I saw this on another board and I thought it might be a good subject for here.

 

What are the lost songs of the 80s. Songs that weren't as big as they should have been or seem to have been completely forgotten?

 

Here's a few for starters:

 

Love and Money - Candybar Express

 

ABC - That Was Then But This Is Now

 

 

The Icicle Works - Understanding Jane

 

Blue Zoo - Cry Boy Cry

 

The Passions - I'm In Love With A German Film Star

 

 

Edited February 20, 200718 yr by grebo69

I saw this on another board and I thought it might be a good subject for here.

 

What are the lost songs of the 80s. Songs that weren't as big as they should have been or seem to have been completely forgotten?

 

Here's a few for starters:

 

Love and Money - Candybar Express

ABC - That Was Then But This Is Now

The Icicle Works - Understanding Jane

Blue Zoo - Cry Boy Cry

The Passions - I'm In Love With A German Film Star

 

 

good idea :)

 

i like blue zoo and the passions..

 

 

susan fassbender................... 'twilight cafe'

eye to eye............................. 'am i normal'

wah heat............................... 'better scream' ... (the best thing wylie ever did)

latin quarter........................... 'radio africa'

blue rondo a la turk................ 'me and mr sanchez'

dexys midnight runners........... 'dance stance'

john foxx............................... 'underpass'

 

more to follow :)

 

Blue Zoo... now that's a blast from the past! Love and Money, too... I remember meeting them once - lovely guys. And that ABC track... one of their finest. I nominate another:

 

ABC - How to be a Millionaire

The Lover Speaks - No More 'I Love You's' (murdered by Annie Lennox... this version is far, far superior... their other great singles were Every Lover's Sign and the Dusty cover I Close My Eyes and Count To Ten'.. all undeserved flops)

Lotus Eaters - The First Picture of You (should've been number one)

Cocteau Twins - Aikea Guinea

This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren (another song that should've been number one)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dazzle

Waterfront - Cry

Lene Lovich - New Toy

Alison Moyet - Sleep Like Breathing and Ordinary Girl

Real Life - Send Me An Angel

We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It - Rules and Regulations

Sisters of Mercy - Alice

 

ahh yes... the lotus eaters take me back to the hot summer of '83, i got married :)

 

lene lovich too, 'bird song' was my fav though that was in '79.

'Bird Song' was excellent, too.... as was the album it came off, Flex. Shame Lene disappeared - she released some great stuff. Anyone here remember her album Stateless? Brilliant stuff.

Sticking to just 10 songs over 2 posts, I have included songs from the 1980s that in another parallel universe were massive #1 hits in the 1980s instead of the likes of Stock Aitken & Waterman pap & Shakin Stevens & novelty singles by Joe Dolce, the Goombay Dance Band, & TV/soap actors from the UK, USA & Australia.

 

1. The The - Uncertain Smile (1982 UK#68)

 

2. Prefab Sprout - Faron Young (1985 UK#74)

 

3. XTC - Love On A Farm Boys Wages (1983 UK#50)

 

4. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Jennifer She Said (1988 UK#31)

 

5. Icicle Works - Evangeline (1987 UK#53)

6. Dexys Midnight Runners - This Is What She's Like (1985 Failed to make the Top75 and 100 times better than Come On Eileen IMHO!!!)

 

7. Squeeze - Tempted (1981 UK#41 - how did this wonderful song fail to go Top40 = criminal!)

 

8. Abba - The Day Before You Came (1982 UK#32 - no wonder they split when their greatest song failed to go Top30 in the UK. PS. Do you remember Blancmange's 1984 cover (UK#22) of the same track?)

 

9. New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (1986 UK#56) - My favourite New Order song.

 

10. The Cure - Hot Hot Hot!!! (1988 UK#45) How did this piece of musical genius & the other three singles released from "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" fail to go Top20 is an utter mystery to me.

Another lost Cure classic is their best ever pop single, Let's Go To Bed, which even now sounds great. Agreed about the terrific Kiss Me singles, especially Why Can't I Be You?...

 

Also, ABBA... Day Before You Came remains my favourite ABBA song by miles.

 

Another ABBA-related hit-that-shoulda-been was Frida's solo single 'I Know There's Something Going On', which has just been rather brilliantly remixed (see the Dance forums). Love this track - but it stalled just outside the top 40.

 

XTC... 'Dear God' should've been massive - they're criminally underrated songwriters, I think.

 

As for New Order... there are too many great New Order singles that should have been bigger. My favourite of these was Subculture.

Edited February 16, 200718 yr by russt68

teardrop explodes....'when i dream'

eurythmics.............. 'never gonna cry again'

 

 

Curses! Can't believe I forgot Underpass. For some reason this was played a lot on Thames TV just when I got in from school whenever they had a spare five minutes.

 

That Frida track is great as well although I only recently discovered it.

