Left of the Dial...good 80s?

[tinygee]

I just borrowed this box set and fuckin A if isnt spectacular. Im a bit too young to know a good amount of 80s, the only 80's tunes i really know are from john hughes' movies, or the outfield...the only band i guess i really dug from the 80s was the cure..but this box set has really changed my perception of 80s being such cheeseball ass music.

[HoyaSaxa03]

i've heard good things, but i don't think i'll be shelling out for it, have too much of it already on albums ... "left of the dial" by the replacements is one of my favorite tracks of all time ...

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Speaking of The Outfield, KEXP just played that "I Predict a Riot" song, and damn if it doesn't sound like the Outfield.

[kosmo vinyl]

and just when i was thinking there weren't enough reasons to like that song....

[Bags]

I should really pick up that box set, but like Hoya, I have most of the albums that the cuts are from.
 
 Just checked out the Rhino  website, holy crap that's a great compilation.  Bless them for The Cutter by Echo rather than something from Ocean Rain!  And frickin' The Three O'Clock.  beeeuuuutiful.
 
 Tinygee, glad to see that your eyes have been opened to see that the 80s was not all about Dexy's Midnight Runners, Laura Branigan and A Ha!

[bearman🐻]

I agree, very solid compilation for anyone who missed all that stuff the first time around. I have to admit that I've been listening to my old 80's old school mixes from Phil K Swift and it's so great to hear stuff like "Our Darkness" by Anne Clarke again and "World Destruction" by Time Zone. That's the stuff from the 80's I really miss.

[Bags]

This is what young folks think the 80s was all about.  A few good songs, but typically lesser successes from even great artists (a la "Steppin' Out" from Joe Jackson and "Roam" from B-52s....)

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

C'mon Eileen was an excellent song. Not sure about the rest of Dexy's output.

[bearman🐻]

UGH, yeah Bags I know what you mean. All that stuff has been played out to death. Not that Left of the Dial is perfect (there are a few too-obvious choices), but it is definitely spread out better. It's a shame they didn't pick something like "Transmission" by Joy Division instead of LWTUA, but on the whole it's a solid group of songs.

[ggw]

Unfortunately, that album is pretty accurate if you are talking about '80s pop.  "Steppin' Out" was huge and Joe Jackson's better stuff is from his first two albums, which were from the seventies.  
 
 Same with the B52s first album - 1979. Wild Planet was 1980, but "Private Idaho" or "Strobe Light" (while definitely better) were not nearly as big on radio as "Roam."   I would have expected "Love Shack" to get the nod.
 
 
   

Originally posted by Bags:
  This is what young folks think the 80s was all about.  A few good songs, but typically lesser successes from even great artists (a la "Steppin' Out" from Joe Jackson and "Roam" from B-52s....)

[Bombay Chutney]

Originally posted by bunnyman:
  "World Destruction" by Time Zone.

I remember when we couldn't go out without hearing that song.  I remember being at The Back Alley once when the DJ played it halfway through, ripped it off the turntable, broke the record in half and screamed that he was never going to play it again.  
 
 I may need to listen to that tonight.

[Bags]

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer:
  C'mon Eileen

It's not a terrible song, but they play it at every single 80s night....I don't ever want to hear that song again.  Ditto to Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," which I think is a great song, but I've no need to ever hear it again.  The 1479 times I've heard it to date will suffice.
 
 GGW, I realize and agree that the pop culture mix correctly gets at the hits of the day.  That's why I'm sick of nearly all of those songs.  I'm less knocking the pop culture mix than praising the Left of the Dial mix for going in to that compilation with a vision rather than just a representation.  Make sense?  As tinygee was getting at, it's great if it reveals to some younger music fans that there was a lot of other stuff going on in those big hair days...

[tinygee]

thanks for catching my point bags...and when i said cheeseball 80s i specifically meant the motley crues and warrants and so on.....i cant fucking stand the hair metal.....but a few years back i was in a stage where i loved all those pop 80s tunes...ex. 'tenderness', 'if you leave', 'cmon eileen', 'dont you forget about me'.......The tracks on Left of the Dial are songs that will last in my ipod for years to come, where as you listen to those pop hits until finally you have to set the tape on fire.

[tenfifteen]

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer:
  C'mon Eileen was an excellent song. Not sure about the rest of Dexy's output.

They did a mean cover of "Jackie Wilson Said."