Author Topic: MTV in the 80s Song of the Day (Read 313248 times)

KevShmev · « **Reply #1155 on:** August 20, 2012, 07:40:05 AM »

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car

I've never been a fan of this song, and the gushing it got from everyone back when it was out completely baffled me. I mean, to me, it was a boring ass song that featured an acoustic guitar lead that was a slight tweaking of the guitar from Jack and Diane. My opinion hasn't changed much over the years.

King Postwhore · « **Reply #1156 on:** August 20, 2012, 07:56:03 AM »

I agree with you 100%. I when to a radio station show here in Boston and she was blah live. Not my cup of tea at at.

dbrooks22 · « **Reply #1157 on:** August 20, 2012, 08:27:29 AM »

I'll pile on. Not only unimpressive musically, but depressive as well. This song makes me feel blah. I've always gone out of my way to avoid it.

Jaq · « **Reply #1158 on:** August 20, 2012, 09:57:16 AM »

Every few years the recording industry finds and touts an artist with an acoustic guitar and hypes them as being a life changing, important, meaningful Artist with a capital A. And every time I find them to be as boring as watching the grass grow.

Tracy Chapman is the poster girl for these artists.

Cool Chris · « **Reply #1159 on:** August 20, 2012, 10:17:41 AM »

This song must have sucked hard if Jaq doesn't have a story to go along with it.

Next, please!

Jaq · « **Reply #1160 on:** August 20, 2012, 11:01:54 AM »

Quote from: Cool Chris on August 20, 2012, 10:17:41 AM

This song must have sucked hard if Jaq doesn't have a story to go along with it.

Next, please!

King Postwhore · « **Reply #1161 on:** August 20, 2012, 12:52:49 PM »

I do like someone else in her style of music. Michael Penn.

KevShmev · « **Reply #1162 on:** August 20, 2012, 01:01:58 PM »

Okay, on to something good, then...

INXS - Devil Inside

Despite being pretty bananas over the Kick album at the time, this was a song I liked, but wasn't crazy about it back then. I liked it, but I like all of their other songs and most of the non-hits on the album way more than it. Years later, I like it quite a bit more, but I still prefer the bulk of the Kick album to it. The video was always kind of a blur to me, so maybe that didn't help its cause back in '87 and '88.

Jaq · « **Reply #1163 on:** August 20, 2012, 01:18:44 PM »

My memories of the video are pretty vague-there was a girl riding a motorcycle or something, and wandering through clubs? And someone wearing a red mask of some kind. As for the actual song, other than a fairly nifty riff, I didn't much like it.

And....THERE IS A STORY!

My best friend wound up with two tickets for a local INXS concert on this tour, and, in theory, I was supposed to get the other one. But the night of the show, he doublecrossed me and gave the other ticket to a girl he worked with that he was trying to score with! The bastard!

I showed him about a month later when, after a party she took me home with her instead of him. If only she hadn't moved away two weeks later...

DebraKadabra · « **Reply #1164 on:** August 20, 2012, 02:31:16 PM »

Quote from: KevShmev on August 20, 2012, 07:40:05 AM

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car

I've never been a fan of this song, and the gushing it got from everyone back when it was out completely baffled me. I mean, to me, it was a boring ass song that featured an acoustic guitar lead that was a slight tweaking of the guitar from Jack and Diane. My opinion hasn't changed much over the years.

I agree.

Quote from: KevShmev on August 20, 2012, 01:01:58 PM

Okay, on to something good, then...

INXS - Devil Inside

Despite being pretty bananas over the Kick album at the time, this was a song I liked, but wasn't crazy about it back then. I liked it, but I like all of their other songs and most of the non-hits on the album way more than it. Years later, I like it quite a bit more, but I still prefer the bulk of the Kick album to it. The video was always kind of a blur to me, so maybe that didn't help its cause back in '87 and '88.

While I like some of their songs better than this one, this was a LOT better then some of the poppier stuff coming out at that time IMO.

KevShmev · « **Reply #1165 on:** August 21, 2012, 09:58:22 AM »

Today's 80s Song of the Day is per request by bosk1!

Expose - Seasons Change

This wasn't even on my radar, but bosk1 is right: this is classic 80s. I was never a fan of it, but it was pretty popular, IIRC.

bosk1 · « **Reply #1166 on:** August 21, 2012, 10:06:46 AM »

Honestly, I completely forgot this song existed until, for some reason, my memory was randomly jogged by an A Change Of Seasons thread, and visions of that bright yellow and hot pink cassette cover art came flooding back into my head.

Interestingly, I don't really remember the video. Not sure if I even saw it. But it was a really catchy song, and a friend of mine liked them, so I ended up buying the album and reallly liking it.

EDIT: Whoa. Um...don't try doing a google image search for the album cover art if you are at work.

dbrooks22 · « **Reply #1167 on:** August 21, 2012, 10:24:00 AM »

I'll pile on again: This is a great song!

Liked it then, classic 80s now.

Jaq · « **Reply #1168 on:** August 21, 2012, 10:50:31 AM »

Time has not been kind to this song. Every sound in it screams YOU ARE IN THE EIGHTIES and not in the way where a song manages to capture the decade for the better. To be fair, back in the 80s I was a sucker for a lot of the production values of the time, but these days I run for the hills when something this, I dunno, plastic comes on.

bosk1 · « **Reply #1169 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:06:29 AM »

What's wrong with plastic?

Sir GuitarCozmo · « **Reply #1170 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:12:13 AM »

Plastic worked for Pamela Anderson. I DON'T HEAR YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT THE 80'S NOW!!

bosk1 · « **Reply #1171 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:27:31 AM »

YES, BUT--!...well, okay, yeah.

