PLEASE NOTE: The recordings reproduced here were "burned" from my own vinyl collection and are presented unnamed and unattributed as an activity for learning and discussion. Wimpiest way to avoid copyright issues EVER!
Was there ever anything as fun as going to "New Wave Nite" at the dance clubs in the early 1980s? Oh, I was so there. Most of the big dancefloor hits from that era are readily available from Amazon, iTunes, etc. Do you want "Sex Dwarf" by Soft Cell? No problem! Extended Duran Duran (*shudder*) remixes? No problem! Early Simple Minds singles? Easy as pie!
But the recording industry isn't able to keep absolutely everything in print all the time, so this week I've digitised some big hits from that scene which are difficult-to-impossible to locate these days. Can you name that tune?
First up, who was the member of a revered early British punk group who went on to have a briefly successful solo career? This was a massive hit that sent people stampeding to the dancefloor, and yet neither of these 1982 12" mixes has ever been released on CD, and even the album from which the single was drawn is currently unavailable:
Mystery Song 1, Dance Version (4:30, 5.3mb mp3)
Mystery Song 2, Extended Dub Version (9:02, 10.6mb mp3)
Next up we have the tune associated with the awful album cover art featured this week. Check out these guys:
Would you believe they had one of the hippest, most popular dance smashes of 1981-2, a song so catchy that Prince, upon hearing it in Europe, arranged for its release in the US and totally copied its sound for his own "Erotic City"? Name that currently unavailable tune:
Mystery Song 3 (5:42, 6.7mb mp3)
EDIT: I think my favorite thing about Mystery Song 3 is that it was apparently inspired by a friend's death by heroin overdose, but if you listen to the lyrics, they seem to be advocating cocaine as an alternative. Wacky!
So, OK... those aren't really that hard. Are you ready for the advanced round? This song blew my mind when it came out in 1982, and it still impresses me today with its cool electronics, great production and morbid, straight-faced British wit. Probably only advanced masters of Eightiesology will be able to identify this, but I think all of you will enjoy it:
Mystery Song 4 (6:21, 7.5mb mp3)
Can you name these tunes?
12 comments:
Hee hee! Very good!
One thing I love about "White Horse" is that they seem to be saying, "If you want to party, don't do heroin, do cocaine!"
Every time I hear "white horse" I think of an argument that I had with someone who insisted that the song was about Tampons.
Dear Peteykins,
Loved the flashback. Living in retrofabulous Tampa in a retrofabulous home, you brought me back to my days in grad school....ah youth!
DeeDee Chambers
Did you know Laid Back also did a *sublime* tune following called 'Sunshine Reggae'?
Now who/what is the third track?
BTW, I LOVE your blog/writing/commentary/humor/music!
OK, Homosapien is available on CD on one of those Big Hair 80s Hits type compilations.
This whole blog post sounds like WLIR in 1982. I love it!
You can find Peter Shelly's "Homosapien" on Rhino's (Just Can't Get Enough) New Wave Hits of the '80s - Vol 05.
Laid Back's "White Horse" is on Rhino's Street Jams: Electric Funk Part 4. I always try to seak that one on at any party where I have access to the CD player!
I've never heard number 4 before.
Great challenge!
Ah, good tips, Johnny!
So, OK... Song #4 is "Person to Person" by The Hypothetical Prophets. The b-side, "Fast Food" is really awful in a way that only British people trying to fake Western accents can be awful.
Wow, the lyrics on that Person2Person track are faboo! To bad about the cheesy, Casio-keyboard accompaniment. And what's up with the sudden inclusion of Beach Boys back-up singing at the end? Trippy!
Actually, the lyrics on Person2Person remind me of Big Audio Dynamite.
When I googled "person2person lyrics," all the top hits were on some proposed Christian ezine by the name Person2Person. I say proposed because although them religious types were apparently all het up...
http://tinyurl.com/oryvv
...you can't find said ezine anywhere.
Yay!
Wow, Prince didn't just copy it, he totally STOLE about four measures of it. And looped it.
I'd never made the connection, because while Prince is still played from this era, I much more rarely hear the original Laid Back version of this song. In fact, I can't remember the last time I heard it before this. Awesome.
the (Hypothetical) Prophets were Karel Beer & Bernard Szajner … see http://www.szajner.net/
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