MTV in the 80s Song of the Day

[Orbert]

Great song!  I too like the melancholy feel to it, and Hucknall's voice is perfect for that kind of song.  I usually don't like his voice, to be honest, but it works perfectly here.

[King Postwhore]

I never really bought anything from SR but the man possesses so much soul in his voice.  I just saw him on Paladia on cable and they had an 80's concert and he still has got it.  I really went nuts seeing Level 42 on that show.  I loved that band.

[jingle.boy]

Simply Red never did anything for me.  In fact, I don't remember this song, nor can I immediately think of what their radio hits were.  I certainly never had any vinyl of their's.

[Jaq]

Simply Red isn't the first band I think of when I think "80s video bands"-but they're in the top ten 

[KevShmev]

That is probably the only Simply Red song I like, to be honest.

Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Fantastic song, one which I loved the first time I heard it back in 1987, and one I still love. Dusty Springfield's vocal contribution is just beautiful; I sometimes get chills during her verses. I was outspoken a while back in another thread about how much music I really enjoy by this band now, but this one will always remain one of my favorites by them.  Electro-pop can often so sound clinical and emotionless, but their blend of dance beats and sneaky good melodies is almost always well done, and this song is a great example of that.

[KevShmev]

No one? 

[lonestar]

Nope.

[King Postwhore]

Never was a Pet Shop Boys fan.

[jingle.boy]

What they said.  Opportunities and West End Girls is the only Pet Shop Boys songs I liked/remember.

[T-ski]

"It's a Sin" was always my favorite Pet Shop Boys.

[KevShmev]

Okay, in honor of the death of one of their members last week....

Beastie Boys - (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)

I enjoyed this song a lot when it was first out, as the video was great fun, but it didn't age that well for me, and I was never much of a fan of this band.  But for a very short spell in 1986, this was one of my favorite songs.

[Cool Chris]

Listened to this and some other License to Ill songs after hearing about MCA. Wasn’t ever a big Beastie fan, but always did love their videos. Some of their songs hold up well for me now.  No Sleep till Brooklyn is probably my favorite.

[King Postwhore]

I am in the same boat with you kev.  liked it when it forst came out but wasn't a fan except for Sabotage.  I do know that they were very talented but not my cup of tea.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I do this song in both of my bands.  It's always a crowd pleaser.

[jingle.boy]

80s staple tune.  I remember this as one of the first songs to blend rap/rock.  I tolerated this song, but never really liked it.  Very simple song.  Nothing wrong with it at all, but nothing abundantly right with it either.

[KevShmev]

John Mellancamp - Pink Houses

Very nice song, and a cool video.  This song is, IMO, easily one of the best two or three songs he ever did.  I rarely listen to him, but this is definitely one of the few go-to songs of his for me.

[King Postwhore]

A song that transcends eras.  Very catchy and very sing alongable (if theres such a word, oh I'm Blob now making up words! )

[Orbert]

My wife and I were in a diner somewhere catching some lunch, and it had a jukebox.  I always look for obscure stuff to play on jukeboxes, and it had the acoustic version of "Pink Houses" (probably the B side of some other hit from that album, I don't remember).  I picked it, and listened to the lyrics really for the first time.

I'm from the Midwest, just as John is, so all those things he's singing about in that song are so familiar to me that it just sounded like a string of clichés.  Which is what they are, of course, but it wasn't until I moved to the East Coast, then to Chicago, that I really understood the point of the song.  It's all those quaint little things that mean America to him.  Also, the song is much better as just a voice and guitar song, which I'm sure is how all of John's songs start out.

[dbrooks22]

Just want to give a shout out to the Pet Shop Boys song from above.  I love that tune.  I don't check this thread enuff...

[black_biff_stadler]

All I know by PSB is West End Girls but I love it to this day.

[wolfking]

Never really got into Mellencamp.  He had a few good songs I spose.  Paper and Fire and Rain on the Scarecrow were a couple of good ones.  Didn't really like much else than that.

[bosk1]

Never really got into Mellencamp.  He had a few good songs I spose. 

