Just another word from the website owner...
(I need to find something more creative than this)
It's Wednesday afternoon and I'm enjoying the day off work. The thing is, peace and quiet is only fun up to a certain point. I've now reached that point. It's called boredom. So, since I don't have anything better to do I'm writing another one of my "letters".
Being 19 (soon to be 20) it's obvious that I was born "too late". By saying that I mean too late to enjoy the music of the 80's to the full. Of course, I can buy various CDs from the 80's and listen to them 24/7 (which is actually what I do) but I wasn't there. I get the idea of what it was like, but it's not the same. Like George said: "F***, I wish I had been there." His wish was to compete with the talents of the 60's. He was born in the 60's but was obviously too young to compete with any of them then. I was born in the 80's but obviously too young to know my own good when it came to music. Sadly.
The 60's and 70's
For years and years I listened to ABBA. In primary school that was. I guess it's not the worst music I could listen to, but I was only listening to it cause I just happen to find a number of tapes in my parents' collection - and I was dying for something new as the Postman Pat theme and Colargol were getting slightly boring. My brother also influenced me a little, cause he was head over heels in love with the blond girl. To this day I remember all the lyrics, and I can't help but sing along when I hear an ABBA song on the radio - or A*Teens for that matter.
When I started the 7th grade I watched "Dirty Dancing" for the first time. And back to the 60's I went - even though many of the songs were actually made for the movie, such as "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" and "Hungry Eyes". Especially "Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen is so 80's. Still, I got the double CD and listened to it non stop for probably a couple of years. I loved it. Then someone nicked it off from me (probably someone who wanted me to listen to something else) and I was forced to listen to something else. So I nicked off my Dad's records from the 60's and started listening to them instead. It wasn't "Dirty Dancing", but it was still 60's.
Wake Me Up
Then, in January 1997, I had my wake-up-call. I discovered Wham!. I had heard a couple of songs before - such as "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go", "Last Christmas" and "Careless Whisper" - but I had never cared to find out who sang them. (Probably because I was too occupied listening to "These Arms of Mine" and "Dancing Queen"...) I was shocked (to say the least) when I realised that the singer was actually the same man I had been slogging off a month earlier... Still, I bought "Wham! The Final" on CD and it didn't leave my CD player for ages.
It was after this that I started collecting music. I had already listened to the Elton John songs from the "Lion King" for a while, but from a tape I had got from my sister. Before this I probably had 10 CDs. Now I have approximately 300 and most of them are from the 80's.
The 80's
I now love the 80's. The crazy 80's. OK, so they looked silly with their huge hairstyles that looked like wigs, the hidious colours (read: light-pink, shiny-yellow, light-blue and mint-green...) in all sorts of combinations, Ray Ban glasses, the huge bricks someone called "mobile phones" (even though they were 10 times as heavy as your home-phone, and not quite as mobile as the ones we have now) and of course the striped (preferably red/hvite) Ball sweaters. I had one of those myself - but so did everyone else. Flat shoes, tight jeans that (sometimes) looked like they had been painted on you, and the great music.
No, the GREAT music!!! What I wouldn't give to attend to some of those 80's concerts. Wham!, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, George Michael... and the list goes on. Wham! is no more, Duran Duran hooked up again (what happened to the 80's sound???), Frankie Goes To Hollywood hasn't - as far as I know - released anything for over a decade, Spandau Ballet broke up, Culture Club are still around (but how many people bought their last album? 15?) and George Michael doesn't tour anymore. I find myself listening to concerts by various bands and I want to kick someone for not being able to be there. I would do anything to go back to the last Wham! concert at Wembley in 1986 - a month after I'd turned 5... If only I was 19 in 1986.
Today's Chart Toppers
What's on the charts nowadays? Let me see, dance, rap, techno and boy/girl bands. Fantastic, innit? Especially the last mentioned. We have the fantastic new fabricated band Hear'Say whose first single reminds me of All Saints' hit "Never Ever". I'm so impressed... Then we have the Spice Girls who should, in my opinion, throw their towel in now. I've never been a fan of them (even though I do admit that "Viva Forever" is a good song) and I'm not a fan of Geri Halliwell either, but after she left it's gone down-hill for the group. She was the Spice Girls - even though she's not - in my humble opinion - the most talented person from the group. I do think she was the driving force, and without her it seems they lost their spark. It was like when Freddie Mercury died - Queen died with him. Even though they're still a group, they're not Queen.
How many British boy/girl bands are there now? I've lost count. Simply because I can't stomach that, pardon me, crap. The ones that come to mind are, A1, Westlife, Steps, Boyzone and of course Hear'Say. Put nicely, non of these have yet managed to impressed me. Sure, the kids go crazy, scream until they faint at concerts and kiss their posters with these cuties every evening before they go to bed. Who will remember them in 10 years though?
We might remember that A1 killed "Take On Me", "Westlife" killed "Uptown Girl" (thank you ever so much!) and "Against All Odds". All, if I'm not mistaken, hits from the 80's. The thing I can't understand is, WHY kill a classic? You're supposed to "ride a classic", not kill it. Just like Whigfield kindly did with "Last Christmas" in the 90's. Brilliant. Thanks again.
Speaking of covers, I can't leave out the kings of coversongs - Boyzone. We have: "Words" (Bee Gees), "Baby Can I Hold You" (Tracy Chapman), "Father and Son" (Cat Stevens) and the list goes on. It's quite pathetic, really, when you think about it. It's even less impressive than having others do all the songwriting for you. These guys are using hits that people remember, adding their own personal "touch" - meaning Ronan Keating's "nasal" voice. A karaoke band. The songs they have made themselves haven't really been hits, have they? The funniest thing is this: after, what, two albums they released a GREATEST HITS compilation. Come on.
Still Going Strong
Having said all this, I should also mention some of the talents we have now. At least in my humble opinion. We have Elton John (and of course the man writing his lyrics, Bernie Taupin), of course George Michael (and I should also menion the man who - I think - started it all. Without him there would be no George Michael the way we know him today. He might be a songwriter like Bernie is for Elton, but I doubt he would have dared to take the step and become an artist. So, put your hands together for: Andrew Ridgeley! *cheering enthusiastically*), Billy Joel (even though I can't quite forgive him for letting Westlife ruin "Uptown Girl" ;-)...), Marc Anthony (the - if you ask me - better part of the 80's group he shared with Ricky Martin. He has some incredible lyrics and an impressive voice. He also managed to fill up Madison Square Garden twice in one weekend - which hadn't been done my a latino-singer before.), Pet Shop Boys (now THAT is a nasal voice!) and I'm sure I could go on - but these are (still, in my opinion) the ones I can say I'm impressed with at the moment - that are still around making music.
What makes these artists great is that they do the things themselves. Non of them - maybe apart from George - are attractive, but they have another thing in common: Talent. Real talent.
Amazing, isn't it? :-)