MTV in the 80s Song of the Day

[KevShmev]

I figured I'd be in the minority on this one.

[KevShmev]

Paul McCartney - Spies Like Us

Ah, another song I completely forgot about until seeing it recently on Totally 80s.   It seems like quite the oddball song for McCartney, as the song structure is rather unconventional, but it kind of works; it is oddly catchy.  The video was quite entertaining, too, featuring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd (the stars of the movie of the same name). 

[bosk1]

Well, I just never liked INXS at all, so no point in making the effort to try to remember how that particular song does. 

I have no recollection of Spies Like Us.

[jingle.boy]

I recall it.  It was one of the first things I did with my dad after my parents split up - seeing that movie.  Don't really remember it, but I do recall the song.  Haven't heard it in eons, but it was a funky little tune.

[masterthes]

As far as the INXS tune goes, very groovy song. I like it

Will have to get back to you about Paul's song, although I remember the movie

[KevShmev]

Tony Carey - A Fine, Fine Day

A friend played this song for me the other day and I was like, "OMG, I totally forgot about that song!"  Checking out the video, it sort of looks familiar, but I cannot remember how often MTV played it.  Fairly catchy song, one that I will have to throw on my 80s playlist to see how well it fits in.

[Jaq]

I have no memory of this song. Nor the video. 

[KevShmev]

Haha, I thought that, too, when he mentioned the name of the song, but as soon as it started playing, it all started coming back to me and the chorus was kicking back into my subconscious before the song even got to it.

[jingle.boy]

I have no memory of this song. Nor the video. 

wat he sed

[King Postwhore]

I had to youtube it and I also never heard this song!

[KevShmev]

Alrighythen, on to something a bit more familiar:

Billy Joel - Tell Her About It

Another one of Joel's awesomely fun 80s videos.  I have said before that Billy Joel was the 70s star who did the best job of taking advantage of the video explosion of the 80s without compromising or selling out at all.  He just kept doing his thing, and started making great videos to boot, and Tell Her About It is another great one.  The Ed Sullivan Show angle was great, and the Rodney Dangerfield bit was fantastic as well.  Great song and video! 

[masterthes]

Can't add anything more than that. Completely agreed

[DebraKadabra]

Paul McCartney - Spies Like Us

Cute song, funny vid from what I remember.

Tony Carey - A Fine, Fine Day

Who?

Billy Joel - Tell Her About It

One of his better 80s songs, for sure.

[Jaq]

Billy Joel in the early 80s especially did pull off the neat trick of remaining pretty much the artist he was in the 70s while adapting to the music video, image heavy era of the 80s with ease. There were some that updated themselves for the decade nicely-ZZ Top comes to mind-and some that more or less re-invented themselves (Bruce Springsteen went from the guy who wrote sprawling epics about the American Dream to a guy cranking out jingoistic claptrap, yeah, I don't like Born in the USA much)-but Billy Joel was just Billy Joel, with music videos. A neat trick.

[wolfking]

Never was a fan of Billy Joel.

[KevShmev]

David Bowie - Modern Love

Fun, catchy song, and the video, while enjoyable, was kind of strange to me at first, as I hadn't quite figured out how "out there" David Bowie could get, so his appearance being fairly different from those in Let's Dance and China Girl threw me at first.  And when the Blue Jean video came out a year or two later, there was no doubt anymore as to Bowie's weirdness.

[Jaq]

The height, the sheer height, of David Bowie the pop superstar. I always liked how the chorus, lyrically, was a series of apparent tangents that gradually made their way back around to the start. David Bowie has a reputation for being weird and all about re-inventing himself every ten minutes, but the man's a damn clever songwriter, and rarely gets credit for that.

[DebraKadabra]

Modern Love is AWESOME.  LOVE that song.

[masterthes]

My favorite song off of Let's Dance

[KevShmev]

The height, the sheer height, of David Bowie the pop superstar. I always liked how the chorus, lyrically, was a series of apparent tangents that gradually made their way back around to the start. David Bowie has a reputation for being weird and all about re-inventing himself every ten minutes, but the man's a damn clever songwriter, and rarely gets credit for that.

So true.

[ZirconBlue]

(Bruce Springsteen went from the guy who wrote sprawling epics about the American Dream to a guy cranking out jingoistic claptrap, yeah, I don't like Born in the USA much)

I don't like Springsteen at all, but I think you misunderstood the point of the song.

Lyrically, the song deals with the negative effects of the Vietnam War on Americans, but is often misunderstood to be a patriotic or nationalistic anthem.

[Jaq]

No, I didn't. Compared to what Springsteen used to do-saying the same sort of message with far better songwriting-Born in the USA is jinogistic claptrap. Yes I know what it's about, and how idiots thought it was about something it wasn't, especially Ronald Reagan's campaign managers. But compared to what he was CAPABLE of...claptrap.

[wolfking]

Modern Love is one of my fav Bowie songs.

[T-ski]

When "Modern Love" was released, I knew nothing of David Bowie other than "Let's Dance".  I couldn't believe it was the same guy singing both songs.

Both songs are great.

[KevShmev]

The Power Station - Some Like It Hot

Decent song, but one that never appealed to me.  Every time I hear it, I think of the parody lyric a friend of mine used to do for it: "Some like it hot, so I microwave my cock and balls!"

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Modern Love was a damn good Bowie tune.  VERY catchy.  Also it was a VERY long time before I realized that SRV did the guitar on Let's Dance.

Some Like it Hot = meh.

[Jaq]

This album's sound pretty much was the blueprint for the rest of Robert Palmer's career, and damn near killed Duran Duran stone dead. My enduring memory of the Power Station wasn't this song, or even their cover of  Get It On (Bang A Gong), but, rather, their somewhat hapless appearance at Live Aid. For whatever reason, Robert Palmer wasn't able to make it, so they brought in Michael Des Barres to replace him, and to say it was a mess would be an understatement. (Actually, a LOT of Live Aid was a mess, but people tend to remember the glorious bits like Queen's set.) The way he sang Get It On was particularly hilarious, with his voice oddly warbling on the chorus. "Get itttttttttt onnnnnnnnnnnn, Bannngggggggg a gongggggggggggg"-it sounded like he was sitting in a car driving over a bumpy road and singing at the same time. 

This was around the same time that New Coke came out, and failed miserably. I was out one summer night with the usual gang of misfits I ran around with, and one of them had made some rum and coke with New Coke, and we were really less than impressed with it. The New Coke. The rum we were just fine with. The Power Station came on the radio, and I started ragging on their dreadful performance at Live Aid, and imitated how Des Barres had mangled the chorus of Get It On. One of my friends then came up with the brain wave that given how shitty New Coke was, perhaps the Des Barres led Power Station could do commercial jingles for Coke, and sang a sample. "Coke is itttttttttttttttttttt, it's the shitttttttttttttttttttttt, Coke is ittttttttttttttttttttt!"

Ruined a perfectly good shirt, knowing the time likely pastel colored, spitting out my shitty New Coke and rum at that one. 

[Big Hath]

I will forever associate this song with Rusty's dance club fantasy in European Vacation

[KevShmev]

This album's sound pretty much was the blueprint for the rest of Robert Palmer's career, and damn near killed Duran Duran stone dead. My enduring memory of the Power Station wasn't this song, or even their cover of  Get It On (Bang A Gong), but, rather, their somewhat hapless appearance at Live Aid. For whatever reason, Robert Palmer wasn't able to make it, so they brought in Michael Des Barres to replace him, and to say it was a mess would be an understatement. (Actually, a LOT of Live Aid was a mess, but people tend to remember the glorious bits like Queen's set.) The way he sang Get It On was particularly hilarious, with his voice oddly warbling on the chorus. "Get itttttttttt onnnnnnnnnnnn, Bannngggggggg a gongggggggggggg"-it sounded like he was sitting in a car driving over a bumpy road and singing at the same time. 

This was around the same time that New Coke came out, and failed miserably. I was out one summer night with the usual gang of misfits I ran around with, and one of them had made some rum and coke with New Coke, and we were really less than impressed with it. The New Coke. The rum we were just fine with. The Power Station came on the radio, and I started ragging on their dreadful performance at Live Aid, and imitated how Des Barres had mangled the chorus of Get It On. One of my friends then came up with the brain wave that given how shitty New Coke was, perhaps the Des Barres led Power Station could do commercial jingles for Coke, and sang a sample. "Coke is itttttttttttttttttttt, it's the shitttttttttttttttttttttt, Coke is ittttttttttttttttttttt!"

Ruined a perfectly good shirt, knowing the time likely pastel colored, spitting out my shitty New Coke and rum at that one. 

Stellar, as always!

I will forever associate this song with Rusty's dance club fantasy in European Vacation

I don't remember that, but then again, I never liked European Vacation that much.  As awesome as the original Vacation and Christmas Vacation are, European is very much of a dog.

[DebraKadabra]

The Power Station - Some Like It Hot

Well, I'm apparently the aberration today - I still really dig this one, MUCH more so than Palmer's solo stuff and some of 80s Duran Duran.

[ZirconBlue]

No, I didn't. Compared to what Springsteen used to do-saying the same sort of message with far better songwriting-Born in the USA is jinogistic claptrap. Yes I know what it's about, and how idiots thought it was about something it wasn't, especially Ronald Reagan's campaign managers. But compared to what he was CAPABLE of...claptrap.

Call it "claptrap" all you want.  I don't care for the song (or Springsteen in general), but, it's clearly not jingoistic. 

[Cool Chris]

I liked this song when it was out, though I can't imagine listening to it today.

I do recall it from European Vacation (once someone mentioned it), and isn't it in "It's a Trap" when Lando tells Wedge to shoot the Power Station in the middle of the Death Star?

[King Postwhore]

The Power Station - Some Like It Hot

Decent song, but one that never appealed to me.  Every time I hear it, I think of the parody lyric a friend of mine used to do for it: "Some like it hot, so I microwave my cock and balls!"

I loved that album.  I also have the second CD that they released 10 years after and it's a rocker.  I love it.

[KevShmev]

Debbie Gibson - Shake Your Love

This pretty much sounds like your standard 80s pop hit.  Catchy enough to have been a hit at the time, but while not awful, not much staying power. 

[King Postwhore]

Her looks have passed the test of time.  Her music on the other hand.......