Write Back Weekend "We Got The Beat"
Quick side note. I noticed just now when I logged in that Friday marked my 666th post. 666, on a Friday the 13th in OCTOBER. Now that's spooky.
I know I've said it before. I most definitely will say it again. This week's TITMT was very, very hard for a hardcore eighties fan such as myself. Summing up the eighties in ten artists or less would be like asking George Michael why he didn't reunite with Andrew Ridgeley; it simply doesn't compute.
As Nat pointed out I tend to pick a lot of pop oriented artists. Die hard music fans will note that within any given decade a true representation would break down the groupings even further. Best eighties pop. Best eighties rock. Best eighties hair bands. (yes, I have a list for that, too.) But most of you are like Nat and me. You're not anal retentive about music. Some might even call this normal. So I'm attempting to keep it simple for your sake.
Then there is the subcategory of best eighties one or two hit wonders which came from some seemingly talented artists with promise, that instead went down as potential unfulfilled. Corey Hart. Scandal. Til Tuesday. And yes, even Patrick Swayze and Frank Stallone. The list, like the beat goes on and on.
Finally, there is the overlap factor. It should go without saying but I'm going to say it anyway. Some great music seems to be centralized to one decade, as if their greatness was frozen in time and then suddenly became extinct, like the dinosaur age of rock and roll if you will. But I believe most truly great artists usually flourish beyond a decade or two. So some artists featured last week such as Billy Joel and Elton John for instance would show up here, too but I'm not listing them twice to give a bunch of great artists the chance to be recognized. I know, as if any of the feature artists care about a little site like this, right? Call me crazy, but the likes of Patrick Swayze and Corey Hart just might.
Although being born in 1977 (didn't notice it in editing, thanks to all the smartasses out there!) "my decade" should be the nineties, I have a strong connection to all things eighties that I really hard to explain to those who don't feel the same way. I think this is because so many childhood memories revolve around the eighties. I can't really say how I would feel if I was a child in the 70's. I'm just glad that I got to grow up in the heyday of leg warmers, fluorescent shirts and decidedly cheesy pop.
So, here, in no particular order, are the artists I painstakingly chose to feature:
1. Cyndi Lauper- I was happy to see as I visited many of your lists that Cyndi made the cut for you, too. Cyndi Lauper got a reputation for being outlandish and different, but that's not important now. She wouldn't make a list like this for hair color alone. There was substance beyond those dyed roots. She also had amazing vocal range. Although she has graduated to more mature musical venues, why she didn't remain a major player in the pop music industry for longer is beyond me.
2. Rick Springfield- Anyone who knows me knows I cannot create a list of the best of the eighties and leave Rick off of it. I am willing to be 90% of the people reading this post only know Rick for his hit, Jessie's Girl. Then there's another 5% of you who know the song Jessie's Girl, but either don't know Rick by name or didn't know he sang that song. That leaves 5% left over. You people are like me and know Rick Springfield for the underrated artist he is. You know that successful artists are not necessarily a succcess by hit records alone. Rick Springfield made a ton of albums, even past the eighties, all of which are worth giving a listen. Don't take my word for it. Go listen for yourself sometime.
3. Huey Lewis and the News- The success of Huey Lewis and the News can be best summed up by one of their very own song titles, "It's Hip To Be Square". They didn't look like rock stars. They didn't act like rock stars. In fact, truth be told, they often acted more like Weird Al than Anthrax. But their not being "cool" is what made them so cool in the first place. Huey Lewis & The News had hits like If This Is It, Doing It All For My Baby and I Want A New Drug that featured some of the best harmonizing of the decade.
4. Richard Marx- The reason I included Richard Marx here is because I knew that none of you would. I always felt bad for Richard Marx. I never felt he got the credit he deserved. I loved his hits like Don't Mean Nothin', Endless Summer Nights and Should've Known Better. In the 90's he even attempted to make multi videos for the same song, Hazard, that told a muder mystery story. Nowadays he is mostly behind the scenes, his biggest recent hit probably being This I Promise You done by NSync. Not only is the man the prince of balladeers, he's also one of the chosen few who somehow managed to make the mullet look cool. Now that takes skill.
