Sunset Cruising: 80s Electro, Sophisti-Pop & Retro Wave

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My latest cloudcast is inspired by the music in the John Hughes movies of the 1980s: a mixture of pop, indie and new wave. He made the perfect soundtracks to stories about big and small troubles in the lives of teenagers. Well-known films from this director were The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. One of the tracks I selected, If You Leave by OMD, sounded during the famous prom scene in Pretty In Pink.

Steve Harley, who passed away earlier this year, had quite a few hits in the 1970s, but when the decade came to a close his sales dropped dramatically. In 1982, when he tried to pick up his career, he teamed up with Midge Ure, the front man of Ultravox who were very popular at the time. He produced Steve Harley’s single I Can’t Even Touch You and played an amazing guitar part on it (a bit similar to the one on Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, a later hit single by Ultravox). Unfortunately I Can’t Even Touch You was not successful on the charts, despite high expectations from the record company. Some years later Harley and Ure worked together again on another, unreleased Harley solo track. He also gave Ure some lyrics for potential use on his first solo album, but they were not used.

For some strange reason quite a few new wave acts popped up on the Billboard Disco Dance charts of the 1980s. Bands like Soft Cell, Talk Talk, Simple Minds, Altered Images, A Flock Of Seagulls, Haircut One Hundred, Human League and Thompson Twins topped the disco dance charts over the decade. They were played a lot probably in the (alternative) clubs those days and although they made some very good songs, their music was neither disco nor dance.

Enjoy this retro sunset cruise! 😊 Next up is a new part of Sunny Breeze From The West Coast.

Tracklist:

Sleepless Nights – 11:55 [Intro] (2022)
Kaiser Snaps – Sunset Cruise (2024)
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave (1986)
A Flock Of Seagulls ‎– Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) (1982)
Coleurs – This Life (2024)
Human League – Life On Your Own (1984)
Scarlett & Black – You Don't Know (1986)
The Motels ‎– Only The Lonely (1982)
Paul Carrack ‎– When You Walk In The Room (1987)
The Lotus Eaters ‎– The First Picture Of You (1983)
Ultravox – Reap The Wild Wind (1982)
Talk Talk – Have You Heard The News (1982)
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels (1985)
Super db – Back To Me (2023)
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel – I Can't Even Touch You (1982)
Associates – Club Country (1982)
Duran Duran – Rio (1982)
ABC – So Hip It Hurts (1985)
Scritti Politti – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) [Mastermind Turntable Mix] (1985)
Partland Brothers – Soul City (1986)