, Elastica, became the first Britpop band to really break America.