5. Phil Collins/Genesis- Now we go from a head of hair to no hair, yet the cool factor remains status quo. I chose to combine Phil Collins and Genesis because they did their things well together and apart in the eighties. The story of Phil Collins success is amazing to me because he was never meant to be the star. He didn't look like a hitmaker. He was the drummer, meant to be behind the scenes. But somehow it all worked better than anyone could have ever dreamed, probably even Mr. Collins himself.
6. Madonna- The most obvious choice on my list, Madonna's career is still technically going strong. However, the eighties were undisputably known as her heyday. Madonna is unique in the sense that you can like her and dislike her at the same time. This is in part because there are so many incarnations of Madonna. Personally, I preferred the bangled bracelet, ripped clothes, crawling all over the floor Madonna the best. Her True Blue phase was great, too. While she made a lot of great music well into this decade, nothing tops her Like a Virgin phase in my eyes.
7. U2- I noticed a lot of you were conflicted about including (or not including) U2. This is because U2 is not an artist you solely associate with the eighties. They started in the late 70's but are going strong, still today. But eighties U2 is where it truly all began. Basically any artist you see in concert who could conceivably fill up two hours and thensome of pure hits, deserves to be included here.
8. Debbie Gibson- In the eighties there was the whole Tiffany vs. Debbie Gibson debate. Well at least in the preteen minds of my friends and I. Don't laugh. It's actually a very serious matter that requires a Venn Diagram of pros and cons to really assess it properly. Anyway, choosing to include Debbie here in the top and Tiffany in the honorable mention was a pretty anguishing process. The final decision came down to the amount of work and how involved each of them were. I completely wore out Debbie's Out of the Blue record back in the eighties. The fact that she was a teen, only a few years older than me, who not only sang but wrote her own material, fascinated me.
9. Bryan Adams- I didn't really get in to Bryan Adams until the early 90's, but when I did get in to his music, I went back in time a few years. In fact, the first concert I ever saw was Bryan Adams when I was a freshman in high school. A lot of people don't realize just how many hit songs Bryan Adams has had over the years. That's because there aren't a whole lot of people thinking about Bryan Adams anymore. He had a zillion hits, but in a true fan of the obscure nature, my favorite song of his is Hiding From Love. It's an early tune, before Adams was famous and it also features a pre-gravely voiced Adams. I guess being a smoker really changes your voice after all.
10. Hall & Oates- Fans of Hall & Oates music often get divided into two camps; those who like Hall & Oates from the seventies and those who like Hall & Oates from the eighties. This is because they had two very different sounds in differing decades. I on the other hand, liked them both. But before I discoved the music of Hall & Oates in reverse, I tend to have a sore spot for their eighties pop side more so than their seventies soul side. Seventies fans on the other hand might argue that Hall sold out when he cut his luscious locks and went all pretty pop pop. Whether you're a fan of She's Gone or Say It Isn't So, it's hard to argue that those guys didn't have talent.
11. Lionel Richie- I remember being a kid in the eighties and thinking Lionel Richie was ancient. He just seemed so much older than a lot of the other pop singers out there. I guess in a way he was. But that didn't stop him from having a zillion solo hits without The Commodores. My personal favorites included Say You, Say Me, Hello and Ballerina Girl. If you wanted to have the musical equivalent of a Hallmark greeting card, look no further than Mr. Richie.
12. Pat Benatar- If you enjoy the girl power rock of singers like Gwen Stefani or Pink you really need to go to the source. Gwen or Pink didn't invent the hard rock pop chick acts all by themselves. They owe more than a little of their inspiration to singers like Pat Benatar. She made semi-feminist rockers seem cool before it was cool to be a semi-feminist. Nobody wore tight clothes and looked like they could kick their ex boyfriend's ass better. Well perhaps Joan Jett came in a close second. Not only did she have the look though, she could sing the hell out of anything. With songs like All Fired Up, You Better Run and Invincible she married the genres of rock and pop better than anyone, "no doubt".
