The Lightning Seeds - Pure

Every now and then, we come across a song that fits perfectly into the blog, almost as if The Universe itself has made a request.  [As an aside, it would be pretty damn cool if The Universe did care about 1980s music in general and ERV specifically ... our idea of heaven surely has a lot of 1980s music, along with some really good pizza.]  At any rate, we heard this one today and were surprised to find out that it is a 1980s song, although just barely.

The Lightning Seeds were formed by noted producer Ian Broudie (of Echo & the Bunnymen, The Fall, and The Icicle Works fame).  He started using the name for his solo work beginning in 1989, and the project eventually evolved into a full fledged band.  By the by, Broudie's first band was Big in Japan (with Holly Johnson), who would be the inspiration for the Alphaville song of the same name (featured on ERV in January 2012).  Small world, huh?

"Pure" was released in June of 1989, making it officially an eighties song, although the Cloudcuckooland album wasn't released until early 1990.  [As we said, before we looked it up, we thought of "Pure" as an early 90s song.]  And yes, Cloudcuckooland should go on the growing list of coolest album titles ever.  "Pure" ended up charting, reaching #31 on the main charts, the only top 40 hit for the band.  To be fair, they did have several Modern Rock charting hits in the early to mid 1990s and a slew of hits in the UK.

Broudie and The Lightning Seeds continue to record and perform to the present day, although  they did take an extended hiatus in the early 2000s.

Midnight Oil - The Dead Heart

In 1986, Midnight Oil embarked on the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour with the Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland (both Aboriginal rock bands).  The resulting experience of playing before some of the most remote and impoverished Aboriginal communities in Australia led to the 1987 concept album Diesel and Dust.

In retrospect, the tour and resulting LP were a logical continuation of the path that Midnight Oil had blazed since their 1978 debut album.  The band was known for their progressive political views; they were one of the first Australian political rock bands.  Led by the tall, bald Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil looked and sounded unlike other bands and built a loyal following through the 1980s.

The Diesel and Dust album is generally regarded as Midnight Oil's finest effort.  Rolling Stone ranked it as the 13th best album of the 1980s, and it routinely shows up at or near the top of many lists of the best Australian albums ever.  The album was also a huge success, reaching #21 in the U.S. (it was the band's second of four consecutive #1 albums in Australia).

While "Beds Are Burning" was the biggest U.S. hit from the LP, we went with "The Dead Heart," a haunting pop song written from the Aboriginal point of view.  It was a #4 hit in Australia  but did not break the top 40 in the U.S., peaking at  #53.

Midnight Oil disbanded in 2002, as Peter Garrett wanted to devote more time to his political career, although they have re-formed from time to time since then.  Garrett has been a Labour MP (Member of Parliament)  since 2004.

Cool trivia fact:  Midnight Oil is a U.S. one hit wonder, as only "Beds Are Burning" (#17) broke the top 40.

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alt folk band who have been together since the mid 1980s.  The band consists of three siblings (Margo, Michael and Peter Timmins) along with bassist Alan Anton.  While they are something of an underground band in the U.S., they had a string of hits in Canada and remain together to this day.

Their cover of The Velvet Underground's classic, "Sweet Jane" was their biggest hit in the U.S., but it did not crack the top 100 on the Billboard charts.  In fact, they never had a charting hit in the U.S., although they have scored 9 top 40 hits in their native country.  "Sweet Jane" did hit the U.S. Modern Rock charts in 1989, reaching #5 and the video generated some views on MTV at that time.

"Sweet Jane" was from the 1988 album The Trinity Session, which was recorded in Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity in one night, using one microphone.

Regular readers of ERV will recall that we featured The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed last September ("Dirty Blvd.").  There is a bit on VU there and we would recommend it -- The Velvet Underground were brilliant and ahead of their time.  They are one of those bands whose impact was materially greater than their record sales.  "Sweet Jane" was originally from the VU album Loaded, from 1970, and is now widely regarded as a masterpiece.

