A 'Thriller' parody CD cover? Bad karma, DJ Cobra

Designing a CD cover that mimics the legendary Thriller album by Michael Jackson probably seemed like a good idea. Until June 25, 2009.

But that's what "DJ Cobra" did with his new album, iller. (Ouch, even the name sorta hurts.)

According to his publicist, the album cover was developed back in May and was intended as a tribute to Jackson. It was released just days before MJ's death.

Cobra (a.k.a. Andrew Bragg) is one of those touring celebrity disc jockeys who play the club circuit. He reportedly has "opened" (you know current music sucks eggs when you have a DJ open for you) for acts like Puff Daddy, Nelly, Lucacris and Lady Gaga. And yes, that's the first and last time you'll see those names listed on Stuck in the '80s.

The album itself is billed as "a continuous blend of songs from ... the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin paired along with notable recent performers like Coldplay, Lil Wayne, Santogold and others."

In other words, I'm not taking it out of the wrapper. As MJ would say, just tell Cobra that it's human nature.

Autobots! Transform into DVDs and roll out!

Here's a radical idea: Instead of plunking down that debit card for two tickets to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this week, use that valuable moola and pick up the newly released 25th anniversary edition of "The Transformers: The Complete First Season" instead.

Oh, I'm sure your kids won't mind. (Just remember to hide all sharp objects and matches before going to bed tonight.)

The 3-disc collection has 16 episodes from the original 1984 season, each with remastered audio. Also included are some cool special features that follow the origin of the Transformers series and some retro toy commercials. (Because your kids don't think you're a dork enough already until you wax poetically about your beloved Merlin toy.)

By the way, if you're feeling really nostalgic for your beloved autobots, wait until latter this summer. That's when the 16-disc Transformers: 25th Anniversary 'Matrix of Leadership' Edition Collector's Set is due out.

Remember this song? It's coming back on CD

Kim Wilde's Kids in America appears on one of the most under-rated and sadly forgotten soundtracks of the '80s? Can you remember it? (Answer at the bottom.) But here's the good news: Wilde has just re-released her first two albums -- Kim Wilde and Select -- in expanded CD editions.

Her debut album reached No.3 on the U.K. charts when originally issued in 1981 with the hit singles Kids In America (No. 2 in the U.K., No. 3 in Australia, No. 25 in the U.S.), Chequered Love and Water On Glass. Both re-releases have bonus tracks, the original LP artwork and liner notes approved by her official fan club and Wilde herself.

If all this news has you aching to see her live in concert, you better hope you live in the U.K. or have the coin to buy a plane ticket. Her latest tour dates keep our British cutie -- yeah, she looks hotter than ever -- very close to home. Maybe we can snag her for a future Regeneration Tour to the U.S.

'Yes,' the Pet Shop Boys still sound great

Chances are the average American music fan hasn’t thought much about the Pet Shop Boys since their debut single West End Girls saturated radio dials back in 1985.

That’s tragic, because Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have been spinning out far superior dance-friendly hits nonstop over the last 25 years. Disco for smart people, PSB squeezes social commentary and political astuteness into catchy hooks and playful musicianship.

Think of their music as the soundtrack for Jetsons: The Movie on a crazy Saturday night in Orbit City – in the SoHo district.

Yes is the duo’s 10th studio album, and it finds Chris and Neil still extolling passion, lamenting pain ... and mischievously taping “kick me” signs on the backs of those who follow the wrong paths in life.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY: The album starts with dueling, one-two pop punches of Love Etc. and Beautiful People – the first a hopefully not-too-subtle lampoon of greed, the second a brooding ode to our current economic desperation. (And yep, that's Johnny Marr from the Smiths on guitar in Beautiful People. Nice touch.)

NOW START DANCING: Is that the Nutcracker suite we hear sampled during All Over The World? Tchaikovsky never boogied like that. Other instant dance classics include Did You See Me Coming? and the better Pandemonium. (“Is this a riot or are you just pleased to see me?”)

LOVE AND LOSS: Slow it down now for Vulnerable, a plunge into a deep well of self doubt — “At night I am lying awake, through the hours trying to calculate 'Am I good enough?’ ” The mood lightens only slightly for the richly ambient King of Rome.

BUY OR NO BUY: A definite yes on Yes. And consider getting the limited edition version, which has a bonus disc with This Used To Be The Future, a track featuring Phil Oakey of the Human League, along with other mixes. The whole project is the reason so many of us are still addicted to the ’80s: Why be current, when the past was perfect?

Back in black: Depeche Mode's 'Sounds of the Universe'

A new Depeche Mode album -- this time the newly minted Sounds of the Universe -- is always cause for a celebration. Albeit usually a dark one. "Hey, my dog just died ... let's break out the Depeche Mode." "Oh really? My boyfriend dumped me, so I'm feeling a little DM too!"

