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.

― 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.

the first thing i bought was the Drinking Gasoline EP in 1985 because i was obsessed with the song "Kino". they played that on the local college radio station a ton. they played "Yashar" a ton too but i didn't buy that until later. couldn't find it! or forgot to look for it. i make up for that now by playing it, like, 5 times in a row once a year.

i always tell myself i'm gonna try and get all the early rough trade 7-inches but i am too old now. but if i get any at the store they are going home with me.

this is great! this must be some sort of electronic new age classic but i've never heard it. its very engaging. will search out his previous album too.

https://i.discogs.com/w9zfzoyIN-8BCV1wAIf4pWDeTwsNqQY1r4c1ju8vNSg/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:597/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEzMjA5/MTktMTU3NzQ1NzEw/OC01ODcyLmpwZWc.jpeg

Ponder this...

https://i.discogs.com/VnZ67nRnhiYmxcRXm7vCXCYTA9SlgOQtnOO9MjnPjbc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:450/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9BLTU3Nzk0/Ny0xNTI3OTcyMzQz/LTcyMTQuanBlZw.jpeg

damn! luv.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLovjE9owfY

A1 Graham Dene– "Hello from Great Britain..."
Music
A2 Toyah (3)– Rebel Run 3:15
A3 Howard Jones– New Song 3:40
A4 Genesis– Just A Job To Do 4:30
Naughty Bits Department: Out Cue For Break Point #1
A5 Graham Dene– "...We'll Be Right Back"
Incue After Break Point #1
A6 Paul Weller– "Hello, This Is Paul Weller..."
A7 Siouxsie & The Banshees– Dear Prudence 3:35
Interview With Boy George
Music
A8 Kissing The Pink– Maybe This Day 3:20
Out Cue For Break Point #2
A9 Graham Dene– "...I'll Give You The Details Next."
In Cue After Break Point #2
B1 Kate (Haysifantayzee)*– "You're Listening To Rock Over London..."
Music
B2 China Crisis– Working With Fire And Steel 3:37
Melting Pot Segment : Out Cue For Break Point #3
B3 Graham Dene– "...so bang on"
In Cue After Break Point #3
B4 Hal Lindes– "This Is Hal Lindes..."
Music
B5 New Order– Blue Monday 3:30
B6 Kajagoogoo– Big Apple 4:00
B7 Big Country– Chance 4:00
B6 David Bowie– Modern Love 3:40
B9 Culture Club– Karma Chameleon 3:45
B10 Graham Dene– "...Cheerio From London"

i would totally get a kissing the pink tattoo.

although a haysi fantayzee tattoo would be even cooler.

“certain things are likely” is my KTP OPO, a perfect anthem that should have been huge

i only listen to the first two albums. and the 8 or 10 singles that came from those albums. but i do enjoy the song "certain things are likely".

Certain things are likely must’ve had some impact on the American clubs. It’s got a “paradise garage lol mix and the 12” is pretty common in NY dance store bins. Earlier stuff was big in the cosmic/balearic scenes.

Interesting band.

Another 80s band I like that has one balearic classic hit started with some really cool post punk stuff and went more adult pop is It’s Immaterial.

yeah I know it was a successful club record, I meant more like hearing it at the grocery store or something

i really like that first It's Immaterial album. a late discovery for me about 5 or 6 years ago.

with kissing the pink i bought Naked when it came out because they played "The Last Film" a ton on the radio and i fell in love. i have never stopped playing that album since 1983. it was a big deal to me. funnily enough, i never even saw the second album, What Noise, until years later! mostly because it didn't come out in the U.S. It's great too.
the KTP stuff i wasn't as sold on but i did love the big single.

Naked one of my fave art rock records of all time. i think i can call it that. its perfect to me.

the KTP song must have charted here? it was kinda everywhere at the time. mtv. radio.

they toured it here too. lots of publicity money spent on it.

okay i'm gonna listen to that ktp album now. maybe i will fall for it late in life.

aww, i forgot about "one step"! love this song. they played this song on the radio too.

where do people stop with Shriekback though? it's Go Bang!, right? but i'm pretty sure they put out records in the 90s! we may never know what they sound like. they were godhead up to and including Big Night Music. Simple Minds win for me. seven amazing albums until they all became filthy rich and i stopped listening. but i will listen to those 7 records until they cart me away to the old grump's home.

I would think that they would have a decent hi-fi at the old grumps home.

ok I stand corrected Re Kip , maybe it’s an east coast/west coast thing

there’s this apocryphal meeting between Jim Kerr and Bono on the beach that occurred in between NGD and Sparkle, I always cite that as the beginning of the end

Shriekback never stopped making excellent records. "Go Bang" is the one outlier in their catalog, everything else is worth hearing.

I liked Go Bang! :(

weird to see ktp love, i had an import lp on the strength of love lasts forever i think? somewhere in the pacific trash gyre now after a relocation catastrophe in the 80s