Top 5 Saturday

I blinked and the week is over. Usually I would love this but since the bike show is looming ahead I need to get some stuff done for that. Time is being sucked up into the ether. So last week I listened to New Order on the WLP blog and decided I would post a fun little list of 80's bands that I love. Being born in 73 puts me in a weird age for the whole 1977 punk and then the 1982 new wave stuff. I have always been drawn to the Power Pop scene that was happening from like 78-84. They basically ripped off the simple punk songwriting and added beach boys into the mix and BANG Power Pop is born. So here is my list and I will keep it simple. 

Number 1. The Flaming Groovies- This is one of the weirdest bands on my list. Originally they started out in the late 60's as a rock revival band but as time and taste changed some how they fit in with the later punk scene and the power pop scene. They kept making records for damn near 20 years and all of them are good. The first track I ever heard from them was Shake Some Action  and I was hooked. Crazy good melodies and the guitar work is perfect. I have every record they ever made on vinyl and have made it some kind of mantra to share there music with anybody who will listen. They are that good.

Number 2. The Dirty Looks- Honestly I don't know to much about this band. I remember I paid 1 dollar for there 1980 release in a bargain bin years ago. It looked cool and they are sporting skinny ties and wraparound shades so I just bought it on a whim. Ends up being stupid good pop punk and one of my all time favorite records. Sounds like they listened to the Jam a lot and then maybe some Blondie. Very dance sounding as that goes but not like new wave more like the Ramones. I have since found some random e.p.'s and all of them are killer.

Number 3. Blondie- Guilty pleasure I am guilty for sure. Probably one of my first and earliest crushes was on Debbie Harry. By about 1980 I was already digging on music and I remember hearing Blondie playing the Nerves song Hanging on the telephone and loved it. Of course I did not know it was a Nerves song till much later but if you have never heard The Nerves then I suggest finding it like right fucking now. Anyways Blondie as a band played the New Wave formula to the key of perfect. I always kinda hated New Wave and was stuck in a very punk mindset my whole life. Blondie kind of wrote the book on pop songs and good hooks. So I will give credit where credit is due. Debbie is still cute and almost 70. Holy shit

Number 4. New Order- Definitely the most New Wave band to ever walk the earth. With there synth and killer drummer they had all the right moves and songs to back that shit up. Out of the ashes of Joy Division another one of my all time favorite bands the three others formed New Order. Even as a kid I would here Bizarre Love Triangle and sing along or play air drums along. WLP posted Temptation and I sang that fucking song for two days after so there is something there in that ability to infect your soul. Does it stand the test of time? Yes it very well does because like Blondie New Order wrote the book on using electronic instruments in pop songs and did it very well. So all the bands that tried to do it failed miserably and the OG just kept making good music. I'm gonna listen to Joy Division as soon as I get off this damn computer.

Number 5. The Jam- One of the only Mod Revival proto punk bands that made it work. Sure they dressed like Mods, sure they had fancy pants outfits and sure they played better then any other band of the time. But they wrote the best, powerful punk songs ever. There  time was at the tail end of the first wave punk stuff but there influence would spark the second wave mod scene that infected the USA and the entire power pop scene world wide. Political lyrics and crazy good pop songs can work if there is conviction. Paul Weller had that conviction and believed his band could destroy the masses.. He went out there when kids were wearing trash bags and gimp out fits and went totally against that punk bullshit and did it his way. People got it on his level not the other way around. I look up to folks like that. I try for the same effect on people. There music fucking kills and you should already know that.