Goodbye, Dave.

We're taking another break from our alphabetical countdown of music from the 80s today.

Tonight, David Letterman's last show will be broadcast, after being a late-night television staple since 1982. Unless this is your first time in about a month that you're online, you've no doubt seen tributes and articles ad nauseam about Letterman and his legacy. There are articles covering every aspect of his two late night shows, Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Show with David Letterman. I'll leave it up to you to scour the net to find them. They won't take long to find.

I watched David Letterman from the very beginning. (Before the beginning, really. I had seen quite a few of his short-lived daytime show, The David Letterman Show in 1980.) And I knew that I was seeing something different and special. Here was a guy that would take a needle to the balloon of pomposity, bursting it with every chance that he could. You couldn't be pretentious and "hollywood" on his show without being called out on it. And you needed to have something to say. Even if it was something that no one but you would understand. It was okay to be an oddball on his show. After all, aren't we all oddballs to one degree or another, with Dave, himself, often the oddest of the odd.

I said that we were taking a break from our focus on music from the 80s. But, an article about David Letterman's legacy wouldn't be complete without at least a mention of his importance to bringing music that had never been on a national stage before to the masses. Before his show, it was rare that rock music would be featured on a talk show. Bands that did show up were ones that had been around for ages or had "proven themselves" by having hit songs on the charts. Dave's show brought bands that no one had ever seen before on television. Acts like The Talking Heads, Tom Waits, and Lene Lovich got rare if not the first exposure to a mass audience on his show. But, perhaps, the biggest band to debut (at least in American television) on Dave's show was REM. On October 6, 1983, they performed "Radio Free Europe" and "So. Central Rain" (though at the time, that song had no title.)  Here's that performance:

And a quick interview that Dave did with the band between songs: (This was not something that you saw, at the time, and is even more rare today.)

And here's an article in which Mike Mills, of REM, talks about that fateful appearance.


Dave's will no longer be on our televisions every night. Hopefully, we'll see him somewhere before long doing something equally groundbreaking as his first 33 years were. As a companion piece to his last show, which airs tonight, (or has already aired by the time you read this), here is the very first episode of Late Night with David Letterman.

Thanks, Dave. We'll miss you. Hope to see you soon.

80s Music A-Z: H

We come to the letter H in our trip through the musical 80s alphabet. And, surprisingly, there are quite a few choices for the representative act.

We start with a band that you would think would be the apex of 80s culture- Haircut One Hundred. If there is one thing that defined the 80s besides corporate greed, it was the fashion. Particularly, the haircuts. (See my entry on the letter F for more about this. Hint: Flock of Seagulls.) So, it stands to reason that a band with the name Haircut One Hundred would be the poster boys for 80s sartorial splendor. But, just look at these guys.

They look more like members of the a yacht club than a new wave band. Nick Heyward even has a scarf over his shoulders (or a sweater. What exactly is that thing?), for goodness sakes. A couple of members of the band are actually wearing sweaters. And Khakis! They probably should have stayed with one of their original band names- Boat Party.  If your grandma wouldn't have even given them a second glance at the time then,  Nope. Not 80s enough. The song, however, is undeniably catchy and ear-wormy.

Who's next? Let's try Hall & Oates.

Okay, they actually got their start in the 70s, and had some major hits in that decade, like "Sara Smile" and "Rich Girl", which hit number one in the U.S. in 1977. But it was in the 80s that they really hit it big with the albums Voices and Private Eyes, released in 1980 and 1981, respectively.  For the first three years of the decade, no single from the duo charted lower than number 9 in the U.S.. (With the exception of one single, "Your Imagination.")
But, inevitably, on any tribute to 80s music, there will be at least one of their hits. "Private Eyes", "Maneater", "Kiss On My List". One of those will be there. And they did sport the other haircut that defined the 80s, the mullet . But, since they really did have multiple hits in the 70s, it wouldn't be fair to have them be the representative for the 80s.

A somewhat obscure H in the 80s music world was an Australian band called Hoodoo Gurus. Forming in 1981, Hoodoo Gurus never had an album that charted in the top 100 in the United States. Although, the 1989 album Magnum Cum Louder almost got there at number 101. They were a big hit with the alternative/ college charts, however. Their first album, Stone Age Romeos, stayed number one for 7 weeks after its release. In 2007, they were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame and have been performing, on and off, since forming. Here is, possibly, the one song that you might remember from Hoodoo Gurus.

