Rey's A Point

The Totally Def Music From the 80’s

I listened to a lot of generally acknowledged junk in the 80s. So if Janet had asked “what generally acknowledged junk did you listen to” I could start rattling off names from the Kids music station (I still remember the words to Weird Al’s “Another One Rides the Bus”).

So okay Janet, I’ll list which artists I thought were awesome and would have had in my iPod if the things existed back then.

01.Michael Jackson. Before he died (or was replaced by an alien) in the early 90’s (After Dangerous and right after that weird frighteningly uncomfortable panther-dance hissy-fit at the end of the Black or White video where at one point he is WAY too into himself) he was the man (might as well link to the original video so you can play Guess-That-Face). I don’t know how many times I danced to “Billie Jean” on the ugly 12 inch alternating yellow and white tiles of my parent’s kitchen floor.

02.U2. War was decent, Unforgettable Fire was nice—but we saw the withering of 80’s rock at The Joshua Tree.

03.Madonna. She was scandalous and great with a sound that had no problem transforming even within the 80s. Now, as an icon of Pop music she has unworthy servents (Britney, Christina) who aspire to take her throne

04.Whitney Houston. Before she died (or was replaced by an alien) in the early 90s (After she married Bobby Brown and everyone got nervous yet before her interview with Dianne Sawyer when everyone asked “What happened?” immediately answered by “Oh yeah, 92…”) she ruled. I know of 12 schools that had “The Greatest Love of All” as their graduation song.

05.Cyndi Lauper. I honestly thought Madonna was trying to rip her off but then realized this woman had more than just image—she was a bloody lyrical genius (though her extreme Queens accent grated).

06.Run D.M.C. Don’t forget how they paved the road for Hip Hop as we know it; they deserve a mention for that alone. But also remember their contribution to enjoying the genre:

Dinner, you ate it, there is none left
It was salty, with butter and it was def
You proceeded to eat it cos you was in the mood
But holmes you did not read it was a can of dog food!
You be illin’

07.Bruce Springsteen. Lord forgive me.

08.The Police. Awesome.

09.Lionel Ritchie. I don’t even want to comment on it. It was embarrassing.

10.Simon and Garfunkle Simon & Garfunkel. I know they weren’t 80’s but that’s when my eyes opened to their awesomeness. It was like some collected album that had all the greats on it (Sounds of Silence, Kathy’s Song, Homeward Bound, Feelin’ Groovy and Bridge Over Troubled Water)

Rey

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4 responses to “The Totally Def Music From the 80’s”

  1. I used to think that Cyndi Lauper was a Madonna clone, not vice versa, but had the same realization after hearing more than “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. Somewhere around True Colors or Time After Time she became a separate entity for me. The recent stuff showed her range too; I forget whether it was you or PacDan(or both) that picked a Lauper album that I borrowed a few years ago.

    I sort of merged DMC with Aerosmith, but they definitely deserved their own entry, especially for you be illin’ since I ran around elementary school singing that exact verse with my friends that you quoted. When I was 10 or so that was hilarious.

  2. It was one of the things that really ticked me off about Madonna but then she kept changing her image and sound. Cindy though was an image covering something wonderfull.

  3. I see we overlapped in a lot of artists, but you threw me off with the Simon and Garfunkel thing. Maybe it was the spelling…:)