New Wave Outpost Forum

We've all had those moments in our lives when we hear or see a band that makes us really want to pay attention to them and investigate their music. For some, it happened quite often and for others, not so much.

I had a lot of great music-related moments in the late '70s and early '80s. Here are just a few (but not in chronological order):

Seeing the Jam on some late night video show in late '77/early '78 blew my mind. I'd known about Punk and really wanted to like it but apart from "Anarchy In The UK", nothing at that point caught my attention. But The Jam? I really thought it was cool to see three guys playing edgy music in suits and ties. I was only 14 but it changed my outlook on practically everything.


Hearing the first notes of "Don't You Want Me" by Human League is a memory that sticks. I've never been a real fan of theirs but that opening 'dum-dum-da-da-dum dum-dum-dum-dum' riff always brings back great memories and feelings. Even though I'm completely SICK of that song, I can listen to that cool riff forever....

I remember getting my allowance, racing home from driver's ed, hopping on my bike and heading up to Licorice Pizza to buy "Absolutely", the second album from Madness. I was a huge fan of the album "One Step Beyond", but that moment in 1980 when I bought Absolutely stands out more than the first time I heard the debut. And I still love the album. Still love Madness..


I'd read some good stuff about Dexys but skipped buying the debut for some reason. Then, one day in '82 while I'm at Music Market in Costa Mesa, I see their Too Rye Aye album in the import section. They had just put it out within the last day or so and I immediately put back whatever else I was planning on buying and bought the Too Rye Aye LP. I hadn't heard one song from it...but it was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley and I had to own anything they produced. Plus, it just looked 'different'. Needless to say, I still love that album to this day. There was nothing before or since that sounded quite like it. And of course, The next Dexys album, Don't Stand Me Down, was pure shit, no matter how good the critics say it is now. It's kind of like the Ishtar of the music world....


I read Trouser Press religiously, so when they did a one-page write up on the debut album by The Undertones, I rushed out to get it. I was not disappointed. The album still holds up today. Effin' great stuff....


I was at Licorice Pizza when I saw this new album from Blanket Of Secrecy. I'd never heard them before but it was produced by Roger Bechirian, it was on F-Beat Records and it featured a song written by Jack Hues and sax by Hogg, both from a little known band called Huang Chung (who I was a big fan of). That remains one of the greatest obscure albums of the '80s. Still trying to get Wounded Bird to reissue it but I think there might be legal mumbo-jumbo holding it up...


I was up one night listening to KROQ. It was past midnight and they were playing this song and wanted the listeners to call in and vote whether it was a hit or miss. I don't remember the outcome, but I do remember it was "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" by Paul Young. The following weekend, I was up in L.A. and bought the import LP at Renee's All Ears (right next to Aarons on Melrose). The album wasn't as great as that track, but I've been a Paul Young fan ever since...


Another moment like that happened when my friend Chuck and I were headed home from Golden West Junior College. He was driving and either had KROQ or KNAC on. They were doing the same thing, playing a song and asking the public to call in and vote. The song was "Life In A Northern Town" by The Dream Academy. I started hearing the guy's voice and told my buddy Chuck that it sounded like the guy from The Act, a band I loved. I bought the single within a week and looked at the credits: it was the very same singer/songwriter of The Act, Nick Laird-Clowes! Of course, a few months later, that song was everywhere...


I was a fan of The Cars and stayed up one night to watch the Midnight Special (or Don Kirschner's Rock Concert) that they hosted. Candy-O had just come out and I friggin' loved it. Two of the other bands on the show were Suicide and The Records. I didn't care for Suicide (still don't) but The Records were amazing. they were promoting their first album (S/T in the U.S., Shades In Bed in the UK) and I wanted the album sooooo bad. I didn't have the money, so I asked for it for my birthday that year (1979?). My girlfriend at the time, Kim, said she'd get it for me. I went over to my friend Gerardo's house on my b'day and we had a little celebration. Kim gave me the album and it was fab! (NOTE: Don't know what happened to my girlfriend Kim but my good friend at the time, Gerardo Marti, is now a professor at Davison university in NC and has written numerous books on religion)....


I've got tons more memories, but I'd like YOU to share some of yours...





SPAZ
www.princess-inc.com

Great to see you back, Spaz ... thanks for sharing![8D]

Heya Mike!

I thought of another memory, btw...

I went to Music Market (Costa Mesa) on the day that Reach The Beach by The Fixx came out. I stood there while they unpacked the boxes and searched for it for me....so, while I'm waiting, I walk over to the import section and, lo and behold, someone had put out the latest import LP releases including Listen from A Flock Of Seagulls, which was still a month or two away from US release! So, I grabbed that, walked back and grabbed The Fixx and bought 'em both the same day. Now, those were two very fine releases.....