Catchy, right? But, maybe a bit too obscure to be the face of the letter H. Especially considering the next candidate.

Quickly, before we get to our official H selection, there is one more band that began with the letter H that bears mentioning. Heaven 17 didn't make much of a splash in the states, with only one song, this one,  hitting the top 100. But, the two ( and really only) members Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, were founding members of the band that takes our top spot today. Due to what Wikipedia calls "personal and creative tensions" they left that band to form Heaven 17. When they departed, they allowed the other band member, Phillp Oakley, to keep the name, along with all of the debts and commitments that they had made. This led Oakley to scramble to even have a band.
He and his then girlfriend recruited two girls that were dancing in a nightclub to act as backing vocals and dancers. These two girls appear on the cover of the band's most popular album, but didn't actually participate in the recording at all. That album was Dare and the band is The Human League. And if you haven't heard of the Human League, then you have never listened to any 80s music compilation nor 80s Lunch Hour on the radio, because, they are perhaps the epitome of 80s pop music and the only real choice to represent the letter H.

So, of course you've heard this one a million times. Which is why I am choosing a different song from the album Dare. This is "Open Your Heart."

What will represent the letter I? I can tell you that we'll probably be getting a bit cold before we unveil the answer.

80s Music A-Z: G

. And we're back!

It has been a while since the last post, and even longer since the last in this series.
I left you with the promise that we'd find out who would represent the letter G in our alphabetical sojourn through the music of the 80s. And so, I finally fulfill that promise now.

So, who shall be the sole representative of the letter G?

There are several good candidates.
 
One band is a sort of Supergroup of 80s bands- General Public. From the English Beat (whom, you may recall from a previous post, were really just The Beat) were vocalist Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger. Mickey Billingham and Andy "Stoker" Growcott from Dexy's Midnight Runners,
Mick Jones from The Clash, and The Specials' Horace Panter rounded out this Them Crooked Vultures of the 80s music scene.   Their first album, ... all the rage, was released in 1984.

 

The album was a success, moreso in North America than in England, owing much to the single "Tenderness. " It is, most assuredly, a song that will stick in your head, and one that might representthe zeitgeist of the 80s musical scene. But, alas, it is not to be. 

A very good case could also be made for the Go Go's. You have heard the Go Go's, if you've ever heard any radio station's 80's Lunch Break. Inevitably, they will be the band that plays after the B-52's "Love Shack" or after "Come On, Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. Their song "Vacation" probably played about 10 minutes ago. According to their official website, the Go Go's are "The most successful female rock band of all time." I believe it. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat went double platinum pretty quickly, and stayed at the Billboard number one spot for weeks. They continued to spawn hit albums and songs throughout the early 80's. And, as we've seen with several other acts from that time period, the Go Go's continue to perform even today. (Albeit in a slightly altered form, as bassist Kathy Valentine is no longer with them.)

But, no, the Go Go's are not our band of the day. That honor goes to another band that is still performing today. 

Gang of Four was, at the time, one of the most politically motivated and diverse in style of any band of the era. They named themselves after a group of Chinese revolutionaries, after all. 

With their mix of punk, funk, and dub, Gang of Four stood out from the pack. As a result, though they never made much of an impact on the charts in the U,S., they have been cited by artists like Michael Stipe ,of R.E.M., and Flea, of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, as influences. 

In their later years, their oeuvre expanded to include disco-influences, while keeping the political bite of their lyrics. Case-in-point, our video of the day. "I Love a Man In Uniform" was released in 1982 as part of the album Songs of the Free. It was quickly banned on British radio, as it coincided with the British invasion of the Falklands Islands. 

It's probably the one song from Gang of Four that stands a chance of being played on the radio today, with its funky disco-style and its motown-like backup singers. 

So, here, from 1982, is Gang of Four's "I Love a Man In Uniform." 

                                                                                                

Coming up next, as we continue our journey through the alphabet, the letter H. And there are more choices than you probably think. See you soon. And Thanks for Playing.