Remember the 80s

Those of you who were still learning your ABCs in the 80s may be shocked to learn that most of the cool kids weren't listening to The Fall, Mission of Burma, Galaxie 500 and the other bands that have been retrospectively claimed by a bunch of fibbing hipsters. No indeed. At my junior high/high schools, the reasonably clued-in were into "new wave"--an amorphous genre that included everything from popular hits by the Thompson Twins, Billy Idol and Simple Minds to more musically adventurous (for the time) stuff from REM, XTC, The Smiths, The Cure, Killing Joke, Elvis Costello or whatever else the local new wave station deemed broadcast-worthy (which in those pre-Clear Channel/Infinity days could in fact be a pretty interesting setlist).

Most of the bands were British--which only fuelled my desire to go to school in England (a seed that was planted in my pre-teen years by an addiction to Enid Blyton's boarding school books and a concept my parents regarded with a great deal of mirth). And a lot of them relied on that instrument that has again become in the 2000s the most fashionable accessory for smart, young bands: the synthesizer. Obviously, there were a lot of dreadful synth pop albums released in the 80s. Too many to count, really. But there were also a couple of good ones--albums that are probably too easily dismissed today because they don't fit the "post-punk" label that's made contemporary heroes out of Gang of Four and because . . . hell, they were popular. These two albums were great then, and they're still pretty amazing:

Cupid & Psyche 85 - Scritti Politti

Ignore the post-structuralism informed lyrics, and pretend these are straight-up love songs (I certainly didn't know what singer/enigmatic frontman Green Gartside was talking about when I was a kid and I wish I could erase that information from my memory now). Focus on those wonderfully synthetic beats, those body-moving grooves and the way Gartside's voice is as high and as sweet as the younger Michael Jackson's (except, of course, without the subsequent icky connotations). Read more about Scritti Politti here.

Perfect Way (mp3) - Scritti Politti

Lover To Fall (mp3) - Scritti Politti


Upstairs At Eric's - Yaz

I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
-Losing My Edge, LCD Soundsystem

Wise man, James Murphy. Because as artificial as Vince Clarke's instrumentation was, this Yaz record oozes humanity, thanks in no small part to Alison Moyet's rich, honeyed voice. I bet most people who lived through the 80s, and even a lot who didn't, know most of these songs pretty well--danced to them, did homework to them, made out to them . . . performed pep club routines to them (cough, cough--S, you can resume your laughing fit. D, there's the embarrassing personal revelation you wanted).

Situation (mp3) - Yaz

Only You (mp3) - Yaz