 

I would also like to add a few more:

 

New Model Army - 51st State

 

 

The The - Heartland (these two share a very similar subject matter)

 

The Smiths - That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore (I love this song and it was the only single for The Smiths to flop)

 

 

XTC - Dear God (I know this was already mentioned but it's so good it needed it again)

 

 

Crazyhead - What Gives You The Idea That You're So Amazing Baby

 

The Fall - Hit The North

 

 

PWEI - Def Con One

 

Edited February 20, 200718 yr by grebo69

Just remembered another one I used to love was Wang Chung - Dancehall Days. I remember seeing this on TOTP even tho it never made the Top 40. God knows how they got on!

 

Edited February 20, 200718 yr by grebo69

yeah 'dance hall days' was good

 

 

donald fagen..............'new fronteer'

hayzee fantayzee......' shiny shiny'

yes..........................'owner of a lonely heart'

chill fac-tor...............'twist (round and round)'

johnny hates jazz......'heart of gold'

 

6. Dexys Midnight Runners - This Is What She's Like (1985 Failed to make the Top75 and 100 times better than Come On Eileen IMHO!!!)

 

good job theres videos as i'm totally lost here.

 

bty have you heard this album?? or see the live performance for this alb that was talked about in uncut cash for questions?

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Kevin_Rowland-My_Beauty.jpg

Here are 5 more brilliant songs by female vocalists/acts that the 1980s record buying public forgot or ignored:

 

Kirsty MacColl - Terry (1984 UK #83 - according to "From Croydon to Cuba" anthology booklet - video features Adrian Edmondson)

 

Grace Jones - I'm Not Perfect (1986 UK#56 - written & produced by Nile Rodgers; video directed by Andy Warhol)

 

Eurythmics - Shame (1987 UK#41 - the best thing Annie Lennox has ever sung on IMHO)

 

Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Passenger (1987 UK#41 - brilliant cover of the Iggy Pop standard)

 

Kate Bush - There Goes A Tenner (1982 UK#78 - taken from the truly fantastic yet challenging The Dreaming an album that makes Robbie Williams' Rudebox album seem as adventurous as a Westlife album)

 

 

some of my favourite forgotton tracks are

 

 

Altered Images --Love to stay

Pat Benatar -- Sex as a weapon

Black -- Wonderful Life

Blow Monkeys -- Digging your scene

Dream Academy --Life in a northern town

Fiction Factory -- Feels like heaven

Flock of Seagulls --Space age love song

Julia Fordham --Happy ever after

Hall & Oates --Out of touch

Hipsway -- The Honeythief

It’s immaterial -- Driving away from home

Kissing the pink -- Last film

Korgis --Everybody’s got to learn sometime

New Musik -- Living by numbers

Split Enz --I got you

Suzanne Vega --Luka

good job theres videos as i'm totally lost here.

 

bty have you heard this album?? or see the live performance for this alb that was talked about in uncut cash for questions?

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Kevin_Rowland-My_Beauty.jpg

 

The Rowland album is a total classic. He covers a lot of soppy ballads (The Long And Winding Road, The Greatest Love etc) like bad karaoke PLUS he talks to himself in the intros and instrumental passages in each song. His version of Squeeze's Labelled With Love and The Hollies I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top are stand-outs. Because he changed the lyrics to most of the songs his version of Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road was on the promo only. So that's the copy to own.

 

The best bit about the album, though, is how it came to be recorded. Alan McGee, the head of Creation records wanted to licience Don't Stand Me Down so met with Rowland who, at the time was clean and sober. Rowland played McGee all these hot new songs he's written and agreed to record them for Creation. When Rowland delivered the album it was 100% cover versions of soppy love songs AND Rowland insisted on the drag cover.

 

Best album ever on Creation. #2 Screamadelia

 

... the planets had 2 minor hits in '80... i thought they were good..

 

'lines' and 'dont look down'.

Another five that really should have been hits:

 

Stewart Copeland - Don't Box Me In (theme from Rumblefish, I think it's Stan Ridgeway who actually sings on it)

 

 

Age of Chance - Kiss (Possibly the greatest cover of all time)

 

 

The Chameleons - In Shreds (Should have been massive)

 

 

King Kurt - Destination Zululand (Just bloody ace)

 

 

Re-flex - The Politics of Dancing (A good tune that should have charted higher)

 

Edited February 18, 200718 yr by grebo69

The songs are starting to flood back now! Here's another batch of songs that didn't reach the Top 40 that should have done.

 

Julian Cope - Sunshine Playroom

 

Stump - Charlton Heston

 

Cabaret Voltaire - Sensoria

 

 

Sugarcubes - Birthday

 

 

Long Ryders - Looking for Lewis and Clark

 

Edited February 20, 200718 yr by grebo69

Have to agree that 'My Beauty' is a fantastic album. Apparently it sold something like 1000 copies in total - even when it was reduced. Massive flop, but more fool people who couldn't bring themselves to buy it because of the cover.

 

I'll nominate these

 

Julian Cope - 'Sunspots'

Jamie Wednesday - 'Vote For Love'

The Chesterfields - 'Ask Johnny Dee'