we listen so fast: forgotten/unkown/unloved 80s we are listening to.

man, i just can't make myself listen to thomas dolby's aliens ate my buick.

digging this. tree hugger new wave from 1988. the sticker on the front says "the first rock 'n roll New Age record". (only new age is capitalized. rock doesn't do capital letters.)

https://i.discogs.com/YG7uphu-hQTuXYlOR18lh13Qx0xWL3qtE0w0NRTgVFk/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:496/w:496/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE2MTQy/MDAtMTI4MzI0MTg0/NC5qcGVn.jpeg

xxxp is "attacked by monsters" just the kirkwood boros getting so baked they forgot the song is actually bowie's "scary monster & super creeps"?

Was amazed to see that Condition post - saw them live back sometime in the late 80's, total kitsch even for the times but they pulled it off somehow, singer had great stage presence.

Yeah, they seem like an act much better experienced live than listened to on vinyl.

i have never ever ever heard of Diesel Park West and they have, like, 12 albums! where do these people hide themselves? says they are from leicester. maybe they hide there. i have a ten-inch from 1989 but i played a snippet from it and yeah i don't need that right now. that bombastic thing. the alarm thing again. or the u2 thing. i almost never need anything that sounds like U2. unless its simple minds. but they are contemporaries.

when i think of all things the u.k. tried to foist on me way back when. why did they want me to listen to cathy dennis SO much back then? a lotta lame ladies. even lamer the 60s and 70s ladies making synth-pop singles. not ALL of them of course but a lot of them. i'm sure there is a bad Lulu italo single out there. hazell dean? really? are you sure? why again? that yazz woman. nobody knew that was someone's name here. someone should have told us. we just thought the british were supremely lazy for naming yet another group yaz. and in case you didn't know this brits we had to call yazoo yaz. it was in our contract. more power to all those women for making a name for themselves. it ain't easy. especially here where people in the 80s were routinely making the greatest dance singles on earth revered to this day all around the world.

cathy dennis more 90s...sorry, cathy. you shouldn't even be here!

lotsa fellas i have ignored too. one of these days i will listen to a paul haig solo album i promise.

there are zarkons in my future.

https://i.discogs.com/bJaDe0SSXTN3-0cHg4eqnSVmugB251jPJziy6MTyirY/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:387/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9BLTgzNzQ2/NS0xMzUwODA1MDg5/LTkyMjkuanBlZw.jpeg

shit, they were the alley cats! i love that alley cats record. another one i wish i had kept. anyway, after one and a half songs of the 2nd Zarkons albums i say: brilliant! high camp goth by people who can sing is cool.

https://i.discogs.com/EjS2hAr2Nnb0Gn_Gk9Qr816iC9OSQXDjdSdY6z-NcRQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:565/w:565/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM5NjYz/OTItMTM1MDgwNTg4/MS0yOTI3LmpwZWc.jpeg

the title track from the alley cats nightmare city album has the same vibe as that snapper single. love them both. i might have to break down and buy a copy if i ever see one. i've only had one copy ever! and i don't think i've ever seen the 2nd album despite its major label status. seems weird. but i am still alive and there is still time.

listening to this CD comp on my laptop now. i have never "burned" a CD but last month i "ripped" a CD for the first time ever! i just happened to notice that my computer's player had a button that said "rip" so i pushed it! and it totally worked. so, i have a one album digital archive. (most of the stuff on this cd are from 1989 but there are obviously reissues that Line was pushing like Deviants and UFO. i will skip them in honor of this thread.)

https://i.discogs.com/9TS2qYUj3QfdHUgMubUl4VhSL92fCMF49B4d1pcRBak/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:466/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEzOTk1/NzYtMTY0MTA2ODA0/Mi0yNDI4LmpwZWc.jpeg

what a completely bizarre tracklist

that comp was too blues-heavy. i skipped a lot. this one is more my speed. playing now. from 1988.

https://i.discogs.com/i9WrOruMzQ1MJsGgiD3jV-Fl2IajFz7IpHpEAIem3r8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI3MTk4/OTY2LTE2ODUxMjYx/NjQtMjgzNy5qcGVn.jpeg