13. Whitney Houston- Ok, now we're entering the portion of the list that features artists who once "almost had it all" before having their big time fall from grace. When you think of the top five talented artists who have done a complete 360 since then, you have to include Whitney Houston. Frankly, I don't know what happened. In the mid eighties, Whitney seemed like the white people's answer to r&b music. She was the best of both worlds. She was black, but not "too black" as so many white people were still "afraid of". It was safe to like Whitney because she was a well spoken, well groomed role model for white and black children alike. She even could have been accused of having a career out of nepotism because of her relation to Dionne Warwick. But that didn't happen because the girl could actually sing. Even now, while living in the land of the crazies, she can still sing. Can't string together a coherent sentence too well, but sing she can.
14. Michael Jackson- I know some of you might question my inclusion of Michael Jackson on this list knowing all that we know now. But I ask you this. Had we compiled this list in the eighties, nearly everyone would have included Michael whether you liked him or not. This is because Michael Jackson WAS eighties pop. And while Michael Jackson's music seems to have been forceably phased out, along with his career, the legacy of his music still lives on in artists today. Just check out Ne-Yo's Sexy Love, overflowing with Human Nature throw backs, or Justin Timberlake, anything.
15. Crowded House- Finally we arrived at the end of this hard to compile list. I close things off with one of the unsung heroes of the eighties, or even music, period. This honor goes to the Australian boys of Crowded House. Sure they had mainstream hits like Don't Dream It's Over and Something So Strong, but not many people really know this band for the talent they truly possessed. And this was not the talented Finn brothers first attempt at eighties pop success. Before Crowded House came a little known band, Split Enz, that had the "one hit wonder" I Got You. After Split Enz ultimately disbanded, Neil Finn went on to create Crowded House.
So there you have it. My painstaking attempt at compiling a best of eighties list. No one is going to go harder on me than me for realizing I forgot somebody after hitting publish.
Honorable Mentions include: Janet Jackson, Tiffany, James Ingram, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Inxs, Kenny Loggins, Heart, Prince, George Michael, Van Halen and Sting/The Police.
I know I've said it before. I most definitely will say it again. This week's TITMT was very, very hard for a hardcore eighties fan such as myself. Summing up the eighties in ten artists or less would be like asking George Michael why he didn't reunite with Andrew Ridgeley; it simply doesn't compute.
As Nat pointed out I tend to pick a lot of pop oriented artists. Die hard music fans will note that within any given decade a true representation would break down the groupings even further. Best eighties pop. Best eighties rock. Best eighties hair bands. (yes, I have a list for that, too.) But most of you are like Nat and me. You're not anal retentive about music. Some might even call this normal. So I'm attempting to keep it simple for your sake.
Then there is the subcategory of best eighties one or two hit wonders which came from some seemingly talented artists with promise, that instead went down as potential unfulfilled. Corey Hart. Scandal. Til Tuesday. And yes, even Patrick Swayze and Frank Stallone. The list, like the beat goes on and on.
Finally, there is the overlap factor. It should go without saying but I'm going to say it anyway. Some great music seems to be centralized to one decade, as if their greatness was frozen in time and then suddenly became extinct, like the dinosaur age of rock and roll if you will. But I believe most truly great artists usually flourish beyond a decade or two. So some artists featured last week such as Billy Joel and Elton John for instance would show up here, too but I'm not listing them twice to give a bunch of great artists the chance to be recognized. I know, as if any of the feature artists care about a little site like this, right? Call me crazy, but the likes of Patrick Swayze and Corey Hart just might.
Although being born in 1977 (didn't notice it in editing, thanks to all the smartasses out there!) "my decade" should be the nineties, I have a strong connection to all things eighties that I really hard to explain to those who don't feel the same way. I think this is because so many childhood memories revolve around the eighties. I can't really say how I would feel if I was a child in the 70's. I'm just glad that I got to grow up in the heyday of leg warmers, fluorescent shirts and decidedly cheesy pop.
