These shoulda been contenders

While compiling our list of New Year's Eve songs, one thing struck me: Why weren't more of these songs bigger hits?

No, not Sean Daly and Stephanie Hayes' picks! They went for the no-brainer tunes (and I'm still amazed that some of you out there like "Kiss" by Prince. Detestable song. And totally not a dance tune, which is it's only redeeming quality.) But songs like "The Walls Came Down" by The Call. I guess that band wasn't MTV-ready like some of the bigger names of the decade.

So here's the idea. Let's build our own list: Songs that should have been bigger hits in the 80s.

Obviously, there are some small qualifications we should agree to. Like, the song HAS TO BE BE FROM THE 80s! Also, while it's OK to have been a marginal hit, obviously anything too high in the charts is a hit already. Just trust your instinct and start leaving comments with your picks. Here are some of mine.

STEVE'S LIST OF SHOULDA-BEEN 80s HITS:

"We Close Our Eyes" (Oingo Boingo): Not my favorite song from one of my favorite bands, but easily the most radio-friendly of the bunch. Listen. ("I looked death in the face last night. I saw him in a mirror. And he simply smiled. He told me not to worry. He told me just to take my time.")

"Don't Let's Start" or "She's An Angel" (They Might Be Giants): One poppy and one not-so-poppy pick from the two Johns, possible the most under-appreciated act of the 80s.

"Straight to Hell" (The Clash): One of the most perfect songs from the "Combat Rock" album. ("Lemme tell ya 'bout your blood, bamboo kid. It aint Coca-cola ... it's rice.") Overshadowed by "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

"Ghost Dancing" (Simple Minds): It charted only in the UK, and still well below other tunes on the "Once Upon a Time" album. Listen to a live version though. Brilliant. ("If these old city walls should crash, amid the rubble you'd find us breathing.")

"Bittersweet" or "Like Wow - Wipeout" (Hoodoo Gurus): Two great cuts from the damn-nearperfect "Mars Needs Guitars" album. If you don't own that disc from '85, you're letting the best of life pass you by. ("Tears so bittersweet fill my eyes whenever we meet.")

Share your list and tune back in soon for a compiled and ranked list as well as a podcast.

Comments

[Mike in Austin]

TMBG: Great songs from a great album. I believe those songs you mentioned are from their first album. Not certain. All the songs are catchy and very singable with the kids. They pumped out album after album with little to no fanfare. They remind me of the Proclaimers. Great band, great albums with no hubbub. I swear that the song Everything Right is Wrong Again has some inference to an I LOVE LUCY episode. The episode where Ricky and Lucy take a trip in their airstream trailer.

[David P]

In a totally different direction from TMBG, how about "Go Solo," an album track from Hall & Oates' "H2O" album?

Watch a video for it here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yYjEn7VAufs

[Jeremy]

You know Steve, I'm with you on the Oingo Boingo, but I have another pick. It's probably my favorite Oingo Boingo song, "Flesh 'N Blood" which was written for the Ghostbusters II film. It's got an incredibly catchy chorus.

[Bassnote]

How about 'Party Machine' by the Hoodoo Gurus? That would be more appropriate for a New Years party. My personal Oingo Boingo pick would be 'Who Do You Want To Be'. A good song from They Might Be Giants first album for New Years would be 'I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die'.

[Spears]

These don't have to be New Year's Eve in orientation. Just any song from the 80s that was largely under-appreciated.

[jane]

Great call with Hoodoo Gurus.

I'm vacillating on throwing Squeeze's "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" into the mix, since it was ubiquitous during my college years (mostly in my Walkman) but never was a true mainstream hit. Consider this a kinda-sorta suggestion.

[Walter Cox]

"Sometimes" by Midnight Oil
"Say No Go" by De La Soul
"High Wire" by Men at Work
"True Faith" by New Order
"Hourglass" by Squeeze

[Al]

A band from 1989, called Giant. Album: "Last of the Runaways"

Song: "Innocent Days", here's the music video below. These guys were awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1k5uD5niQw

[David P]

"Hourglass" and "True Faith" were both decent-sized top 40 hits here in the U.S., actually.

