80s Pop Culture Sample
Ace put up a pop-culture quiz yesterday (I'm not telling my score, except to say that even though the questions <whiny teen voice>weren't fair</whiny teen voice>, I did much better than Robert).
This isn't a quiz, but more of a music sampler. I put together a road-trip CD earlier this year when I took my sons to the USS Lexington. It's simply entitled "80s Rock." Kind of a dream mix of the rock songs of my youth to make a 9-hour drive go more quickly (and many of these weren't necessarily my favorites back then). This isn't 80s pop, a separate CD of which I burned, but rock.
What would be your "road trip" mix of 80s rock? Let me know.
Open the extended entry to view the song list.
1. Tom Sawyer - Rush
2. Jukebox Hero - Foreigner
3. For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) - ACDC
4. The Cradle Will Rock - Van Halen
5. Games People Play - Alan Parsons Project
6. Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
7. Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
8. Ah Leah! - Donnie Iris
9. Children of the Sun - Billy Thorpe
10. You've Got Another Thing Comin' - Judas Priest
11. Eyes Without a Face - Billy Idol
12. Life is Just a Fantasy - Aldo Nova
13. Synchronicity 2 - Police
14. Magic Power - Triumph
15. Take Me Home - Phil Collins (remix with Peter Gabriel and Sting)
I don't know that it's not fair, but since I can never remember 2-bit actor names I couldn't do very well. Going to have to think about the aliens/predator/terminator one.
Like your mix.
Posted by: owlish at October 14, 2004 09:55 AMI was just adopting a whiny teenage persona, since that's what many teens do when confronted with something they don't like.
(And I was a teen in the 80s).
Posted by: JohnL at October 14, 2004 10:39 AMEh. Bragging about doing better than me on a pop culture quiz is rather like bragging about having a better army than the French.
Posted by: Robert the Llama Butcher at October 14, 2004 12:58 PMWell then, what would be your dream mix of classical works? Would it include any organ works? Which ones?
If it's '80's rock you want, I can't help you. I listened mainly to classical music then. Would you settle for a '70's mostly-progressive rock list?
As for the pop culture quiz: I did a little better than Robert the LB but still poorly. Given the nature of '80's culture, I'm not the least bit embarrassed by my score.
Posted by: Donald McClane at October 14, 2004 03:13 PMDon, Keep it to 80 minutes or less in length, and you've got yourself a deal. The problem I'd see with a prog rock mix CD is that you'd need multiple CDs to fit a really representative sampling of the material.
My current favorite 70's prog rock driving CD is WBMFTTSTNE, Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (especially the disc with Tarkus on it). The Aquatarkus movement in particular is great at top volume, although it can induce highway hypnosis with Palmer's trance-inducing rhythms.
(Rob, have you heard any Emerson, Lake, and Palmer? If you like classical and jazz, this is a rock group you will either love or hate -- I've known "serious" music fans to go both ways on this).
Re EL&P, I don't know if I have or not.
Favorite organ piece: Handel's Cuckoo & Nightengale. But I'm not a huge fan of the organ in and of itself.
I think I can put together an 80's play list. I'll give it a try.
Robert, Do you like Jazz organ trios (Hammond, Bass, Drums)? ELP are like that - but on speed and through a stack of Marshall Amps. Aaron Copland gave Keith Emerson his stamp of approval on Emerson's version of Fanfare for the Common Man, as did Alberto Ginastera of Emerson's arrangement of Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto, Fourth Movement ("Toccata").
At the height of their career in 1977, this three-piece band played with a 65-piece orchestra before a sold-out Montreal Olympic stadium (70,000 or so).
If you are truly a Tory, you may be offended by some of their reworkings of the classics (Emerson loves to drop classical quotes in his improvs) but you should give them a try. Truly unlike just about any other "rock" group you'll ever hear.
How about an on-topic response to your question? It lacks: Talking Heads; Video Killed the Radio Star; Golden Earing; the Clash; English Beat; and the list just goes on and on. For what it is, though, I like your choices a lot.
Posted by: RP at October 15, 2004 02:47 PMAhhhh, RP, your comment inspires a near-future post (probably tonight or this weekend) on my 80s new wave mix CD, which includes Video Killed the Radio Star, Gary Numan's Cars, et al.
I never got into the Clash or English Beat, but did like Gary Numan, Ultravox, Bauhaus, Talking Heads, Human League, the Fixx, etc. etc.
Posted by: JohnL at October 15, 2004 03:29 PMI await with great anticipation that New Wave post. Can anyone say, Devo? Culture Club? I bet you can.
Posted by: RP at October 15, 2004 04:18 PMCool list . . . The best part about hearing "Children of the Sun" now is realizing Lenny Kravitz stole a section and made it into a song called "Gotta Get Away" or something. The guitar riff in "Children" is followed by "Children of the sun, children of the sun" while Lenny made a whole song out of it.
Posted by: Uncle Mikey at October 18, 2004 02:47 PMLike your list...i would have to add Rock and Roll Fantasy by Bad Co. though..
Posted by: Shawn at May 23, 2005 03:06 PM