Same here.  I didn't dislike his music, and I wouldn't go out of my way to avoid it or anything.  But listening to his songs kinda felt like the equivalent of ('80s reference coming up) going to the generic aisle of the supermarket and picking up a yellow box that just said "rock music" on it.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Are you sure it wasn't a white box?

"There's a white box in a white store, sittin in a white generic aisle."

[bosk1]

I think it was a regional thing.  Out where we were, most stores had the yellow generic aisle.  But I seem to remember one or two stores having white. 

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Now they've integrated generic (a.k.a. store brand) into the aisles with everything else.  No more "separate but equal" for MY bargain shopping experience, thank you very much!

[bosk1]

Great.  Next thing you know, they'll be trying to legalize generic marriage.  (Which, for the record, I am not opposed to.  I simply don't look forward to having to moderate all the threads where Omega says that anyone who is not opposed is objectively wrong)

[KevShmev]

Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters

The main song from the classic movie, I liked this song back then, but it was never really a favorite.  I am sure many around my age will remember how the "Who you gonna call?" shtick was prevalent to joke around with and whatnot.   The video famously had a cameo by many stars of the time, including Chevy Chase, Melissa Gilbert, George Wendt and many more I cannot remember offhand.

[bosk1]

Yeah.  Decent song.  But fun video that made the song part of '80s pop culture.

[Big Hath]

I like "I Want a New Drug" better.

[bosk1]

I like "I Want a New Drug" better.

  Wait...isn't that the song Kev just posted?

[KevShmev]

Ya know, I never really caught the I Want a New Drug ripoff until I saw the Behind the Music where Huey Lewis talked about it, and then I was like, "Okay, duh."

[Big Hath]

I like "I Want a New Drug" better.

  Wait...isn't that the song Kev just posted?

maybe we shouldn't talk about that.  Wouldn't want to get sued.

[Orbert]

I remember all the fuss about one song ripping off the other, and honestly, there are some similarities, but they're obviously not the same song.  I actually like both of them and never even noticed the similarities until they were pointed out.  80's music is so... "generic" sounding that it just doesn't matter.

Trivia:  You know how in the chorus, when he asks "Who you gonna call?" and the response "Ghostbusters!" sounds like a bunch of young girls or something?  Ray was working under a deadline to get the song finished in time, and the only people he could round up on short notice were his girlfriend and a bunch of her friends, so they're the ones yelling "Ghostbusters!"  Yeah, it's a bunch of girls.

[bosk1]

I remember all the fuss about one song ripping off the other, and honestly, there are some similarities, but they're obviously not the same song.  I actually like both of them and never even noticed the similarities until they were pointed out.  80's music is so... "generic" sounding that it just doesn't matter.

They're incredibly similar, but the reasons why are impossible to tell.  Assuming it wasn't intentional (which I don't think it was), Parker may have been subconsciously influened by I Want A New Drug.  Or whatever less obvious song may have influenced Huey may have been what later influenced Ray.  Who knows?  But things like that often happen in music.

For instance, listen to this very recongizable start-stop guitar riff in the verse of this song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmSg33WMJao (for example, 2:10-2:25)

Now listen to the sample of track 10 here:  https://www.amazon.com/UnEarthed-Vol-2-Y-t/dp/B0006H92BU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337357867&sr=8-1  Given how they cut it, it may be hard to pick out, but listen to the start-stop guitar riff in the verse (the sample starts with the chorus, so you have to wait a bit for the verse to come in). 

Now here's the background on the Y&T track.  They can't remember what inspired that song, other than they had been listening to some bluesy stuff and want to do some blues-based rock.  After they had written the demo for the song and were going to submit it for the track list for their new album, Whitesnake released their album with Slow An' Easy.  Somebody brought it in and basically said, "Hey guys, does this sound familiar?"  So they pulled it and did not release it (the album on Amazon is a collection of demos, rarities and stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor that they just released a few years ago).  On the surface, the two riffs are very similar.  But the two bands hadn't heard each other's stuff when they were (almost simultaneously) writing those two songs.  Interesting to me how that kind of thing can happen.  And if I had to guess, I'm guessing there was perhaps a common song that influenced both of these.  But who knows?

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Another great example - Theory of a Deadman's "Bad Girlfriend" and The Cult's "Fire Woman".  They're the same song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I94o59Ge96Y