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Throwback Thursday: 1980
Nineteen eighty wasn’t a game changing year on the US pop chart. It wasn’t 1964. It wasn’t 1991. For the most part it was music business as usual. The death of disco was greatly exaggerated. Just ask any member of Lipps, Inc., should you have any idea what any member of Lipps, Inc. looks like. Seventies hit makers stayed on the charts. Paul McCartney. Diana Ross. Stevie Wonder. Barbra Streisand. The Captain & Tennille did it to us one more time, it meaning having a hit single. A few outsiders snuck into the top 40 with sounds unlike the rest – Devo hit with “Whip It,” Gary Numan with “Cars,” and The Vapors with “Turning Japanese.” In the coming years more such weirdos would make their presence known.
While many of 1980’s hits were great singles, many classics were born outside of the mainstream. Releases such as Bob Marley & the Wailers’ “Redemption Song,” Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Peter Gabriel’s “Biko,” Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes,” and Funky 4 + 1’s “That’s the Joint” are often referred to as classics these days. In 1980, not a single one of them troubled the US Hot 100. Change was on its way. In 1980, rap wasn’t a fixture on the top 40, though its influence was heard in Queen’s #1 smash “Another One Bites the Dust.” The next few years saw #1 hits from Peter Gabriel, Prince, David Bowie and a rap song, plus a top ten reggae song.
Today’s Throwback Thursday playlist shines a spotlight on 1980.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (9-30-20)
Inspired by the passings of Helen Reddy and Mac Davis and the September 30 birthdays of The Fifth Dimension’s Marilyn McCoo, Johnny Mathis, T. Rex’s Marc Bolan, Frankie Lymon, Sugababes’ Keisha Buchanan, Patrice Rushen, T-Pain, Butthole Surfers’ Gibby Haynes, Marley Marl and Len Cariou.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (9-26-20)
Inspired by the September 26 birthdays of Olivia Newton-John, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, En Vogue’s Cindy Herron, Marty Robbins, Everything But the Girl’s Tracey Thorn, David Frizzell, Lynn Anderson, Nicki French, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde’s Andre Harrell, Julie London and George Gershwin; and the September 25 birthdays of T.I., Santigold, The Fresh Prince, Childish Gambino, Cecil Womack and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (9-19-20)
Inspired by the September 19 birthdays of Chic’s Nile Rodgers, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Tegan and Sara, Mama Cass Elliot, The Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley, Teddybears’ Patrik Arve, Skepta, Rex Smith, The Springfields’ Mike Hurst, Brook Benton, Lol Crème, Austin Roberts, Eamon, Marshall Jefferson, Adam West and Frances Farmer.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (8-28-20)
Inspired by the August 28 birthdays of Florence Welch, Shania Twain, The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell, Phranc, David Soul and Kim Appleby.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-26-20)
Inspired by the May 26 birthdays of Stevie Nicks, Ms. Lauryn Hill, The Band’s Levon Helm, Peggy Lee, Lenny Kravitz, Swinging Blue Jeans’ Ray Ennis, Alphaville’s Marian Gold, Nashville Teens’ Art Sharp and Black; and the May 25 birthdays of The Jam’s Paul Weller, Disclosure’s Guy Lawrence, Tom T. Hall, The Tokens’ Mitch Margo, and Jessi Colter.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (3-18-20)
Inspired by the March 18 birthdays of Wilson Pickett, Irene Cara, Queen Latifah, Lykke Li, the Alan Parsons Project’s Eric Woolfson, Vanessa Williams, Sutton Foster and Adam Levine.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (2-23-20)
Inspired by the February 23 birthdays of Japan’s David Sylvian, Josh Gad, Howard Jones and Broadway composer Robert Lopez; the February 22 birthdays of Sublime’s Brad Nowell, Marni Nixon, Ernie K-Doe, Bobby Hendricks, Oliver and Guy Mitchell; and the February 21 birthdays of Nina Simone, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield.