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Ok, so TECHNICALLY i AM a child of the 80's. I WAS born in 1988 afterall. However as some of my music tastes indicate that i should have in fact been born in the 1970's so i had more time to savour the brilliance of the 80's. My birth year i believe also forgives me for liking this kind of music today.
80's music defined the generation as one full of crimpers, bright colours, high waist pants and lots of electric guitar. Purely classic, and i love it! So, let's relive some of my favourites...

1) Adam Ant

If you've never heard of this bloke, you should have! One of Adam and the Ants most noteable songs is Antmusic Lyrics as follows.. "ugplug the jukebox and do us all a favour.....ant music whoaa ooh ohh ohh" It's awesome, i promise you!

2) Point boobs, lots of bleach, high shoulder pads and even more so highly outspoken? Why of course i'm talking about none other than Madonna!

The original Material girl! A true diva who reinvented women all around the world. With songs such as "Like A Prayer" "Like a Virgin" and "Erotica", Madonna put the sex back into sexy. Love her!!
3) One of the few aussie bands to crack it big time, led by Michael Hutchence INXS were purely AWESOME!!


"Never Tear Us Apart" "New Sensation" and "What you Need" = 3 of my favourites by them. Their catchy riffs and melodies are purely addictive. YAY FOR THEM!!


I could list hundreds upon hundreds of other groups, such as Blondie, Soft Cell and The Swingers. However there still remains the award for best artist and best song of the 80's. So, without further adue, i believe the BEST group of the 80's (and 90's) and probably to date are....

***U2***

These guys are amazing! Souful, beautiful, deep, and catchy. Their music has spoken to millions of people, from all generations. Their passion for life and equality is so poignantly understood in many of their lyrics.

Personally, my favourite songs are "With or Without You" "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "One". I love them, a band who have truly stood the test of time.

And the number one song? Ok, there's tonnes of songs that are deep and soulful, but if anyone knows anything about me they could tell you i like to have some fun, get and up and groove and dance about like an idiot. Therefore my number one song of the 80's is none of than...





Wham!'s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go! I'll leave the rest to you!

Adios all!

Here’s installment #2 of my logs of live shows I saw in the 1980s. As before, I’m omitting the local bands no one knows anymore. Hope you enjoy the flashback. If you missed 1981, it's still there.

The Elvis Brothers (17 times). As I wrote in the 1981 entry, these guys were fun friends of mine who played around town (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois) all the time.

The Fleshtones. I hardly remember this show. Their singer was very animated and I dind’t really like them that much, though I think I saw them again a few years later anyhow.

U2. A truly amazing show in an auditorium with about 1200 people. Bono marched around with a white flag and I was inspired. This was their October tour. I feel very lucky to have seen them so early.

The Suburbs. Minneapolis band who were big in Madison (as a lot of Minneapolis bands were) where I ended up going to college 1982-1986. Didn’t like them much either, though they had that song “I like cows, they have skinny feet” which I used as the basis for a French class essay about an animal we liked which, in some weird way, led to people starting to give me cows so that I now have an excellent collection of weird cow objects, none of which have skinny feet.

Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack (twice). I totally loved Nick Lowe, still do. This show was during a summer spent in Paris. I don’t remember it much, but it was a thrill to see him.

Graham Parker. Also in Paris. No memory of this show at all. Kids, keep better records than I did because if I didn’t have it written down I wouldn’t even know I’d ever seen him. You think you’ll never forget but you do.

Dolly Mixture. This was a fun show I saw in London, my first trip there which was quite the thrill in itself. This was the first time I got to drink that 7-UP/beer combo thing they do in England (what’s it called?). The show was great fun.

Tom Tom Club and the talking heads. This was also in Paris, a general admission show in a big place. The funny thing was that everyone up front was American. The show was AMAZING. I had no idea David Byrne was such a charismatic performer.

Phil Collin’s Beat. A band I liked until I saw them.

Spooner. By now I was living in Madison. These guys were the adored local band for a lot of my time there. They were never my favorites. Probably the most interesting thing about them now for the non-locals is that their drummer was Butch Vig, of production superstardom and of Garbage fame. I thought he was really cute and that was one of my favorite things about Spooner shows, aside from the fact that all my friends were there.

The Violent Femmes. These guys were from Milwaukee and played Madison a lot. They were always incredibly fun to see and they were absolutely huge in Madison. I remember when their first record came out you could walk down the street and hear it coming out of just about every building.

Joe Jackson. This was a good show. I think he had a big band with him.

Billy Idol. Generation X was one of the bands that helped me make it through high school without getting too suicidal, so it was a real thrill to see Billy Idol. He was, as you’d probably expect, kind of a parody of himself, but it was still something special to get to see him.

Iggy Pop. This was the second time I saw him and it was better than the first. He was really pumped up, swinging from ropes, climbing amplifier stacks, and generally being everything Iggy Pop is supposed to be. And he showed us his penis, which may be very rock and roll but which still isn’t really what I look for in a rock star. Oh well.

Adam Ant. I roadtripped to Chicago to see this show. Another one I wish I could say I remembered better than I do.

