JONATHAN CHAIT JUNE 22, 2010
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I have an odd affinity for pop music that came out from 1982 through 1984. I'm not completely sure why that is. Those were the only years I listened to a lot of top 40 radio. I'm not sure if I like the music from that period better because I was an impressionable kid with immature tastes, or if I'd still like that music if I heard it for the first time today. Moreover, do I like the music from those years because I just happened to be listening to pop music on the radio then, or did I stop listening starting around 1985 because the music got worse? I'd be interested in hearing from somebody who knows anything about popular music, which is one of the vast fields about which I know nothing.
I bring this up because last weekend, while driving home from another family trip, I caught a radio station replaying the top 40 billboard countdown from June 25, 1983. That was smack dab in the middle of the period of my pop music sweet spot, and it was a sublime experience. I tuned in starting at song #19, "Our House" by Madness, and listened through #8, "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Sergio Mendes. If you want to check out the lineup I caught, I'm posting the videos below the break. Am I crazy, or is this a really good lineup of pop songs?
Naked Eyes - There's Always Something There To Remind Me
Elton John - I'm Still Standing
39 comments
No, you are not wrong. The real dry spell came from about 1976 to 1982, roughly the age of Disco.
- timteeter
June 22, 2010 at 4:41pm
The pop music period circa 1982-1984 was indeed a good one. There was a second British invasion going on, and the late seventies war between disco and rock was transformed into marriage - prime exhibit, Let's Dance, sung by David Bowie, produced by Chic.
- wnalpert
June 22, 2010 at 4:42pm
What? No Police "Every Breath You Take"? I remember once finding it playing on three stations at the same time! It must have been later that summer. If I could keep just one Top 40 song from that year, it would probably be Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing". Love it. There's some decent stuff on that list, but I graduated high school in 1983, so how was I gonna say otherwise. Timeless? Probably not so much. I guess my vote is 'Crazy'.
- Fishpeddler
June 22, 2010 at 4:49pm
Wow - Sergio Mendes sang that song?? "Come Dancing" is my favorite here (terrific video too) but they are all great.
- NR851651
June 22, 2010 at 4:51pm
No worries, Jonathan: any list that includes a song by the Kinks is -- by definition -- a really good lineup of pop songs. And, for a 1983 high school graduate such as myself, this list has a lot of other songs, in addition to Come Dancing, that stir fond memories.
- vcolatriano
June 22, 2010 at 4:57pm
"Come Dancing" by the Kinks? Definitely not one of Ray's best tunes "Come Dancing" is a throw away track on what was a 2nd rate Kinks album. The song barely sounds like a Ray and Dave number. If you want a dry spell, it's happening now for top 40 music. What a waste of time and electronics. The period you like, well, there are some catchy tunes but some is absolutely dreadful. Anything from Journey would be a start. But the hair was pretty cool to look at during that time period.
- tnmats
June 22, 2010 at 4:57pm
And that's exactly what was so great about the Kinks, tnmats. Even the "throw away" tracks from their "2nd rate" albums (even assuming I agreed with you that those terms apply to Come Dancing and State of Confusion, which I don't) stand head and shoulders above most of the competition. I (sort of) agree with you about Journey, though. I hated them at the time, but I must admit that their songs have grown on me a bit as I've mellowed.
- vcolatriano
June 22, 2010 at 5:19pm
Where's Fluffy?
- timteeter
June 22, 2010 at 5:19pm
That Chait will post this confirms my very positive opinion of him; though I suppose tastes in music are like opinions in politics. But I will admit that Journey's Faithfully gets me rockin when I hear it on the radio.
- rayward
June 22, 2010 at 5:28pm
I have a sore spot in how the Kinks were too often dismissed in the US and then a 2nd rate Ray song makes it on the top 40. Ray wrote so many better songs. I guess their being banned from touring the US in the 60s and not being a part of the US music scene made them too "British" after a while for American tastes. Maybe that's why I like them so much, they were quirkier than than many of their contemporaries and Ray's lyrics were always so funny. "State of Confusion" is 2nd rate for Kinks album. No way it can come close to being on the same level as "The Village Green Preservation Society", "Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround" or "Face to Face", to name a few. I prefer "Labour of Love" to "Come Dancing" anyways. Then again I gravitate towards the more satirical Kinks numbers like "Young Conservaties" In JC's selection above, "Come Dancing" is my favorite. A Ray throw-away still tops most others "good" stuff. It's a shame their older recordings were done so poorly compared to even their contemporaries.
