Closing Out The 80s: Tuesday MixTape

It's MixTape Tuesday again. This week we are closing out the 80's with way too many choices to cut out. It seems everyone over at Jen's place has broken the five song limit this week, even Jen. And duh, it's the music stupid. An overabundance of great, good and relevant tunes.

It was probably the decade where musically I had the most fun, other than the present. With reviewing, interviewing and just attending the shows I have been lately, this is a whole different kind of fun. But back then there weren't a lot of responsibilities to keep me away and let's face it, less responsibilities means more disposable income. I disposed of a lot of income on concert tickets.

I'm not sure how many songs will be on this list. I'm just looking at the bunch I have written down and will see where it goes. For me this was the MTV era, so I've used almost all of the original videos that appeared on MTV. Cheesy and wonderful.

Little Feat, great damn band. When founding member Lowell George died in 1979, the band took a hiatus. They came back strong with a brilliant album titled Let It Roll. There are easily five songs I could have picked, this album is still in heavy rotation at my place, but because it has style, great rhythm and it just rocks... the title song.

"Let It Roll"

Next up is my nod to the dance era, no not disco. More conga than hustle. I've showcased this on a previous blog as a birthday song to my bestie, but because I can never hear it without having a smile on my face or remembering a lot of champagne induced evening dancing to it... Buster Poindexter.

"Hot Hot Hot"

There were several great groups coming out of Australia in the 80's. One of them made a political statement and drove it up the charts. Their name was Midnight Oil and the song was...

"Beds Are Burning"

Asia had several hits, all really good. Always enjoyed the videos and I was a huge MTV girl back in the day. More about that later. Carl Palmer on the drums, yep worked for me. So did this song.

"Don't Cry"

When I first heard the voice of Mick Hucknall of Simply Red, I was hooked. So different, and so was his look with the wild red hair.  Loved this song the first time I heard it, love it still.

"Holding Back The Years"

While we are holding back, my next pick is a no-brainer for those who know me. Back to the MTV thing. While they had huge success with "Eye of the Tiger," the video age of MTV brought Survivor a new way to top the charts. With a new lead singer, one not exactly hard on the eyes, their video for "I Can't Hold Back" went to #1 in the MTV rotation. The fact that all these years later I would be able to interview, review and consider them friends of this blog is totally irrelevant. Or maybe not.

"I Can't Hold Back"

In 1981, Blondie released a song with something I was totally unfamiliar with. Rap. Sure, not what would become signature rap, but rap nonetheless. It made it to the top of the charts.

"Rapture"

Once the 80's started with the techno-pop shit, it lost me for the most part. While there were a few songs which were memorable, most were just annoying. I've showcased this song on an edition of Guilty Pleasures here on Kat's Theory of Music, and I'm throwing it in today. Howard Jones had a few decent songs, this was one of them,

"No One Is To Blame"

Ok, now I feel like I've stayed way past dessert. But there's one more song which denotes for me anyway, the whole MTV era. In fact, MTV is mentioned throughout the song. Who can forget Sting singing on this Dire Straits song, "I want my MTV"?

"Money For Nothing"

I'm just going to add a few honorable mentions because it's my blog and I feel like it.

Prince "When Doves Cry"
Rick Springfield "Jessie's Girl"
The B52's "Love Shack"
Queen/Bowie "Under Pressure"
"Bryan Adams "Run To You"
Cyndi Lauper "Time After Time"

A lot of fun revisiting that decade. Ok, Jen... bring on the 90's.