Tenderness by General Public

Although I either missed it (or forgot about it, more likely, since it is in the soundtrack for the classic teenage hijinx movie Weird Science, "Tenderness" by General Public has shown up over and over again in 80s compilations and retrospectives. It's ironically one of the 80s songs that I've heard most since the 80s... but not that often in the 80s.

It's perhaps somewhat questionable to include it on a synthpop retrospective, but to me that's one of the interesting things about "Tenderness" (and lots of other songs from the 80s)--it's mainstream pop, and it's very heavily draped in synthlines and synthesizers. Synthpop was very mainstream during much of the 80s ("Tenderness" was released in 1984). General Public's background were, in fact, as 2 Tone ska/punk/reggae hybrid, when singers David Wakeling and Ranking Roger left the breaking group The Beat and formed General Public instead. But in the mid-80s, everyone was integrating elements of synthpop into their music. This has actually continued through to today. Even when grunge rock and other genres surged in popularity, the synthpop influence never completely went away, and hits by Madonna and Cher in the early 90s are straight-up synthpop tracks. In recent years, artists like LIGHTS, Mike Posner, Owl City and others are also arguably classified as synthpop. A string of bands for years now, including Franz Ferdinand, Blur, The Killers and more are also clearly heavily influenced by synthpop, even if they might not qualify as straight up synthpop directly.

Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order

"Bizarre Love Triangle" is one of my favorite songs of all time, as it happens. And although it certainly lives up to its title in terms of being bizarre, I can't tell that it has anything whatsoever to do with a love triangle. Indeed, like many New Order songs, it's a toss-up whether or not the lyrics are deep and full of some kind of artistic meaning, or merely inane and silly. (Frankly, I'm leaning towards the latter.) The track failed to chart very high when released as a single in both the UK and the US, but gradually climbed for literally years afterward, and even hit Billboard again in 1995; nearly ten years after it was first released.

Over time, it's become pretty emblematic of New Order; almost like their signature song, as it were. It's also been covered by a number of artists who were influenced by New Order, including Stabbing Westward, Apoptygma Berzerk and Frente! (I've included those three versions as well as the 1987 Substance remix) and is even part of The Killers live set in an acoustic piano version that's not unlike the APB cover below.

Pompeji by Camouflage

I mentioned earlier that Camouflage's "Pompeji" was almost a better example of their melancholy, ethereal take on the Depeche Mode sound, in spite of the fact that it was really just an instrumental b-side. I also mentioned that I couldn't find any versions of the longer 12" version that I had on my "The Great Commandment" 12" single. That is no longer true, so here it is.

I like that this fan-made video has a bunch of images of the Serengeti on it. Although Pompeji is the German spelling of Pompeii, and therefore presumably this has an ancient Roman type theme or something like that, it always reminded me sharply of the opening credits to the movie Hatari! by Henry Mancini. Just for fun, I attached a youtube clip of that, too.

It helps, perhaps, that Hatari! is one of my favorite movies.

I Love My Radio (Midnight Radio) by Taffy

Not all italo-disco was Italian, and in fact Taffy was from New York. While her impact in the US was essentially non-existant, "I Love My Radio" was a one-hit wonder in the UK and in other markets where it slotted nicely into the italo-disco countries and markets.

The video is notable, if you can call it that, for highlighting some of the worst 80s clothes I have ever had the misfortune of having seen. The cars are pretty cool, though.

Souvenir by OMD

I've talked a bit about what I like about OMD already, but "Souvenir" is one of the songs that most encapsulates their strengths in one, three minute byte. From their early CD Architecture & Morality, it showcased their wistful, ethereal, dreamy side, before they developed a more cynical pop structure and sound.

I read an interview of McClusky and Humphries, the two creative heads behind OMD's sound, and interestingly enough, they speak of that more commercial sound as an unhappy time for them, musically at least. Humphries in particular mentions singing songs that he didn't even necessarily like, but which he felt he had to do to appeal to his audience and generate sales, and because they "owed" it to the audiences or something. This is a little bit ironic, since Architecture & Morality was the most successful album OMD ever pressed, from a commercial point of view, although the follow-up, Dazzle Ships, must have really shaken them with its commercial failure.

This deepening malaise (one of my favorite words, even though I was too young during the Carter years to really remember when it was all the rage) contributed to the split at the end of the 80s between Humphries and McClusky, who oddly enough, remained good friends even as their respective lawyers argued about who was responsible for what, and what the value of the equity in things like the band name were worth and all that.

But, on "Souvenir" we see OMD at their finest, still pushing the envelope, still going in new directions, still happy and excited about creating the future of music. Unlike most OMD songs, Humphries instead of McClusky does the vocals. The band has also expressed disappointment in the video in recent years, since it is open to the possible interpretation that there are homoerotic undertones between the two musicians, which was not their intention at all. That said, the video did get heavy rotation in the early years of OMD, and it remains one of their most recognizeable videos today.

Suffer the Children by Tears for Fears

Nobody in the US remembers Tears for Fears much before 1985's Songs from the Big Chair which had hit songs "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Shout," "Mothers Talk" and "Head Over Heels" but in the UK, their earlier 1983 effort The Hurting was also a major success. One of the less remembered songs from it, however, is literally the first song Tears For Fears recorded, which went on to be a failed first single: "Suffer the Children." It was always my favorite The Hurting era Tears for Fears song. All of the songs on The Hurting were really pretty depressing; in fact, almost every song references primal therapy, a psychological tool meant to dredge up childhood trauma and relive it as a means of purging repressed pain, apparently a reflection of songwriter Roland Orzapal's own bitter childhood.

As a curious bit of trivia, John Lennon, James Earl Jones and piano player Roger Williams are all famous primal therapy patients. Tears for Fears themselves were very disillusioned when they met primal therapy creator Arthur Janov and he wanted them to write a musical to promote his practice.

Also; check out the fragile acoustic cover of contemporary Tears for Fears track "Mad World" on the Donnie Darko soundtrack if you get a chance. Beautiful song.

Tears for Fears later abandoned their synthpop sound. Some sources claim that only The Hurting itself is synthpop while Songs from the Big Chair abandoned that sound to become a contemporary rock album. I think that's a ridiculous statement. Have these guys not heard "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" or "Shout" or "Head Over Heels" recently? It wasn't until the 1989 release The Seeds of Love that Tears for Fears dropped the synthpop sound, and even then they used quite a few synthesizers still.

Safety Dance by Men Without Hats

"Safety Dance" is one of those iconic songs from the 80s. Men Without Hats themselves are almost exclusively remembered for it and it alone (which is a shame, because at a minimum, "Pop Goes the World" was just as good a song.) Part of that might be the bizarre, trippy video that they made for the song, which was a kind of Renaissance Festival Maypole celebration with a dwarf and a girl who danced like she was high the entire time.

Apparently the song was, of all things, a protest song about how New Wave pogo dancing fans were getting kicked out of clubs by bouncers because their dancing looked vaguely dangerous.