The impact of women in music throughout the 80s should be obvious with our girl Madonna dominating the charts going head to head with the biggest pop stars of all time including Prince and Michael Jackson. I could dedicate a top 10 list to my favorite female recording artists/songs from the 80s. Instead the three below represent my role models. The all-female band, alternative, record producer. That’s on my resume.
According to the 1988 Billboard charts and KROQ playlist, this marked the beginning of my musical preferences veering away from the mainstream or popular. My favorite songs from 1988, not charting, were either B sides or 12” records Rex and others introduced me to. I will select three songs/records that I am somewhat less excited about this year.
I loved INXS and watched the boys become superstars as expeditiously as possible. After Shabooh Shoobah most of the their singles were on the poppy side and I never purchased another record. I give Need You Tonight a generous 4/5 including the cool music video.
This selection represents the soon to be, fleeting 80s era. This song by The Bangles is a 60s cover. The 80s was a decade that recycled 60s music on the side. This song also represents the end of my adolescence. I’ll give it a noteworthy 3.5/5 stars.
I didn’t love What Have I Done to Deserve This initially but I was informed it is cult classic. It is a cut and I will give it a well-deserved 4/5 stars.
I have openly expressed my preference for hip hop and rap music created prior to 1992. Selecting 1987 at random, I aim to find three hip hop records from that year that I can genuinely endorse. While 1987 may be considered early in the history of hip hop, it undeniably falls within the golden age of the genre.
It is time for me to introduce the audience to my best friend and long time music partner aka Rex. His most recognized moniker is DJ 7Up which is also used by a more popular DJ. This is my aka Rex.
I could have brought him up in 1983 when posting Fascination or State Farm. It was Don Quixote that reminded me of how influential, inspirational and enlightening my relationship with aka Rex turned out to be throughout most of my life. He introduced me to house music, high energy music, Euro-disco and he was one of the first individuals who discussed record production with me. I am going to play you one of our collaborations when we transition to my first record label in 1999.
Our first recording was made as the duo The Art Department circa 1987. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those sound recordings preserved. They were epic records created by two 18 year bffs that put their similar taste in funky up tempo music to work.
Who doesn’t love Stevie Wonder? I am dedicating Go Home to my mother. I’m not sure she if she bought this single. However I know her taste, she probably did.
The Smiths were my favorite band in high school. Keep in mind I have many favorites. In 1986 they were getting ready to break up and Bigmouth was being played on KJET. For some reason I never paid attention to Morrissey’s music post Smiths.
My last favorite funk band coming out of the 70s is doing alright in the 80s, compared to Parliament/Funkadelic and Slave, anyway. Cameo’s sound is changing in the 80s as reflected by the smaller band line up and a more electronic sound. A lot of people became familiar with Cameo for the first time when Word Up came out. I suppose the music industry blessed Larry Blackmon with a major label deal when most of the other funk bands were out of luck and going out of business.
From here on I will preview the charts and decide which one(s) I will select from. It is confirmed, there was nothing on the Billboard charts that knocked me off my feet in 1985. I was definitely listening to alternative music formats. It is (is it)ironic that the most popular songs played on said radio stations did not generate #1 hits.
Somebody should jog my memory. If 1985 was a prolific year in black music, I must inevitably like many of those songs/records. I just don’t recall because I was pre-occupied with alternative rock and all things white in Bellevue, Washington.
I remember using this blessed 4 track recorder as early as 1985 but I can’t find much information on it. I was a home studio recording artist playing the guitar, bass, drum machine, supplemental keyboards and trying to sing in 1985. I never mastered the Fostex X-26, meaning I never ping ponged any track so I didn’t go pass 4 track recording. Limiting my compositions and imagination. I didn’t realize there was a big difference between recording artist and record producer until around 1990.
I sent some demo tapes to the major labels in the mid 80s. No offers but I did get a rejection letter from Benny Medina. I should have kept it. Might be worth something today. My style in the 80s was alternative dance music. I was trying to mesh the syncopated rhythms I loved with alternative rock arrangements.
The pop charts in 1984 were not impressive in my humble opinion. In retrospect, I wasn’t listening to “pop” other than what I stumbled across via MTV or someone else’s radio. My boombox was tuned to KJET 1600 and my Walkman contained cassette tapes from The Smiths and Inxs for example.
Here are three of my all time favorite records/songs from 1985. 1985 was a powerful year in music no matter what you listened to. I was listening to alternative rock. We have come to a crossroads. Please make a note of it.
Be sure to listen to these records. Yes indeed alternative rock was my favorite music genre for many years constituting the most impressionable years of my life. I was an aspiring rock star in 1985 with three whole years of guitar playing under my belt no less. At least I could hear the guitar in so-called rock music.
I’m already familiar with rap and hip hop in 1985. It didn’t make a strong first impression on me at all.
