Welcome to a new edition of Shuffle! The music blog where I take some random songs, put it under a random topic and produce a great shuffle of music for you to enjoy.
1982 is where my musical tastes began to form on my own choices and away from what I grew up on from my family. Up to this point my musical landscape was all the country music influences from my mother (which I will always cherish) some disco/rock from my older cousins and that I was petrified of KISS because of one of my babysitter’s teenage sons scaring me with Gene Simmons’ solo cover all the time! (I would go from being scared to loving KISS so don’t worry, I got over it!) I was in fourth grade, I was 10 years old and it was definitely the year of Michael Jackson but so much more came out of that year as well. MTV was in it’s second year of existence (but it wouldn’t get to my town cable’s package till about 1986 I think. Bucyrus was always about five to ten years behind a curve!) Let’s dig into this wonderful year of popular (and maybe not so popular) music!
#kiss #MichaelJackson #MTV #Bucyrus #1982 #GeneSimmons #PopMusic #RockMusic #CountryMusic
In looking at the top 100 songs of 1982, it just really takes me back! So many huge hits by such a diverse group of artists! Number one was “Physical” Olivia Newton-John all the way to 100 being “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks (why the fuck is that song at #100?? but I digress). It was definitely a great year to develop one’s musical tastes!
- “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John:
Olivia is of course amazing and very much loved by the LGBTQ community and this video really shows us why she was there for us in the early days when no one else dared to have homosexual subject matter in their videos! It was tongue in cheek and done so well. I still love this video and song today of course but now as an out gay man since the age of twenty-four, it means so much more to me to have seen this type of representation at that early age when I already knew I was different than the other kids. It did have bears in the video but they were all the overweight ones. Even the ginger community was represented briefly! As for the song, it was a great way to use the word ‘physical’ and it had pop and rock elements to it which is somewhat of a running theme in the eighties of mixing the two genres. Olivia was at the top of her game and could really do no wrong at this point of her career. The public already had forgiven her for “Xanadu” (not the song, but the movie and that will be a whole blog unto itself in the future). She was one of the queen’s of pop at that time.
#OliviaNewtonJohn #Physical #LGBTQ #GayIcon #Xanadu
Fun Fact from 1982 in Music: January 20th, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a real bat!
2. “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” by Melissa Manchester
One of my favorite songs from the eighties is this little ditty sung by Melissa Manchester. It was #18 for the year of 1982 and was a pretty infectious hit. Fun, a little funky and very catchy. This is a Top of the Pops performance and as you can see, it screams eighties as it should. The outfits are hilarious! Melissa has a great voice and is known for some other great songs from that time period. If you don’t shake it a little bit when you hear this song, there is something wrong with ya!
#MelissaManchester #YouShouldHearHowSheTalksAboutYou #TopofthePops
On May 23, 1982, Pink Floyd’s The Wall premieres at the Cannes Film Festival. It opens to wide release later in the year on July 15, 1982. Here is the amazing theatrical trailer:
#PinkFloyd #TheWall #TheWalltheMovie #Cannes #RockMusic #ClassicRock
Let’s shift to some rock from the eighties, shall we?
3. “I Love Rock N’ Roll” – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Joan Jett is one of the bad asses of rock n’ roll! Yes, I will say it again, Joan Jett is one of the bad asses of rock n’ roll! She has seen it all, done it all and repeated it all! This song kicked major ass in 1982 and still does today. The driving guitars, the riff and of course Joan’s attitude which is why we love her forever. Yes, 1982 had a lot of great rock n’ roll that is still played and loved today. I have learned that this was a cover. It was originally done by a group called Arrows back in 1975. Joan’s version was #3 for the year of 1982 and put her career after the Runaways on track.
#JoanJettandtheBlackhearts #JoanJett #ILoveRockNRoll #Runaways #Cover #Arrows
Here is the Arrows original version (Joan’s is better!):
4. “Gloria” – Laura Braningan
“Gloria” is one of my all time favorite songs of all time. I cannot help but to smile when I hear it. It is also the song that reminds me of connection to my best friend since fourth grade to this day, Brian. He had the 45 single to this and we played it incessantly. Laura was one of our favorite artists and we relished her greatest hits CD years later. I have learned that this song was an Italian love song and was rewritten a bit by Laura and others for her version. The video is another “pure eighties” moment in time. Her black sequined top with those skin tight black leggings and the make up is on point eighties. Her voice soars on this song as well as some scratchy vocals from time to time giving it an edge than your normal pop fare at the time. The background music is pure synthesizer heaven with it’s “space warp” sound effects. The song is just pure gold and will always elicit a wave of happiness when played in any bar gay or straight!
#Gloria #LauraBraningan #45records
March 5, 1982 – Comedian and Blues Brother John Belushi is found dead of an apparent drug overdose in the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.
#JohnBelushi #TheBluesBrothers #ChateauMarmont #LosAngeles #DrugOverdose #Comedian
5. “Vacation” – The Go-Go’s
The Go-Go’s are one of the defining bands of the eighties! All women who wrote their own music and lyrics and did it all with great style and sass. How can you not love them? “Vacation” is a fun pop song that will get you out of your funk, ‘for sure, like totally’! The beginning of the video is a little slow but then once they get on their instruments and Belinda does her signature eighties moves, it’s on! The pseudo water skiing is a blast too! From wiki: “It was shot in one very long day on a $50,000 budget, large for the time, and the band was coming off a debut album that had reached no. 1. “We still saw videos as an annoying waste of time,” recalls Jane Wiedlin. “After seven or eight hours we sent out someone to sneak in booze.” Kathy Valentine says they drank “lots of champagne. Lots.” Wiedlin says the effects are evident during the closeups of the women at the end: “… if you look at our eyes, we’re all so drunk. We didn’t even try to make it look like we were really waterskiing.” Ah eighties videos were so totally tubular!
#TheGoGos #Vacation #NewWave #GirlsRock #GirlsRockBand #KathyValentine #BelindaCarlisle #WaterSkiing #Champagne #JaneWiedlin #TotallyTubular
6. “Kids In America” – Kim Wilde
Nothing will say you are in an eighties time warp than “Kids In America” by Kim Wilde. It has the signature synthesizers used at the time. It has the rebellious chorus of youth. It is moody but yet full of great pop hooks. It is a fun song that will always make you feel young again and can be used for any generation at this point.
June 11, 1982 – Grease 2 is released in theaters and even though it is panned, it is beloved in a different way than the original Grease. One of my favorite numbers from the movie is when Michelle Pfeiffer sings “Cool Rider”:
#Grease2 #Sequels #MichellePfeiffer #CoolRider #Grease
I’m going to stop here for now and continue in Part 2 of the year 1982, the year I started choosing music of my own liking and how it shapes me today. Once again, thank you for coming with me on this musical journey! What was the year you started liking music of your choosing and it wasn’t based on family upbringing so much? What singer or band really opened you up to a new world and how old were you?
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