Re: Plastic Fantastic

Hi

I'm a 19 year old living in a suburban, pop culture shithole and take refuge in my expanding music collection, recently through the wonders of my credit card and online shopping, i came into owning 4 of the greatest pop albums of all time being ;

Television personalities : And don't the kids just love it
Soft boys: underwater moonlight...and how it got there
the dB's : stands for decibels/repercussions
Feelies: Crazy rythyms

these have to be some of the best pieces of pop music ever made, and kill the myth that the 80's sucked, too bad no one i know is interested in , or wants to know about these marvels (yet) , (I can be very persuasive).

Anyhoo, wouldn't mind to hear anyother similar discoveries, or be regaled with tales of the bands listed,

P.S( in another find, the box set of wire's first three albums pink flag/chairs missing/154 all for 18.99 Australian)

The Only Ones, while more traditional (less quirky) are a band I always associated with the Soft Boys. They're the Stones to the Soft Boys Beatles (or something like that). Two bargain priced compilations, "Special View" or the more comprehensive "Immortal Story" will serve as a great intro if you're not familiar with them.....All the records you mentioned are great, congrats.



Post Edited (12-21-05 20:27)

What? The 80s sucked? That's news to music lovers.
If I list My favorite 200 LPs, 80% of them are going to be 80s.

Soft Boys - I actually prefer Hitchcock's solo stuff. Try Element of Light and Globe of Frogs.
The dbs - IYL Dbs, don't miss Let's Active's Big Plans for Everybody, the Marshall Crenshaw single "Someday Someway" and REM's best LP (and only good one imo) Murmur.
Feelies - an influential band. They got alot from Television who's LP Marquee Moon should be in every self-respecting listener's collection.

And don't forget the three Smiths LPs; the ultimate 80s guitar work of Jonny Marr (s/t debut, Meat is Murder, The Queen is Dead)
-or-
The Clash - London Calling, Sandinista
-or-
Meat Puppets, Husker Du, Replacements....uh, the 80s were the shee-ott.
Cheers.
Go bleed yer ears off.



Post Edited (12-21-05 09:25)

ah, the old in the "name your decade" the music sucked game. In the `80's it was the `70's sucked and I'm sure it soon will be the `90's sucked (if it already isn't). I think it's just that the top songs of the decade in terms of popularity sucked and they sure did in the `70's and `80's. I find it absolutely amazing that anyone can say there was no good music in a ten year period. Even as I get older and increasingly find it hard to get excited about new music, I can still name several artists that I like that are recording now. Whew! Don't I sound stuffy? As for the artists mentioned, if you like the Soft Boys and got later Robyn Hitchcock go back to the `70's and get his mentor - Syd Barrett. And then there's XTC.

1) I was not a fan of hardcore in the '80's but there is one classic record that I have always loved: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by the Dead Kennedys

2) The Replacements: Tim, Let It Be, Pleased To Meet Me

3) U2- Boy (still my fav)

4) The Kinks, a great band from the '60's-70's had a sort of alterna-rock last hurrah in the early '80's- One For the Road (live) and a Best of called Come Dancing with the Kinks should do it. Destroyer rules

5) Can't go wrong with the Specials or Madness for your ska fix- Any best of will do

6) The Cars- Candy-O

7) The Shoes are a fabulous but relatively obscure power pop band

I would add Get Happy by Elvis Costello and the Jam's Greatest Hits (CD) or Snap! (vinyl although there is an overpriced CD reissue). Also, being from the Boston area, I'll also throw in On Fyre by the Lyres (w/"Help You Ann", my candidate for the best song of the '80s) and Live Emusfied by Barrence Whitfield and the Savages

Chris,

This exercise seems to get undertaken on this board about twice a year. Somebody who's rather new to the board -- usually someone who's young, at least compared to most of the people here -- posts about one or more amazing, revelatory discoveries of artists from generations past. This leads to a flood of recommendations from others on the board.

Fortunately, this board is visited regularly by people with excellent taste, thoughtful insights and remarkable experiences. You'll get some awesome recommendations here.

Not to spoil everyone's fun, but here's the most recent (as I remember) example of such a thread:

[trouserpress.com]

I haven't seen any posts from rivka since this thread; perhaps she's been too busy, taking two or more extra jobs to pay for all the music that was recommended to her. Still, this thread includes a wealth of terrific suggestions.

Happy holidays, Chris, and Godspeed.

When people nowadays talk about "The Eighties," they're ususally referring to the top-40 crap that I paid no attention to at the time, so I can see how people your age would think it was all Huey Lewis, Phil Collins, & hair-metal. In reality, the (underground, TP) '80s was truly one of the greatest, if not THE greatest period in rock, a wild explosion of creativity that few took notice of at the time. Check out the book "This Band Could Be Your Life" for the whole scoop (that BOOK could be my life).

Oh, and:

Meat Puppets "II"
Minutemen "Double Nickels on the Dime"
and, oh hell, just check out the thread in Delvin's post.

I can guarantee that from an Australian perspective it was by far the most creative period. It was incredibly varied and there were more venues in every suburb.

Strange now that there are now more opportunities for bands from here to do something overseas now that there are a gazillion generic indie rock guitar combos many of which are virutally interchangable.

I think it was maybe more of a mindset than a practical thing. Once the likes of The Birthday Party, Moodists, Triffids etc set-up overseas, bands that you would go and see at the local on the weekends, it was like, "imagine playing a gig in England!". So for Australian independent music, I see it as a watershed year. Not to mention our friends from across the ditch, The Chills had toured the UK several times before coming to Australia and we're just over the way!

The thing with slagging off a decade is that the more conseravtive the mainstream, the more reactionary the underground.

Sorry, I mean't watershed decade not watershed year.

my skin still crawls when the light catches Nicks cave just right. Groove for groove though, them hoodoo guru fellers circa '84 still light my fire. Australian pot party music pre Mick Dundee.

Mainstream music did suck in the 80s
and the 70s
and the 90s
...and now

i.e. Viva Trouser Press