- tnmats
June 22, 2010 at 5:39pm
Class of '83? Man, you all are old. But you're all right about the music. By the time I hit high school in the late 80s, the cool music was early 80s pop and the just-getting-started alt scene. Even in 1989, we knew that contemporary top-40 was dead. Also awesome about the early 1980s: British second-wave ska was just sparking American third-wave ska.
- rhubarbs
June 22, 2010 at 5:45pm
Rhubarbs, you're a pup. I was getting graduating college in 1984. All the music from the 80s was to make many of us forget about Reagan. Which is why I can't figure out why too much music sucked in the last 8 years. With Bush in office it should have energized the music biz; all we got was Billy Joe being the only one energized. But at least we got some good Wilco and Eels albums. And the Oasis albums as always rocked, even though none of them made the top 40.
- tnmats
June 22, 2010 at 5:52pm
tnmats -- I agree with everything you say about the Kinks, though I would add "Arthur", "Something Else", and (for sentimental reasons) "Give the People What They Want" to the list of classic Kinks albums. I too prefer the more satirical numbers. Sounds like you already know this, but Ray has been doing some fantastic solo tours over the last few years. Check him out the next time he comes around.
- vcolatriano
June 22, 2010 at 6:23pm
I'm not a popular music expert, but sometimes I am forced to play one as part of my teaching load. The Class of '83 high school grad in me (yes, another) sees this list and says that yeah, most of hits right in my sweet spot as well (though I never did care for Journey, and had totally forgotten that Tubes number). This puts the '83 grad at war with the guy who has to teach the stuff on occasion, since none of this (save for MJ) would ever "make the grade" in the rapidly emerging canon of popular music studies, even though it's a damn good soundtrack for the period in many ways. But I'll be ditching that racket soon enough, so why do I care?
- cspencef
June 22, 2010 at 6:56pm
Seafoodsalesman: If you click on the date in Mr. Chait's post you'll see the whole list, and "Every Breath You Take" is indeed represented. Mr. Chait's experience was just a tad less sublime for having missed that part of the show, apparently.
- cspencef
June 22, 2010 at 6:59pm
It is the Hippocampus, the sounds awaken long dormant memories and remind you of youthful days. Every time I hear the song "Its magic" I return to the time my older cousin and her boyfriend took me, her younger brother, and two other younger cousins to Dorney Park. For some reason it is one of my favorite childhood memories, mostly because she didn't have to take me.
- blackton
June 22, 2010 at 7:13pm
I remember someone once saying that the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" was definitively English/British for us while Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman" (was the popular version by Gene Pitney?) was definitively American for them.
- ironyroad
June 22, 2010 at 7:28pm
The early-to-mid '80s are indelible for a lot of people in our generation, Jon, and there's a three-letter reason why: MTV. (Also, FM radio had not yet Clear-Channeled everything into focus group mediocrity, so there was still room on Top 40 playlists for everything from New Wave like Blondie and The Clash to R&B like Michael Jackson and Debarge. There are even some bona-fide rockers like Def Leppard and Stray Cats on the Top 100 list!)
- austinexpat
June 22, 2010 at 7:31pm
The comments to this post are a reminder (sadly) of the generation gap between me and most readers. So when a references to Richard Strout and his many columns about the imperative of addressing our dysfunctional divided government gets no response, I now know why. That it took Chait's provocation about 1980s music to reveal this difference is, I suppose, a testament to the arts.
- rayward
June 22, 2010 at 7:32pm
Austinexpat reminded me of one of the best radio stations of the day, KLBJ-FM in Austin. I miss that station. Does it still exist? Or has Clear Channel destroyed it like it wrecked the few decent stations in Raleigh? Thankfully we still have some good college radio stations and NPR here in the Triangle.
- tnmats
June 22, 2010 at 8:36pm
Jonathan, you breeze through the 80's without even a nod to Duran Duran or Depeche Mode? Somebody by DM is a beautiful song.
- liberal reformer
June 22, 2010 at 9:05pm
KLBJ FM is still very much a going concern. You know, tn, we live in the age of Google. You are mere keystrokes away from finding out whether a radio station (or a country) still exists.
- liberal reformer
June 22, 2010 at 9:10pm
Dead on, Chait: 1982 to 1984 was indeed a tip-of-the-tongue, near-the-end-of-the-bat sweet spot for music. Thriller, of course, was the cherry on top.
