I’ve decided to forgo embarrassment and repetition and head in a different eighties direction than usual and focus on my musical evolution during the most formative years of my life, 1980 to 1990. What I found on the Top 40 radio (which was way better back then) and what my Uncle Jeff sent to me and my brothers in the form of 20 cassette tapes (IRS record releases, R.E.M., Fine Young Cannibals, New Order, The Pogues, Love & Rockets, The Feelies, Squeeze and Echo & The Bunnymen) have molded every aspect of my emotional and living landscape. I still have some of these cassettes. Each song to follow is embedded forever in a sea change of the ways I learned to be a part of the world…and apart from it.
And don’t forget to submit your Top 5 80s Song list for a chance to win an authentic Pac-Man lunchbox filled with 80s albums and movies. Learn more here.
1.) Prince—”Let’s Go Crazy” Purple Rain (Warner Bros., 1984)
On my 10th birthday in August of 1984, my dad got me a sweet boombox, Prince’s brand-new Purple Rain and took me and my friends to see the seminal-somehow film known as Purple Rain. I’ve been a slave to Prince ever since.
No matching videos2.) Cyndi Lauper—”Money Changes Everything,” She’s So Unusual (Sony, 1984)
This is a cover from the punk band The Brains, but I didn’t know it at the time. We played the grooves off this awesome record all the long hot Texas summer of 1984. I coveted her checkerboard side-shave, amazing hair and NYC attitude. She will always remind me of the summer of 1984, during which a boy told me I was beautiful, we chased dogs down hills, swam in Travis Lake and lived in the one place that mattered—NOW. I can still feel that Texas sun shining on my skin.
3.) Laurie Anderson—”O Superman,” Big Science (Warner Bros., 1982)
Played on a cassette in our Florida kitchen while my dad made dinner, Laurie Anderson was the weirdest curation of sound I had ever heard—kind of like David Bowie?—beautiful and mesmerizing and totally unforgettable. She really didn’t fit in with the pasta, but her sound shifted my heart toward the incredible possibilities of music outside of Top 40 radio. At that time, I loved Motley Crue and Ratt, too. But Laurie’s stayed with me to this day.
4.) The Feelies—”It’s Only Life,” Only Life (A&M, 1988)
I loved everything my Uncle Jeff gave me, and though his incredible box of cassettes was meant for me and my brothers, I definitely turned this one into mine. You know that feeling when you realize that there’s so much more out there to discover? The Feelies, who have influenced countless bands, including REM, did that for me and got me through middle school. Or out of it. Alive. It’s only life, after all.
5.) Love and Rockets—”No New Tale to Tell,” Earth Sun Moon (Beggar’s Banquet, 1987)
I totally stole this from my older brother. I put it the cassette player. Sat on my bed and listened to the whole thing straight through. Twice. My whole world changed. This is what good music sounds like, I thought. After listening to this record at the age of 14, finding great shit like this replaced Top 40 radio forever.
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