The title of this thread is A thread to post YSI/etc. links to songs for the ILX 1980s poll

World Class Wreckin' Cru - "Surgery"
Pat Benetar - "Invincible"

this is gonna be a weird poll

Bill, I kiss you.

Opus: Hard to describe. AMG calls 'em hard rock, but the song is almost folky
Love and Rockets: UK indie
Ready for the World: Funk
JoBoxers: Chart pop
Dimples D & Audio Two: Golden age rap
Scotch: Italo disco
Camouflage: Depeche Mode
Shop Assistants: Lo-fi indie
Ken Laszlo: Don't remember, AMG says euro-dance
Zapp & Roger: Electro-funk
MLWTTKK: Industrial (new beat?)
World Domination Enterprises: Big Black-esque industrial
Sons of Freedom: Alt-metal (I guess)
Go-Betweens: Fey UK indie
Company B: Dance-pop (?)
PTP: Industrial (Ministry side proj, I believe)
Oran "Juice" Jones: R&B/WTF
WOrld Class Wreckin' Cru: Electro
Pat Benetar: Power Ballad is the easiest description

The Cure - "How Beautiful You Are"

Happy Mondays - "Wrote For Luck"

Happy Mondays - "W F L"

Spacemen 3 - "Revolution"

My Bloody Valentine - "You Made Me Realise"

I was looking over the list and for whatever reason, was drawn to Roachford's "Cuddly Toy". I hadn't heard it in eons but I used to like it a lot (that's literally all I could remember about it, not the tune, none of the words, nothing). So I d/l'ed it and ... wait, why did I like this song again? Here it is anyway:

Roachford - Cuddly Toy

I will now remind all of you about the greatness of Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes". Three reasons (among many) to love it:

1. Kim Carnes' sexy croak
2. "All the boys think she's a spy!" -- a bizarre and beautiful line, delivered with equal amounts of wonder and exasperation
3. The guitar + synth are proto-Cocteau Twins. Think about it.

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes

The Cure - "Primary" (remastered)

http://s59.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1JJKVJQVI5L353LAMVERL9DKGE

EBM/Industrial/Synthpop

http://s51.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1MRGJGXXWXBRV3V7R4645N7KS4

http://s55.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3I3I4BYKSTNLP1KPYKRSBXYFRF
http://s55.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=31JUCVFVVWSBQ1KEIOXKMP9SF1

Absolutely gorgeous song.

http://s20.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=06OT1ENAZ8CD0072HXWHAJ1OH3

I still hear that line some of the time! Sometimes I prefer that line!

I'm glad you like it. This is the song I coerced Paul in Santa Cruz to write about, and what he said then was:

A big part of the appeal, actually, is just Ruiz’s voice, a slightly androgynous tenor that blends two likeable qualities: effortlessness and energy. The energy grabs you right away when Ruiz calls out the title; his voice is as bright and punchy as the trumpets that lead off the whole tune. The effortless quality is the surprising part, considering how the melody of the verse is constantly leaping back and forth between a higher and a lower register.

It’s also a bit of a jolt for me to remember that the chorus carries a rather angry message. (I don’t understand any of the Spanish lyrics, but I’m told the words say something along these lines: "you done me wrong, stop lying to me, take off your clothes and show me the truth." [my embarrassing paraphrase of someone else paraphrase--RS]) The chorus melody turns gracefully around a smaller number of pitches, finally soaring up to a high G, which is no trouble at all for Ruiz.

The brass arrangements make nice use of short exchanges between trumpets and trombones. And the construction of the whole track is very compact. The accompanying elements -- plenty of Latin percussion, a heavily syncopated bass, and those characteristic, kinetic piano arpeggios -- are always present, but the texture never breaks down to just these for very long: there’s always a definite foreground element, usually horns or vocals. (Because of this, I can imagine the song comes to an end sooner than a room full of dancers would want it too.)

Freur - Doot Doot

I had no idea about the Airto sample, but Basement Jaxx' utterly fantastic "Samba Magic" is on their Atlantic Jaxx compilation.

http://s7.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=12J3HTBFULZPA0XEJTVGL0M78B

Chaka Khan "Ain't Nobody" which I nominated but somehow didn't make it on the final list:

http://s25.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0HM89W618CZHW0PD4CBFL2E0B8

I'm still looking for a version of Peech Boys "Don't Make Me Wait"...anyone?

http://s33.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=24ZEIEQUJ8KZQ2GAIQP5Q5BD25

Megadeth "Peace Sells"

http://s17.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2LVLQCUO42PYY3J9RV15PUAVMT

Oh yes it did! It's been correctly listed as Rufus & Chaka Khan, which may be what's confusing you.

