Archive for September, 2014

Taking Another Look at The Call

Posted: September 9, 2014 in Alternative, Band Profiles, Rock
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The Call was an American band that had mediocre chart success in the eighties. Their lyrics were politically charged and there was a passionate, anthem-like quality to their music. They were considered rock but there was definite new wave influences. The Call were critically acclaimed and admired by some of the biggest acts of the time but for whatever reason they were never able to achieve commercial success. Maybe it was because lead singer Michael Been just didn’t have the look that the MTV generation wanted. He was stout and scruffy and wasn’t the flashiest of front men, but he could sure belt out a song with as much emotional sincerity as the best of them.

They also had quite a long run, having been active from 1980 to 2000. Their biggest chart success was with the single “Let the Day Begin,” which reached No. 51 on the Billboard Charts in 1989. (Side note, this was Al Gore’s campaign song for his run in 2000). But it was their earlier material that made me a fan. Sadly, Michael Been died in 2010 at the age of 60. He was on tour as a soundman for his son’s band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club when he had a heart attack at a show in Hasselt, Belgium. I’ve always regretted not seeing them in concert, as I hear they were a pretty great live band.

One of my favorites from the group is “The Walls Came Down.” A song that combines biblical references with an anti-war message. The year was 1984, after all. It’s a pulsating, urgent song with plenty of Michael Been howls.

 

“Everywhere I Go” is a single off of the 1986 album Reconciled. It was no secret that Michael Been was deeply religious, and it’s on full display on this track. Another guitar and drum-driven tune with Been at his growling best. Listen closely and you can hear Jim Kerr of Simple Minds and Peter Gabriel on background vocals.

 

’80s Cold War Videos

Posted: September 9, 2014 in Cold War Videos, New Wave
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If you grew up in the eighties, you have to remember the reignited cold war between Russia and the U.S. There was the threat of mushroom clouds hanging over our heads and haunting our dreams. The boycott of the 1980 Moscow summer Olympics, and the movies of Russian invasions and nuclear war. Patrick Swayze leading a pack of high schoolers to defeat the Russians in “Red Dawn.” Matthew Broderick innocently accepting a game of global thermonuclear war in “WarGames.” And then there were the videos. It seems everyone and anyone that was recording in the eighties made a song about the nuclear holocaust. During the early to mid-eighties we were bombarded with videos from all genres about the end of the world. Some received more airplay than others, think Nena’s “99 Luftballons,” and Genenis’ “Land of Confusion.” But there were other videos that left a much more indelible impression on this teen’s psyche.

One of the oddest videos was Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Two Tribes.” The premise is simple, the leaders of the two biggest superpowers in the world duke it out before an audience made up of world representatives out for blood. The song only made it to No. 43 in the U.S. in 1984, not achieving the success of “Relax.” In my opinion, this is one of their best songs – full of frantic beats and prophetic overtones. Wait to the end of the video where the world actually explodes.

 

Ultravox’s “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes,” also from 1984, finds Midge Ure trying frantically to get home to his family before the result of a nuclear power plant meltdown takes effect. He makes it there in time to have one last dance and night with his love before the “coming storm.” Okay, not so much a song about nuclear war but nuclear power plant meltdowns were just as much a threat at the time.

 

Here’s another from 1984, Time Zone’s “World Destruction.” This one even got John Lydon of the Sex Pistols into the act. The band was headed by Afrika Bambaataa and rumor has it that Bambaataa was looking for someone crazy to collaborate with and Johnny Rotten certainly fit the bill. It’s an unlikely combination but somehow it works.

 

My Soundtrack of the ’80s

Posted: September 8, 2014 in General
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Ah, the eighties. The decade of big hair, videogames, teen cinema, fear of the mushroom cloud, and some of the most diverse music of any era. Being a teen in the eighties, sure I was caught up in the awful fashion (some of the most outrageous looks, in my opinion), and looked forward to every John Hughes movie, but it was the music that really made this period special. I was one of those kids who was glued to the TV on August 1, 1981 to watch the launch of MTV, and I was hooked! My sisters and I would watch for hours eagerly anticipating what Martha or Alan would play next. Growing up in the suburbs, the airwaves were flooded with top 40 hits. This was fine until I got a glimpse of the Split Enz, The Pretenders, David Bowie, The Specials, Kate Bush, etc. To be clear, the early years of MTV were pretty eclectic and there seemed no rhyme or reason to what they threw up on the screen, but it was the new wave and synth bands that grabbed my attention and never left.

As the decade wore on and videos became more mainstream, I rarely missed an episode of 120 Minutes to get my fill of alternative music. Bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, R.E.M, The Smiths, The Cure, and Concrete Blonde filled my tape case. I thought I was pretty well-versed in the new wave, synth, and alternative genres until I recently started scouring the internet for lost and overlooked gems of the eighties. After having spent several nights and countless hours going down the rabbit hole that the internet can be, I found there was much to explore and discover about this decade I thought I knew so well. The intent of this blog is to be a place where I can share some of these overlooked songs, revisit some classics that deserve some renewed attention, and share news on current happenings from bands/artists from this unique period in time.

I hope you enjoy!

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