Bradley's Buzz

#20-16

Well we're off to a place where only a few dare to go, a place that everybody knows as the top 20! That's right only 20 more songs to go until we get to the #1 Top Single of the 1980s - According to Bradley (we mustn't ever forget that part)...
So I won't spoil the five that start out our top 20, nope I won't, cuz my lips are sealed baby!


20. OUR LIPS ARE SEALED - Go - Gos
(Weidlin/Hall)
IRS single #9901 (US)/ #1007 (UK)
Chart Debut: June 12, 1981 (US)/ June 15, 1982 (UK)
Chart Position: #20 US / #42 UK

To anyone around in the summer of '81, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that when the Go Gos hit, they hit HUGE - a sort of GoGos mania happened. In fact I believe they even ran the country for a few months in 1981 (just kidding), but I do recall once they were introduced into the musical lexicon of the 80s they were every where. People couldn't get enough and rightly so, the entire album Beauty & The Beat, is one incredible song after another, no doubt due to the fact the band had been working and playing those songs for a few years prior to its release. In fact, Belinda Carlisle has mentioned her endless frustration around 1980 when male dominated bands the Go Gos were playing with were all getting record contracts while the Go Gos continued being ignored. That all changed soon enough, however. First they did a one off single of "We Got The Beat" on Stiff Records - one of the greatest early 80s labels for new wave and 'off the radar' artists. The record started a bit of stir and they signed to IRS Records in the US - no doubt due to an inside connection to the owner of the company (isn't it always about connections). Of course no one could reasonably argue that the Go Gos didn't deserve to be signed. Their entire process of playing non stop fun surf summer new wave pop has never been duplicated by another band - male or female. Okay, Blondie of course, but then again the gals of the Go Gos have always said what an infuence Blondie was on them. As for this single itself, to me it is the quissessential Go Gos song - incorporating the fun time drums and guitar of the entire band, Belinda's vocals are matched by the soft tones of Jane's middle bridge vocals. This is the song that proves (like Blondie) the Go Gos were not a bunch of session musicians backing up a female lead singer, they were a band through and through. To this day, the video is a sure fire smash when played and the fact the band are performing live at what is now the Viper Room only adds to the allure of the early 1980s LA music scene for me. "Our Lips Are Sealed" and its parent album are to me one of the most important pieces of the 80s culture. Watch the video here!

19. YOU DON'T WANT ME ANYMORE - Steel Breeze
(Ken Goorabian)
RCA single #13283 (US)/ #283 (UK)
Chart Debut: September 18, 1982 US
Chart Position: #16 US

"You Don't Want Me Anymore" is one of those elusive songs of a decade full of elusive songs. Steel Breeze was one of oh so many faceless male rock bands of the 80s (think Survivor and the like) but the band had this clever little single that thanks to the onset of MTV actually got a lot of play. Thanks to the incorporation of keyboards and timing changes, the song is a lot more interesting and notable than a lot of the stuff from the era. The music itself and the lyrics are only part of the reason it scores so high on my chart for the fact is that I truly, truly love this song! I think its one of those golden gems so many forget about until you actually hear the song. I sing along everytime I hear those beginning synth guitar slide, and the endless homage to new wave stylings gone by - "You don't want me anymore/ so let me explain cuz I don't want to lose you/ you don't want me anymore/ I tried so hard, so hard to please you..." Story of my life! Love it! Relive the exciting song and watch the video!

18.GOODBYE TO YOU - Scandal
(Zack Smith)
Columbia/CBS single #38-03019
Chart Debut: November 13, 1982 US
Chart Position: #65 US (#5 Mainstream Rock Tracks US)

One of the all time best kiss off songs, "Goodbye To You" was a staple of MTV and proved that for about $20 you too could make a video. I loved the song from the moment I saw Patty Smyth and her boys pogoing along to the new wave sounding rock song. "Those times I waited for you seem so long ago..." and the ultra cool bridge, "it's finished/over now/ no need to talk about it/ it's not the same/ my love for you is just not the same/ oh my heart, oh my heart can't stand the strain/ and my love, and my love won't stand the pain/ and my love and my looooovee...." which immediately goes into one of the coolest keyboard solos on vinyl - which is in itself ironic since the solo is actually played by Paul Schaffer of David Letterman fame, who is not cool in anyone's book. The song did fairly well in local clubs and local rock radio but only scored #65 on the main charts, though the self titled EP which spawned the single was until about two years ago the biggest selling EP on Columbia Records. Watch the video!