I pimped this on the suggestions thread and missed the nom entirely! viborgu, I kiss you belatedly.

Miami electrodisco, courtesy of producer Ish Ledesma, formerly of Foxy and OXO. Man has staying power.

A little interweb digging turned up a fascinating post from imusicians, circa November 2004. I've deleted the envelope info, but it's a note from Ish hisself on life post-OXO...

Geffen Records did not screw us in any way. They were very supportive. David Geffen himself even came to a few of our shows and was very exited about us and shared our dream of becoming a supergroup along with Carole Childs and Eddy Rosenblatt who felt as he did. The only thing the record company did wrong was putting out a horrible slapstick video which I hated but was "told" to co-operate in. That video killed our initial image. But I know they did not mean any harm. They just didn't know any better. However, Oxo's dream of getting a deal with Geffen, getting a hit song on Billboard, Bandstand, ect came true far too quickly since I knew the ropes. ( Three months from scratch to Bandstand ). The group got "heady" and the guys rebelled against me saying that I was hogging the songwriting. I wasn't. I was sharing the songwriting with them and teaching them how to do it as well. In our shows, Orlando was dancing like a stripper during my vocals and it drove me nuts because it didn't go with the music. I bowed out of the group and they couldn't carry it off because although they were very talented as musicians, they were not very good at songwriting yet. The remaining three recorded a lot of demos for the company but they were all turned down and eventually were dropped. But here's something interesting that connects Oxo to something much greater than they were able to accomplish. Lisa Melvoin was a receptionist at Geffen or was it her sister. I couldn't tell them apart. They would hang out and jam with us while we were recording at The Record Plant. Prince was recording 1999 across the courtyard. She got to meet Prince and later joined him on Purple Rain. So it was through Oxo that she became a member of Prince's band and a part of Purple Rain. In a way, Oxo played an important role in the outcome of the song, the album and the movie. I later met Apollonia after she'd done the movie and co-wrote and produced a top ten dance hit with her called "Since I Fell For You" I wonder what my next "Prince by association" thing will be......That was what happened to Oxo.

Then here's what's happened to me since then.
Geffen wanted me to do a solo album and sent me to New York to do it there so I would go back to a "Foxy" type of sound but there was just too much information on the album with a hundred different parts playing in every song. I prefer simplicity. As I was waiting for the album to come out ( And I knew it would not hit ), I started to do some dance music with girls singing and stumbled upon Company B and the song "Fascinated" which shot to #1 in a couple of weeks and stayed there for two months. Altoghether I wrote and produced about ten #1's after that ( Dance ) and continued until vocals started dissapearing from dance music and I lost interest. I never went into a studio again for five years. I went to produce events in South America. I started missing music again and started to hang out at Audio Vision in Miami where I met Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs And Harmony and did 90% of the music on his "Thug Mentality" album which went into the charts at #2. I am not credited on the album because of a "mix-up" issue for which there is no excuse. However, I did get credit for co-writing and co-producing "All Good" by Mo Thug Family which was a hit in most markets. I got tired of doing rap records and went to New York to act in Off Broadway plays for a couple of years and that was a lot of fun. Now I'm back in Miami and own a television/recording/editing all media studio with my partner Raul Rodriguez called M3. I have a new double album coming out on Empire/Universal in Feb called "Ishology" which is half old hits/old faves of mine all newly re-recorded with as many of the original members of Foxy, Oxo and Company B etc., and a completely new second CD of all new material which I like a lot.

NB - Ishology is now C-Eddy approved: http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0510,eddy,61828,22.html

From album nominee Pyromania:
Def Leppard - "Comin' Under Fire"

From album nominee Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This):
Eurythmics - "I Could Give You (A Mirror)"

Journey - "Stone In Love"

(yup, it's aac, but "Stone in Love" - Classic or Greatest 4:25 In The History Of The Bay Area?)

