Taking Sides:Go West vs. Wang Chung

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Go West - world-beating fantastic pop hits:1
Wang Chung - bearable pop singles:0. Eponymous film-soundtrack tunes in which Moroder and Stan Ridgway wake up with crushing hangovers directly under the LAX flight path covered in motor oil only to discover their erstwhile drinking buddy James Ellroy jacked them the night before:1
(Or is it just "Tunbridge Wells Love part motherfuckin' two without gay-ass Mel Collins"?

― tarden, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wang Chung definitely get my vote for the sparkly "just dropped in from an old episode of Dr. Who" woman who hatched egg-style out of the disco ball in "Dance Hall Days". ;-)

― masonic boom, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No fan of "We Close Our Eyes", but "Dance Hall Days" kills me. Therefore, Wang Chung it is.

― Robin Carmody, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This is a tough one, because someone has to lose. I adore Wang Chung's 'Fire In The Twilight' thanks to its appearance on The Breakfast Club - but that's just one song. So it has to be Go West, one of my favourite bands of all time.

― the pinefox, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Whenever I think of Wang Chung's "Dancehall Days," I always think of (American) football because I first heard the song at Giants Stadium during a Giants game. And it was the year Bill Parcells decided to bench Phil Simms for some no-talent rookie and so the Giants got their asses kicked throughout that year.

Not really Wang Chung's fault, though. Video was pretty nice.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I saw Wang Chung when they were still Huang Chung! They were complete post-punk Camden art-toss, but *different* ppCa-toss.

So Wang Chung, obviously (also they once featured in a good Frazier Crane gag in Cheers).

― mark s, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wang Chung composed the S/T to William Friedkin's 'To Live And Die In LA' (1985), one of my favourite 'overlooked classics'. Terrible group, tho...

― Andrew L, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I found myself indulging Dancehall Days the other night, it was playing loud in my local 24 hour shop. Distracted, I didn't notice the police vans mounting the pavement outside, too busy thinking about the wandering suitcase at the end of the video, but it wasn't until the track finished that they stormed the place. A very Michael Mann moment.
Go West. Shame they didn't live up to the promise of the title.

― K-reg, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was hoping this was regarding the songs titled "Go West" and that one where they go "Everbody wang chung tonight". Not only would it have been an inexplicable battle but it would've been a tougher question.

As it is, it's clearly Wang Chung because I just like saying "everybody wang chung tonight", whatever the hell that actually means If you go and do it, are you wang chunging or wanging chung? This is what I need to know.

― Ally, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can I through It Bites into the mix? (Did they ever make it outside of the UK?)

― Nick, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"wanging chung": I'm just not going even to *say* what this made me think of... Ally has spoiled my afternoon, and not even Nick Dastoor and his hilarious Goof-o'-the-Day artproject can make me feel better.

― mark s, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It makes me think of Connie Chung, honestly.

― Ally, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Wanging Chung"? Congratulations, you've now joined the Bloodhound Gang.

― tarden, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

keep seeing DANCEHALLDAYS on filum credits - but have no idea what it sounds like - but i hated gowestitbites so WANG CHUNG rule.

Cousin It told me that KEELE UNI was once sponsored by WANG and had 'WANG plastered all owertshop'

― Call me MISTA puerile !, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ally, you have to stop. I read that at work and almost shot coffee out of my nose. "Wanging Chung". BWAHAHAHA!

Back to the subject; could someone remind me what Go West's song was? Because I've just realized that I was thinking of The Escape Club.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 29 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They didn't have one song - they had many songs. Many GREAT songs.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Thanks, Pinefox. Could you name a few of them?

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Call Me. Don't Look Down. Innocence. I Want To Hear It From You. From Baltimore To Paris. Little Caesar. S.O.S.

That's a few to be going on with.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Thanks again!

I must say, though, that at this point I still have to go with Wang Chung because I haven't heard any of those songs. (Also, I really, really, REALLY like "Dance Hall Days", "Fire In The Twilight", "To Live And Die In LA", "Everybody Have Fun Tonight", and "Let's Go".)

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 30 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But for us ignorant masses, Go West's "song" was "We Close Our Eyes".

― Robin Carmody, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ally, you would *definitely* be wang chunging (and having a seizure to boot). Beavis said so. It must be true.

― Kim, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Am I on drugs, but didn't Go West have some monster hit (aeons after "We Close Our Eyes") from the Pretty Woman soundtrack?

― Kim, Thursday, 31 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"King Of Wishful Thinking"! I knew I'd heard something by those guys!

My answer's still Wang Chung, though.

― Dan Perry, Friday, 1 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three years pass...

I would have to go with Wang Chung as well, just. (Even though for some bizarre reason I actually owned the first Go West album back in 1985 or whatever.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Bizarre?

