An Ear For An Era: 1980

Hey it's the decade that made me! And lots of people. And lots of odd choices.

1980 specifically though, had some hardcore punk rock, some innovative uses of different genres by punk rock outsiders (including much ska from the UK), more super fun party rap, and some cheesy stuff by lots of people.

So let's go in that order.

The Cramps' first actual album Songs The Lord Taught Us is such a great introduction to not giving a damn. Sloppy, ugly, and yet fun and original and pure energy. Zombie Dance, I'm Cramped, Sunglasses After Dark, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, it's all just like lightning. Lightning that zapped a corpse, reanimating it. And continued to zap it, making it dance. Zapping at its feet. You know?

Dead Kennedys on the other hand did give a damn. They gave a lot of a damn. Their actual debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is one of the most fiercely political, satirical, pissed off albums I own. In high school a guy that was oh so punk rock had a Dead Kennedys jacket he wore all the time and that was around the time I got into punk rock. This was an intimidating introduction to the real stuff. Singing about killing children? Ok that one is obviously satirical, playing on parents' fears of these punk rock fiends, but lynching the landlord and chemical warfare? There is some real anger in here and a lot of information about where said anger comes from.

Dead Kennedys "When Ya Get Drafted"

Other great punk bands had songs that I only have one song from. One of my favorites is Stiff Little Fingers' "Tin Solders," a song later covered by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This era is going to prove to be hugely influential on mid 90s punk, of course. I also got excited to get my first song by The Ex, a super amazing Dutch punk band that has been evolving since then and still blows my mind with every passing release. They were pretty standard punk rock back in 1980, but were already showing their restlessness with the limitations that they would soon destroy.

The Ex "The Sky Is Blue Again"

Now time to kind of detour into post punk. Joy Division was really starting to get interesting and then Ian Curtis died. This is going to be a theme here. Great bands that showed endless promise get cut short by a tragedy. The only album of theirs I have (other than the singles collection) is Closer. The world may associate the band with the oft-covered "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (not of this album but of this year) but something about the driving beat of this song really gets me going, the emptiness created by the echo, it's everything the good side of the 80s comes from. Rest in peace Mr. Curtis.

Joy Division "Twenty Four Hours"

Am I going to post a video for everything? Not sure yet. Either that or I just mention my favorite or most noteworthy track off each album I talk about here.

How about The Clash?? Sandinista! is quite the undertaking. It just keeps going! And it goes dub on several occasions! Part of me agrees with some of the critics of that time saying it would have made for a great single-disc album. But no, they had to go triple! Of course my favorite tracks are the more classically Clash sounding ones (the ska punk of London Calling, the few straightforward punk rock tracks). I applaud their ambition, and the ambition of anyone who sits down and listens to this whole thing front to back. Check out "Washington Bullets" for a great political song in the vein of London Calling or "Police on My Back" for the most early Clash sounding song. Oh whatever, I'm going to post that one. It was quite invigorating when it came up because I'd gotten exhausted (it's right at the halfway point in the experience) and it's a shot of energy and catchiness and not dub.

The Clash "Police On My Back"

Not quite as ambitious but still ambitious was Elvis Costello & The Attractions' Get Happy!! 20 tracks that were all jammed to fit on one single record! Lots of songs under 2 minutes but he didn't go in the direction of punk rock (that would have been quite interesting). It was more influenced by the 60s and soul and the simplicity of Buddy Holly and yet lots of diversity. "Motel Matches" is the most ballady song and probably my favorite. "New Amsterdam" introduces one of my favorite styles of Elvis Costello song (a certain type of folky one he would revisit on King of America). "Human Touch" is ska.

Speaking of Elvis Costello and ska, did you know he produced the The Specials' self-titled debut? Did you know I had it labeled as 1980 but it seemed to have come out in 1980? Damnit!  This is the big one  when it comes to the two tone era. It epitomizes the unity and the black and white checkers and has tons of classic tracks. But I missed my chance to talk about it (that's how this works, right?). I only have one song from the 1980 follow-up More Specials, but I like it a lot. It's a cover of an old song but I always want to play it at parties.

The Specials "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)"

What other ska was there, you ask? Well, one of my favorite ska records is The English Beat's I Just Can't Stop It. It's very 80s. It's a mix of different styles of ska and covers lots of other influences like rock & roll and soul. It's almost as much a new wave record as it is a ska record. Covers of songs like "Tears of a Clown" and "Can't Get Used to Losing You" bring in the soul in a way that makes it so intimate and then "Ranking Full Stop" is a full on party song.