- ATuring
June 22, 2010 at 9:56pm
tnmats, the Bush years were terrific for music. Just not for top-40 music. But some great music was reasonably popular and even mainstream, thanks in part to the internet letting people break through the Clearchannelization of radio. Eeels, Blur, Beck, Neko Case - I'd have to continue the list to about 50 before I felt I'd done justice to the great music of the previous decade that saw at least some commercial success. Throw in the increasingly viable niche artists like the whole Chicago alt-country scene around Jon Langford and Sally Timms and this has been a golden age. The special thing about the early 1980s was that good and popular combined as never since.
- rhubarbs
June 22, 2010 at 10:11pm
I'm probably in the minority here, but I humbly suggest that in this period of popular music was the high point of heavy metal. Consider: Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Judas Priest, Slayer, Celtic Frost, even AC/DC came back better than ever. And don't forget Dio, may he rest in peace.
- Sancho
June 22, 2010 at 11:03pm
"The real dry spell came from about 1976 to 1982, roughly the age of Disco." Whoa, whoa, whoa. Get out of here. 1976 to 1979 was a fantastic set of years for music. 1976 was the year of Bohemian Rhapsody, Free Bird, and Last Child. Dylan's Desire? A Day at the Races? Tom Petty's debut? 1979 had The freaking Wall and London Calling -- pillars of rock. In between you had Dire Straits, The Kinks, The Police, Dylan, Clapton, the Sex Pistols, Talking Heads' Life During Wartime, etc., etc., etc. It was no dry spell. Personally I consider the early 80s period everyone else is raving about to be something of a musical wasteland, but I guess tastes differ.
- Jbryan
June 22, 2010 at 11:06pm
Sorry, Jbryan, I can agree with only about a third of your list (never cared much for Tom Petty). Besides, Dire Straits didn't really come into their own until the 80s and Brothers In Arms. ("I want my MTV!") But chacun á son goût.. For that matter, where's neunundneunzig luftballons? Aren't we TNR types supposed to be crypto-Europhile socialists? We need to live up to our stereotypes.
- timteeter
June 22, 2010 at 11:49pm
-- In between you had Dire Straits, The Kinks, The Police, Dylan, Clapton, the Sex Pistols, Talking Heads' Life During Wartime Dire Straits first hit was in 1979. The Kinks was a 60s band coming after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the pantheon of British music. Clapton was more or less clapped out by 1975 - I'll give you Unplugged but pretty much nothing else since 461 Ocean Boulevard. Dylan was a 1960s act who continued to be great into the 1970s. And then there was Joy Division whose lead singer died 30 years ago last month. -- Personally I consider the early 80s period everyone else is raving about to be something of a musical wasteland, but I guess tastes differ. I thought this was a universal opinion. The punk/new wave music of the late 1970s was a reaction to the mass commercialization of rock with supergroups playing stadiums and the like. Johnny Rotten, for example, first came to the attention of Malcolm Maclaren when he walked into Sex wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words I Hate scrawled on it. Everyone and his dog claims to have been at the Ramones Roundhouse gig when London first saw punk rock - and everyone else claimed to be at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester when the Pistols played with Buzzocks. Everything else is history as they say.
- ndmackenzie
June 23, 2010 at 12:02am
Sancho: I'm right there with you w/r/t the '80s, but I would also argue there's just as much kick-ass heavy metal coming out now, from bands all over the world. (And thanks to the distance-shrinking and democratizing force that is the internet, it's a lot easier to get hold of!) The big difference between the '80s and today is that we no longer have a single set of songs that everybody in one age group is familiar with due to the overpowering influence of tastemakers like MTV. Personally, I never liked Michael Jackson, Prince or Culture Club, but they were all over the radio and their videos were playing constantly, so they were inescapable and got stuck in my head along with the Mötley Crüe and Quiet Riot tunes I was blasting through my Walkman all day long. Just as the rapid growth of cable TV created a sort of Cambrian explosion of niche shows and genres, today's kids have millions of different sources for new music and hundreds of different genres to sample, so "Top 40" no longer means what it used to. As far as the relative quality of pop music goes, that's where we start to get into the whole pop-by-numbers thing, with music corporations hiring "hitmaker" producers to create bands from whole cloth (just as many did in the '50s, but with an arguably more scientific approach) rather than relying on their A&R departments to find talent and simply promoting it. The result seems to be that pop music today is much more disposable, with acts designed to break out big immediately, thanks to relentless promotion by corporate sponsors, and then relinquish the stage to the next bunch of hopefuls in 2-3 years, rather than growing and deepening as musicians and producing 10-15 years' worth of quality material.
