80s Leftovers Newsletter Back Issue #7

80's Leftovers
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Welcome to the monthly newsletter about the eighties.

Brought to you by: "InThe80s's" http://www.inthe80s.com/

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August 1999, Issue #7
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 0. Introduction
 1. Upcoming Eighties Events
 2. What's New at ChuckyG's?
 3. Favorite Misheard Lyrics This Month
 4. Favorite Top Ten List
 5. Review Of The Month
 6. Trivia Quiz
 7. Rant of the Month

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 0. Introduction
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I welcome any comments you may have at: chuck@worcestermass.com. This
newsletter comes out once a month, or however often I get a chance to
put one together.

This is not spam, you asked to be subscribed! To unsubscribe, send a
message to eighties-unsubscribe@makelist.com.

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 1. Upcoming Eighties Events
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There's a lot of 80s groups out touring this summer, I don't have a
complete list or anything, but the Ticketmaster web page will have
a list of what's coming to your town.

Paul Reubens aka "Pee-Wee Herman" is in a new movie, "Mystery Men"
starring a Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo. A Jody Watley is also
listed in the credits, but I'm unsure if it's THE Jody Watley, or
just an actress with a very famous sounding name.

Speaking of names you don't expect to see in the credits of a movie,
South Park the Movie sported a lot of cameos you wouldn't expect.
Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, Stewart Copeland of the Police, and Brent
Spiner of Star Trek the Next Generation.

Ben Stein of "Bueller, Bueller.." fame (and now his talk show, which
I have to admit, sort of grows on you) is fairly upset about the new
"Dick" movie about Richard Nixon. It seems that Stein was working on
a script about two "Valley Girls" working in the White House at the
same time the creator of the movie "Dick" was working as an intern
for him. Stein claims he has no plans to sue, but that he is somewhat
disappointed she didn't even call him to apologize.

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 2. What's New at ChuckyG's?
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Thanks for all the positive comments for last month's newsletter.
I'm a little embarrassed it had taken as long as it did due to the
construction of the new site and all. If you've been reading these
newsletters for the last 6 months or so, you'll notice the favorite
link of the month is gone. I just haven't been surfing many other 80s
pages lately, so I felt it better to do away with it.

Not much new on the site this month, I'm taking a break from adding
new features to make sure everything is functioning correctly. I'm
also spending a little more time on my Worcester, Mass webpage since
it's very neglected at this point.

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 3. Favorite Misheard Lyrics This Month
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Night Ranger's "Sister Christian"

Misheard:
Mowed her head....

Correct:
Motorin'......

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 4. Favorite Top Ten List
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Top Ten Albums this month:

By: Peter Chimmerault

10. Cheap Trick "Dream Police"
It's amazing how many of the rock groups from the seventies morphed
so effortlessly into new wavers. Besides Cheap Trick, groups like
J.Geils Band, The Tubes, REO Speedwagon, etc..

9. Split Enz "True Colors"
Pure Pop Perfection by the brothers Finn. Many albums before and
after just as good.

8. Thompson Twins "Here's To Future Days"
It's amazing to me how a group that came out with such a pure pop
masterpice as this, could follow up with pointless drek.

7. Bad Manners "Lip Up Fatty"
Another CD that will most likely not see the light of day for awhile
due to legal problems. Pure SKA done with sugh a joyfulness and
energy for days.

6. Joe Jackson "Jumpin Jive"
How can I pick the best Joe Jackson? Certainly not what he's most
remembered for, but what a way to get into swing. Classic big band
swing done by the new wave rocker.

5. Adrian Belew "Lone Rhinocerous"
Unfortunately, the master tapes are gone and a CD reissue is not
likely. Too bad, because this guy is brilliant!

4. XTC "Black Sea"
I might be dipping slightly into borderline 70's/80's but this
sleeper group of the 80's has brilliant lyrics and crafty tunes.

3. The Police "Zenyatta Mondatta"
The first three albums by the Police are flawless. This one happens
to touch my memory banks on the best.

2. The Specials "More Specials"
The genius Jerry Dammers introduced me to the world of
Lounge/Exotica on this daring follow-up LP.

1. Squeeze "East Side Story"
The Lennon & McCartney of the 80's. An album where they chose to
explore their creativity and still keep new-wavers happy! All
previous releases are brilliant!

I grew up remembering music mostly from the late 70's early 80's.
This is probably why most of my 80's albums mentioned are from that
period.

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 5. Review Of The Month
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(the best of) New Order

1. Let's Go (Nothing for Me)  10. Run
2. Dreams Never End           11. Round & Round (94 remix)
3. Age of Consent             12. Regret
4. Love Vigilantes            13. World
5. True Faith (94 remix)      14. Ruined in a Day
6. Bizarre Love Triangle      15. Touched by the Hand of God
7. 1963 (95 remix)            16. Blue Monday (88 remix)
8. Fine Time                  17. World in Motion
9. Vanishing Point

Why, oh why, would anyone create a "best of" CD with only the
remixes of a group's best known songs. With the current cover of
"Blue Monday" by Orgy still on the radio constantly (or at least
where I live) I really wanted to hear the original again, alas, it
was not to be. The liner notes don't really give much of an
explanation, and their pseudo question/answer format they use on the
linear notes is QUITE annoying.

