I've been playing around with YouTube tracking down old music videos and seeing if I can track some of my obscure favourites. A few days back, I read a Stephen Downes post that linked from a Rob Wall post starting a meme called Top 5 Of The Eighties. Although not officially invited to be part of the fun, I couldn't resist. Being of the age where the music of the eighties provided the soundtrack to my teenage and early years of adulthood, I went scurrying to my cassette collection to see what jumped out at me as being memorable (or even listenable today.) Here's my list in no particular order.
- The The - Infected
- Husker Du - Zen Arcade
- Midnight Oil - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
- Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues
- Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
And to give non-Aussies a taste of the Oils in the middle there, here's a live version of "Only The Strong" via YouTube. Not quite as good as the album version ... but Midnight Oil were arguably the best live band down under in the eighties.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/i78Id1BHsPY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
No tagging - feel free to jump in and even try a different decade.
Steven Kimmi
Your list shows that you were not only listening, but paying attention. I was only 0-10 years of age durng that 80s, so my list is more in learning of things as an adult, but Hall & Oates, the Cars, the Clash, come to mind quite quickly.
Could we tranlate this to the classroom? Have them make top five lists as a culmination of a porject. I think Dan Schmit spoke of this in his Kidcast podcast.
Rob Wall
I think memes like this are always more fun when someone jumps on board without any kind of official invitation. I think your list is great. I almost included Midnight Oil in the top 5 – they would definitely make my top 10 although I’m not sure if I would put 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 or Diesel and Dust as the top album, maybe even Red Sails in the Sunset. I was lucky enough to see the Oils in concert in 1988 – one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen!
alexanderhayes
1. Back In Black – ACDC
2. White Album – Beatles
3. Sitting On a Fence – Jethro Tull
4. The The – Infected
5. The Cure – All of it….
The Oils were up there but I came from the thrash punk era growing into the new romantics ( back to EMO’s) and for my money Rose Tattoo at Cronulla Hotel with the Rebels as guards were as wicked a show as any.
Metallica and Black Sabbath were somewhere in there also…..I think 🙂 ( nursing head )
Tech4Teach
The Eighties, what an eclectic mix of Music. Here are some of my favorites, but not neccessarily in order, or the top 5. There’s too many to choose from.
1.Sandinista – The Clash
2.Pop Art – Elton Motello
3.Under Wraps – Jethro Tull
4.Fade to Grey – Visage
5.The Wall – Pink Floyd
There’s an interesting mix for you. I’ll also add some of my musical memories from the 80’s, again in no particular order.
1.Pink Floyd – Live at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Still the best concert I have ever seen.
2.Thin Lizzy – Live at the Myer Music Bowl (I think that was the 80’s).
3.The Models and Bear Garden in a small warehouse in North Melbourne – Wild Night.
4.Jethro Tull – live at the Sports & Entertainment Centre Melbourne.
5.A good friends 18th on the banks of the Yarra, which ended up in the Matthew Flinders Hotel, which ended up, somewhere else a few days later…I think.
What an era the 80’s was and it had it all, Punk, New Romantics, Bliss, Ska, and of course good old fashioned Metal.