So, here, in no particular order, are the artists I painstakingly chose to feature:
1. Cyndi Lauper- I was happy to see as I visited many of your lists that Cyndi made the cut for you, too. Cyndi Lauper got a reputation for being outlandish and different, but that's not important now. She wouldn't make a list like this for hair color alone. There was substance beyond those dyed roots. She also had amazing vocal range. Although she has graduated to more mature musical venues, why she didn't remain a major player in the pop music industry for longer is beyond me.
2. Rick Springfield- Anyone who knows me knows I cannot create a list of the best of the eighties and leave Rick off of it. I am willing to be 90% of the people reading this post only know Rick for his hit, Jessie's Girl. Then there's another 5% of you who know the song Jessie's Girl, but either don't know Rick by name or didn't know he sang that song. That leaves 5% left over. You people are like me and know Rick Springfield for the underrated artist he is. You know that successful artists are not necessarily a succcess by hit records alone. Rick Springfield made a ton of albums, even past the eighties, all of which are worth giving a listen. Don't take my word for it. Go listen for yourself sometime.
3. Huey Lewis and the News- The success of Huey Lewis and the News can be best summed up by one of their very own song titles, "It's Hip To Be Square". They didn't look like rock stars. They didn't act like rock stars. In fact, truth be told, they often acted more like Weird Al than Anthrax. But their not being "cool" is what made them so cool in the first place. Huey Lewis & The News had hits like If This Is It, Doing It All For My Baby and I Want A New Drug that featured some of the best harmonizing of the decade.
4. Richard Marx- The reason I included Richard Marx here is because I knew that none of you would. I always felt bad for Richard Marx. I never felt he got the credit he deserved. I loved his hits like Don't Mean Nothin', Endless Summer Nights and Should've Known Better. In the 90's he even attempted to make multi videos for the same song, Hazard, that told a muder mystery story. Nowadays he is mostly behind the scenes, his biggest recent hit probably being This I Promise You done by NSync. Not only is the man the prince of balladeers, he's also one of the chosen few who somehow managed to make the mullet look cool. Now that takes skill.
5. Phil Collins/Genesis- Now we go from a head of hair to no hair, yet the cool factor remains status quo. I chose to combine Phil Collins and Genesis because they did their things well together and apart in the eighties. The story of Phil Collins success is amazing to me because he was never meant to be the star. He didn't look like a hitmaker. He was the drummer, meant to be behind the scenes. But somehow it all worked better than anyone could have ever dreamed, probably even Mr. Collins himself.
6. Madonna- The most obvious choice on my list, Madonna's career is still technically going strong. However, the eighties were undisputably known as her heyday. Madonna is unique in the sense that you can like her and dislike her at the same time. This is in part because there are so many incarnations of Madonna. Personally, I preferred the bangled bracelet, ripped clothes, crawling all over the floor Madonna the best. Her True Blue phase was great, too. While she made a lot of great music well into this decade, nothing tops her Like a Virgin phase in my eyes.
7. U2- I noticed a lot of you were conflicted about including (or not including) U2. This is because U2 is not an artist you solely associate with the eighties. They started in the late 70's but are going strong, still today. But eighties U2 is where it truly all began. Basically any artist you see in concert who could conceivably fill up two hours and thensome of pure hits, deserves to be included here.
8. Debbie Gibson- In the eighties there was the whole Tiffany vs. Debbie Gibson debate. Well at least in the preteen minds of my friends and I. Don't laugh. It's actually a very serious matter that requires a Venn Diagram of pros and cons to really assess it properly. Anyway, choosing to include Debbie here in the top and Tiffany in the honorable mention was a pretty anguishing process. The final decision came down to the amount of work and how involved each of them were. I completely wore out Debbie's Out of the Blue record back in the eighties. The fact that she was a teen, only a few years older than me, who not only sang but wrote her own material, fascinated me.
