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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: 1980s

  • Boy Bands of the 1980s…

    Boy Bands of the 1980s…

    My recent obsession with Menudo has me thinking about boy bands from the 80s this week…

    When I was a teenager, I wasn’t into boy bands. I liked what was then called classic rock, music that is way older than I am. Back in my day, we had our share of boy bands. The New Kids On The Block were a big hit, as were New Edition. I preferred New Edition to New Kids, but I know a lot of my friends were fans of the slick dancing moves and silky harmonies both boy bands offered.


    New Kids On The Block’s big hit, “Please Don’t Go Girl”.

    Watching that video makes me suddenly feel ancient. It doesn’t seem like high school was that long ago, but it really was. The woman in the video looks a little too mature for the boys in New Kids On The Block, anyway. After “Please Don’t Go Girl” became a hit, New Kids On The Block became very popular. For awhile, they could do nothing wrong. But then they started to grow up and so did their audience. By the 1990s, they had become decidedly uncool. They changed their name to NKOTB, probably because New Men On The Block didn’t seem very catchy.


    New Kids gets edgy with “Hangin’ Tough.


    “Candy Girl” came out in 1983. I think I might have liked New Edition more because I was a lot younger when they made it big.


    A live performance of “Mr. Telephone Man”.

    Menudo was another boy band that was big in the 80s. I was first introduced to their very Latin sound when I was taking Spanish in school. My teacher was from Cuba and loved their music, so she shared it with the class.


    Here’s a video that features a very young Ricky Martin. I watch him wagging his ass and want to say, “Get it, boy!”


    Ricky Martin when he was brand new to Menudo… He was about 13 here.

    I didn’t like Menudo’s music that much back then, but I must admit I’ve been watching their old videos over the past few days. I can see why they were such a popular boy band back in the day. And Menudo avoided the problems associated aging bands. In most cases, members of Menudo were forced into retirement when they turned 16 or, in Ray Reyes’ case, when they grew too tall for the band.


    Menudo sings at a pool party in 1987. Check out the biker shorts!

    I suppose I could add other bands to this post. The Jacksons and The Osmonds could probably be considered boy bands, except they came from large singing families. And by the 80s, they were men, not boys. Watching these videos, I can’t help but wonder how these guys feel when they see themselves decked out in matching outfits, dancing and singing in front of a bunch of screaming girls. I think about the hours of rehearsals they must have endured to perfect those dance steps. And now, thirty years later, I wonder if the experience of being in a boy band was worth it to them. Money, fame, boyish good looks, and slick dance moves… who wouldn’t want to have those things going for them?

    I can’t help but remember South Park’s hit song…


    Watching boy bands makes me feel like a good finger bang…

  • Icky songs from the 80s…

    Icky songs from the 80s…

    Just the other day, while riding in the car with my husband, I was reminded of just how many icky songs there are out there…

    You’d think in this day and age, as Miley Cyrus twerks with Robin Thicke and shows us her tongue, people would have a rather high “ick” tolerance. And maybe they do. I can’t speak for everyone, especially as I’ve become middle-aged and decidedly uncool. Actually, I don’t think I was cool even when I was a young lass, but that’s beside the point. What I’m thinking about today is icky songs from the 80s. There were a lot of them back in the day.

    I started thinking about icky songs while listening to my iPod. A song from 1983 started playing. It was Kenny Rogers, back when he was still more or less “flavor of the month” and he was singing a song called “Scarlet Fever”. You’d think this was a ditty about a devastating communicable disease, but actually it’s about an underaged exotic dancer named Scarlet. Kenny sings the part of a horny middle aged man who went to the club where she was performing. There he was, lusting after a woman who looked 25, but he was told that she was just 16. The lyrics suggest that the guy just watches and appreciates her dance moves, but I think we know what he did when he went home.


    In 1983, this song was okay… but today, people would probably be scratching their heads and saying, “Eeeew.”

    After listening to this happy go lucky song about a middle aged man lusting over a teenager, I started thinking of other icky songs. One that popped into my head was Nick Gilder’s 1979 hit, “Hot Child In The City”. This was a one hit wonder about a guy who notices a hot young thing, loose and alone on the streets. I loved this song when I was a little kid, but now it kind of makes me cringe a little. It still has a great rock beat, but it’s basically a song about a mysterious girl who makes grown men lust after her.


    Keep your mind out of the gutter, you perverts!

    Sheena Easton had a hit song in 1984 called “Sugar Walls”. I always thought this song was kind of nasty. It was written by Prince during his nasty years and supposedly refers to the walls of Sheena’s vagina.


    This is a far cry from “Morning Train”, isn’t it?

