I once read somewhere that olfactory memories are the strongest (I don’t remember the specifics because I didn’t smell it), but I’d beg to differ. In my opinion, songs provide the greater capacity to throw you back, and here are some 80’s songs that do.
For starters, movie themes are cheats, and Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World is no exception, so much so that I also refer to it as the Real Genius song. It always instantly conjures this image in my mind:
Everybody wants to butter the world.
For whatever reason, The Motels’ Only the Lonely always reminds me think of playing summer baseball. My best guess as to the reason why? I used to watch Casey Kasem’s America’s Top 10 (or some other show like that… I don’t remember because I didn’t smell it) before I’d ride my bike to the park. As it is with most of these aural/cerebral connections… it’s best not to ask how or why.
I was only the lonely in right field.
This one’s an easy link up – Janet Jackson’s When I Think of You always makes me think of my first girlfriend, Brenda. I was in the sixth grade; she was in fifth. She was a cheerleader. This was the song that her team (group?) performed to at the Pontiac Silverdome. The odd memory attached to this? The handled neon green comb I used to carry around with me to fix my spiked haircut:
It kind of looked like this, but more rounded and more neon green.
This one is a bit sentimental. Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out always hurls me back to an early 80’s winter when I went ice fishing with my dad and his friends.
J. Geils Band’s Centerfold is about a man’s discovery of his childhood dream girl growing up and appearing in an adult magazine. To me, it’s about summer camp and reading this:
My memory has just been sold... on eBay for $1.09.
Unfortunately, Bryan Adams’ Cuts Like a Knife also makes me think of comic books… except I was in college, driving around town in a burgundy Cadillac Brougham in a pony tail and trench coat, searching for back issues, listening to his greatest hits cassette, So Far So Good.
Throughout the years, commercials have ruined many popular songs by using them to push products. Not only do the songs get overplayed, but they also become synonymous with that product.
Want to know the source of this rage? Budweiser has a couple of radio spots currently playing in which, I believe, this song is being ripped off:
I couldn’t find the spots anywhere on the TripleDoubleU, but one is about baseball being America’s pastime, and the other is about how there is 24 happy hours across the world.
If anyone can find those for me, I’d greatly appreciate it. I have far more ripping and riffing to do…
I was going to start this post with the video for Wings’ Silly Love Songs, and then mention that the following songs were exactly the opposite of Paul McCartney’sfluffy attack on John Lennon. So I did, but I don’t think that they are that different after all.
A love song is a love song is a love song is a sad testament to an abusive relationship. You’ll see…
MTV may no longer be Music Television, but that doesn’t mean videos no longer exist. I know, right?
Today I present some videos that are, in my opinion, better than the songs they’re meant to showcase.
(I didn’t include any 80’s songs such as A-Ha’s Take On Me or Genesis’ Land of Confusion due partially to the fact that back then MTV still meant Music Television, and also… songs from the 80’s are still good in a kitschy sort of way.)
The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
A very simple song with a very simple message in a very simple – but quite time-consuming to make – video.
Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We’re Going Down
This could have been a movie, me thinks. An independent film, of course. A pretentious one.
Nickelback – Savin’ Me
The concept doesn’t fully kick in until 1:30 minutes in, but this video is certainly worth the watch.
OK GO – This Too Shall Pass
If you haven’t seen this yet, here ya (OK) go.
Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up
You may argue that the song is good, but I’d still argue the video is better. For the (mostly) uncut version, click here. (I say mostly uncut because this is still missing the heroin and pedestrian hits… intense video, eh?)
This song has been stalking me, and if it had any lyrics, it would quickly make my Kamikaze Karaoke list. It’s already a contender to supplant a tune in my Unholy Trilogy(these are the three songs that will make me leave a bar).
And as much as I loathe Eric Johnson’s Cliffs of Dover because of this smug fucking kid (to be honest, I probably would have hated the riffs without his shit-eating grin), this song is unforgivable for being… yeah, I’m going to just go with being.
He used that card to pick out his shirt color at Sears.
With all the brouhaha about the World Cup (and the brew-ha-ha’s over funny beer cups), I started thinking… hey, the band Yellowcard must have gotten their band name from yellow cards. Since I got the soccer-referenced band name out-of-the-way, let’s move onto some others:
FOOTBALL
Not this kind of nickel back...