Our British electro-ambassadors would disagree, insisting again that they're a happy lot with a great sense of humor. Okay, guys, but your music isn't -- and that's fine by us. Misery loves company ... and company loves Depeche Mode.

Sounds of the Universe may not be the glummy goth fest of albums of celebrated yore, but a quick glance at the track listing -- uplifting titles like Fragile Tension, In Sympathy, Wrong -- tells us it's still Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher at the wheel.

Here are some first impressions:

AWKWARD START: For whatever reason, the disc opens with 1 minute and 25 seconds of what I'll describe as random "sound effects and noise" before finally launching into In Chains, a lovely dirge but not quite worthy of its primo locale. [Listen] Hole To Feed is far more nourishing: "This world can leave you broken inside with nowhere to hide." [Listen]

'WRONG' IS RIGHT: Some 20 years after Blasphemous Rumours, Black Celebration and Shake the Disease, we have a new Goth anthem -- Wrong -- from the boys. "I reached the wrong ends, by the wrong means. It was the wrong plan, in the wrong hands." Gah! Where's my black guy-liner?!? [Listen]

MORE OLD-SCHOOL LOVE: Tunes like Fragile Tension, Peace and Corrupt drip with the soothing synth sounds of years long gone. It illustrates the great '80s time-space anomaly: Why be current, when the past was perfect?

WHERE ARE SIMON, JOHN AND NICK? I'm convinced that only the kids from Duran Duran could have crafted Perfect and Little Soul. These feel and sound like deep album cuts from Seven and the Ragged Tiger. 

NO DANCING ALLOWED: Unlike their pop contemporaries, the Pet Shop Boys (who released the far-superior Yes this week), Depeche Mode seems to have given up completely on providing anything for the dance floor. Consider that a blessing if, like me, you eschew dance floors on weekend nights for a comfortable bean bag chair and strong elixir. But longtime fans might find it harder to swallow that tunes like Come Back and Spacewalker are the antithesis of classics like People Are People and Enjoy the Silence.

BUY OR NO BUY: I'm torn. While Sounds of the Universe doesn't feel like a traditional Depeche Mode album, it has merits on its own. I'm not sure what Universe it is that DM wandered into for this album, but it should definitely be considered deep-space exploration.

Eight lost campy classics released on DVD

Just in time to take away the pain of Tax Day, Lionsgate today released DVDs of eight movies you've probably long forgotten from the '80s. (Though seriously, tell me you didn't forget about Hiding Out, with the great Jon Cryer!)

Dubbed "The Lost Collection," the set features some of our favorite stars from the decade in movies that didn't make quite the biggest splash in their careers. Names like Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Jim Belushi and Cryer.

Each movie is available for $14.98 and includes a "Pop-Up Trivia" track. They're available at the usual stores and online retailers, including lionsgateshop.com. (While you're there, pick up Care Bears: Cheer, There & Everywhere.) Here's the list.

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES (1984): Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long, Drew Barrymore. Remember Drew before she was obnoxious and overexposed? Think WAY back. "That bimbo stole my husband! They drank their lover's wine in glasses I stood in line to buy!"

MY BEST FRIEND IS A VAMPIRE (1988): Robert Sean Leonard, Rene Auberjonois. This was Leonard's first big role before The Dead Poets Society the following year. "This blood's for you."

THE NIGHT BEFORE (1988): Keanu Reeves, Lori Loughlin. Never saw this flick in the '80s, but Keanu was funny in Youngblood and Parenthood, so who knows? "Gee, am I overreacting? Well, I guess being sold into prostitution has made me a little edgy; or maybe it's the thought of almost losing my virtue to the Goodyear blimp - and then again it could be simply the sleazy feeling of vinyl against my skin."

HOMER & EDDIE (1989): Jim Belushi, Whoopi Goldberg. "Probably more unpleasant couplings are imaginable, but none springs immediately to mind," the Washington Post said about the casting of this movie, which is described as "unlikely friends who go on a rollicking road trip together." Hey, Belushi and Whoopi were good together in Jumping Jack Flash.