9. Bryan Adams- I didn't really get in to Bryan Adams until the early 90's, but when I did get in to his music, I went back in time a few years. In fact, the first concert I ever saw was Bryan Adams when I was a freshman in high school. A lot of people don't realize just how many hit songs Bryan Adams has had over the years. That's because there aren't a whole lot of people thinking about Bryan Adams anymore. He had a zillion hits, but in a true fan of the obscure nature, my favorite song of his is Hiding From Love. It's an early tune, before Adams was famous and it also features a pre-gravely voiced Adams. I guess being a smoker really changes your voice after all.
10. Hall & Oates- Fans of Hall & Oates music often get divided into two camps; those who like Hall & Oates from the seventies and those who like Hall & Oates from the eighties. This is because they had two very different sounds in differing decades. I on the other hand, liked them both. But before I discoved the music of Hall & Oates in reverse, I tend to have a sore spot for their eighties pop side more so than their seventies soul side. Seventies fans on the other hand might argue that Hall sold out when he cut his luscious locks and went all pretty pop pop. Whether you're a fan of She's Gone or Say It Isn't So, it's hard to argue that those guys didn't have talent.
11. Lionel Richie- I remember being a kid in the eighties and thinking Lionel Richie was ancient. He just seemed so much older than a lot of the other pop singers out there. I guess in a way he was. But that didn't stop him from having a zillion solo hits without The Commodores. My personal favorites included Say You, Say Me, Hello and Ballerina Girl. If you wanted to have the musical equivalent of a Hallmark greeting card, look no further than Mr. Richie.
12. Pat Benatar- If you enjoy the girl power rock of singers like Gwen Stefani or Pink you really need to go to the source. Gwen or Pink didn't invent the hard rock pop chick acts all by themselves. They owe more than a little of their inspiration to singers like Pat Benatar. She made semi-feminist rockers seem cool before it was cool to be a semi-feminist. Nobody wore tight clothes and looked like they could kick their ex boyfriend's ass better. Well perhaps Joan Jett came in a close second. Not only did she have the look though, she could sing the hell out of anything. With songs like All Fired Up, You Better Run and Invincible she married the genres of rock and pop better than anyone, "no doubt".
13. Whitney Houston- Ok, now we're entering the portion of the list that features artists who once "almost had it all" before having their big time fall from grace. When you think of the top five talented artists who have done a complete 360 since then, you have to include Whitney Houston. Frankly, I don't know what happened. In the mid eighties, Whitney seemed like the white people's answer to r&b music. She was the best of both worlds. She was black, but not "too black" as so many white people were still "afraid of". It was safe to like Whitney because she was a well spoken, well groomed role model for white and black children alike. She even could have been accused of having a career out of nepotism because of her relation to Dionne Warwick. But that didn't happen because the girl could actually sing. Even now, while living in the land of the crazies, she can still sing. Can't string together a coherent sentence too well, but sing she can.
14. Michael Jackson- I know some of you might question my inclusion of Michael Jackson on this list knowing all that we know now. But I ask you this. Had we compiled this list in the eighties, nearly everyone would have included Michael whether you liked him or not. This is because Michael Jackson WAS eighties pop. And while Michael Jackson's music seems to have been forceably phased out, along with his career, the legacy of his music still lives on in artists today. Just check out Ne-Yo's Sexy Love, overflowing with Human Nature throw backs, or Justin Timberlake, anything.
15. Crowded House- Finally we arrived at the end of this hard to compile list. I close things off with one of the unsung heroes of the eighties, or even music, period. This honor goes to the Australian boys of Crowded House. Sure they had mainstream hits like Don't Dream It's Over and Something So Strong, but not many people really know this band for the talent they truly possessed. And this was not the talented Finn brothers first attempt at eighties pop success. Before Crowded House came a little known band, Split Enz, that had the "one hit wonder" I Got You. After Split Enz ultimately disbanded, Neil Finn went on to create Crowded House.
So there you have it. My painstaking attempt at compiling a best of eighties list. No one is going to go harder on me than me for realizing I forgot somebody after hitting publish.
Honorable Mentions include: Janet Jackson, Tiffany, James Ingram, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Inxs, Kenny Loggins, Heart, Prince, George Michael, Van Halen and Sting/The Police.
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