1 Casanova - You're Not The Only One
2 Human Drama - Heaven On Earth
3 etc - Delta I'll
4 Nikita - It Don't Hurt
5 Vice - Holdin' On
6 Runner-Up - On the Other Side
7 The Passengers - Back To Neverland
8 Britton - Rock Hard
9 One Thousand Steps - Manzanera
10 One-Four-Five - Girl In The Window
11 Lava And The Hot Rocks - I Saw You With Another Girl
12 Blackbird - Howl
13 17 - Feel Your Love
14 The Pressures Of Time - Left And Right
15 Axis Power - Give Me All Your Love
16 Bekka And The Blue - Theodore
17 The Tapp - How 'Bout You

words I learned today: bullshitiaco

this is a very entertaining CD to work to! would play again. maybe i should "rip" it.

i want this 12-inch now! it sells for a dollar on discogs. so cool. i'm gonna be 1988's a&r man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrgnIhGaLrY

https://i.discogs.com/p2WNkkMLR0Vd8oDTROjjxkZRb15Tn1uJdNNIr6jLh_o/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:595/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQ2ODM3/NTctMTQyNjU5NTE5/Ny03NzUyLmpwZWc.jpeg

none of you are ever going to listen to that "howl" song. i understand. i guess it could be likened to a more distorted timbuk 3. i listened to the other songs connected to that song on youtube and i dig them. would definitely keep a CD around.

you don't have to listen to tommy shaw's remo williams theme. it doesn't really get at the essence of remo.

i'm rockin' another one of these comps. so addictive.

https://i.discogs.com/TtQp6K_eVlAF-AVRNBBbx4XUO9eF_Ufx61-dsDpEAV0/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:526/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI3Njc2/MjQ1LTE2OTI4MTc5/OTctNzYwMC5qcGVn.jpeg

okay i'm listening to a paul haig album what do i win? who listened to his records originally? josef k. fans? they made no dent here. i don't even know if any of them came out in the u.s. we were too busy listening to paul kelly and the messengers and juluka and spear of destiny. this song i'm listening to is okay but i keep feeling that he's ripping off echo & the bunnymen's "read it in books". especially the part when he sings the line "read it in books".

so far so okay. this album is called Chain.

tempting....

maybe tomorrow. 2xlp set. snickers DOES satisfy after all.

https://i.discogs.com/2KlcmBJQLf1eX1HqYwaqb4jo71P83PD0Ao0ZRsHcozU/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:595/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE1OTkx/NzQtMTY1NTAxODU2/MS04MzI4LmpwZWc.jpeg

i've actually been listening to A Witness. the album. john peel was a fan. those vocals are rough for me in my old age. the music is cool though. that herky jerky thing. they must have shared bills with pre-C86 titans Membranes and Three Johns. except they were ON the C86 tape! so they are officially pre-C86 and C86. i was never a big stump fan. i think you either were or weren't back then.

for the record, the only C86 bands that i love: Pastels (worshipped them in the 80s and luckily homestead picked some of their stuff up and i could get it easy), shop assistants (another why oh why did i sell my album...actually sold it at my first store in philly in the 90s), half man half biscuit (because genius), fuzzbox (cuz i'll always love that first album a ton). i should love the wedding present but i mostly like and admire them. as for the rest, eh. (there are some i haven't heard much of though.)

I'll take the opportunity to propone Thirteen Moons, who fall somewhere between late-era Talk Talk, This Mortal Coil, and Shelleyan Orphan. The best English 4AD band that were neither.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n0GkpMub54vy5paTv98R-yz0nqefTtxZw&playnext=1&index=1

Lots of good Paul Haig stuff, including collaborations with New Order folk and Alan Rankine. Little impact here but The Only Truth might’ve had some new wave dance floor success in the uk. I like that, Blue for You, Running Away, Never Give Up and more. Ur I’m a Josef K fan who also likes new wave dance music so I’m the demographic.

man, i just can't make myself listen to thomas dolby's aliens ate my buick.