Nickelback is a Canadian band named after a position in an American sport. They claim their name is in reference to change band member Mike Kroeger would return to customers while working at Starbucks, but that’s suspect. Under this pretense, the band could have been named Sixcentsback or Buck-O-Nine. I’m sticking to the football ties.
Helmet could fall under football… or baseball… or hockey… or bicycling… but I tend to believe their moniker derives from Vikings… if Vikings were condoms.
HOCKEY
When you only got 100 years to live, you don't need to see crap like this.
You wouldn’t think a guy with a high-pitched falsetto would be a hockey fan, but John Ondrasik must be enough of when to name his band himself, Five for Fighting. I was going to let this be a standalone entry, until I came across a mention of The Zambonis. “Who they hell are they?” I said to myself. “I won’t include them if I never heard any of their music.” Turns out, I did. Hockey Monkey was the theme song to a short-lived show I enjoyed (and forgot to include on this list) called The Loop:
BASEBALL
Alfred Hitchcock meets Christopher Lloyd and Tony Danza in "Birds in the Outfield"
Are you ready for the battle of the one hit (baseball pun!) wonders?
One of my all-time favorite songs from the 80’s has to be Your Love by The Outfield, my primary entry for the All-American Rejects Sport. On the other hand, Fastball’sThe Way has to be one of the most annoying songs from the 90’s (mostly courtesy of overplay… but still).
BASKETBALL
Bill Berry traveled from the Chicago Bulls to the Washington Wizards, but he's only one guy.
This sport was the toughest one. I was hard half-court pressed to think of a single entry here. And suddenly there were two (courtesy of my boss/friend Paul):
Is it just me, or does this song sound about thirty years too late?
Considering that’s the goal of singer La Roux, then job well done. I was going to write more about them (they are a duo under the guise of a solo act), but I digress…
I wanted to shine some light on a memory this current song drudged up… ever hear of Swing Out Sister?
They don’t sound the same. Usually when I post about two songs like this, I state that. But in this situation I’ll admit that the synapses were bridged, and nothing more.
May either one or both get stuck in your head today.
So long. Farewell. Auf weidersehen. Goodnight. (How about that little ear worm for you?)
I once wrote a poem entitled, “Where Do All the Deleted Letters Go?” (I considered posting it here, but that would have required me importing some old ASCII code documents into Word and performing a lot of clean up. Needless to say, if anyone requests it, I’ll post it in the comments.)
Anywhoknowswhereallthedeletedlettersgo, one letter can make a world of difference. Whether it’s changed out, or simply added, an entire piece can gain new meaning and influence. Take the song Don’t You (Forget About Me) as an example (via Moviefone):
The theme song of ‘The Breakfast Club‘ was originally called ‘Won’t You Forget About Me?‘ but was changed to the more insistent ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)‘ after the song’s writer, Keith Forsey, learned that Molly Ringwald’s and Judd Nelson’s characters wind up together in the end. The Simple Minds recording went on to become one of the biggest hits of 1985.
It’s not a huge deal, but it’s still a deal, so let’s make a deal or no deal. Sorry about that. I don’t know what my deal was there.
So I thought of a couple of letter changes and editions that might make a hit song not so much so…
Britney Spears’ Toxic becomes Tonic
Updated lyrics:
With a taste of your lips
I now did decide
You’re tonic, I’m sipping soda
With a tastelessness of a seltzer slide
I’m indifferent to you
Don’t you know that you’re tonic
Finger Eleven’s Paralyzer becomes Paralyzed
Updated lyrics:
Well I am paralyzed
And I seem to be stuck by you
I want to make any move
You’re also staying still
If your body matches
What my eyes can’t do
You probably won’t move left or right, too
Me in my bed by you
Kesha’s Tik Tok becomes Tike Toke
Updated lyrics:
Don’t stop, sip some pop
Mama, roll my doobie up
Tonight, I’mma bite
Teddy Grahams all night
Tike toke on the bong
But the blazin’ don’t stop No No Joan Goodnight, Moon
I would have written more, but I thought this was a funny enough ending.
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