I love "High Wire" by Men at Work!

Just thought of another -- "Another Heartache" by Rod Stewart. Video: http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?artist=16935&vid=47302

[Jeff in Cuba]

I may be biased (I love my Scottish jangle pop), but Aztec Camera's "Walk Out To Winter" and "Still on Fire" both had an accessible pop sound that really should have caught on more than it did.

And I would be remiss if I didn't point out that everyone should lavish praise on my favorite 80's band, The Producers. Do yourself a favor and check out "She, Sheila" on YouTube. I fear that label politics cost them the success that was their due. Or I just want the rest of you to validate my long-held opinion. Either way, they were (and are) grossly underappreciated.

[Bassnote]

Songs that should have been bigger hits... OKAY!

Perfect World - Glen Burtnick
Are You Sure - So
Weapons Of Love - The Truth
Working Class Man - Jimmy Barnes
Honeymoon In Beirut - Rick Springfield
Raised On The Radio - Ravyns
Positively Lost Me - The Rave-Ups
Strength - The Alarm
You Make Me Love You - Roger Hodgson
If I Was - Midge Ure
What Do I Know? - Saga
Living In A Dream - Pseudo Echo
The King Of Rock n' Roll - Prefab Sprout
You're The Only Love - Payola$
Stay - Oingo Boingo
Nobody Knows - Nik Kershaw
Eyes Of A Child - Naked Eyes
Ink & Paper - Modern English
Wings Of A Dove - Madness
Heartbeat - King Crimson
Every Step Of The Way - John Waite
To Look At You - INXS
Is It Any Wonder - iDEoLA
Hot You're Cool - General Public
Bring On The Dancing Horses - Echo & The Bunnymen
Eaten By The Monster Of Love - Sparks
Time Has Got Nothing To Do With It - Peter Murphy
Field Work - Ryuichi Sakamoto & Thomas Dolby
The Grass Is Greener - Wall Of Voodoo

[Walter Cox]

Good call on the INXS and Pseudo Echo tunes, Bassnote. They tend to get overlooked, mostly because of the more famous tracks on the same albums.

I agree that those two were "hits", David P, but they should have been "HITS", in my opinion.

[Douglas Arthur]

Good call on the King Crimson, Bassnote. A band that sadly has never gotten their true due, since they usually get lumped in with all that faerie-laden prog-rock hoo-haw. Heartbeat is certainly one of their more accessable ballads, though I would like to nominate Sleepless from their 1984 Three Of A Perfect Pair album as my "contender".

Throbbing bassline from Tony Levin, great guitar-work from Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp and a rollicking percussive good-time from former Yes-man Bill Bruford.

Check it out here:

Also I would nominate "Emotion" by Dfx2 great little "Stonesy" number from an un-heard of band. I saw the video only once or twice on MTv and then spent the next 20 years looking for it. Finally got it on a compilation.

For Oingo Boingo songs, I nominate "Nothing to Fear" and Nasty Habits"

I'd be re-miss if I didn't include some Devo, too. "That's Good" from Oh No! It's Devo! (Featured on the Bat Mitzvah episode of Square Pegs) and maybe their wacked out, devolved cover of Are You Experienced? From the criminally under-appreciated 1984 album Shout.

Okay, I've rambled enough for today...

Duty Now for the Future,

--Doug

[Douglas Arthur]

hmm, didn't like my youTube link. :(

well, just do a search on it if you are interested. You won't be let down.

[Bassnote]

Douglas, I love Sleepless! One of Tony Levin's best basslines ever. If you don't have the remaster of TOAPP, there are three mixes of that song on it.

[Aaron]

Icicle Works - Love is a wonderful colour
Joy - Valerie
Cats can Fly - flippin to the A-side
Saga - Wind him up

[Marissa]

I think I'm too hopped up on cashews or something.
I'll get back to this later.