- austinexpat
June 23, 2010 at 12:03am
This post really views the 80's through rose colored glasses. It forgets the fact that you needed to hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at least 10 times before you could hear any one of those songs even once. "Come Dancin'" is definitely a second rate Kinks song, its basically a reworking of "Juke Box Music", and just focuses on personal nostalgia, lacking the social commentary of their better nostalgia songs. The Kinks (and later the Mekons) convinced me that the best music can only be performed by drunken Brits. For me 84/85 was the real peak - Double Nickles on a Dime, Zen Arcade, Let It Be, Tim, New Day Rising, and Fear and Whiskey all released within a year?!?!? Rhubarbs - agreed on the Chicago alt-country scene, although it was already picking up steam in the mid/late 90's. Bloodshot definitely released a lot of incredible albums 2000-2005.
- Attrill
June 23, 2010 at 12:34am
Austin Expat: given that even Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera/Justin Timberlake have lasted more than a decade, I don't see how you can say these kinds of disposable acts only last 2-3 years.
- Simon Greenwood
June 23, 2010 at 12:59am
On a side note: I'm very happy to see that Jon has some room left in his heart to love something. I was afraid it had been consumed entirely by a hatred of Soccer, Howard Dean, and Ohio.
- Attrill
June 23, 2010 at 1:07am
I should add, in the spirit of fairness, that I agree that there was a recent period when groups came and went quickly. BSB, NSync, the Spice Girls... I just don't think that's been true for the past few years.
- Simon Greenwood
June 23, 2010 at 2:24am
Hmm. This geezer can remember back to the 1950's before the hucksters of commercial music segmented the market by race, ethnic language, age, region and genre, when the top 40 charts had enough room for Elvis, Xavier Cugat, the Mills Brothers and Eddy Arnold. We were truly multicultural back then, in contrast to the balkanized wasteland I see now in pop music.
- NR114746
June 23, 2010 at 2:28am
Yes, Jon, that is a great playlist. It has become de rigeur these days to trash the '80s, but the truth is that it was a phenomenal time in pop music. True, there was a lot of garbage, but some incredibly creative and talented people achieved their first successes during that decade, and many are still relevant today.
- mwittenphd
June 23, 2010 at 9:33am
Rhubarbs you apparently have been perusing my music collection. I was panning the top 40 in the last 8 years, not music in general. I have all of E's albums (okay, under the Eels moniker), all of Blur and Oasis' albums, , all kind of bands that people say "huh??" too. And most of Beck, Wilco/Son Volt/Uncle Tupelo. Plus Green Day also put out some good stuff in the old punk/garage mold. What's funny to me is my 10 year old loves a lot of what I bring home. The child was enamored with Panic at the Disco's "Pretty.Odd" and Young Veins "Take a Vacation!", absolutely loves the Beatles and dismisses the Disney pop stuff. I wouldn't say the 80s was a confluence between pop/good only. I still think some of the greatest music of the rock era that was popular to boot was made in the late 60s. Few can compare to the output of the Stones/Beatles/Who/Kinks/Cream in the late 60s. The early to mid 70s was also a heyday for AOR and I miss that. Brit bands were fantastic back then, and some good ones are out there today. Pity Americans never get to hear some of those British rock bands (my latest favorite is the Len Price 3). One saving grace for radio: XM. I just didn't want to renew it recently due to the price.
- tnmats
June 23, 2010 at 11:06am
Austin, I only asked about KLBJ as doing a Google search doesn't give me the same feel of what would the station really be like listening to it for a month. Of course I can do a google search. Just didn't feel like it.
- tnmats
June 23, 2010 at 11:07am
That was LibRef giving you grief, tnmats, but I'll jump in to mention that thanks to the internet, you can even listen to KLBJ live via streaming radio! http://www.klbjfm.com/stream/index.aspx&sa=X&ei=CSgiTKDNEsqUnAf0ktwm&ved=0CBkQqwMoADAA&usg=AFQjCNGr90FdDLaAKKp_n2wVx_G1D4Wpwg
- austinexpat
June 23, 2010 at 11:31am
Console yourself rayward by imagining the first song that hit you was "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane"!
- kras
June 24, 2010 at 7:43am