And then, just a short time later, tickets go on sale for A Flock Of Seagulls live at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater...with opening act The Fixx!

SPAZ
www.princess-inc.com

awww, too many to list them all here.

One of my favorite memories was when I'd hear a great song on KYYX (or KJET), and thus would start the effort to find that recording. I got cassettes. My parents had a record player, but it wasn't really practical for me to use. I loved hitting the record stores in Olympia WA or in Lacey and pawing thru their collections and seeing what i could unearth. Back when cassettes cost like $6.99 on sale. The import sections were the best. Those LPs and EPs were like candy. I remember how they always had thicker plastic covers that just looked different, foreign and exotic. Sometimes there'd be a price sticker on it from another country (usually England).
Cool record stores like Rainy Day Records and 4th Street Records (in Olympia).

It makes me think of today, where most everything in music is so easy to find. The internet and all. But not back then ! By golly, you'd really have to search high and low to find stuff. Including information.

Another favorite memory was how ga-ga I was over Duran Duran. Along with Judi (shovelbum); man, the two of us spent ours analyzing every lyric, picture, and musical note we could get our hands on. Every time we'd hear a B-side on KYYX, it'd keep us entertained for a week. We lived next door to each other, which made it easy. Just the idle hours we had to spend on our rabid fandom, oh man, it takes me back (mostly cuz I certainly DON'T have that kind of time now!)

And lastly, I have fond, fond memories of all the mixed cassettes I was always creating, carefully making artistic covers, carefully choosing the order of the songs, even making sure their lyrics and/or style fit together (for example, you had to make sure you put "Time Zone" next to "Anarchy in the UK", or maybe "White Wedding"). All those hours spent taping, creating, drawing, all that stuff. Idle, idle hours, when that was all you cared about. For that afternoon, anyway. Innocent but profound fun.

sigh....there are so many more.....

Ya know, I don't have any memories in particular that are especially heart-warming or that have elaborate stories attached to them, but I do have memories of simple activities that certain songs remind me of.

I remember walking to the bus stop in fall 1985 in Yonkers to catch a 20 or a 4 to the Bronx where I used to attend H. H. Lehman College. I remember the crisp autumn air, the leaves slowly changing color, their rustling in the cool breeze... all the while playing some of my first radio tape mixes on a silverish Sony Walkman. Some of these songs included "When Angels Kiss", "Feels Like Heaven", "Doot Doot" and "Head Over Heels". I remember walking through the campus with "You Spin Me 'Round" buzzing in my ear. I remember when I finally got "Euphoria" back (in 2003) my old restaurant job came to mind, since I'd hum that sometimes while working or one of the Senegali immigrants there would tease me about how I sung it and would do his rendition of me singing the song.

I remember when one of my best friends (probably my best friend to this day) first introduced me to Depeche Mode via his turntable. I associate certain DM tracks with hanging out in his messy room while these new, bassy, synthetic sounds coursed through my ears in... I believe 1984 or 1985.

I think of my mother's kitchen when I was home one afternoon and listening to my tape cassette / radio player and heard Ampersand's "Traction", "Flaming Desire" and "Heaven".

I remember visiting a friend of mine who lived in Ardsley while blasting Bourgeois Tagg in my ears.

I remember first being introduced to "punk" when someone played what was probably the B-52s on their car radios as they gave me a lift home from our God-awful restaurant job back then. I remember being intrigued by it but not pursuing it more at the time. I'd heard about 'LIR in '83 or '84, but I couldn't get the station in as much as I'd wanted to. Finally in summer of '85 I got a signal that was good enough and started to make my own recordings. I remember my bedroom and my little audio TV tuner / radio combo device that allowed me to record as well. And I remember my friends giving me a bunch of old tapes that they no longer had any use for and me putting them to good use. I remember some of the first songs I got on tape: U2's Gloria; Conditioning; We Stood Still; Whip It; Doot Doot; When Angels Kiss"; and even a few top 40 songs I liked at the time who's names escape me.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.
Psalm 33:12

[quote][i]Originally posted by neildonoghue[/i]
<br>as a kid i loved seeing anything shocking or weird so a PIL performance on TOTP was fascinating...
that song 'male stripper' freaked me out with its electro synth...
any video by the cure was really cool too 'close to me' and 'the caterpillar' especially...
of course sigue sigue sputnik were great too ...
i loved 'this corrosion' by the sisters of mercy that song was the best
song for me i bought the 7" single i think i was 6 years old..
this corrosion was special then i got into the mission then kinda regretably became a metal fan into thrash/hardcore and all that [:)]


http://www.myspace.com/neildonoghue
[/quote]

Ain't nothing wrong with that. I love the Ministries and Metallicas as much as the Depeches and Yaz's.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.
Psalm 33:12

There are so many memories, but one sticks out.
It was at a party sometime in '83. "Time" from the Culture Club
was playing, and I locked eyes with this girl. Absolutely gorgeous. Talked to her, we hit it off and wound up seeing each other for a while. Haven't seen her in 20 years, but when I hear "Time" I think
about her.