I saw The English Beat live in concert once as an 80s throwback lineup with A Flock of Seagulls and Devo. This is about Devo, not A Flock of Seagulls. I think I overlook Freedom of Choice because of the overplayed curse that is "Whip It." Aside from that song it's a really great album, one of their best even. And anything for a chance to post another Devo music video!

Devo "Freedom of Choice"

Now let's change to hip hop a bit. Just for a quick paragraph. After this blog series' introduction to the genre last time with "Rapper's Delight" we already have a bit of an explosion. I've long had Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" as a representative old hip hop song in my collection. It used to bore me because of how long and repetitive it was. But in context with this other stuff it's more enjoyable. Afrika Bambaataa Nation funk it up very awesomely on "Zulu Nation Throwdown," and I'll probably have more on Afrika Bambaataa soon. But surprisingly (?) my favorite 1980 hip hop came from a collection called The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983. They were apparently partying pretty hard in Connecticut and making their own hip hop innovations. Rappermatical 5 had a great jam called "Party People," The Outlaw Four had a pretty silly song called "Million Dollar Legs," and someone named Mr. Magic had this super awesome party time song. Listening to it I can kind of picture the role of the MC...he's not the star here, he's letting the DJ do his thing for this mostly instrumental track, and peppering it with some rhymes.

Mr. Magic "Potential 1980"

Now to the kinda cheesy part of things. Not that hip hop wasn't cheesy. But for a while there I was listening to all this stuff wondering if 1980 was the cheesiest year for music. One Queen album wasn't particularly cheesy but I don't know where else to put it. The Game is one of their better albums with classics like "Another One Bites The Dust," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," and the title track. But they also had another album from 1980: The Flash Gordon soundtrack! It includes lots of little snippets of dialog from the movie and it seems to be such a splendidly campy affair. And the electric guitar playing the wedding march is just so inspired and cheesy I hope someone I know someday walks down the aisle to that song. At least a grocery aisle. I hope they play that song at the grocery store.

But for real, 1980 was full of cheesy cheese by people like Diana Ross ("I'm Coming Out"), Leon Huff (Here to Create Music is a super 80s sounding soul album...it's pretty good but pretty cheesy too), Hall & Oates (enough said), Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (I really miss late 60s Roberta Flack), and surprisingly enough John Lennon. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm just comparing 1980 John Lennon to early 70s John Lennon. Or even the Beatle. My opinion may be skewed because this is the last I have before he died, but this cheesiness comes more from him being happy with his life, at peace, or that's what I like to imagine. He was killed way before his time was up, but the songs I have of his from 1980 all kind of show him at peace. A love song for his kid, for crying out loud. But he really spells it out in this song and I think it's the perfect last word from him (except some posthumous stuff came out in 1984 and then those "new" Beatles songs in the 90s).

"I just had to let it go..."

John Lennon "Watching The Wheels"

Etc stuff:

• Bowie was still being awesome. Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) is a good harder rockin' side of the chameleon.
• Emmylou Harris' Roses in the Snow shows that she was still in her prime, and includes a nice cover of Simon & Garfunkel and a song with Johnny Cash.
• Judas Priest made their way into the rotation with "Breaking The Law." I don't have to tell you how awesome it was when that came up.
• I may have been sorely missing Black Sabbath as I went through the 70s but this is the 80s so now we've got solo Ozzy and the jam "Crazy Train." That's almost as good, right?
• What I like about The Romantics' "What I Like About You" is how well it captures the 60s in the 80s. I used to think it was an old Kinks song!
• Even Rush was getting into the ska thing as there was a brief ska section in "The Spirit of Radio." Talk about undercover s.k.a.!
• Only one Tom Waits song off Heartattack And Vine. But "Jersey Girl" is a very lovely song.
• Apparently a highly influential year on Skankin' Pickle as well. Their final album (not out until the 90s, don't worry) was half cover songs and many of them were from this year: Bad Manners' "Special Brew," Devo's "Gates of Steel," Oingo Boingo's "Violent Love." Those would all have been good choices of songs to play.
• I forgot to put Talking Heads in here! Remain In Light is the album with their signature song (as far as I'm concerned) "Once in a Lifetime." 

On The Next Installment Time Following This...

Reagan means rock & roll got better...thanks Reagan! For what it's worth! Angry music rules 1981 (AC/DC, The Birthday Party, Black Flag, The Cramps, Minor Threat, ), and more hip hop (Afrika Bambaataa continues, "Cuzz Band" and others from that Connecticut compilation keep it going in CT), New Wave is obviously just getting warmed up (Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, The Human League), Elvis Costello goes country, and cool indie outsider Daniel Johnston gets started.

But before I get to that it'll be a while. I just procured the complete (Freddy Mercury era) Queen discography and I have some backlog to listen through (i.e. pretty much everything they recorded in the 70s). So you might not hear from me in a while. Cheers! And thanks Andrew!

