KROQ top 50 1984

talk talk, though animotion runs close behind

EAST IS EAST
WEST IS WEST
TWO DIFFERENT COLOURS ON THE MAP

I've burnt out on many of these, but "Original Sin" I wanna listen to right now.I didn't know this bit:

Singer Daryl Hall sings the chorus along with Hutchence. According to an interview done in Australia, Hall says Nile Rodgers called him up and asked him to sing on the song.[3] Rodgers had participated in remixing the single "Adult Education" for Hall & Oates the previous year.

"Obsession"

"erotic city"? "erotic city"

Lots of stinkers here. Have to be boring and go for When Doves Cry

it's amusing considering how much rope they'll generally give to legacy acts (hi dere adam ant) that they had as little use for waking up with the house on fire as the rest of the world

This is too hard...

Killing Moon

over

People are People
Ghost in You
Master and Servant
Hold Me Now
How Soon is Now?

...and I missed It's My Life

missed "The Ghost in You." A lovely little thing.

Think I'll narrow it down to "West End Girls" and "People Are People".

Surprised that Bronski's "Why" got to #4 while "Smalltown Boy" is all the way down at #103.

Voting Big In Japan because I know ilx won't let erotic city get a goose egg but alphaville I'm not so sure

"How Soon Is Now?" over "When Doves Cry".

The early-80s version of this format includes a lot of surprisingly great stuff imo. (CFNY listeners were voting for Fripp/Eno and Pat Metheny!) I think of 1984 as the turning point where it turned into ... this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHW3_30LIk

Haha @ "do they know it's my dick"

ugh balls i hate you

killing moon

but it was hard

people are people was a v v close 2nd

i could vote for any of these:

1. frankie goes to hollywood - relax
8. billy idol - rebel yell
9. echo & the bunnymen - the killing moon
11. pet shop boys - west end girls
12. depeche mode - people are people
16. depeche mode - master and servant
22. the smiths - how soon is now?
27. talk talk - it's my life
29. duran duran - the reflex
32. animotion - obsession
39. prince & the revolution - when doves cry
41. killing joke - eighties
44. billy idol - eyes without a face
50. prince & the revolution - let's go crazy

going to embrace my insufferable nature and vote "how soon is now?"

Two songs that still sound great to me, so an improvement on '83: 1. "West End Girls," 2. "Tenderness." Just like the "new music" station here at the time, Husker Du and the Replacements and the Meat Puppets do not exist.

band aid - do they know it's my dick?

http://s9.favim.com/orig/131017/memes-meme-pictures-Favim.com-999669.jpg

Voted Killing Joke 'Eighties."
AlexinNYC probably agrees with me.

Husker Du and the Meat Puppets were a totally different beast from this stuff, not least of all in their own eyes, right? These were almost all major-label pop stars (just British ones in some cases).

xpost to clemenza

This was the first year I started listening to KROQ. It's important to note that this was not their entire playlist.

9 contenders

1. frankie goes to hollywood - relax
2. general public - tenderness
5. prince & the revolution - erotic city
6. frankie goes to hollywood - two tribes
10. thompson twins - hold me now
11. pet shop boys - west end girls
19. inxs - original sin
30. the psychedelic furs - the ghost in you
50. prince & the revolution - let's go crazy

(xxpost) Oh, I know. That was the 23-year-old me speaking. I got over it.

I had no idea "erotic city" ever got airplay, was it a double-a-side thing?

Yep -- just like Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac" that same summer.

the Federal Communications Commission has in the past levied fines against stations that played the song for broadcasting allegedly indecent material, including KLUC-FM in Las Vegas, Nevada;[3] KTFM in San Antonio, Texas; and KBZR (now KEXX) in Phoenix, Arizona.[4]

My short list:
Relax
Two tribes
West end girls
Wake me up
Talk talk

this is ilm so almost definitely unnecessary but the 'west end girls' up there is the original bobby o production. the gauzy stephen hague produced touchup that topped the hot 100 came out about a year and half later.

Missed "Erotic City"--I'll put that between "West End Girls" and "Tenderness."

Surprised that Bronski's "Why" got to #4 while "Smalltown Boy" is all the way down at #103

Was just going to say--I don't think I've ever even heard "Why?"

"Why" is an excellent hi-NRG number, almost as big a hit in England than "Smalltown Boy."

yeah it's not like 'smalltown boy' was such a mainstream success that kroq would pull their "we're the station that plays 'catch my fall' more than 'eyes w/o a face'" move. i don't think it was homophobia either. all i can figure is 'smalltown boy' was bronski beat's first single and debut singles that become classics can have shockingly lower initial performances than you think.

This one is way too hard to pick only one. Toss up between Prince, Prince, Pet Shop Boys, Smiths.

I like the bobby o version a lot (not as much the later one, of course). All those obnoxious sampler stabs. And the lack of reverbed Diva responses adds a bleak poignancy..the empty space after he says "hard or soft option" is heavy.

never forget:

All your stopping, stalling and starting
Who do you think you are, Joe Stalin?

Good catch on West End Girls balls. and completely necessary.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

anyone voting for "Sexcrime"? I'm surprised it did better than "Here Comes the Rain Again" and "Who's That Girl" or did they chart the previous year (can't check now)..

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

awwww kinda wish rebel yell had ONE vote

i mean jesus, if devo's "shout" gets one

i gave 'eyes w/o a face' its vote partially on the realization from the last poll that ilm possibly underrates billy idol. plus i fucking love that song and it's seemed kinda odd that something that was such a massive massive hit has faded as much as it has, you hear fucking 'hot in the city' more now.

in my 12th grade english class we were invited to bring examples of comedy and i made everyone watch the video for "eyes without a face." teacher wasn't really down for a conversation about "unintentional" comedy so we just moved on. as i'm pretty sure 100% of the class had no idea about the song or video i like to think i enriched everyone's lives a little.

i had just purchased a used vhs of vital idol, you see

wow i missed "eyes without a face", that one's almost as evocative as careless whisper" as far as blissful toddler prememories. les yeux sans visaaaaage... the instrumental with the synth pitching down is exquisite, brings to mind "drive" and "take my breath away" in terms of awesome huge over the top robot pop.

I can hear Keith Forsey testing his synth balladry on "Eyes Without a Face" and P-Furs' "The Ghost in You."

wow

1. frankie goes to hollywood - relax 0
4. bronski beat - why? 0
7. the vandals - ladykiller 0
8. billy idol - rebel yell 0
10. thompson twins - hold me now 0

I am the one vote for (do they know it's) dick, which I genuinely love. heh.
surprised the ghost in you wasn't top 3, much less 0 votes.

disappointed 'the ghost in you' didn't get a vote

xp

tom rave for frankie so there's official popist love there but in general fgth, or at least that amazing initial run of 'relax'->'two tribes'->'the power of love', is somehow an afterthought now. i don't know how. i like 'in a big country' just fine but that winning the previous poll and 'relax' getting shutout here is rewarding the wrong kind of grandiosity imo.

"Two Tribes" in its various mixes excites me more than "Relax." I dunno if it's better but it's not cursed by overplay.

this in incredible, as it goes on:

12. depeche mode - people are people 0
13. scott goddard - cow punk 0
14. the fixx - less cities, more moving people 0
15. eurythmics - sexcrime 1984 0
16. depeche mode - master and servant 0
17. siouxsie and the banshees - dazzle 0
18. the untouchables - what's gone wrong 0

I should post the kroq top 106 poster in my roomates bathroom. It's an abomination.

This is from 2002

http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/archive/t-209987.html

All I have to say is america's youth is gay.

are you doing 1985 balls?

yeah eventually