In the late 80’s, during a brief windowin the reign of the artist formerly known as Prince, later formerly knownas the artist formerly known as Prince,I became somewhat obsessed with the guy’s music, inparticular with the stuff he was puttingout then, decidedly psychedelic, unabashedly provocative, musically innovative. This, Sign of the Times,my favorite Prince album,Continue reading “#838: P is for Prince”
Tag Archives: 80s music
#835: P is for The Police
Of all the new wave and punk era drummers,Stewart Copeland was maybe the first and maybethe only one to call attention to himself, to distinguish himself in the genre as a drummerone would admire, and, if one was a fledglingpercussionist, one to aspire to. He was, possibly, the Neil Peart of the punk and newContinue reading “#835: P is for The Police”
#833: P is for Plant, Robert
“Little By Little,” the opening trackof Robert Plant’s solo album, Shaken ‘n’ Stirred is a glorious thought experiment to find out what a love child between The Policeand Led Zeppelin would sound like. It’s a wonderful tune with the bestof what an 80’s stink has to offer, the big snare drum, some odd but heavyContinue reading “#833: P is for Plant, Robert”
#821: O is for Oingo Boingo + Boingo
In the first year or so of MTV, fronted by the theatrical, vocalist extraordinaire, andfuture film scoring giant, Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo made their debut into the punk rock new wave universe and the national consciousness with the insane music video for their first single, the cringy (especially in hindsight), “Little Girls.” As a highContinue reading “#821: O is for Oingo Boingo + Boingo”
#818: N is for Numan, Gary
Telekon, Gary Numan’s fourth album, the second album post Tubeway Army, begins with the most crushing slow rock synth groove of “This Wreckage” and, in that early, nasal, almost robotic, most distinctive voice, he sings the first lyric: “And what if God’s dead?” This was heady stuff for a 16 year old me, who hadContinue reading “#818: N is for Numan, Gary”
#808: M is for The Motels
The two tunes by The Motelsthat are part of my musical memory are the breakthrough hits, “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly, Last Summer.”I found two albums by the band recently in somebody’s used bin, the self-titled debut, and their fifth outing, Shock, neither album of which includes these songs. I didn’t havethese albums when IContinue reading “#808: M is for The Motels”
#803: M is for Missing Persons
What could be better in the knownuniverse than alumni from the greatFrank Zappa band forming a new wavegroup? I can barely think of a single thing.Dale Bozzio was sexy and weird and provedshe could really sing, albeit eccentrically, her then husband Terry was about the greatest drummer in all of rock music, and Patrick O’HearnContinue reading “#803: M is for Missing Persons”
#798: M is for Men At Work
I will confess straight awaythat, while I liked them all right, and appreciated Colin Hay’s manicpresence on the music videostation, I didn’t buy a single album from Men At Work. Recently, when my brother decided hewould not likely ever play a recordagain, he bequeathed to me hiscollection of albums, and the debutand the sophomore effortContinue reading “#798: M is for Men At Work”
#791: M is for Madness
If I had any Madness records when I was 15 or 16 years old, I lost them in the great vinyl purgeof 1988, and I don’t remember which ones I had. I suspect at least one of them was Absolutely, and I come to that conclusionas I’m listening this morning to the 2013 Yep RockContinue reading “#791: M is for Madness”
#777: K is for King Crimson (81-03)
It would be seven years between Redand the next album from King Crimson, the cover of which would be red, adorned in the center of the jacketwith a silver Celtic knot, bearing the title Discipline. It was the first King Crimson album I would ever hear, the first King Crimsonrecord I would ever buy, theContinue reading “#777: K is for King Crimson (81-03)”