Cool trivia fact:  the Timmins other sibling, Cali, was an actress on Ryan's Hope from 1983 - 89.

The Cure - In Between Days

Led by the unique (and intentionally unkempt)  Robert Smith, The Cure produced some of the more interesting and creative pop songs of the 1980s and 1990s.  Indeed, while a casual observer might view The Cure as a goth band, the reality is much more complex.

The Cure formed in England in 1976, and emerged during the English post punk/new wave scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Although their early music mostly fits into the goth genre, there was always a strong pop and alternative sensibility present.  By the time the band released their 1985 album, The Head on the Door, they had clearly transitioned to a more pop oriented sound that was somewhat unique.  This led to huge success in the U.K. and Europe, and modest success in the U.S.  For instance, The Cure has had 22 top 40 hits in the U.K., but only 3 in the U.S. ("Just Like Heaven, "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm In Love.")

"In Between Days" is a good example of their work, as it features a strong uptempo melody with introspective lyrics.  The song hit #15 in the U.K., but peaked at #99 in the U.S. -- although it did gain some traction on college radio.  The Head on the Door was a top 10 album in Britain, but only reached #60 in the U.S., though it was the first Cure LP to go gold in America.

Of course, The Cure would go on to have continued success globally and the band remains active in the industry as of this writing.

Cool trivia fact:  early incarnations of the band were called Malice and Easy Cure before becoming The Cure in 1978.

Note that "Pictures of You" appeared on ERV in September 2014, while "Lullaby" was part of ERV's All Hallows Even celebration in 2020.

Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

We have no idea who at MTV liked this quirky number, but somehow "Mexican Radio" went into heavy rotation for a time on the video music channel.  Helped by the exposure, the song reached #58 on the charts (the band's only top 100 hit), while the Call of the West album peaked at #45 (the band's only top 100 album).

Wall of Voodoo was a new wave band from LA., and originally formed in the late 1970s as a soundtrack company.  The band's new wave approach, laid back vocals (almost talk-singing) and unusual music has led some to compare them to Devo, which is not totally unfair.  I.R.S. Records (now who remembers them?) signed the band in 1980, and Wall of Voodoo's first EP had a cover of Johnny Cash's  "Ring of Fire" that generated some buzz.  While the band had some Western influences, their music is a bit tough to categorize; overall they were darker and more complex than one would expect from this song.

At any rate, "Mexican Radio" was the lead single from the band's second LP, Call of the Wild.  The concept for the song came from the Mexican radio stations that the band used to listen to on AM radio in their car.  In fact, the Spanish segments of the song were recorded from these stations.  Similarly, the video was shot on the cheap, in Tijuana (in retrospect, we think that this helped the video).  Overall, the video does a great job of capturing the eccentric song -- and we have to point out the "face in beans" scene (around 3:33) that was an iconic early MTV image.

Unfortunately, frontman Stan Ridgway left Wall of Voodoo in 1983, right after their appearance at the US Festival.  The band continued for a couple of years before calling it quits.  While Ridgeway did not have much success as a solo artist, he carved out a successful career scoring films.

Treat Her Right - I Think She Likes Me

Boston-based Treat Her Right was an interesting band who performed a modern, alternative version of the blues.  Loved by critics and the college rock crowd, they never quite broke out, but they were one of the bands that laid the foundation for the 1990s alternative trend.

The band was named after the 1965 Roy Head and the Traits song, and had an obvious appreciation of old school and lesser-known rock, as evidenced by the two covers on the debut album (which were by James Blood Ulmer and Captain Beefheart).  In addition, they were unusual from an instrument perspective, as they used the guitar almost as a bass, and a cocktail drum kit.

Treat Her Right released three albums from 1986 - 1991.  We believe that only their self-titled debut LP charted (at #127).  "I Think She Likes Me" did not chart on the top 100, but did hit #15 on the Mainstream Rock charts in 1988.  In typical blues style, the song is based on a true story that happened to guitarist Mark Sandman in Colorado.