Interviewing Cyndi Lauper for JAM! She was all over me (well, she WAS a little hammered). She joked that she wanted me in her band. It was a terrific, fun interview. A great 80's experience for me.

anything and everything related to Toyah!..my primary obsession in 81, 82, 83, 84, 85....

So many..here's two early ones:

Coming home from my grandparents' house in 1979, sitting in the back seat of my parents' car (I was , hearing "Cars" by Gary Numan on the radio. That song that triggered my interest in music. I was mesmerized by those analog synth leads.

Seeing A Flock Of Seagulls perform "I Ran" on American Bandstand. I'd really like to see a clip of this again (didn't have luck on YouTube, last I checked). Has anyone seen this clip online?

1002

[quote][i]Originally posted by tenohtwo[/i]
<br>So many..here's two early ones:

Coming home from my grandparents' house in 1979, sitting in the back seat of my parents' car (I was , hearing "Cars" by Gary Numan on the radio. That song that triggered my interest in music. I was mesmerized by those analog synth leads.

1002[/quote]
Thanx for the memory jog 1002..

Back in the early spring of 1980 I recall a night time get together with some (then) former Jr. High School mates at a local area park.
(I had since moved to another high school and a couple of years had passed)

While my mates had all shown up in their parents 'borrowed' cars, I was one of the fortunate few 11th graders to actually have my own. I had also recently installed an aftermarket sound system featuring a separate 300W Amp/EQ.

So, there we are hanging out standing about our cars listening to a local radio station and what song comes on?

Yep... 'Cars'

By then, the song had gotten some mainstream airplay but was not that well known. Needless to say, I cranked that sucker up just as the tremolo synth into began.

Everyone just stopped in mid-sentence and asked me 'what is that?' I answered 'I'm not really sure.. but I LIKE IT!' What a great memory...

Another moment that also sticks in my mind came about 4 months before when I happened to be in a local Radio Shack and heard The Police's 'Walking On The Moon' for the first time on one of their HiFi demo systems.

I just stood there between the two tower speakers and lost myself in the beautiful and unique ambiance of that song.

Funny how such fleeting moments can instantly become an indelible music experience[8D]

<MARQUEE><h5>Moving @The Speed of Life</h5></MARQUEE>

Having grown up listening to bad 70s music on our local AM station, what I remember is the thrill of being stopped dead cold in my tracks by a song that sounded like nothing I'd ever heard or imagined possible. Songs like "I Got You" by Split Enz, "Tainted Love", even "Da Da Da".

I also remember the hours spent listening to my KTel various artists records and hearing bands like XTC for the first time, wondering what other great music was out there and dreaming about my next trip to the city when I could spend an entire afternoon at Sam the Record Man combing through the import section.

And as commercial as it became, I also remember the afternoon I bought the Rio album on cassette and listened to it about a dozen times in a row start to finish. It was also like nothing I'd ever heard at the time, and seemed to ooze a style I sooo wanted to emulate at the time. I spent a couple of years trying to look like J Taylor after that!

Just like Spaz, I have many... I'll have to recall those memories, as they are all jumbled up right now, just ask Schwenko... So bear with me, and I have some great ones! (Promise)


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[quote][i]Originally posted by glokstadt[/i]
<br>Just like Spaz, I have many... I'll have to recall those memories, as they are all jumbled up right now, just ask Schwenko... So bear with me, and I have some great ones! (Promise)


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Visit Club Impact's website, where "Style colides with Action:" www.clubimpact.us
[/quote]

Glok, spill with the Nina Hagen story.

[quote][i]Originally posted by wherewereuin82[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by glokstadt[/i]
<br>Just like Spaz, I have many... I'll have to recall those memories, as they are all jumbled up right now, just ask Schwenko... So bear with me, and I have some great ones! (Promise)


<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l237/vespa_boy_2006/Smallerglokstadt.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Visit Club Impact's website, where "Style colides with Action:" www.clubimpact.us
[/quote]

Glok, spill with the Nina Hagen story.
[/quote]

Oh yeah, OK--I'll have to write up later, like Wed.--I'm on a deadline right now... [8]


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