Weekend - "A View from Her Room" (12" version)
http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0WTRNEFTO353H0R589X6C5F4R0

PiL - "Flowers of Romance" (Single version, which is a significantly different mix from the album version. The CD edition has this mix at the end as a bonus track, but without vocals, making it great for karaoke but little else... This'll probably be in my top 5)
http://s20.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3DVKS7VYF6W7I0L8UM8X2D7T9O

One More Shot - C-Bank
(soulful, musically innovative vocal electro-funk, the missing link between Yazoo & Shannon)

Weekend - Class Action ft Chris Wilshire
(post-disco/pre-house, Paradise Garage-esque)

Clear - Cybotron
(proto-techno electro)

You're The One For Me (Shep Pettibone 12" remix) - D Train
(post-disco/pre-house/proto-electro-funk)

Der Mussolini - DAF
(Teutonic post-punk electro-disco stomper)

The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight - The Dominatrix
(arty new-wave S&M electro-dance, produced by someone from Tangerine Dream)

Atomic Dog - George Clinton
(electro-funk)

Promised Land - Joe Smooth
(soulful message-based deep house, in its original definition)

Whitney Joins The J.A.Ms - Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu/KLF
(sample-heavy Brit-house, of the MARRS/Bomb The Bass variety)

Another Life - Kano
(italo-disco)

More to follow later.

Dirty Talk (usa connection) - Klein & MBO
(italo hi-nrg/proto-house/proto-Blue Monday, burnt off my original 12")

I Wonder If I Take You Home - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
(skittering vocal poppy Latin-style electro)

New York (N.Y.) - Nina Hagen
(new wave/neue deutsche welle electro-pop, produced by Giorgio Moroder)

Falling And Laughing - Orange Juice
(jingly jangly shambolic Scottish post-punk/indie, proto-Smiths, proto-twee, proto-most-things-really)

Don't Make Me Wait - Peech Boys
(influential, pioneering, soulful early electro-funk)

Homosapien - Pete Shelley
(polymorphously perverse electro-pop)

Strings Of Life - Rythim is Rythim
(anthemic/uplifting, straddling the house/techno/rave interface)

It's Alright - Sterling Void
(see Joe Smooth above)

Do You Wanna Funk - Sylvester & Patrick Cowley
(Hi-NRG)

No Conversation - View From A Hill
(blue-eyed Brit-soul with "classic" values)

Under Mi Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith
(enormously influential electro-reggae, sometimes credited as the first Dancehall track)

Final Day - Young Marble Giants
(quiet minimal arty atmospheric post-punk/indie)

Frankie recalls the good old days: "The first club I ever went to was The Loft (David Mancuso's now-legendary private party); the first time I went there I wasn't sure what kind of crowd it was: at times it looked very straight, at others, very gay. At that point (in the mid Seventies), sexuality didn't mean a thing

(http://www.globaldarkness.com/articles/frankie_knuckles.htm)

Rrrriiiiiigggghhhht.

I really like "Weekend" too. Weird how much it sounds like Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood"- I'm not sure which one came first.

Mike, I'm enjoying your posts in particular -- you've posted a few that I already plan on voting for (house and techno *represent*), and a few that I may want to ...

Under Mi Sleng Teng - Wayne Smith

I'd forgotten about this song ... I'm sure I have a reggae comp with this on it, but I can't recall which one. Or maybe I just know this track because it's that damn famous.

Dirty Talk (usa connection) - Klein & MBO
(italo hi-nrg/proto-house/proto-Blue Monday, burnt off my original 12")

OTM description ... it's definitely proto-"Power Corruption and Lies" -- very reminiscent of "Ultraviolence" in particluar.

Eighties acid house at it's best.

Kurtis Blow: "The Breaks"

Grandmaster & Melle Mel: "White Lines (Don't Do It)"

"White Lines" is especially great and sorta hard to define: it mixes disco, doo-wop vocals, hip hop breaks and socially conscious rapping.

Moody, Gang of Four-ish post punk with a fantastic singer named Vanessa:
Pylon-"Cool"

Pissy, psychedelic pop, loud chiming guitars. Super-catchy:
Soft Boys-"I Wanna Destroy You"

Classy dance pop, should have been a huge, world-wide, "Heart of Glass"-size smash!
Altered Images-"Don't Talk to Me About Love"

Funk-Punk from LA. I would have posted the original version but can't find it. I know there was a version mixed by Francois Kevorkian and this may be the one.

Neo-girlgroup new wave with an empathic edge.

A: LOVE IS THE SLUG

by We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It. Find it on your singles ballot under 'W'.

Ah yes, the great anthem of Al-Queda

NWOBHM classic, big inspiration to Sonic Youth.