Enough of the downside of this disc though, it does have some
definite positives. The remixes (of which there are four, denoted
above by the year of the re-release) are decent, if not a little
peppier than the originals. Someone had commented on a top ten list
on my site that they are simply amazed at how New Order was always
able to write uplifting sounding songs which at the same time have
somewhat depressing lyrics. Take for instance the following refrain
from "True Faith" (one of my favorite songs by them):

"My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

Is that not a depressing way to look at the loss of innocence? Yet
the overall feeling of the song (especially the remix) is very
uplifting, especially the refrain of the song, until you start
listening closely to the lyrics.

I give this disc a 3 out of 5. Which is somewhat low, but if they had
included the original AND remix versions of the songs they gave us
remixes of, it would be a 4, maybe 5. I recommend it to the casual
listener of their music, the fan already has the originals or should
just pick up their original albums. It's not like the remixes are bad
either. It's just disappointing to hear these versions instead of the
originals, especially the "Blue Monday" remix, I find it somewhat
annoying, with sampled sounds tossed in, fake reverb. It's cheesy in
a bad sense of the word.

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 6. Trivia Quiz -=- Music & Movie Quotes
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This Month's Quiz

5. "Senorita, solitaire, you got a certain kind of savoir-faire"
4. "1632, what is that, a year?"
3. "Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!"
2. "I'm a kid.  That's my job, that's what I do"
1. "Oh, God, Johnny, don't point that gun at me,
There's so many ways our lives have changed,
But please, I beg, don't do this to me"

Answers to last month's Quiz

5. "She was a fast machine, She kept her motor clean"
(A) AC/DC "You Shook Me All Night Long" - this should have been
pretty easy.

4. "Sorry folks, the park is closed. The moose out front should have
   told you."
(A) "National Lampoon's Vacation"

3. "Nations go to war over women like you, it's just a form of
   appreciation"
(A) Sheena Easton "Strut"

2. "A big good one always beats a rotten little one"
(A) "Yellow Beard" - right after he kicks the little girl into the
cellar. Why is this movie out of print? It's a classic.

1. "The hippies won't come back you say, Mellow out or you will pay"
(A) The Dead Kennedy's, "California Uber Alles" - I always wondered
what Jerry Brown thought of this song, they make him out to be Hitler
in it.

Check your answers in next month's newsletter.

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 7. Rant of the Month
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This month, I'm going to rant about the music channel known as VH-1.
What? They do so many cool "Behind the Music" specials and
documentaries etc. Well, my problem with their biopics is that they
are getting to be downright formula. Let's summarize a typical one:
"I'm nobody, I'm famous suddenly, I'm drunk/high/stupid/inflated ego,
I crash and burn, I'm nobody, I sober up, I have a new album, go buy
it." If it wasn't for the fact that each time a group that hasn't had
a big success chartwise recently, and has a new album coming out
soon, I doubt they would be doing a documentary on them. I can't
think of too many that end with the group retired and watching the
grass grow. Those are reserved for the "Where are they now?"
segments.

What really angers me though is the "Big 80s" CDs they release. About
the only time we see 80s videos on VH-1 now is when they show them on
"Pop-Up Videos" (which is getting tired) or when they are releasing a
new compilation CD. Then we see a half hour special, with snippets of
really cool videos that are then bumpered with small snippets of
someone talking about the significance of the song or maybe a small
band interview of a half minute.  Infomercial would be a good
description for this "programming".

VH-1 is starting to prove my "If it's related to Mtv and it's cool,
give it 6 months and it'll start to suck" philosophy.  VH-1 has come
a long way since they were showing stand up comedy segments and very
little music, but they're starting to go stale. Let's hope they have
some new ideas for the fall season.  The Rock and Roll Jeopardy is a
tired concept, the questions are far too easy sometimes, and well,
wouldn't reruns of "Remote Control" be far more interesting? A game
show that is different and unique like "Remote Control" was at the
time would be a very welcome change.

At least VH-1 has gotten some things correct though. They've stopped
trying to cater to the over 40 crowd like they used to. They've
realized their biggest audience potential lies with "Children of the
80s," the people who made Mtv the success it was, and grew up
watching it. People who didn't grow up with Mtv, aren't going to be
as interested in an older version of Mtv, it doesn't hold the same
significance. The "Hard Rock Cafe Live" performances are a
welcome breath of fresh air, it's too bad they schedule them in
such weird time slots. Let's hope they tweak their lineup this fall,
and maybe trim back on the documentaries a little. Let them be more
like a radio station motto I used to hear in the 80s "Less talk, more
rock".

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