― scott seward, Friday, August 25, 2023 11:14 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

aliens ate my buick rules and sort of anticipates y2k era novelty/comedy 'jukebox' style albums like sfa's guerrilla, daphne & celeste's we didn't say that and ween's chocolate and cheese, if you are wanting it to be "good" you are in the wrong frame of mind to listen

duly noted! you might have pushed me to listen. i have never heard anyone even mention the album let alone say anything good about it. just a ubiquitous record cover in my life.

Definitely hear Aliens Ate My Buick if only for the skewiff poignance of 'Budapest By Blimp'. I was ambushed by unexpected emotion hearing that for the first time just over ten years ago - particularly by that crowd singing along.

not forgotten or unknown but i'm listening to the first bitch magnet album. i was kinda surprised that their first album came out in 1989. i guess i thought of them as a strictly 90s thing. i've never listened to them. despite being a fan of amrep, touch&go, chicago, windy, oprah.

i've never really listened to polvo either. probably lots of gaps in my post-hardcore indierock knowledge.

stuff i played over and over in 1989: no more color, sittin' pretty, l'eau rouge, the burning world, on fire, freedom, hats, streetcleaner, technique, the stone roses, doolittle, symphonies of sickness, uh...lots of rap and dance singles. i flipped for earache. godflesh and bolt thrower and that stuff would have excited me a lot more than a bitch magnet album. though just a year or two later i was flipping for jesus lizard.

i bought whatever And Also The Trees album came out in 1989! lord knows why. i dug it though.

when all is said and done Done By The Forces Of Nature was probably my fave album of that year. sorry Disintegration!

shit this bitch magnet song playing now sounds a lot like Slint! the vocals especially.

Storm The Studio! feel like meat beat have become a little forgotten. maybe not by industrial people. whoever industrial people are now.

the last Felt album came out in 1989. i adored it. my favorite rock band of the 80s pretty much. 1979 to 1989 and i love it all. still need a pristine copy of that French 10-inch comp from 1984. i never go to france!

oh shit i bought branca's symphony no. 6 in 1989. that was a big one for me. it scared me! so cool.

my big disappointment was Candleland. i think i played it twice. sorry ian! love you!

man this bitch magnet song is even more slint! the talking vocal thing. that guy sounds just like slint guy!

I just bought, and am listening to, The Glass Bead Game by Breathless, an album that came out in '87 by a band I had never even heard of until pretty recently. I think it's pretty good? Still trying to get my head around it. Seems like they should have been on 4AD. I know the singer was part of This Mortal Coil.

Guitarist played in UK noise outfit Ramleh too! You used to see their records everywhere, always looked like they wanted to be on 4AD but 4AD weren't interested. I think it was all self-released?

Breathless are great (they're still going, had a new album out last year). Between Happiness & Heartache and Blue Moon are the highlights of their discography for me.

Jesus christ this thread is like a drunken Bumble back in the day...

I own and like "Aliens Are My Buick". It's ridiculous in parts but as it's own thing, it's fun. Compared to the rest of his catalog it lacks the depth that I get from the rest. Even the comeback albums from a decade ago.

Ian's "Candleland" is great! Better than the self-titled Echo lp. His duet with Liz Fraser is all-time. It has a somber mood but it fits the material.

I could never get past the lisp of Breathless!

And Also The Trees, meh, a few good doomy tracks but otherwise not my thing.

Felt! Don't get me started a-la Bumble, I could ramble on about how it took me ages to be won over but, yeah, a top band for me too.

Damn autocorrect, that should be Bimble!

I've never heard of Breathless, had no idea Gary Mundy played in a dreampop shoegaze 4ad style band. He was Ramleh and it's tape label Broken Flag. They have a long history in the power electronic scene but in the 90s Ramleh became more of an experimental noise rock band, same circles as Skullflower, and both of them had some amazing if extreme stuff back then. I used to play this at TOP volume in college, but that was the 90s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvGZBvnSaXY

Definitely certain types of Industrial people still have MUCH love for Meat Beat Manifesto. But also techno people. The first two or so (storm the studio and armed audio warfare) are really awesome Public Enemy industrial funk that personally I think is way better and more interesting than any number of chicago wax trax type bands. Then they got even more new wave and the next two (99% and Satyricon) are awesome, though a bit dated at times. After that the records got a bit more "illbient".

