twelve (theme: guilty pleasures from the 80s)

[amethysting.livejournal.com]

Get Outta My Dreams (Get Into My Car)
Billy Ocean
Tear Down These Walls
1988

You know, apparently I HAVE NO SHAME.

In the search for an 80s guilty pleasure, I listened to (and watched videos of) George Michael (both solo and the WHAM! years), The Culture Club, Kajagoogoo, The Human League and...maybe a Cher video (maybe).  I listened to a slew of one-hit-wonders and thought, "You know, You Spin Me Round is a pretty darn good song.  And, I am willing to shout that from the rooftops!"

I also found, that when I listened to the songs, I didn't get the...feeling I was after.  The songs that I guess would normally be considered cheesy...I listened to songs like "Tainted Love" and "Whip It" more when I was in CEGEP and university, and at 80s night at Cafe Campus.

So, I felt that I had to go back...back to that forgotten little thread of a song that I could kind of sense stored at the back of my mind.  I wanted a song that I actually HEARD and KNEW in the 80s.  I started looking at Billboard charts because I knew that I wouldn't just know the title and artist of the song.  I would know it when I heard it.  I narrowed my choice down to two songs, the one I posted and "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals.  I decided I didn't feel all that embarrassed about Fine Young Cannibals (they did, after all, attempt some interesting things with the snare drum).

Which brings me to Billy Ocean.  You know how there are just certain people that you associate with...cheesiness?  Like, Neil Diamond or Paul Anka...anyway Billy Ocean falls into that category of individuals.  Like he just exudes cheesiness (see album cover).

Okay, I am going to serruptiously listen to "Get Outta My Dreams" whilst sitting at my desk. 
This song starts with an engine revving.  Yeah!  That lets us know right away that it is about "cars" and that is awesome!
I love the screaming synth and Uncle Sam HEY YOU that kicks things off (also the female, "Who me?" that responds).  It really sets the tone.  I love the drum machine, horns (sax solo!) and synth combo.  Also, the ooh, ooh female background vocals.  The lyrics are...well, a sampling:

"I'll be the sun
Shining on you
Hey Cinderella
Step in your shoe
I'll be your non-stop lover
Get it while you can
Your non-stop miracle
I'm your man

Lady driver
Let me take your wheel
Smooth operator
Touch my bumper"

I don't know about you, but my heart is all a-flutter.
I love that near the end, you're thinking, oh, the song is over...oh no my friend...after the tribal drumming interlude and sax solo there is more!  This song seems to be unnecessarily...long.  Like, really Billy Ocean?  What else is there to say?  WE GET IT.

BUT, what I really love about this song is that it was an insta-time machine back to 1988.  I was 6 again.  In kindergarten.  Dancing around on the squeeky floor to whatever was playing on the radio in the kitchen.

ALSO:

1) This song reminds me of ABC (the TV station) which made me feel warm and fuzzy for some reason.
2) A parallel can be drawn between this song and David Hasselhoff's gem, "Jump Into My Car" which reminds me of travelling in Europe in 2006 (it was a big hit in Germany).

twelve. [THEME: guilty pleasures from the 1980s]

[cabaretlights.livejournal.com]

New York's in Love
Artist: David Bowie
Album: Never Let Me Down
Year: 1987
♥: There is a period of David Bowie's career which, even among dorky uberfans such as myself, is generally swept under the rug and left undiscussed (even Bowie himself is embarrassed). "Are you sure he released an album after Labyrinth? Like ARE YOU SURE, because I don't think that EVER HAPPENED."

It did happen.

And it is glorious, magical, ridiculous, godawful 80s pop.

There is no trace of Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust, or the cocaine-addled Thin White Duke on this album; no brilliant poetry or intelligent composition; no slow instrumentals or heartstopping brilliance. Yeah, no -- the only way you'd know this is Bowie is that unmistakable and undeniably gorgeous voice (honestly, about 1/3 of my heart is devoted to love of his voice). The timbre of his voice in the 80s is my favourite, and it comes out in full force on this album -- rich, vibrating, accented, wow.

So this album was one of the first I bought when I rediscovered my love for him in grade 11 and frantically sook out his entire discography (spring 2003; I'll never forget it -- without any exaggeration, that period of my Bowie obsession kickstarted the rest of my life). I was coming home from a karate symposium in London, ON, and my partner and I stopped in a secondhand CD shop before getting on the train. It's hard for me to consider the songs as separate entities because this entire album sounds pretty much the same, and I giddily listened to it for seven hours straight as we hurtled along the Windsor Corridor. There are two songs, however, which stick out like sore thumbs covered in hot pink bubblegum.

One is "Beat of Your Drum", and one is "New York's in Love", and it took until about five minutes ago to actually decide which one I was going to post. I probably prefer "Beat of Your Drum" -- it's got the kind of hook I love, and the lyrics are a bit less inane than the rest of the album (though...still pretty inane) -- but "New York's in Love" is pure springtime. BUT, since it's disgusting outside and I'm looking for something to remind me of summertime, and since I love the undeniable emotion at 0:49 ("New York's in loo-ve") ------

HERE WE GO.
It's pretty bad. The "koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo"s are especially ridiculous, and it's hard not to giggle at how terribly of its time it is, but something about it works. How he rolls his 'r's, how you can picture him dancing like a crazy person, how easily it makes you dance down the street to it (especially a city street: there have been many March/April struts down McGill College to this song, on my part, as sad as that may be to admit!). NEW YORK'S IN LOVE! You can see bad 80s fireworks (or maybe just cans of neon hairspray) exploding everywhere.

Plus: "Nothing left here but a raging blaze" is kinda keeping me going right now. Bowie has a habit of doing that -- 70s genius or not, hah.