Throwback Tracks-- June 23, 2016
Shaun Cordingley
Apparently today is a 1980s day....so...get read for some very, very, 80s songs...
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if possible), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
For whatever reason, I have had this song in my head for most of the day, so now you can enjoy some Austrian Pop-Rap from 1985 as well with "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco from his album Falco 3.
This, believe it or not, was the first German-speaking artist to have a #1 single in the United States: "99 Luftballoons", the Nena song we all love, peaked at #2. At the end of the day, this song is so amazingly 80s, and yet weirdly timeless enough to still be exactly what it is, and enjoyable....for strange, Austrian pop-rap...
Now the goal is not to just repeatedly, quietly say "Amadeus, Amadeus" to yourself for the rest of the day.
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead or Alive
I had not intended this to be on the list this week, but this video was next up on YouTube after "Rock Me Amadeus", and there's no way I can ignore "You Spin Me Round" once it starts playing. From their second album Youthquake, released in 1985, and provided British pop band Dead or Alive with their commercial breakthrough in Europe and the United States. "You Spin Me Round" hit #1 in a few different countries, including the UK and Canada, and was their first Top 20 hit in the US.
When I think of music in the 1980s, Dead or Alive is generally one of the first things I think about, for whatever reason, because of this song...and this incredibly strange video...with his occasional eye-patch, random Vishnu-inspired sequence, and then the whole band slowly spinning round (you know, like a record) while singing the song with stoic faces.
You cannot separate this song from the 1980s; this is catchy, cheesy pop music, and it is not often that I will pass up listening to it...and you have to admit, whenever this is played at a wedding, everybody dances. I should know, I was usually the one playing it...
Don't You Want Me - The Human League
Up next in our meander through the 80s is this song (originally) from 1981: "Don't You Want Me" was easily British pop group The Human League's biggest hit, eventually being voted on (in the UK) as the peoples' 7th favorite song from the decade. This track is actually the fourth single to be released off of their third album Dare (the others being "The Sound of the Crowd", "Love Action" and "Open Your Heart). T
The crazy thing is, Philip Oakey actually did not want to release the song as a single at all, feeling that 'the public was probably tired of hearing The Human League' and that the record companies choice of a "poor quality filler track" like "Don't You Want Me", a strange pop song about relationship and sexual power politics, would probably be a disaster.
Well...sometimes artists are a little too close to things to see them for what they are; we all do it...and Oakey was definitely wrong with "Don't You Want Me".
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
Dave had swung by while I was writing this list to put The Guys from {PODCAST} together for this week, and we were talking about the last couple of spots for this shockingly, consistently 1980s list, and we were talking about Duran Duran (as you do), and he mentioned a different Duran Duran song for this list, as he was sure I had already talked about "Hungry Like the Wolf". I checked, and apparently...I hadn't.
SO HERE'S HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF, what is easily one of my favorite synthpop songs of all time, let alone the 1980s, off of what is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best albums of the 1980s Rio, and is Duran Duran's best single.
Strangely enough, the only place where "Hungry Like the Wolf" charted at #1 was in Canada, and on a sub-chart on Billboard...I don't get it, but then again, it's the charts. They can be weird.
Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds
How else could we wrap up an all 1980s list? I mean, really?
This song is probably best known due to it's use at the beginning and end of the John Hughes classic The Breakfast Club, and a pile of other media (often parodying its' use in The Breakfast Club). The single "Don't You" was actually a bit of a transition for the band, who were moving from their synthpop roots into more of a rock sound, however this track hit at the perfect time, with the perfect movie and rocketed up to #1 on a number of different charts...
Except in their home charts in the UK...who seem to have very mean charts for local talent...
The May Throwback Tracks Apple Music Playlist is now ready to go! As per usual, I've done my best to turn them into a cohesive list, but it's a little all over the place...Plus, the first Throwback Tracks Apple Music Playlist, with all of the songs from the inaugural month of 'Throwback Tracks' here on The Guys From is still available.
Don't forget to check out the latest Tuesday Tunes for your new music fix, as well as the May Tuesday Tunes Apple Music Playlist here.
See you again next Thursday with some new....oldies...
-S (@Shauncord)