After the breakup of Treat Her Right, Sandman would go on to form Morphine, and would carve out a successful career playing alternative blues until his sudden death from a heart attack in 1999.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth

The ambitious, eclectic and eccentric Julian Cope has been one of the more interesting figures in the music industry over the past few decades.  Cope first showed up on the scene as the lead singer of The Teardrop Explodes, a psychedelic new wave band from Liverpool.  The band achieved a fair amount of success in the UK in the early 1980s, before creative tensions and drug use tore the band apart.

Cope then went on to a successful solo career.  To be fair, his solo work is somewhat inconsistent, partly due to continued drug use and partly a result of his avant-garde tendencies.  However, at his best, Cope recorded some truly great (and under appreciated) independent rock.

"World Shut Your Mouth" was Cope's most successful single, and was off the Saint Julian LP.  The song was a top 20 hit in the UK, but only rose to #84 in the U.S.  It remains Cope's only charting (top 100) song on Billboard.  The video is pretty straight ahead, with the exception of the jungle gym mike stand.

In the aftermath of Saint Julian, Cope remained a prolific songwriter and continues to release material to the present day.  In addition, he has written 2 autobiographies, 2 books on lesser-known music (one each on the German and Japanese underground music scenes), and 2 books on ancient monuments and sites in the UK and Europe.

Cool trivia fact:  Cope recorded Saint Julian using a Gibson ES-335 12-string guitar, but he only used 9 strings -- the E, A and D strings were singles, while the the G, B and high E strings were doubled.  This is an unusual set up, but it does seem to fit Cope.

Cool trivia fact #2:  Chris Whitten (formerly of The Waterboys) played drums on Saint Julian.  Whitten was also the drummer on "The Whole of the Moon."

Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

Regular readers of ERV may remember a post about Love and Rockets from July 2012, which mentioned that the band formed after a failed Bauhaus reunion (lead singer Peter Murphy did not show up).  Although Murphy did not attend the rehearsal, he remained active in the music industry, and carved out a solo career as an independent artist.

Curiously, in the aftermath of Love and Rockets big hit ("So Alive"), Peter Murphy has his biggest commercial success.  Perhaps it was karma, or possibly his record label made an extra effort to promote the single, knowing that his former bandmates had just scored a hit.  In any event, "Cuts You Up," from the 1989 album Deep became an unlikely hit -- reaching #1 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts and peaking at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100.  [As a fun aside, Deep was released on December 19, 1989, making it one of the last albums of the eighties.]

Deep would go on to peak at #44 on the album charts.  While Murphy had other small successes, and released some critically acclaimed material, "Cuts You Up" was his only charting U.S. single.

In spite of the first failed reunion, Bauhaus would reform several times, starting in 1998, and they actually released a new album in 2008.  However, they do not appear to be together as of this writing.

Total non sequitur, but we have always thought of Peter Murphy as a modern, new wave version of David Bowie.

Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd.

Although Lou Reed had only modest commercial success, he was an important and influential musician who reshaped the language of rock.  In particular, he approached songs in much the same way that a novelist would, leading to lyrics that touched on adult and even previously taboo topics in a mature way.

For readers who are unaware, Reed got his start in the Velvet Underground.  Much has been written about them; suffice to say that they were an enormously influential band who laid the foundation for punk and new wave.  The famous quote about the VU was that "the first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band."  [This quote has been attributed to both Brian Eno and Peter Buck.]

In 1989, Reed released his 15th solo album, a concept album titled New York.  Although it was well-regarded by critics (who appreciated the back to basics approach), it was not a huge commercial success.  The album peaked at #40, and "Dirty Blvd." did not chart on the main charts (it did hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks).  We don't think that the video was played much on MTV, though it was played on 120 Minutes (the alternative video show running at the time).