But ask any (mostly white) techno producer in their 40s what they think of Meat Beat Manifesto and you'll get much love. The production was always really cool.

Before MBM, Jack Dangers was in the more post-punk Perennial Divide. That's more 80s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cooKyw_aAEY

When I was a junior in high school they toured the states with 808 State. I saw the shows in manhattan and trenton NJ. Life-changing for me. Jack's rapping and later new wave singing is all good, but this track from 1990 in various mixes probably had the biggest impact across industrial and techno worlds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfH0AOAVDPU

99% especially still holds up. Great album.

“Helter Skelter/Radio Babylon” is an all-time EDM single, got lots of love in Detroit clubs at the time, as I recall. Big overlap with Belgian New Beat, also a Detroit object of affection.

let me know when the 90s version of this thread starts and we can talk about Pop Will Eat Itself and Renegade Soundwave. Both started in 80s but really belong to the 90s.

Feel like there could be some crossover between this thread and this one:

That early to mid 80s jangly sophisticated pop sound (think Aztec Camera, Postcard Records, The Lotus Eaters, etc)

The Bible is the first name that springs to mind for me.

I was also a big fan of Attacco Decente back in the '80s but very few people ever heard them. Brighton band who used dulcimers and vocal harmonies as a vehicle for excellent, politically conscious songwriting.

i LOVED 99% when that came out. i need to get a cd copy again. shit, now i want the helter skelter 12-inch...

anyway glad to hear that there is still love for that stuff.

i also didn't know about the pre-meat beat band! cheers, dan.

i'm gonna listen to everything mentioned on here eventually.

speaking of the 90s and the 80s and techno and all that i listened to an early 90s cabaret voltaire 12-inch and i don't think i knew that they made total 100% techno in the 90s. never listened to their 90s output. it was okay but i have to be honest and say that i wasn't really feeling what they were laying down. but maybe it was just a first listen kinda thing.

i got no problem if i evoke the mighty bimble on here! haha. what a kook. god bless and keep the bimble.

I got to work on the art layout for a Perennial Divide CD some time ago and was excited to be in somewhat indirect contact with Jack Dangers.

When house/techno hit Cabaret Voltaire, I'd sum it up this way. Kirk started a super prolific underground solo career in bleep techno with Sweet Exorcist and Sandoz. The Cabs went pop with it working with chicago producers, probably the glossiest thing they ever did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw6MmJbHDyA

but they also did some more stripped down bleep stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRzzwVGE7J0

but most of the last few Cabs albums of that period were more ambient/electronic with samples and such, not much vocals or dance beats. I think Kirk kept the clubby side for himself and the ambient side for the Cabs.

And Mallinder teamed up with Dave Ball from Soft Cell and bleep techno pioneer Robert Gordon for this oddity, which would likely give any owner of The Voice of America a heart attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbLuL3oGAs

quite a journey from live in sheffield 19 jan 82. or live at the y.m.c.a. 27.10.79 for that matter.

i like all 80s cabs pretty much.

i think it was colours that i listened to. i should really listen to more of their 90s stuff. i don't know what i'm afraid of. those guys will always be cool with me.

Yeah, plenty of people are picky about where they get off the cab train (when Chris Watson left, when they signed to Virgin etc) but I'm a fan, I like it all more or less.

My intro to Cabaret Voltaire was the very club-oriented Code LP, which I haven't heard in probably 30 years. I do recall it was in the same vein as Nitzer Ebb, which was probably why I picked it up. Lots of booming beats and some guy yelling a bunch of vague stuff about surveillance and government.

Code is the height/end of the industrial funk dance thing. House/Techno pretty much moved the direction right after that.