Blow The House Down: Eighties Dance Pop

-

When the 1970s turned into the 1980s quite a few household names could seemingly effortlessly survive in the new decade, like Hall & Oates and pop veterans Graham Gouldman (10cc) and ‘lonely boy’ Andrew Gold, who formed Wax. Both acts sold their old instruments in the mid-eighties and started to use only state of the art electronics to compete successfully with their contemporaries. Even sixties rock icon Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith) reached #1 on the Billboard pop chart in 1986.

As the decade came to a close, a musical revolution took place and the biggest names at the time had to struggle to reach the next decade. House and hip hop wiped away eighties pop like it had never existed. Even the hit factory of Stock, Aitken & Waterman had a quick meltdown when the 1990s started and euro dance became the next big thing. The house was blown down, to paraphrase Living In A Box. That said, eighties pop has created a legacy that still exists today. Just listen to Both Ways by Jay Diggs, and you know what I mean. I believe the best and catchiest pop songs were made in the 1980s. Nowadays TV-series like Riverdale, Glow and Strangers Things prove that eighties songs have stand the test of time easily.

If the words "That’s right" on A To Z from ABC sound familiar, you’re right, because they’re sampled from Get Up And Boogie by German seventies disco act Silver Convention. 

Let’s blow the house down and enjoy this selection of eighties dance pop! Next time we're going on a sailing trip again.

Tracklist:

Richard Jon Smith ‎– Baby's Got Another (1983)
Jay Diggs Feat. Zyodara – Both Ways (2020)
Steve Winwood – Higher Love (1986)
The Quick – The Rhythm Of The Jungle (1982)
Thompson Twins ‎– In The Name Of Love '88 [Extended Remix] (1988)
Scritti Politti – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (1983)
ABC – A To Z (1985)
Wax ‎– Bridge To Your Heart [The Unabridged Version] (1987)
Daryl Hall & John Oates ‎– Method Of Modern Love (1985)
Sly Fox – Let’s Go All The Way (1985)
Beverly Girl – Change Begins With You (2018)
Living In A Box ‎– Blow The House Down (1989)
Brick – Right Back (Where I Started From) (1981)
George Duke ‎– Secret Rendezvous (1984)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disco Knockouts!

-
Image
Apart from the picture of Sharron Davies, there are two songs that inspired me to make this mix. One of them is a recent track from Duck Sauce. The repetition of the female vocals reminded me of Stars On 45 (I believe they both sampled 'Gotta Go Home' by Boney M). The other one is from Dutch singer Dee Dee. I heard ‘I put a spell on you’ on a recent episode of Tim Sweeney’s ‘Beats in space’. In the accompanying video she looks a little bit like a sex doll, but I love the song! I like the closing track from soul veterans the Drifters, but isn’t it strange to hear guys who were in their thirties at the time sing about schoolgirls? Different times, I guess, when no one had heard of R. Kelly yet... One of my personal favourites is ‘Night time’ from Maggie MacNeal. I bought the 7” which was produced by Michael Lloyd (known for his work for the Osmonds, Lou Rawls and Solomon Burke) way back in 1979. Maggie MacNeal was one half of successful Dutch duo Mouth & MacNeal. Their bigg
Read more

The Smooth Operators Present Classic Yacht Rock

-
Image
Unsplash The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) introduce you to yacht rock songs that you must have heard at least once in your life! We present some real yacht rock classics and yacht rock songs that we think should have been classics. Harden My Heart by American pop/rock group Quarterflash was written by guitarist Marv Ross and included on the band's debut album, Quarterflash (1981). The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band. Quarterflash's version became a top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1982. Guitarist and songwriter Marv Ross remembered that a friend of his had given him the title and that he came up with the lyrics very quickly. Last Monday Michael McDonald, front man of the Doobie Brothers, celebrated his 72th birthday: "Emerging from the laid-back California rock scene of the '70s, McDonald found his niche in a unique blend of
Read more

West Coast Sundown: Yacht Rock, Late Night Pop & Sunset Soul

-
Image
Unsplash Enjoy the soundtrack to a West Coast sundown! 😊 The closing track by Matt Duncan is brand new, by the way. It sounds like a lost recording from The Nightfly sessions by Donald Fagen. At the time critics sometimes called David Cassidy’s music bubblegum pop. That was simply defined  music manufactured to sell as much records as possible and it was mostly aimed at a very young audience. Bubblegum's classic period ran from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies. At that point disco music took over the single market. However, David Cassidy certainly made some very good records, although in later years he found it difficult to shake off his teen idol image. “His wispiest, breathiest hit was called ‘I Am A Clown’. Poor, sweet, forlorn sexy David – marshmallows could’ve bruised this sound.“ (Bob Stanley in his book Yeah Yeah Yeah )  Midas Shadow by Al Stewart is from his classic 1976 album The Year Of The Cat . The message of this song is that when a successful businessman stops
Read more