MORGAN STEWART'S COMING HOME (1987): Jon Cryer, Lynn Redgrave. A highly underrated Cryer movie -- aren't they all -- with a great performance by the late Paul Gleason. Cryer appeared in four movies in 1987 -- Morgan Stewart, Superman 4, Dudes and the next movie on this list. (Trailer)

HIDING OUT (1987): Jon Cryer, Annabeth Gish. "I used to be just like you: a short, horny, hopeless dork." I've always been baffled why this movie -- along with Pretty in Pink -- didn't immediately spring Cryer into stardom. Instead, it'd be almost 20 more years before TV's Two and a Half Men did the trick. (Trailer)

REPOSSESSED (1990): Leslie Nielsen, Linda Blair. A '90s movie on the list? For shame! But the plot -- about a girl who needs a repeat exorcism -- is very '80s and Naked Gun-esque. "What's going on, father? I just had to tie my wife down to the bed. I've never done anything like that before, well except for that one time when the kids were at camp." (Trailer)

SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986): Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore. The plot goes exactly the same as your own 10-year high school reunion. Only you don't get to murder quite so many people with sharp instruments. But how bad can the movie be? It was reviewed by Eat Horror, Fatally-Yours.com and SlasherPool.com. (Trailer)

15 years later, Billy Ocean is back

Billy Ocean has a brand new album -- his first in 15 years -- and the new single is the title track: Because I Love You.

Chances are you haven't had a chance to see Billy Ocean live unless you live in the U.K., where he just finished a 41-date tour. Up next is a summer tour of the Caribbean and Australia. Check out his official website for tour details.

Born in Trinidad and raised in London, Ocean is considered the most successful black, British artist of all time. But he's been largely missing from the U.S. scene since the late '80s. In an interview last week to the Telegraph, Ocean explains why.

"Success can create more madness than happiness," he told the London newspaper. "And nobody will tell you to stop. I didn’t experience burnout, but I can see how it destroys energy, peace, the desire to make music. I had young children who were growing up away from me and I was growing up away from them. I had to get out and it was the best thing I could have done because I didn’t lose my love of music."

TOP 5 BILLY OCEAN HITS OF THE '80s:

5. LOVERBOY (1985): "You're my dream in motion." [Video]

4. THERE'LL BE SAD SONGS (1986): "You're the one I care for, the one I will wait for." [Song]

3. WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GETS GOING (1986): "Give me love the old-fashion way." [Video]

2. GET OUTTA MY DREAMS, GET INTO MY CAR (1988): "Beep, beep. Yeah." [Video]

1. CARIBBEAN QUEEN (1984): "No more love on the run." [Video]

Heaven on Earth: remastered Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Carlisle fans, here's some good news. Fresh from her premature expulsion from Dancing With the Stars -- damn you, Steve Wozniak -- Carlisle is set to release a remastered and expanded edition of her signature solo album, 1987's Heaven On Earth.

The very excellent RemembertheEighties.com website says the reissue -- due on May 4 -- will include the original album, several bonus tracks and a live DVD featuring a 1988 concert that was previously available only on VHS.

Heaven on Earth was actually Belinda's second solo album. Her first album in 1986 -- Belinda -- had the hit single Mad About You. Heaven On Earth was a far bigger success, with the hit singles Heaven Is a Place on Earth, Circle in the Sand and I Get Weak.

A Belinda Carlisle boxset - with her material throughout her career, along with some new tunes - is expected later this year.

Prince dizzies fans with 3-show night

Prince launched his latest 3-disc album on Sunday night with a series of three concerts out in L.A. media reports from out west give somewhat mixed reports on the shows, but they do confirm that the Purple One's genius remains firmly intact.

"Although he didn't perform each of the new albums in their entirety at each venue, Prince stuck to the numeral three theme, performing three different sets, each with distinct musical flavors and backing musicians, at the complex's trio of venues: the Nokia Theater, the Conga Room and Club Nokia," the Hollywood Reporter said in its review. "The result was a long night of wildly diverse music that nearly was derailed by sound problems. But in the end, the Royal One prevailed, reminding fans he's an uncompromising but ultimately rewarding singular talent."

Prince's new album (or albums) -- LotusFlow3r, MPLSound and Elixer (by Bria Valente) -- was released Sunday exclusively at Target and online at http://www.lotusflow3r.com/.

Simple Minds, OMD touring this fall

Simple Minds and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are planning a North American tour this fall, according to promoters with the bands.

"The plan is for them to hit South America the first three weeks of September and start in North America around Sept. 23/24 through the end of October with OMD coming along for the U.S. tour," says Rick Shoor, who is serving as Simple Minds' U.S. agent. "They're in discussions with OMD for their European dates as well but so far they've only confirmed their intent to tour with us in North America."

Both Simple Minds and OMD celebrated their 30th anniversaries in 2008. Simple Minds is working on a new album -- Graffiti Soul -- set for for a May 25 release. A bonus album of 10 covers (including Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World, Thin Lizzy's Whiskey in the Jar and The Call's Let the Day Begin) will be sold as part of a special edition of Graffiti Soul.

[Photo by Sven Hoogerhuis]