Cool Chris · « **Reply #1172 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:44:08 AM »

Barely can recall this song, never liked it when it came out.

What am I missing about the cover art? Or does something completely random and unrelated (and inappropriate) come up on a google search?

Also, was a big fan of Devil Inside and the video. It was fun with being too… ‘poppy.’ I remember the video being really dark too, unlike lots of other songs/videos I liked at the time, which was cool. Kick was such a great album. Damn, just looked at their wiki page… they had a lot of albums. I couldn’t have named any of them aside from Kick and X.

DebraKadabra · « **Reply #1173 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:47:26 AM »

Was never a fan of Expose, or the song in question.

KevShmev · « **Reply #1174 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:05:54 PM »

Okay, this selection was also by request, courtesy of dbrooks22.

*awaits the flurry of fellow 80s fans jamming my Inbox with PMs with requests on which song to feature next*

T'Pau - Heart and Soul

Another song I kind of forgot about and wasn't on my radar at all, but a good pick for this thread. Not a bad song at all, even if I am not really a fan. It's pretty damn catchy, though.

Orbert · « **Reply #1175 on:** August 22, 2012, 07:25:48 AM »

I remember the one girl was kinda cute, and the band was named for a character from Star Trek, so that's either kinda cool or kinda cheesy. The song was catchy.

dbrooks22 · « **Reply #1176 on:** August 22, 2012, 07:34:10 AM »

This is one of my 80s favorites.

The chorus is just OK, but the verses are something special - dynamic and powerful. The way they layer both vocal tracks on top of each other - it works perfectly. And the layered synths also really tug at you. Everything comes together beautifully.

I really love this track.

Sir GuitarCozmo · « **Reply #1177 on:** August 22, 2012, 07:34:53 AM »

"This chick's name is..... T'Pau"

Link

That said, I agree, cool song, definitely catchy.

Jaq · « **Reply #1178 on:** August 22, 2012, 08:22:51 AM »

Thanks to that episode of Beavis and Butthead, I'll always associate that video with "$1.95 a minute. operators are standing by."

T-ski · « **Reply #1179 on:** August 22, 2012, 09:25:23 AM »

Quote from: Sir GuitarCozmo on August 22, 2012, 07:34:53 AM

"This chick's name is..... T'Pau"

Link

yep, first thing that came to my mind as well.

bosk1 · « **Reply #1180 on:** August 22, 2012, 09:56:32 AM »

Somehow, I never saw that episode.

DebraKadabra · « **Reply #1181 on:** August 22, 2012, 12:08:21 PM »

Quote from: Sir GuitarCozmo on August 22, 2012, 07:34:53 AM

"This chick's name is..... T'Pau"

Link

Good call, dude.

That said - never liked the song.

KevShmev · « **Reply #1182 on:** August 23, 2012, 01:55:11 PM »

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

A very cool 80s tune. Love the bass riff, and the cool things going on with the keys throughout the song are pretty neat. And the vocal hook is as catchy as all get-out. Easily one of the best pop songs of 1985.

DebraKadabra · « **Reply #1183 on:** August 23, 2012, 03:39:01 PM »

I should have delved more into Mr. Mister - saw them live in Houston and they were really good.

Orbert · « **Reply #1184 on:** August 23, 2012, 03:59:06 PM »

I just considered them another 80's pop act. Sure, they had some good songs, but so did a lot of bands; I didn't think they were anything special.

When Pat Mastelotto joined King Crimson, I saw that he was the drummer for Mr. Mister. I have the utmost faith in Robert Fripp's judge of both character and musicianship, so his appointment of Pat Mastelotto to the court indicated to me that I should probably check out more Mr. Mister.

But I never did.

King Postwhore · « **Reply #1185 on:** August 23, 2012, 04:23:18 PM »

Quote from: KevShmev on August 23, 2012, 01:55:11 PM

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

A very cool 80s tune. Love the bass riff, and the cool things going on with the keys throughout the song are pretty neat. And the vocal hook is as catchy as all get-out. Easily one of the best pop songs of 1985.

Huge fanboy of Mr. Mister. Welcome To The Real world is a killer album and the album tracks are better than the 3 huge hits.

dbrooks22 · « **Reply #1186 on:** August 23, 2012, 04:50:05 PM »

Quality band. That's what happens when you take accomplished studio musicians and let them loose on their own stuff. These guys were great, and this track is awesome.

For the Rush fanboys in here, wondering if you ever noticed how similar the guitar work is to parts of Mystic Rhythms?

WebRaider · « **Reply #1187 on:** August 23, 2012, 05:02:36 PM »

Quote from: KevShmev on August 23, 2012, 01:55:11 PM

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

A very cool 80s tune. Love the bass riff, and the cool things going on with the keys throughout the song are pretty neat. And the vocal hook is as catchy as all get-out. Easily one of the best pop songs of 1985.

Cool song and band as well.

KevShmev · « **Reply #1188 on:** August 24, 2012, 09:35:53 AM »

Billy Joel - The Longest Time

Not a favorite of his, but I still like the song, and the video looked like they probably had some fun making it.

And to go off on a slight tangent here, Joel is probably the 70s star who made the most out of MTV in the 80s while not changing his style or sound much at all. He always made fun, enjoyable videos once MTV became the big thing. Many 70s stars either struggled or had to change their sound or style (see: Genesis, Yes, etc.) to remain relevant in the 80s, but Joel kept writing his usual good songs and added really cool videos to the mix.

bosk1 · « **Reply #1189 on:** August 24, 2012, 09:51:10 AM »

Yeah, all of that is pretty spot on, actually.

News: Welcome back, Mike Portnoy!

Author Topic: MTV in the 80s Song of the Day (Read 313248 times)