At any rate, "Dirty Blvd." is vintage Lou Reed -- he does his talk/sing thing over a catchy guitar hook, telling a story with provocative lyrics.  We have to say, this is a guy who was creating solid rock songs 25 years after his first band started.  Impressive.

Sadly, Lou Reed died on October 27, 2013.

Cool trivia fact:  Rolling Stone rated the New York LP as the 19th best album of the 1980s.

Sinéad O'Connor - Mandinka

Before her controversial antics turned her into a virtual pariah, Sinéad O'Connor was an important and interesting new artist.  Her debut album, 1987's The Lion and the Cobra is still viewed as a significant album for both alternative rock and female artists.  In fact, O'Connor's aggressive style set the stage for a host of female performers during the 1990s, including Liz Phair and Alanis Morissette.

For the blog, we have chosen "Mandinka," the song that really launched her career in the U.S.  The video was played on MTV a bit back in the day, including on 120 Minutes (now who remembers that show?), which helped to make it a college rock hit.  However, the song did not chart on the Billboard 100.

Of course, Sinéad O'Connor's follow up album, 1990's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got became a huge hit (#1 just about everywhere), led by the Prince-penned "Nothing Compares 2 U" (also #1 just about everywhere).  From there, things went downhill in a hurry, as O'Connor's controversial political stands and erratic behavior hurt her popularity to the point that she was booed offstage at a Bob Dylan tribute concert.  She eventually "retired" from the music industry for a number of years, although she has released new material in recent years.

Cool trivia fact:  Sinéad O'Connor is a rare one hit wonder -- her only top 40 hit (the previously mentioned "Nothing Compares 2 U") was a #1 hit.  "The Emperor's New Clothes," O'Connor's only other charting hit in the U.S., peaked at #60.

Concrete Blonde - God is a Bullet

Concrete Blonde came out of the post-punk LA scene and became an influential alternative rock band, one of several who drove indy rock's explosion in the early 1990s.  In this regard, they loosely fit in with The Pixies.  However, Concrete Blonde also had a distinct sound with thoughtful lyrics that made that somewhat unusual.  And as you'd expect, this led to more popularity among music critics and college students than the general public.

The band was led by singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano and guitarist James Mankey, who had worked together as Dream 6 in the early 1980s.  By 1986 they had generated enough buzz to be signed by I.R.S. records, where label-mate Michael Stipe (of R.E.M.) suggested their name.  The term Concrete Blond was a derogatory term referring to the bleached blonds of the LA hair metal scene, but in interviews the band claimed that they just liked the term, as it had both hard and soft connotations which seemed to suit their style.

In typical ERV fashion, we are going to skip over the band's big hit, "Joey" (which is from 1990, anyhow) and present "God is a Bullet" from 1989's Free LP.  The song did not chart on the main charts (it did hit the Modern Rock Tracks) and we don't recall seeing the video at the time. However, it is a really solid, driving rock song -- perfect for the blog.

Concrete Blonde would have major success with their 1990 album, Bloodletting (which contained "Joey") and released a few additional albums in the early 1990s before breaking up.  They re-formed in the early 2000s before breaking up again in 2006.

The Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon

Mike Scott's masterpiece began on a snowy New York City street in January 1985, when his girlfriend asked him whether it was hard to write a song.  The song started as a few scribbles on the back of an envelope, and was still unfinished when the recording of the This is the Sea album began in March.

As an ode to artistic expression, the song's lyrics are clearly a tribute to the artists who inspired Scott.  While there has been much speculation about who it is written about, the only comments that Scott has made indicate that  C.S. Lewis was "in there somewhere" and that Prince wasn't (Prince had been rumored to be a source of inspiration, and some sources still cite him).

Amazingly, neither "The Whole of the Moon" single nor the This is the Sea album ever charted in the U.S.  "The Whole of the Moon" did chart twice in the U.K.; once in 1985, upon the original release (#26), and again in 1991 (peaking at #3), after the song won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

After This is the Sea, Scott (who was the main creative force behind the Waterboys), opted to go for a smaller, more folk sound, which continued until the band broke up in 1993.

