Dark Side of the 80s

[aprilskies]

went to town today and discovered a new compilation album which has just been released called 'Dark Side of the 80s'. it's a double album and The Cocteau Twins appear with 'Pearly-Dewdrop's Drop'. the full listing is on amazon.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00008GER0.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[ezzydynamine]

i got it too...

:)

[mattadore]

Somewhat on-topic... interesting articles recently in NME and The Guardian on all things 80's suddenly becoming "cool" again...

Check this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,970853,00.html

Also, Cure "Trilogy" DVD is out now in stores...

[watchlar]

the "dark" side of the 80's---pearly dewdrop's drop???

roflmao

[mattadore]

Yeah, I'll never really understand why CT often get pigeonholed as a "Goth" or "Darkwave" band... :confused:

[aprilskies]

Originally posted by watchlar
the "dark" side of the 80's---pearly dewdrop's drop???

roflmao


the video for the song is probably one of the most "goth" things i've ever seen. all old churches and gardens with fish ponds...urgh

but to be fair, the album has quite a few different styles from that period, e.g, the la's, jamc, the weddoes & new order.

it's just a naff title. should have been called "some goth wankers with a few decent bands thrown in for good measure".

the mission :sleep:

:D

[fredofla]

i guess some of the Projekt label/Sam Rosenthal artists would be from this time slot (or at least the latter half of the 80's.)

the darkest thing i collected though were techno/industrial/expressionism like DAF or Les Liasons Dangereuses (now being revived for it's oblique influences on todays electroclash scene.)

actually, the mainstay of this proto-CT period had to be the very incredible Virginia Astley, who was less dark, really, more pastoral.

i dunno......was Depeche Mode really all that dark?

i guess in their day they were; i do recall that there were concerns that teenagers might hear their songs and start slashing their wrists, and stuff.

but i always found Depeche Mode's sound original and soothing (and really paid little notice to the lyrics anyway.)

same goes for Orchestral Maneuvers......and Japan, and Laurie Anderson.

but mostly when i think of the 80's i think of a lot of frivolous technopop or (mercy me) the last dregs of bad metal arena rock.

i mean, aside from Olivia Newton John, et al.

didn't Goth really come of age more in the early '90's anyway?

gahd.....the eighties were so corporate.

except for Astley, Anderson, CT, DM and few others, the state of music in the 1980's sure seemed pretty bland and corporate.

contemporary art was happening, though.....and then it went dormant around 1990 when pop music sudden got interesting again with the advent of MBV and Slowdive and Lush.

[mattadore]

Originally posted by FREDofLA
i dunno......was Depeche Mode really all that dark?


The early stuff definitely had a delightful innocence about it... Vince Clark was (and always shall be in my book) the definitive TechnoPop genius for his work in early DM and Yaz (I'll cop to jumping ship when Erasure came round the bend)...

np: Yaz - "Don't Go"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/features/wallpaper/images/800/yazoo.jpg

[seeker]

the 80's darkest woman : Diamanda Galas !
she "Must Be Certain of the Devil"

[Lucibelle]

roflmao Check out the 'Flock of Seagulls' hair! crying

[mattadore]

roflmao

I know, poor Vince Clarke...

So, so very 80's:

http://www.releasemagazine.net/Pictures/yazoo.jpg

I think he looked a little better when he bit the bullet and lopped it off (circa Erasure):

http://www.openbox.cl/letras/erasure.jpg

np: "In Our Angelhood" (US "Head Over Heels" Remaster)

[mattadore]

On a side note, picked up The Cure "Trilogy" DVD today, it's an epic 3 hour + affair with loads of easter eggs and outtakes and other assorted goodies... I plan to relax with herbal remedies and spend the evening with Robert and the boys in Berlin tonight. :D

[aprilskies]

Originally posted by erinn
i got it too...

:)

hi erinn, how's everything over there in the uk?

:)

[mattadore]

The ultimate 80's hair:

http://www.aimrocks.com/images/flock_of_seagulls.jpg

[E-Lo]

roflmao

[iceblink555]

Originally posted by mattadore
On a side note, picked up The Cure "Trilogy" DVD today, it's an epic 3 hour + affair with loads of easter eggs and outtakes and other assorted goodies... I plan to relax with herbal remedies and spend the evening with Robert and the boys in Berlin tonight. :D

Say, Matt, does that Cure DVD have much old stuff on it? By "old" I mean at least pre-Disintegration. Or, even better, anything from the 17 Secs-Faith-Porno era? --Alan

[mattadore]

It is genius. They play the entire "Pornography", "Disintegration", and "Bloodflowers" albums in their entirety over the course of three separate sets... recorded live in Berlin last November, and the band just sounds amazing... 5.1 digital surround, beautifully filmed, easter eggs and interviews and all that good stuff. If you are a fan of the Cure you should run not walk and buy this now. They also do an ecore set with kickass versions of "If Only Tonight I Could Sleep" and "The Kiss" from KMKMKM!!! I've been chilling in my living room with the Nag Champra (among other things) burning, watching it all rainy weekend long :1pimp:

[etc etc]

Matty,
"Ultimate 80's hair"......I'm not so sure that the boy on the right in Flock of Seagulls has 'ultimate hair'...maybe ultimate thinning..looks more like a blonde golf fairway or green..good for putting maybe. I do recall a picture disc with a Mssr. Guthrie from mid 80's with a very tall hairdo/don't plus Simon and Liz were giving him a run for the money in the hair department. Mr. G continues to push the boundaries in 'hair development', does anybody recall the recent image of him with hair all grown out and wild like the true mad scientist that we know he is in the studio...a thing of wild beauty!(sadly, no longer on the Bella site) A wild, frizzy 'nature boy' kind of look...I must say it does become him!

[mattadore]

There was a great live radio interveiw with Robin someone posted a link to a while back (I think it was from an Australian radio program?), where Robin mentioned that when his daughter is headed out with some odd hairdo he will try to get on her case about it and she invariably responds, "Oh Dad, who are you trying to kid... I've seen photos of you from the 80's...".

roflmao

[robin guthrie]

mmm... ted, it's really just a pathalogical distrust of french hairdressers...

plus I've got lovely curls... :)

[etc etc]

Yes, lovely curls indeed....I think those French hairstylists would call your look "Le Wild Cherub"! It is a synthesis of Serge Gainsbourg meets Andreas Vollenweider...should be seen on all the Paris fashion runways come this fall.....a true trendsetter in hair development!