It Came From The 80s

In celebrating 29 years of MTV (to which half of that been dedicated to crap reality bullshit) we take a passing look at some of the bands that figured somewhat in the video music era.

Talk Talk-They lived on the diode and keyboard sound and borrowed from the New Romantic period plus Duran Duran and Bryan Ferry figured into their music too. I sure Mark Hollis looked in the mirror and wished he could be as soulful as Ferry. I came across them via confusion, supposedly Ed Hollis who was the Eddie in Eddie & The Hots and got their first single Talk Talk and actually enjoyed that song. But in the end, Talk Talk was more in line with OMD or Duran Duran rather than the Hot Rods. Which lead me to be less interested and listening to their retrospective proved that Synch pop of the 1980s is so damn dated. Their big hit: It's My Life.

Hooters-In 1985 they broke big with Nervous Night which gave us And We Danced, which still sounds great to this day and was a bright spot in Top Forty radio. Their first top forty hit was the oddball Christian-Reggae All You Zombies which hasn't aged very well. Day By Day the followup to And We Danced didn't do so well on the charts and later albums for Columbia and MCA got lost by the wayside. I remember at the time, their other labelmate The Outfield scored big time with Play Deep and Say It Isn't So but like The Hooters, their second album bombed and they too would move on to MCA.

Mr. Mister-Richard Page was a background singer that helped the success with REO Speedwagon so it was no big deal when he formed his own band and signed with RCA. Their big hit and biggest nadir is the Foreigner lite Broken Wings which continues to grate on people's nerves and ears on the eternal damnation we call soft rock radio. Kyrene was a better song, not as annoying but the followup album Go On flopped and Mr Mister was no more and Richard Page would go on to a solo career. But Broken Wings will continue to pay the bills since corporate radio seems to like that crap. The drummer for Mr. Mister would go on to play in King Crimson.

Level 42-One of the more better synth pop band in the mid 80s, they scored a big hit with Something About You but I think these guys had a bit more progressive rock in them at least in the early years they did. Later moved on to RCA for one and remained over the pond from there on out. But I do like their Best of that I found for a buck better than the Talk Talk best of.

A-ha Take On Me, what else do you need to know from these Swedish clowns? Further proof that 1985 was the worst year in recorded music prior to the discovery of the autotuner.