Cool trivia fact:  The video is directed by Irish director Meiert Avis, who has directed dozens of videos, including a bunch from U2.  The Waterboys posed a little bit of a challenge in that Mike Scott will not lip sync; hence an actual concert was created just for the video.

The Pixies - Here Comes Your Man

Although they were only around for a few years, the Pixies had a disproportionate impact on rock and roll.  Their sound was a conglomeration of alternative college rock, punk and California surf rock, put together in way that was greater than the sum of the parts.  As a result, they laid the groundwork for the grunge/alternative surge of the early 1990s.  Bands as varied as Nirvana, Radiohead, Weezer, and U2 have all stated that the Pixies had a huge influence on their sound.  Kurt Cobain, in fact, stated that "Smells Like Team Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies-esque song.

The Pixies formed in Boston in 1986, though "Here Comes Your Man" was from their 1989 Doolittle album (and was never released as a single).  Interestingly, this song was written by frontman Black Francis years earlier (when he was 14 or 15), but the band was reluctant to record it, as they viewed the sound as too commercial.  Critics have since come to view "Here Comes Your Man" as one of the most melodic and accessible alternative songs ever written.

Unfortunately, the Pixes were not able to hold it together past early 1993, as the tension between Francis and bassist Kim Deal (who would go on to form The Breeders with her sister), tore the band apart.

Cool trivia fact:  Rolling Stone ranked Doolittle at #141 on their list of the greatest 500 albums ever.

R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe

Yesterday (September 21, 2011), R.E.M. decided to call it quits as a band.  Although the band had some great successes in the 1990s, we think of them as the prototypical 1980s college rock band.  In fact, they were hugely influential in defining the category.  With their final act now written, it seemed like a good time to put them on the blog.

Loved by critics, it took the band a while to find its audience.  Though the first four albums all went gold, none broke the top 20, and it took until 1987's Document for R.E.M. to have a platinum album.  Similarly, while their videos were shown on MTV, their sound was too alternative, and the videos too strange to go into heavy rotation for most of the 80s.

We chose their first single, "Radio Free Europe" as their representative here.  Originally recorded in 1981, the video uses the 1983 I.R.S. version of the song.  Many critics, including your humble author, prefer the original version, which is faster, less polished, and just sounds more R.E.M.-ish.  In fact, on their 1988 compilation album, Eponymous, they went back to the original version, with the comment, "Mike [Mills, bass player] and Jefferson [Holt, the band's manager] think this one crushes the other one like a grape."

While Michael Stipe's lyrics can be challenging to understand under the best of circumstances, he intentionally garbled "Radio Free Europe," going more for a cool sound that any meaning.  In a later interview, Stipe confirmed that the lyrics are "complete babbling."

Godspeed, gentlemen, and thanks for the great music.

Also note that "Fall on Me" was posted on ERV in September 2014.

Cool trivia fact: Rolling Stone views Murmur as the 8th greatest album of the 1980s (and at #165 on their list of the greatest albums of all time).

Hoodoo Gurus - Bittersweet

Although they were major stars in their native Australia, Hoodoo Gurus were seen as more of an indy or college band by American audiences.  That is not totally unfair, as their music has a college radio vibe, and is eclectic enough to be hard to categorize.

"Bittersweet" is a great, atmospheric song about a failed love affair, from the Gurus awesomely named 1985 album, Mars Needs Guitars.  The album barely broke the top 200 in the U.S., but was the second of four consecutive Gurus albums to top the U.S. college charts.  The video received some airplay on MTV, but it did not go into heavy rotation.  (To be fair to MTV, we do not think the video is as strong as the song.)

By the way, is it me, or is the intro strongly reminiscent of the intro to Robert Plant's 1983 hit "In the Mood?"