    Benny Mardones had a hit with his song, “Into The Night”, which originally hit the charts in 1980, but made a comeback in 1989. I don’t know why this song became popular again since, to me, it sounds very much like a hit from 1980. But people apparently loved it, despite the lyrics about a guy lusting after a sixteen year old.


    It should be noted, Benny Mardones was 33 years old when this song originally charted. That doesn’t mean he was chasing teenagers, but still… eeew!

    The Police had a famous song in 1981 about a teacher tempted by a teenager… It’s one of their best songs in my humble opinion. Granted, The Police aren’t the ones chasing the young girl, though Sting was a teacher at one time. Perhaps this song was inspired by those days he spent in the classroom. In 1986, it was remade into an equally creepy slower version. For awhile, I liked the 1986 version better, but then I wised up.


    Lots of raw testosterone in this video…

    The Police had another creepy but awesome song in their 1983 hit, “Every Breath You Take”. That song was presumably about a woman who was fully grown, but the subject of a man’s relentless obsession.


    This song never gets old.

    In contrast to The Police and their brand of raw maleness, we have George Michael’s cool, obsessive, and slightly creepy number from 1987, “Father Figure”. I always liked this song, even though it’s definitely kind of icky.


    This video is high on estrogen… and rich with supermodels… George Michael was very much into sex in the 80s.

    And finally, there’s Madonna’s “Open Your Heart”. On the surface, this song doesn’t seem that icky… It’s the video that kind of skeeves me out. A young boy watches as Madonna gyrates and spins tassels on her boobs. Then, at the end of the video, they seem to strike up a playful friendship.


    Compared to “Sugar Walls”, maybe this is pretty tame… Still, I wonder how people would react if Madonna were an exotic male dancer and a young girl was in the role of the voyeur.

    Despite the ickiness of some of these songs, I like all of them. I guess that makes me a pervert.

  • Turning off the TV

    Turning off the TV

    Turning off the TV and turning on good music…

    TV

    Tuesday night, my husband Bill and I watched several episodes of South Park on Comedy Central. Wednesday morning, I turned on the TV to get my daily trash fix. It wasn’t working. I got nothing but “snow”. Realizing that sometimes the satellite goes on the fritz and fixes itself, I decided to wait it out. I turned off the TV and turned on iTunes, where I have several playlists that I made on days when I was in need of something to do. Wednesday’s selections came from my “comforting” playlist, which has a broad variety of music on it, everything from classical to new age to laid back songs by singer-songwriters. It’s a really nice playlist, if I do say so myself… very calming and soothing.

    By Thursday morning, I realized that the comforting playlist was making me feel like an old lady. I was starting to have flashbacks of being a child riding in the backseat of my dad’s perpetual stream of minivans, forced to listen to easy listening music while he very annoyingly tried to hum along. It wasn’t a very pleasant self-revelation, so when I discovered the TV was still out of commission, I switched playlists and turned on my 70s mix.

    The first few songs were kind of bizarre. While the 1970s was a treasure trove of good rock music, there were a few songs out there that seemed a little weird. And, of course there’s the whole disco thing to contend with. Just before bedtime, though, my iTunes 70s mix suddenly played a long string of excellent songs that even Bill appreciated. We got great songs by Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan, Rush, and John Lennon. Bill was particularly delighted by “All My Love” by Led Zeppelin, while I stayed up long enough to hear “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee.

    This morning, the TV is still not working properly, so I’ve turned on the 1980s mix. So far, I’ve heard “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree, “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash, “Dreamin’” by Cliff Richard, “Beds Are Burning” by Midnight Oil, “Who’s Holding Donna Now” by DeBarge and “Invisible Touch” by Genesis. It occurs to me that these songs are pretty pop-oriented. They were popular when I was coming of age. “Invisible Touch” makes me feel kind of ancient, actually, since it was a popular song when I was 14 and I will be turning 41 next month!

    I suppose if I start feeling really dated by noon, I’ll have to switch to my “Maneater” mix, which consists of songs about hard-hearted, predatory women. Yes, Hall and Oates’ “Maneater” is on that playlist, as is “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” by The Culture Club and “Cold As Ice” by Foreigner. Hmmm… it occurs to me that I really do need to start listening to newer music! Either that, or I should make a playlist of musicians I have recently discovered. The older I get, the more set in the ways I seem to become, though– and the more I seem to be like my parents at my age, who seemed hopelessly out of touch with the times. If anyone catches me listening to elevator music, do me a favor and get me to live music venue, stat!

    As for the TV, Bill says he’s going to try to fix it when he gets home from work. Since he’s not particularly handy, that means I’ll probably spend the next few days rediscovering old songs and finding new favorites. In all seriousness, I’ve actually kind of enjoyed not watching TV these past few days. I really should make a habit out of turning off the TV.

    Supertramp’s “Cannonball” is playing right now…