On That Note, Part 8

[cyclones500]

Cyclones500/MeanDean weekly music assessment: “It’s My Vault” #4.

I have a few album-recaps in the works, none are quite ready to roll. So this week, let's borrow a page/record sleeve/turntable from my colleague MeanDean, for a “Singles Only” session.

I’ll explore a few 45s from late-‘70s/early-‘80s, loosely fitting the new wave niche. Unlike some of my album-oriented favorites, nothing here is off-radar. Some are considered 1-hit wonders, and each charted well.

Here are two for starters, I’ll post more in a while. (Chart positions and summaries per Wikipedia)

"Pop Muzik," M (1979, MCA-EMI-Sire)
(Includes quaint vinyl-crackles)



Peak chart position: No. 1 (US Billboard Hot 100) No. 2 (UK singles)

Robin Scott, who created the music project called M, described the genesis of "Pop Muzik" : “I was looking to make a fusion of various styles which would summarize the last 25 years of pop music. ‘Whereas rock and roll had created a generation gap, disco was bringing people together on an enormous scale. That's why I really wanted to make a simple, bland statement, which was, 'All we're talking about basically (is) pop music.”

The single was bolstered by a music video, pre-dating the MTV explosion.


"Cars," Gary Numan (1979 in UK/1980 in U.S., Atlantic/Atco)



Peak chart position: No. 1 (Canada and UK), No. 9 (US).

According to Numan, the song's lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage: “I was in traffic in London once and had a problem with some people in front. They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car. I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world... When you're in it, your whole mentality is different... It's like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it.”

I'll include a video link for this, too.

Last week’s “On That Note”

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I'm definitely familiar with both, but I had a really hard time getting into the new wave craze at that age. They were competing for airplay with Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Boston, Queen and an up-and-comer called Michael Jackson. Their sound certainly paved the way for a lot of the synthesized/drum machine stylings of several other bands of that decade, though.

I've never paid attention to the lyrics to Cars before, but that story fits the lyrics. I just remember it being one of the first videos MTV played that I can remember. It's pretty hard to watch that video and not laugh now.

 

[cyclones500]

Part 2: A one-two Blondie punch.

(A) Rapture, Blondie (1981/Chrysalis)



Peak chart position: No. 1 (US Hot 100 and US Dance), No. 5 (UK).

Multiple mixes/versions exist, with various song-duration. This closely resembles the 45-version I own. (I don't have the tech-tools/savvy to transfer my singles to digital. Yet.)

And, the video, of course.

(B-1) The Tide is High (1981/Chrysalis)



It's a cover-version of:
(B-2) The Paragons (written by John Holt) (1966/Treasure Isle)

 

[cyclones500]

Electric Light Orchestra is not categorized as “new wave,” but the basic ELO sound adapted quite well to stylistic transition at the time, so it qualifies.

Two examples:

“Don’t Bring Me Down,” ELO (1979, Jet)



Notable chart positions: No. 3 (UK), No. 4 (US) ..

Elephant-in-the-room misheard lyric: A common mondegreen in the song is the perception that, following the title line, Bruce Lynne shouts "Bruce!" In the liner notes of the ELO compilation Flashback and elsewhere, Lynne has explained he is singing a made-up word, "Grooss," which some have suggested sounds like the German expression "Gruß." After the song's release, so many people had misinterpreted the word as "Bruce" that Lynne actually began to sing the word as "Bruce" for fun at live shows.

“Hold On Tight,” ELO (1981, Jet)



Peak chart position: Top 10 across the board (US was lowest at No. 10)

ISU-sports-related nugget, regarding "Hold On Tight." Not sure why I remember this, but on “The Donnie Duncan Show” following the 7-7 tie at OU in ’81, they used “Hold On Tight” as a music backdrop to game highlights and post-game locker-room "kissing-your-sister" anguish. To my knowledge, nobody found a pop tune to accurately reflect the mood after a 10-7 loss at then 1-6 KSU later that season. **Sigh/Cy***

 

[cyclones500]

Another that fits the template. Many more I could include, I’l save those for a future thematic installment.

"My Sharona," The Knack (1979, Capitol)

Cheating a bit here: This is full album version, with the killer lead-break … the shorter “radio mix” pales by comparison.



Peak chart position: No. 1 (US Hot 100, Canada, Australia), No. 6 (UK).

Not long after, a backlash ensued.

Capitol's packaging of Get the Knack included a perceived cover likeness to Meet the Beatles!, with the record's center label being the same design and style as the Beatles' early 1960s LPs. Coupled with the band's "retro" 1960s look and pop/rock sound, the company's stylings led detractors to accuse them of being Beatles rip-offs which the band and their record company denied. This perception, and the perception that the object of some of the Knack's songs were teenagd girls, (subsequently acknowledged when the band were years older), quickly led to a "Knuke the Knack" campaign led by San Francisco artist Hugh Brown.

Related analysis

• The story of “My Sharona”
• How one song doomed The Knack

 

[MeanDean]

Hah, @cyclones500, you kind of stole my thunder on the TIDE IS HIGH original version. I had that on the back burner with some other orig/cover version things, LOL.