An Ear For An Era: 1979

That is going to do it for the 70s. That wasn't so bad, now was it?

Punk went postal, funk got poppier, pop got funkier, and I'm pretty sure a dance party with all 1979 music would be amazing.

Oh yeah, and something else has emerged. Something...else.

But we'll get to that in a minute. Let's talk about punk rock. I didn't realize how quickly things escalated here. I was aware that post punk was pretty much on the heels of the pop punk established by Ramones, but I didn't realize that hardcore punk was also champing at the bit at the same time. But here it was, the Dead Kennedys' early recordings. West Coast punk rock is here to burn everything up. To make The Ramones and Buzzcocks sound quaint. "California Uber Alles" was a single in 1979 and I also have some early live performances from the Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death compilation.  Here, a template is established that defines much of my high school music attention span and countless punk rock bands of the next 30 or so years.

The Dead Kennedys "Short Songs" (live)

The Cramps were also getting dirty and doing the horror-surf-punk thing so much better than The Misfits in my opinion. They epitomized this era of punk to me, just not caring about sounding polished, just banging their instruments together to create such energy...their cover of kindred spirits The Trashmen really stood out for me from their 1979 debut EP Gravest Hits.

The Cramps "Surfin' Bird"

So that was one side of punk rock that is really going to expand greatly as we get into the 80s. The other side was pushed forward by The Clash. Expansion, incorporation of ska, and oh yeah, the Most Important Album Of All Time. Right? London Calling was their masterpiece and I don't even know what to say here. I'm gonna blow it. It's all 3-5 star songs (I think the highest average rating for any album in my collection despite sprawling over 19 tracks). The ska part of this managed to make it more revolutionary than anything else, incorporating the Jamaican history of music and revolution into the revolutionary nature of punk in the late 70s, it just changed everything. This is what would be imitated for decades, get popular in the 90s in time for me to discover the ska punk genre at the peak time in my life (high school, feeling like an outcast) to show me what it means to rebel, to have something that drives that state of mind. When I finally discovered this album in particular it was a revelation. Everything else became irrelevant. Music follows an evolutionary path but this is such a high point that nothing has managed to effectively evolve from it (but I am looking forward to dissecting its kin on this very blog regardless). The energy, the words, the world it opened up, I know I've used this word a lot in this paragraph but it's what it is in the truest sense of the word (musically at least): Revolution.

The Clash "Revolution Rock"

Another band that did something very similar to The Clash but in its own unique was was Gang of Four. Their debut album Entertainment! establishes some other rhythmic identities that would be similarly imitated decades later. The main difference is the sparse arrangements. The funky rhythms though! There's actual skill and musicianship on the part of the drummer and bassist that was not particularly valued in punk rock at the time and it's pretty refreshing to have the energy, highly politicized lyrics and revolutionary spirit presented in such a groove.

Post-punk-but-soon-to-be-new-wave band The Cure made their debut with Boys Don't Cry in 1979 as well. It fits well with Gang of Four in that it's highly rhythmic (but much poppier) and has spare arrangements, particularly when contrasted with what the band would become in the 80s. Of course the title track was/is a giant hit among new wave fans, but the rest is pure post punk deconstruction.

David Bowie was back in 1979 to finish his "Berlin Trilogy" with Brian Eno with The Lodger. This album was very dark and very appropriate to listen to around Halloween time. I keep waiting for when Bowie becomes "difficult" but I'm not sure it's going to happen. Here he's dark but it's still easy to listen to.

David Bowie "Repetition"

Another artist with a fruitful relationship with Brian Eno was of course Talking Heads. Fear Of Music was their 1979 release. I have this one on vinyl and it's got a super cool texture on the sleeve. I missed out on More Songs About Buildings And Food (for which I apologize, I'm not sure how I neglected to pick it up every time I've been to record stores) so this is a giant leap from their debut. It's no longer just white people funk, it's got lots of different textures and rhythms and experiments. It retains the high level of energy and rhythm and benefits a lot from Eno's influence.

One more quick new wave hit! This is one that dominated my personal charts in the early aughts, mostly because they played it at all the cool dance clubs as a throwback smash. And I have memories of crazy nights centered on this particular jam.

B-52s "Rock Lobster"

I'm pretty sure that's the extent of the B-52s that will EVER appear on this blog. So I hope you enjoyed it.

Hey you know how I talked about The Clash and ska and such? I finally have some official Two Tone era ska! Just a couple songs from Madness. "My Girl" is a favorite mostly because Mike Park has a cover of it that I quite enjoy. I sang it in karaoke once on my birthday. And then this one, it's honest-to-goodness ska!

