09/03/2007
Mix Disc Monday Home / Music Home / Bullz-Eye Home
Pop was not quite yet the dirty word that it would become over the next 18 months, though Rick Astley, Paula Abdul and Martika were well on their way to sending pop past the point of no return. Hair metal was winning the record sales battle, but modern rock would soon win the war (thank you, Kurt Cobain). Somewhere in the middle of all that was me, the only one on his dorm room floor who liked both Book of Love and Guns ‘n Roses. It proved for some interesting listening, that’s for sure. Maybe not timeless, but definitely interesting.
"I
Don’t Want Your Love,"
Duran Duran (Big
Thing)
One of the last great Duran
singles, with a phenomenal video to boot.
I professed my love for remixer Shep Pettibone
in my 1987 installment of MDM, but anyone
who’s heard the album version of this track
knows that Shep actually saved their butts with
a bass-heavy remix that sent the song to the top
of the dance charts. Obscure trivia bit: the man
playing drums in the video is none other than David
Palmer, formerly of ABC.
"Peek
a Boo," Siouxsie & the
Banshees (Peep
Show)
Anyone who knew me back
in 1988 knew that this song and I were rarely
separated. The backwards drumming – which
I, of course, would play backwards on my
turntable, to hear the drums going forward
– the crazy stereo mix job by Mike Hedges, and
Siouxsie’s insanely catchy, climbing vocal in the
chorus resulted in the coolest thing I had heard
up to that point.
"The
Great Commandment,"
Camouflage (Voices & Images)
It would be another year
until "Personal Jesus" would drop, and aside
from the three killer singles, Music
for the Masses was a grand disappointment.
Those looking for a Depeche Mode fix, therefore,
were forced to look elsewhere, and this German
band delivered one marvelous tribute to Fast Fashion…then
promptly faded into obscurity.
"Tired
of Getting Pushed Around,"
Two Men, a Drum Machine, and a Trumpet
Roland Gift was off doing some acting
gig or other, which left Andy Cox and Dave Steele
with some time on their hands until they began recording
the next Fine Young Cannibals album. Not content
to stand idly by while a ton of people rode the coattails
of "Pump up the Volume" and scored hits with sample-heavy
instrumentals in the process (Bomb the Bass’ "Beat
Dis," S’Express’ "Theme from S’Express," Simon
Harris’ "Bass (How Low Can You Go,"), Cox and Steele
made this. And it was good.
"Hot Dog," Martini Ranch (Holy Cow)
Find the 12" mix, if you can. (I have it,
but if I post any more .mp3 files – ahem, like
the next song on the list – the RIAA will surely
haul me off to Azkaban.) If you haven’t heard of
the band, you’ve definitely heard of at least one
member (actor Bill Paxton) and the lass responsible
for backing vocals (Cindy Wilson, formerly of the
B-52’s). The song isn’t really a song so much as
a series of sound effects put to a snazzy beat
– I still love it when Dino barks – but that’s
pretty much all you needed to do in order to score
a club hit in 1988, as Two Men, a Drum Machine
and a Trumpet will attest.
"Sugar
and Spice," Scritti
Politti (Provision)
Few people besides me and
my friend Tony still gave a damn about Scritti
Politti when they finally dropped Provision in
1988 (back then, a three-year gap between
albums was an eternity), and not even the
inclusion of Miles Davis would change people’s
minds. True, the album was no Cupid & Psyche
’85, but it had its moments, and this song,
featuring the late Roger Troutman rocking the voice
box, was one of them.
"Another
Lover," Giant Steps
(The Book
of Pride)
Well, if Scritti Politti
wasn’t going to crack the Top 40, I’ll go
for the next best thing. Pop duos were all
the rage in 1988, with Giant Steps, Times
Two and the next entry on this list all scoring
chart hits. None of them were built for the long
haul – go to Jefito’s blog if you want to read
a very
amusing analysis of Giant Steps’ album The
Book of Pride – but their contributions
were all noteworthy. Well, except for Times Two.
They were just terrible.
"Love
Changes Everything,"
Climie
Fisher (Everything)
No, it’s not Rod Stewart, but that’s actually
a good thing. After all, do you remember the songs
from the album that Stewart released that year?
"Lost in You"? "Forever Young"? "Crazy About Her"?
Awful. This, on the other hand, was wonderfully
disposable pop featuring former Naked Eyes keyboardist
Rob Fisher, who tragically died in 1999 following
complications from stomach surgery.
"What’s
on Your Mind (Pure Energy),"
Information Society (Information Society)
Ah, the fun you could have
with a song before the sampling rules made
it cost-prohibitive to borrow whatever you
felt like borrowing. I had an unhealthy fascination
with this band, perhaps because they went
as club-crazy as I secretly hoped Duran Duran
would go at the time. Of course, Duran has
since gone club-crazy by teaming up with
Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, and it’s
the dullest thing they’ve done in decades.
Careful what you wish for, I guess. InSoc
fans, take note: the link above is to the
super-rare video version of the 12" mix.
Enjoy.
"All
We Need is a Dream,"
Cheap Trick (Lap
of Luxury)
The mega-smash that got
away. Epic, in their infinite wisdom, chose
to release the Diane Warren ballad "Ghost
Town" – that’s right, Cheap Trick was reduced
to recording Diane Warren songs in the late ‘80s
– as the follow-up to the Top Five hit "Don’t Be
Cruel," It peaked at a dismal #33. This song, however,
would have been huge, I just know it.
"Desperate
People," Living Colour
(Vivid)
I used to love playing this
song blind for people before telling them
anything about the band responsible for the
music. It all seems so quaint now, but black
bands just didn’t play like this back then,
so it was a great surprise when someone was finally
exposed to a band of brothers that brought the
rock. Sadly, well over half of the people on whom
I pulled this cute little stunt would invariably
say, "No way, these guys are niggers?" Sigh.
"Believed
You Were Lucky," ‘Til
Tuesday (Everything’s
Different Now)
Aimee Mann was so far out
of Epic’s plans when this album was released
– they wanted her to collaborate with outside
songwriters. They chose Diane Warren. She
chose Elvis Costello – that it’s a miracle
they deigned to green-light a video for this. Likewise,
Aimee looks equally uncomfortable lip-synching
the song. Maybe it was that wildly curly hair weighing
down on her thoughts.
"Piano
in the Dark," Brenda
Russell (Get
Here)
I worked
two jobs that summer, which meant I only
listened to the radio early in the morning
and late at night. Not in the mood for the
12" mix of anything at either time of the
day, I listened to Sunny 95, and this song
was their unofficial anthem (well, this and
that god-awful Gloria Estefan song "1-2-3").
Beautiful, beautiful song, and in this writer’s
opinion, one of the last great R&B
ballads.
"Into
Temptation," Crowded
House (Temple
of Low Men)
As much as I like to keep
the energy on the spry side when assembling
these mixes, it would be unforgivable for
me to overlook one of the finest pop bands
of all time as a result. The song allegedly disturbed
singer Neil Finn’s wife so much that she was convinced
that he was having an affair. Elvis Costello, meanwhile,
heard the song and said, "I would have given my
right arm to have written it."
"Underneath
the Radar," Underworld
(Underneath
the Radar)
Underworld would like you to
think that they were immaculately concieved
as the cool-as-shit techno band that made
"Born Slippy" and "Cowgirl," but anyone who
had a nose for DOR (that’s dance-oriented
rock, for you little childrens out there)
in the late ‘80s knows The Awful Truth. And
by awful, we don’t actually mean awful. Well,
maybe the band’s second album, Change
the Weather, was a misstep,
but Underneath the Radar was a fine little
pop record.