17. CRASH - The Primitives
(Court/Dullaghan/Tracey)
RCA single # 8682 (US)/ #41761 (UK)
Chart Debut: February 27, 1988 UK
Chart Position: Modern Rock #3 US/ #5 UK

"here you go/ way too fast/better slow down you're gonna crash..." and so begins one of the best modern pop tracks of the decade. A few years ahead of its time, this song probably (and was)would be more popular in the 90s culture. Not sounding dated at all, this is a song that with a little more grunge instrumentation could be a Garbage track. Sing songy, clever in its delivery, always a summer fun frill and a tad bitchy (which I love) "so just shut/ shut your mouth/ cause I'm not listening anyhow/ I've had enough/ enough of you/ enough to last a lifetime through", "Crash" deserves its place as one of the best singles of the 1980s which is probably why it shows up in films over and over and over again. Watch the video!

16. NIGHT MOVES - Marilyn Martin
(Marilyn Martin/John Parr/John Astley)
Atlantic single #89465 (US) / #9465 (UK)
Chart Debut: February 22, 1986 US
Chart Position: #28 US

Oh the days of my rebellious teens - it was Marilyn Martin who almost had me sent to juvenile hall. How could one pop rock chanteuse whose main claim to fame is singing over and above Phil Collins in the 1985 ballad "Seperate Lives" cause such trauma to one so cute and adorable? Well let me tell you.

It all begins sometime in early 1986, there I was washing dishes as I was prone to do since I was the child labor of our household. I had the radio on and from the blaring fun of WIFC, came a keyboard loop and some strange backing vocals before a full voiced gal began singing, "Slipping away/ silently into the night.." I was hooked, then the bridge came and some drums pounded as the voice sang, "We're on the edge/ reaching the point of no return/ caught in a web/ daring to touch/ is it the love of the danger or the danger of the love?" then the guitar kicked in and so did the voice, "you know I'm not afraid of your night moves/ you know I'm not afraaaaaid...." and the keyboards began again. The second verse stuck to the formula but by the middle of the song, the guitar solo was in full gear and the whole thing ended with the keyboard and backing muffled background vocals which began it all. I was in love, I had to know who was singing this brilliant song. As it turned out it was Marilyn Martin, who I of course knew thanks to the White Nights ballad I mentioned earlier. I realized I did like that ballad and didn't think it was nearly as schmaltzy as most ballads plus I did recall how powerful Marilyn's voice was.

I immediately got the 45 and then I saw the video - Marilyn as a modern day vampire! Apparantly, her night moves included sucking the blood out of hot guys. I was in love. I couldn't wait to have the whole album in my hot little hands! As it was, this was around the time my friend Mona introduced me to the great art of shoplifting. I had almost doubled my 45 collection in just a few weeks. So on one balmy afternoon while staying at my father's house, I went to Prange Way to score me some new music. The problem was I couldn't decide what I wanted to steal that day. After running back to the music section a few times and totally making my half brother jittery, I opted to stick the Marilyn Martin self titled LP in my jacket. Thinking I had made the wisest choice possible, my half brother and I went to the front door where a big butch hand of a lesbian "shopper" grabbed me by the coat and pulled me back in. As I saw my half brother run from the store like he was dodging bullets, I was whisked away to a back room where I was put under hot lights before being sent to the local police station.

My father eventually came to get me and I decided I needed a nap. My mother came to my father's and picked me up and to my horror when I got home, all of my posters were torn off my wall, my stereo was out of my room and it appeared I was grounded. The worst part of the whole situation was really the fact that I never even got to hear the Marilyn Martin album.

A few months later, my mother and I went shopping and I got that prized Marilyn album and I never once regretted finally hearing a legitimate copy that was actually paid for with money. I never shoplifted again but I did listen to Marilyn. As it turned out, as much as I love the album, nothing on it was as good as "Night Moves", though there were a few gems thrown in. Atlantic Records unwisely released a ballad called "Move Closer" as the next single and Marilyn took a more dance move for her follow up album, which didn't do much better. I seriously believe had she stuck to the formula of this great single, she could've been huge. But what do I know, I'm practically a hardened criminal.

Marilyn Martin, who had spent a lot of time as a back up singer including working on Stevie Nicks' 1985 album Rock A Little, ended up returning to the world of standing behind the "real artist" but I'm sure she's doing fine, though I think now she's given up all musical aspirations and is doing real estate in Tennessee. It's really too bad cause she's had some major contributions to music, after all some of her work includes working on Madonna's Like A Prayer album, and there's no doubt her voice is just as powerful as it is on this record. Plus she has a damn good attitude, when asked about her #1 song with Phil Collins she constitutes, "No one knew who the hell I was, they thought it was Crystal Gayle singing on that song." Watch the kick ass video of 'Night Moves' here!

Well, after that "breif" story I think we all need a break don't you? So you spend your time doing some night moves but make sure your lips are sealed or you could crash and then nobody will want you anymore.... until next time!

Labels: Go Gos, Marilyn Martin, Scandal featuring Patty Smyth, Steel Breeze, The Primitives, Top singles of the 1980s

posted by swivek @ 12:35 PM