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C&L's Late Nite Music Club with Berlin

Title: The Metro

Berlin was and is a perfectly good band, but by no means in the top tier of 80s acts. Regardless, the tiny beat, keyboard hook, and simple evocative imagery of the lyrics make "The Metro" my favorite 80s song, hands down.

What's your favorite of the Me Decade 1980s (which having been born 45 days prior I clearly have misnamed)?

Tags: 80s, Berlin, LNMC
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163 Comments
Different Anonymous's picture
.

"Los Angeles" by X. Sums up the '80s for me, plus I got to see 'em at the Roxy.

Slacker George's picture

Awesome and underrated.

I'd pick "Back to the Base", as it has some nice Elvis Presley humor.

bruce_sears's picture

...baby

Sex and Dying in High Society

MGA1619's picture

I must not think bad thoughts is one of my all time favorite X songs.

Freddy Knuckles's picture

It came out just as I was getting into New Wave. Of course they broke my heart with "Take My Breath Away." My kids don't understand what I mean when I say "sellout."

nickmagoo's picture

'take my breath away' is a beautiful song...certainly not 'new wave,' but it is an excellent pop song...

Freddy Knuckles's picture

for Tom Cruise's "Top Gun." Like I said, sold out. It ruined them and rightfully so.

Mutton Jeff's picture
Oh.

From the headline, I thought they meant IRVING Berlin. Oh well.

MaxMarginal's picture

if you're lucky.

gump's picture

Use to think they were a foreign band. Weren't all 80's bands except for Sammy Hagar?


is intended to be a factual statement

maylith's picture

Is still touring with Berlin, and doing guest appearances....here she is at 48 years old, hotter than ever, performing an AC/DC song just a couple months ago...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=c...

PurpleDolfin's picture

I never was much for that over-synthesized pop garbage that came out of MTV during the 80's. But I gotta admit, Terri singing AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" wasn't too bad. She's got a great set of lungs and her voice isn't too bad either.
Certainly better that this.

Bix12's picture

Berlin, like any groundbreaking group, laid the foundation for many of todays bands--the Ting Tings* or MGMT** come immediately to mind, but there are many others.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPNIYuDZZpU&fe...

** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE&fe...

miss_kitty's picture

Maybe making up for the suck hole that was the 70s

Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll

nickmagoo's picture

i don't get it when people bitch about how bad music was in the 70s...from Zeppelin to The Clash to Springsteen to Willie Nelson to Elvis Costello to, yes, I'll say it, ABBA, the 70s had so much amazing music, both popular and underground.

miss_kitty's picture

in the 70s. I had the first 5 Led Zeppelin albums, but pretty much was trough with them by #5. They're more of a 60s vibe for me.

I never heard Abba until the early 90s and I thought they were quite good too.

a_protohominid's picture

When I was living through the decade I remember what they played on the radio if you went back in time it was 7o's wuss rock and craptacular pseudo disco Junk and while There was a great deal of excellent progressive rock and a bunch of terrific concept albums. the radio played was dreadful.

It would be kind of fun to list some of the awful songs of the seventies but perhaps that is a thread best left for another time.

Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics would be the with the 80's style song that plops my mind right back to '83.

Honorable mention to "Destination Unknown" by Missing Persons, "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads and "Sooner or Later" by the English Beat.

I couldn't agree more. It was also a great decade for film.

What sucked about the late '70's, at least in the States, is that the radio programmed the shitty music.

gogetem's picture

I totally agree! The 70s are my favorite decade for music. People still want to remember how bad disco supposely was even though almost all of the disco of that period is better than almost all of the pop/hip hop/faux R&B that passes for the Top 40 today.
Having said that, picking only one song from any decade is hard, but I always really enjoyed "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and The Waves.


If a drone kills a child in Kandahar, do the crying parents make a sound?

Andy K's picture
Ha!

I posted Katrina just before you posted this!

Edwin's picture

The stuff on the radio sucked big time, that is, if you even listened to the radio. My friends had killer stereos (at home and in their cars-- the boys) and played great music. We were into 60s-cusp-70s flavour and progressive stuff.


"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!

miss_kitty's picture

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

bruce_sears's picture
yes

good lord man, this is a decade of joy division, clash, and talking heads and somehow berlin gets the nod?!?!

ha!

all in good fun, though, cheers!

fastfeat's picture

.


"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."

---Southwest Airlines

miss_kitty's picture

The Vapors - Turning Japanese

Divinyls - I Touch Myself

MaxMarginal's picture

On that very topic... pump it up, turning japanese, longview, many more.

yesyesyes's picture

G. Maby not my favorite but it came to mind first.

Andy K's picture

Look Sharp! and I'm The Man both.

miss_kitty's picture
nickmagoo's picture

my fave song when i was living in france in the late 80s by the fabulous Les Rita Mitsouko...awesome video too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BggXhzUhZ94

one of my all time favorite songs by the underappreciated The The:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X43ZyUGOPyw

and the 80s roots rockers The Rainmakers with Downstream:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCOoATNBb7s

miss_kitty's picture
OMG

I was just so going there! I mean Les Ritas, and 'This is the Day' is the first in my bookmarks...