― the bellefox, Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:55 (twenty-one years ago)

N. says 'through' for 'threw' on this thread, and has never corrected himself.

― the bellefox, Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

That punk Alba, man, I expected more.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes - I mean, it's not too late. He can still do the decent thing. Right?

― the bluefox, Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Wang Chung at least had both the title track to "To Live & Die in L.A." and "Fire in the Twillight" (from the Breakfast Club) to recommend them. Go West had nothing.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 11 November 2004 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Golly, now I think about it - you're right.

― the bluefox, Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

fire in the twilight is a rotten song.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

"We Close Our Eyes" was great, and even several years later they managed to come up with the quite nice "Faithful". Definitely Go West for me.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

!!! ???

(x-post)

(The last post is fine by me.)

― the firefox, Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

fire in the twilight is a rotten song.

It's better than anything Go West ever came up with. FACT!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 11 November 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

OPINION!

i don't know. i don't care for either, really. i think i just want to argue.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 11 November 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I've just noticed that the post I said was fine was by Mr. Hongro. Hi, Hongro!

― the bellefox, Thursday, 11 November 2004 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Wang Chung, solely on the basis of "Dance Hall Days." A great song if you don't listen to the lyrics too closely ("take your partner by the wrist..." ugh).

― mike a, Thursday, 11 November 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Wang Chung get my vote, because (a) Dance Hall Days is a really lovely song¹, and (b) the singer's stage name, Jack Hues, is a clever francophone pun² (Google "Emile Zola" & "Alfred Dreyfus" if you don't get it).

¹Bonus points too for Hue's amazingly affected diction. For at least a decade, until the arrival of the Web and song-lyric repositories, the only phrase in the bridge that I found intelligible was the title.
²As is "Johnny Marr", something I only noticed recently.

― Palomino (Palomino), Thursday, 11 November 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

> ("take your partner by the wrist..." ugh)

Yeah, it's awkward, but the pay-off is really charming:

... and in her mouth an amethyst
And in her eyes two sapphires blue
And you need her, and she needs you.

They don't write 'em like that no more.

― Palomino (Palomino), Thursday, 11 November 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

The return. God knows why I was thinking of Go West again just now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

You'll get over them. I know you will.

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 23 November 2006 00:10 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

All the comments on the video for "Go West" are about GTA Vice City.

― The Ten Things I Hate About Commandments (Abbbottt), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 19:49 (fifteen years ago)

People were worried it would make our youth violent rapists but it appears instead to have given them a taste for Go West. Weird.

― The Ten Things I Hate About Commandments (Abbbottt), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 19:51 (fifteen years ago)

"The UK dominated music from the 60's right up till the baggy indie of the 90's now all modern music sucks.Since were on about GTA Vice City what about Tears for Fears Pale Shelter,TUNE"

― The Ten Things I Hate About Commandments (Abbbottt), Wednesday, 13 October 2010 19:52 (fifteen years ago)

Wang Chung is actually releasing new material right now, btw. Not bad, either.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 19:54 (fifteen years ago)

the singer's stage name, Jack Hues, is a clever francophone pun

I NEVER realized this before. Ha!

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 13 October 2010 19:54 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

I heard "King of Wishful Thinking" the other day and honestly I feel like this is my favorite ever jaunty post-breakup-blues pop song

― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 2 July 2014 23:34 (eleven years ago)

holy shit now i see where future islands guy cribbed his "dance" moves

― the times recommends: gluten-free dining in italy! (Hunt3r), Thursday, 3 July 2014 02:03 (eleven years ago)

Just listened to "We Close Our Eyes" and have definitely heard this. Remember "Don't Look Down" and "King of Wishful Thinking" with great fondness, but come on, Go West never came close to "Dance Hall Days," and for that matter, neither did Wang Chung but once. Probably still rate "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Let's Go" over the Go West tracks though.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 3 July 2014 02:55 (eleven years ago)

my friend drunkenly begged my band to cover King of Wishful Thinking last night. straight up went on about it for like half an hour

― noir-ish need apply (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 6 July 2014 06:40 (eleven years ago)

You'll get over it. I know you will.

― Strictly EZ Snappin' Nhex (Spottie), Sunday, 6 July 2014 07:42 (eleven years ago)

three years pass...

“King of Wishful Thinking” is one of my least favorite songs, it’s “Life is a Highway” for people whose favorite music venue is the pharmacy aisle. I didn’t even know who performed it until today because although it’s one of those songs I can’t avoid it’s also a song apparently no radio DJ wants to accuse anyone of making.

I pick Wang Chung.

― omar little, Thursday, 28 June 2018 23:36 (seven years ago)

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