[Tom]

I agree Jeff, The Producers deserve more credit than they get. "She Sheila" and "What's He Got" are some of my favorite tunes of all time! I'd also add The Bangles "Hero Takes A Fall". John Hall Band "Crazy". "Go" and "Ride Easy" by Asia to the list.

[David P]

"She Sheila" is perfect pop. How did that one NOT become a hit?

[Marissa]

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=200322
That's a video link for "She Sheila."

...and for the Aztec Camera kids in the crowd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLj2J4buJsg

Did someone say Hoodoo Gurus? Why yes! Our 80s god Steve Spears did! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JPSg2dKTH4 (sweet tune, by the way)
I noticed that the lead singer resembles Constantine Maroulis of laughable American Idol fame. Sean could tell you which season, I'm sure.

Okey dokey. I've done my good deed for the day. Now, I'm off to do my bad deed for the day.

[jane]

Constantine = season four of AI.

I hate the fact that I know this information.

[Marissa]

haha! Excellent, Jane!

[80sfan]

I totally agree with Bassnote on Rick Springfield's Honeymoon in Beirut. That was the first song that popped into my mind. I would add Don't Walk Away and Motel Eyes to that list.

Here are a few others that I would include.

Adam Ant - Viva Le Rock
Animotion - Calling it Love
Vixen - I Want You To Rock Me
John Waite - Tears
Tommy Faragher - Look Out for Number One & We Dance So Close to the Fire
Roxette - Chances
The Romantics - One in a Million
Richard Marx - Waiting for the Sunrise
Peter Gabriel - Red Rain
INXS - Kick
Anything that Patty Smyth did should have been bigger

I could go on and on...

I saw The Producers earlier this year. I don't ever recall knowing of them prior to the show but they were awesome. I can't understand why their material isn't more readily available.

[Jeff in Cuba]

80s Fan,

The Producers performed here in GTMO back in May, and it was every bit as great as when I saw them back in 1983 at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver.

Here's my review (and photos) of the concert from their website:

http://www.theproducers.org/showcuba0507.htm

Their first two albums were released on one CD back in 2000, a disc that now goes for over $100 on eBay, so clearly we're not the only ones who think they should have had a little more time in the spotlight!

Everyone check out these videos and join my crusade for retroactive pop culture justice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAeXnzyQV88

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lx2vH2Q5yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=katOCMHLofM

[Marissa]

Jeff, I am so glad you've gently pushed The Producers. My friend's brother back in high school had a penchant for the more obscure bands. Now that I've viewed the videos, I am certain I've heard them before...particularly "She Sheila." I do believe I'll be hearing a lot more of them, too!

[GlennS.]

How about "Don't Talk To Me About Love" and "Love To Stay" by Altered Images. The first is a catchy disco number ala Blondie (same producer) while the second is gorgeous dream pop. Both tracks were from their third album, Bite, which should have been their biggest hit. Alas, it didn't pan out that way.

[Greg R.]

"Nothing".

For no reason I can fathom, this was NOT singled from the great and underappreciated SHOOTING RUBBERBANDS AT THE STARS (Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians)

"There's nothing I hate more than 'nothing'/'Nothing' keeps me up at night/I toss and turn over 'nothing'/'Nothing' could cause a great big fight/Hey what's the matter? (X2)/What's wrong with you, what's wrong with you?/Don't tell me 'nothing' "

[Greg R.]

I'll second the Producers "What's He Got?" as a great lost 80s tune that shoulda made it.

And props to bassnote for being the only other person in the world who remembers iDEoLA's "Is It Any Wonder?". Great song with a decent video featuring a harmonica-playing skeleton.

I'll also plug Big Pig's "I Can't Break away" (I *think* this makes the cutoff) from the soundtrack to BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. Great driving percussive track..band was Aussie if I remember right.