Peter Gabriel. I went to this one because, you know, everyone thinks he’s great. He’s one of those artists whom I respect a lot but who just never did a thing for me. I hated Genesis and all the bands of that ilk who my friends liked to listen to in high school while they got stoned and played Dungeons and Dragons. The musicianship was outstanding, but the main memory I took from the show was that you could see his panty lines beneath his spandex pants. Sorry all you fans.

Way Of The West. Don’t remember this one at all!

The Stray Cats. Now there was a fun band. Not only were they cute, they sounded great. Very high energy and pure fun fun fun.

ABC. I adored this band at the time, though I confess they don’t sound as good to me now as they did then. I roadtripped to Chicago for this one too and it was well worth it.

Stay tuned for 1983 in which I discover the American underground southern pop scene and things start getting really exciting for me…

Please share your memories of any of these bands or of your 1982 in comments.

i could go to sleep right now but nah,why?

work was wack-a-doo today with what seemed like the whole world pms-ing through clenched teeth all at once...male, female, dog, cat, everybody say "pphhhhhttt meowrrrrrrr!!!"

the subway car i took tonite smelled like SATAN!!! although, satan probably smells really good since he's supposed to be so seductive. so, more like incontinent satan. too crowded to move after picking the territorial pissin' spot. good part is: got the first car and hit the crazy bumps, completely conducive to subway surf heaven. Tonight's selection...The Arcade Fire all the way home.

went to this silly tourist theme restaurant in times square which, while it does not have optimal mexican food whatsoever, it does have passable, high quality t.v. dinner type mexican food. and, it's next to the sanrio store. which, when visiting the sanrio store with carrotshy on a previous-not-this-visit, we happened to notice...there were no children there.

mostly happy-hour tinged adults considering hawaiian kitty tchotch and me, considering the kitty-esque popcorn maker. you know, the kind that has the bowl attached to the base and melts butter in the top as the metal thingy spins around distributing the corn. speaking of which...

does anyone remember pom poms on the rollerskates? i practiced for superstardom in the garage hour upon hour to all kinds of gems, whether it was hours of mixtapes made on the boombox off radio stations with just one speaker or by hauling the portable record player out to the workbench. i'd fry my hair with hot rollers and get out the satin jacket and freak out while the cats eyed the pom poms greedily.

makes me wanna skate:

Urgent
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
School's Out For Summer
Ghost In The Machine
Pyromania
1999
Tom Tom Club
Sexy and Seventeen
Drop The Pilot
Molly Hatchet
Save It For Later
Flock Of Seagulls
ABC
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Devo
Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves
Leather & Lace
Beauty and the Beat
Missing Persons
Trio
Sugar Hill Gang
Grandmaster Flash
Fab Five Freddy
Queen
Creedence Clearwater Revival
The B-52's
Atomic Dog
Reach the Beach
True
Love & Pride
October
Adam Ant
Bow Wow Wow
BUFFALO GALS

all better...time to zzzzzone.

xo, bb

either never had a chance or they just don't tour 'round these parts... or they're defunct via a death or a breakup.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. i only recently fell in love with nick cave (within the last couple of years), and thus haven't had a chance to see him live. ironically, Blixa Bargeld is no longer with the bad seeds, and since i discovered nick's band through my love of Einstürzende Neubauten, it's a little disappointing to think i'd be seeing nick without blixa.

The Birthday Party. of course, being a new cave fanatic, i'm also quite in love with his former band. i seriously doubt they'd ever do a birthday party reunion show/tour.

Shadow Project. twice i had opportunities to see shadow project live. for one show, i was underage and couldn't get into the club, and for the other i had a ride to the show that flaked out on me. since Rozz Williams is no longer among the living, there goes any hope of that!

The Germs. darby crash, from all of the video footage i've seen, was an incredibly intense performer... also, the germs are one of my favorite punk bands ever.

Project Pitchfork. they've only ever come to the united states once on tour... and i had no idea who they were in 1998. hopefully this year they'll return :)

Apoptygma Berzerk. because i keep missing their show and it sounds like fun. i'm not a fan of the new album, but i could live with seeing their old material played.

And One. dear god, i love this band! another case of a european artist that doesn't much make it over to the united states.

Welle:Erdball. silly and fun. they seem to play most of the summer festivals in germany, but i don't think they've ever come overseas.

Vive la Fête. I ADORE VLF! it's french (via belgium), it's synth, it makes me want to dance... ADORABLE, FORMIDABLE :)

Deine Lakaien. deine lakaien has one of the most charismatic vocalists i've heard in a very long time, alexander Veljanov. i get chills just listening to this man's vocals, and after seeing their live dvd, i know i'd be in heaven to see deine lakaien live. they've never played the states either :(

De/Vision. yet ANOTHER excellent german synthpop act that hasn't crossed the pond... i'm beginning to think that i'm going to have to visit germany ;)

Tom Waits. i've never seen him perform, and i'm hoping that he'll tour again-- it's a crime that i haven't made it out to one of his shows.

Duran Duran. every time i've attempted to see duran duran, the tickets have been sold out immediately, and i'm just not willing to pay $200 or more for a ticket to see a show. *shrug* maybe someday...

Adam Ant. please, mr. ant... won't you tour again? pretty pretty please? ;)

Johnny Cash. well, i *can't* see johnny cash, for obvious reasons, but wouldn't it have been nice to see a legend of his caliber play?

*sigh*