The most interesting thing about British pop band Curiosity Killed the Cat is that Andy Warhol appeared and co-directed the video for their biggest hit. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely…
Lost in the ’80s
264 Articles
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
In 1983 (The Best Year For Music Ever!) Heaven 17 must have been inspired by the worldwide smash success of Human League Mark II’s Dare LP. Since splitting with the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
The story of Kent, Ohio’s Human Switchboard would make a great screenplay — a trio of Velvet Underground devotees start a band, get signed, release one critically acclaimed, but low-selling…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
There’s something somewhat satisfying and shadenfreude-y watching Malcolm McLaren, one of the bigger thieves and musical grifters of pop music, get ripped off himself. After all, this is the man…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
It’s the age-old story in pop music Á¢€” when the hits start drying up, it’s time to grab the current “hot” producer and jump on the latest trend, hoping to…
John C. Hughes
2 Min Read
Led by brothers Brian and Kevin O’Neal, the BusBoys burst from suburban Los Angeles in the early ’80s with their uncategorizable blend of Rock, New Wave and old-fashioned rhythm and…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
The recent announcement of a Yazoo (“Yaz” to us in the States) reunion tour set me to thinking … will Alison Moyet be performing any of her solo singles during…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
One of the stranger novelty songs from the ’80s has to be the Bollock Brothers’ “Harley David (Son Of A Bitch)” (download) — I say “stranger” because my friends and…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
A studio creation of constantly rotating blonds, brunettes and redheads, the Flirts were the brainchild of Bobby O., a songwriter/producer with a notorious reputation for “borrowing” other people’s riffs and…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Sprung from the same neo-psychedelic scene as their most obvious influence, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Mighty Lemon Drops traded in the same moody jangle-pop, but emphasizing hooks more and…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
The e-mail went out to all us Popdosers a couple weeks ago: “Who’s interested in participating in Al Jarreau Week?” My initial reaction was that I couldn’t possibly be less…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
It’s strange that Flesh & Blood, the most critically reviled Roxy Music LP (Rolling Stone said it was “such a shockingly bad Roxy Music record that it provokes a certain…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
The Danse Society began in 1981 as goths with more than a touch of new romanticism, but after two albums and a fair to middling single (a cover of the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Stop. Freeze. Don’t you dare close this window. I know the primal urge to flee and survive is a strong one, encoded in your very DNA, but you must resist….
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
With guest musicians like Sting, the Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Nile Rodgers, Carly Simon, Todd Rundgren, and Steve Winwood, Will Powers’ Dancing for Mental Health is probably the most star-studded…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
1982 was a banner year for former Runaway Joan Jett — “I Love Rock & Roll” was number one for a kajillion weeks, “Crimson and Clover” followed it into the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Some giving soul out there has provided something of a Holy Grail for LIT80s fans, including me — they’ve posted three full hours of MTV from 1983 (The Best Year…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Boston’s ‘Til Tuesday first got noticed after winning WBCN’s Rock & Roll Rumble contest in 1983, which led to the band getting signed to Epic Records. Two years later, their…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Every once in a while, I’ll stumble across a CD I’ve had for years that I just didn’t care for, only to give it another shot and discover it’s really…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
If there’s one thing the ’80s had their fair share of, it’s annoying songs that one shouldn’t like, but just can’t help loving. “Method of Modern Love.” “99 Luftballons.” “Rock…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
By 1989, The Cars were history and leader Ric Ocasek embarked as a full-time solo artist, flexing his Roxy Music/Iggy Pop/Suicide influences to the hilt with a more commercial pop…
John C. Hughes
2 Min Read
I love Ringo. Unashamedly. While the other solo Beatles get all the accolades and major hits, I’ve always been partial to the laid back, laconic goofiness and self-deprecating pop of…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
New Wave slammed headfirst into the ’60s girl group aesthetic and out came Get Wet, a duo led by the chirpy vocals of Sherri Beachfront (really?) aided by songwriter Zecca…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Returning to their earlier, experimental synthpop roots must have been too much for the casual Eurythmics fan, since 1987’s Savage remains their lowest-charting album (not counting the soundtrack for 1984)….
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
A person unfamiliar with Kitchens of Distinction might hear them today and mistake the swirling, moody melodies for Interpol, The Editors or a less synth-y She Wants Revenge. All the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
In 1985, a bunch of my best fag hags and I went to see Adam Ant in concert at the Cleveland Music Hall. It was far from a sold-out show,…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Like the vast majority of Americans in 1983, I had no idea Spandau Ballet existed before True, much less were funky New Romantics embracing disco and fashion, having paved the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Is getting married young a mistake? Do we really know what we want when we’re only 17? Those are questions posed in Fun Boy Three’s single, “Tunnel Of Love”. After…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
The ’80s started off pretty rocky for Rockford, Illinois power-pop combo Cheap Trick. After watching their first chart entry of the decade, “Voices”, struggle to #32 on the charts, the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Speaking of Talking Heads… The band reconvened in 1986 to record a sort of soundtrack for David Byrne’s directorial debut, True Stories. I say “sort of”, since the album mostly…