Madness "(They Call It) Madness"

Lots more ska coming your way soon!

Now let's talk about Elvis Costello & The Attractions, shall we? I'm pretty sure I'll have something to say about him in most years as we get through the 80s, into the 90s, etc. Armed Forces was his best album at the time of release. I know lots of fans consider it his best overall, but I have some others I prefer later down the line. But it establishes The Attractions as more than just a rockin' band to back up Elvis' great lyrics and singing. They are a force here, incorporating more intimately with Mr. Costello as a functional unit. And his writing hits a high point, showing a fearlessness, his vocals have that sneer that I always associate with him. Listen to this song, the "she'll be the one" part toward the end is one of my favorite sections of any Elvis Costello song, an early climax on the album, putting it on a high that carries through the album before exploding onto the closing track "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love & Understanding." You know that song is amazing but here's the song I tried to tell you to listen to in the last sentence but got off track. Here:

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Big Boys"

Okay now's a good time as any to transition over to pop music. Now I'm not sure how it happened but I started warming up more and more to disco as this went on. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I minimized how much is in my collection so I can't get sick of it. But some of these artists really stepped it up artistically as the decade wore on, and I also like this track because Feist did a cover of it and I really love her version. But here's the original:

Bee Gees "Love You Inside Out"

Okay now that's out of the way. Let's move on to the king of pop, who really asserted himself in 1979 with Off The Wall. Considered by many critics and snobs to be Michael Jackson's best album, I think I have to agree. Incorporating elements of disco and funk, along with some ballads, into a new signature sound that can be described simply as pop, this album is pure fire, front to back. The pop of the 80s, the one existing outside the world of new wave, is in full force from the opening track "Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough." Of course that is the most well known song on that album and for a good reason. But there is absolutely no filler in this fire, it's a hot burning flame that is completely solid. My metaphors are starting to get confused. But Quincy & Michael struck gold...flaming gold...with this one. Of course all these fire metaphors mean I have to share this song.

Michael Jackson "Burn This Disco Out"

Of course where there's a king, there is also a Prince! The other king of pop in the same exact era! His  self-titled album was apparently his second one so it ain't no debut. But it's our debut here so that counts for something. Lots of similar sounds to Off The Wall but more diverse. I do like when he whips out the guitar for some rock & roll incorporated soul-funk-pop like on the song "Bambi." But I also think his best is yet to come at this point. Did you know that when you wikipedia "Prince" it returns some stupid entry about royalty? I say we petition wikipedia to make him the default entry for the word prince!

According to wikipedia, Prince opened for Rick James on tour around this time. Rick James was super awesome in 1979 pushing the funk train forward with songs like this.

Rick James "High On Your Love Suite: One Mo Hit (Of Your Love)"

You know what genre Rick James really influenced and continues to influence to this day? It was funny, it actually came up early in the shuffle but I had to end this entry on it. That's right, The Sugarhill Gang had a certain song that exploded in popularity and taught the masses about a brand new genre of music. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I didn't realize how dirty this song was considering how relatively clean hip hop seemed to be in its early days. But yeah. Game changer. That means the framework for everything I have coming up for the rest of this journey has now been established. It's all just a matter of evolution from here.

The Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight"

Other blah blah worth something

• Sun Ra's Strange Celestial Road was interesting, a good moody driving record.
• I wasn't sure where to put Pink Floyd's The Wall so it's delegated to here. Sorry. I know it's epic and deserves many paragraphs.
• Delta 5's "Mind Your Own Business" was yet another post punk funky gem.
• Just a couple years after changing the world, the only Ramones track I have from 1979 is "Rock 'N' Roll High School," a nice novelty song to go with the novelty movie they were in.
• I didn't realize I was missing a crucial Devo album from my digital collection! "Secret Agent Man" is the only evidence I have that Duty Now For The Future exists. Big omission there.
• In high school I picked up the album I Am by Earth Wind & Fire because we played a couple of their songs in marching band (my marching band was better than your marching band). We played "In The Stone" from this album and it was super fun. The album itself reminds me of Off The Wall but without the benefit of Michael Jackson. "Boogie Wonderland" would go well on that theoretical 1979 dance party though.
• Joy Division was quickly evolving from raw punk rock to smoothed out post punk dance suites like "Transmission."

Next Time...

Like, totally, you know? Whatever! The 80s means new wave and hardcore punk and early hip hop and stuff. 1980 specifically means Afrika Bambaataa & Kurtis Blow, Bad Manners, English Beat, and The Specials, Exclamation marked albums like Sandinista! and Get Happy!!, more Cramps, more Dead Kennedys, Devo, Talking Heads, Joy Division, and the end of John Lennon. And more!!