Except the video you embedded is not the version I have on 45. I have this one. Not sure which is the ORIGINAL original version, but when I heard the one you included I immediately thought, "Whoa, that's not right." But maybe it is right and mine's wrong Anyway, this is the version I got in a box of 45's in Florida several years ago, pressed in Jamaica, MON. Along with a few other Island delights:

Edit: Upon closer listen yours sounds much better fidelity which leads me to believe it's a later re-recording. Those orig 60's reggae studios were definitely crude. Still, just theory.

 

[MeanDean]

Another that fits the template. Many more I could include, I’l save those for a future thematic installment.

"My Sharona," The Knack (1979, Capitol)

Cheating a bit here: This is full album version, with the killer lead-break … the shorter “radio mix” pales by comparison.



Peak chart position: No. 1 (US Hot 100, Canada, Australia), No. 6 (UK).

Not long after, a backlash ensued.

Capitol's packaging of Get the Knack included a perceived cover likeness to Meet the Beatles!, with the record's center label being the same design and style as the Beatles' early 1960s LPs. Coupled with the band's "retro" 1960s look and pop/rock sound, the company's stylings led detractors to accuse them of being Beatles rip-offs which the band and their record company denied. This perception, and the perception that the object of some of the Knack's songs were teenagd girls, (subsequently acknowledged when the band were years older), quickly led to a "Knuke the Knack" campaign led by San Francisco artist Hugh Brown.

Related analysis

• The story of “My Sharona”
• How one song doomed The Knack

I always much preferred the follow up to My Sharona, Good Girls Don't.

 

[MeanDean]

The second ELO one you posted I had sort of forgotten about.

For me it sort of gets lumped in with Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Not because they are similar but because they hearken back to earlier styles. For Queen, rockabilly, obviously. For the ELO song the reverb is cranked to 11! So also similar to earlier production styles.

I doubt anyone else mentally links those two songs.

 

[MeanDean]

And speaking of ELO. Living Thing is in the current VW commercial.

 

[cyclones500]

The second ELO one you posted I had sort of forgotten about.

For me it sort of gets lumped in with Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Not because they are similar but because they hearken back to earlier styles. For Queen, rockabilly, obviously. For the ELO song the reverb is cranked to 11! So also similar to earlier production styles.

I doubt anyone else mentally links those two songs.

Actually, I understand the link you describe quite well. I didn't even think about the throwback nature of the styles of each song.

 

[Rabbuk]

 

[cyclones500]

I just remember it being one of the first videos MTV played that I can remember. It's pretty hard to watch that video and not laugh now.

I know what you mean. Seeing those early- or pre-MTV videos now seems quaint, but I remember them in real-time; it must be extremely laughable to anyone born after, say, 1980.

Most people wouldn't have guessed how far the quality of the form would advance in less than a decade. To be fair, early vids definitely were on-the-cheap, I assume most record companies weren't going to shell out much for a format they assumed would have less-than-marginal impact.

 

[Cydar]

One of my favorite bands from the New Wave era:


Some other songs that come to my mind when I think of New Wave music:

 

[MeanDean]

Another new wave classic. As familiar as it is now, having been used in about a half a million commercials, it is hard to believe it peaked at #49 on Billboard. There was still a LOT of push back from trad-rock and disco forces against punk/new wave.

 

[cyclones500]

Another new wave classic. As familiar as it is now, having been used in about a half a million commercials, it is hard to believe it peaked at #49 on Billboard. There was still a LOT of push back from trad-rock and disco forces against punk/new wave.

I didn't realize its chart position was that low, like you said, how "everywhere" it has been used, and it's always prominent on playlists for "80s-classic-rock" radio. It seems like the appreciation for it grew as time passed, once it was heard outside the context of its time.

As I re-reading that, it sounds less profound than it did as I was typing it.

 

[cyclones500]

Hah, @cyclones500, you kind of stole my thunder on the TIDE IS HIGH original version. I had that on the back burner with some other orig/cover version things, LOL.

Ah, sorry about that! Coincidentally, when I was compiling the list, and listened to Tide is High original, I thought, "I wonder if MeanDean has this record."

 

[MeanDean]

Ah, sorry about that! Coincidentally, when I was compiling the list, and listened to Tide is High original, I thought, "I wonder if MeanDean has this record."

Yes, both the Blondie one and like I said, found the original Paragons one in a box of 45's I picked up in Florida maybe 4 years ago. Had some other interesting Island/Reggae stuff in there but totally NOT why I bought the box. Just some extra bonus fun.

 

[MeanDean]

I didn't realize its chart position was that low, like you said, how "everywhere" it has been used, and it's always prominent on playlists for "80s-classic-rock" radio. It seems like the appreciation for it grew as time passed, once it was heard outside the context of its time.

As I re-reading that, it sounds less profound than it did as I was typing it.

At the time it almost slipped by me. I was at an ISU street party with a live band and with a couple friends and the band played it. One of my buddies said, "I love this song." I said, "I never heard it before." He was surprised. It was one of those college radio things and I'd missed it. I did find a good copy somewhere soon after, though. With the PS of course. A true classic.