Les Rita Mitsouko - Y'a d'la haine RIP Frédéric chichin

Les Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila

nickmagoo's picture

man, i wore out my tape of the no comprendo - so many good songs, and great lyrics if you know french...and i had SUCH a crush on catherine ringer - what a body, what a voice!:

andy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C7nX7GekLg

les histoires d'amour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9PWVm0wEQ

and a funky, acousticish version of nuit d'ivresse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU6Bfm6zJTQ

miss_kitty's picture

of her and Segre Gainsbourg swapping nasty insults?

nickmagoo's picture

hilarious! serge, obviously drunk off his ass...good for her sticking up for herself

miss_kitty's picture

Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Funky Stuff

Van's picture

"Destination Unknown"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IasCZL072fQ

Dale Bozzio was the sexiest thing on MTV back then...

curtilingus's picture

I Saw them in concert. 1983 I think?

How bout The Motels

Brings back memories. She's dead now.

Loved The Motels!

I assume you're refering to Martha Davis? That's too bad.

curtilingus's picture

here's another dead female 80's star. (guess I have a theme here)

Wendy O Williams, Making Maggots

on the Joan Rivers Show (might be hard to tell them apart)

curtilingus's picture

Or Frito's There's Something Going On

Oops, terribly sorry, her name is Frida. I thought I heard something about Phil Collins producing this song, but I could be wrong.

gogetem's picture

I think you're right, curt.


If a drone kills a child in Kandahar, do the crying parents make a sound?

cadfile's picture
And

Phil played the drums on the recording

MaxMarginal's picture

were brilliant.

miss_kitty's picture

Missing Persons - Words

That's a good one, too!

Andy K's picture

Skyway

(okay, this is Westerberg doing it solo...which is basically how it was in the studio for this tune anyway)


"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."

---Southwest Airlines

miss_kitty's picture
miss_kitty's picture

Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning

miss_kitty's picture
AND
fastfeat's picture

"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."

---Southwest Airlines

Bix12's picture

Remember the YMO-BGM album by Yellow Magic Orchestra?

constituent's picture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P09gm_I5RI&fe...

i like that berlin beat. checkout: the furs

boocilla69's picture

absolutely love, "Love My Way."

Edwin's picture

Love My Way

That was going to be "my big post". It's one of the few 80s songs I actually liked.


"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!

covered's picture

originated in the 70's, roared in the 80's and still sells out stadiums:

Bruce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYPSZiE0OAs

Andy K's picture

Walking On Sunshine

Yeah, overplayed at the time (and still pops up in a million movie trailers), but it really is a nifty pop song. Very hooky.

Slacker George's picture

Thanks.

miss_kitty's picture

Bow Wow Wow-I Want Candy

Andy K's picture

Do You Want To Hold Me?

This video really impressed me at the time. You didn't see much of that multi-layered editing previous to it.

MGA1619's picture

I saw Bow Wow Wow back in the 80's. It was the shortest concert ever. Annabelle got pissed off and they left after about 20 minutes. I did like the drum set they had though.

tedvan's picture

Book Of Love: I Touch Roses

miss_kitty's picture

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

nickmagoo's picture

Noone in the US knows this tune really...but it was huge in England - Carmel - Sally - awesome horn section:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTbeQjfgzxk

Andy K's picture

Nicole might come on and post Journey.

:P

Nicole Belle's picture

I can't STAND that song.

Just for you, Max.

MaxMarginal's picture
Van's picture

is an 80s band that didn't get the attention they deserved.

"Will You Be Home Tonight" was a tribute to James Dean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i83KQtP8M8k

kuut nustroolboot's picture

Starting with Discipline, and through Beat and 3 of a Perfect Pair, they were the tightest band out there.

Edwin's picture

King Crimson ^-^, but they're not 80s.


"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!

Bix12's picture
...

KIng Crimson...not 80's? I guess I see your point...still, Kuut is right on with his assessment.

Mr. Fripp et, al. started in the 60's and are still going strong today! Amazing run...

fastfeat's picture

'80s music, IMHO.


"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."

---Southwest Airlines

Bix12's picture

Fripp & Belew collaberated on some very awesome music--"Three of a Perfect Pair" is a masterpiece. Belew's solo work "Mr. Music Head" is also a superb album.

Bix12's picture
.

.

Bix12's picture

RED

BLUE

YELLOW

curtilingus's picture

Their first albums were great too, and loose. But these guys are still producing. THRAAK had the double trio line up with veterans Fripp, Belew, Bruford and Levin, along with Pat Mastelato and Trey Gun. Saw them in San Francisco on the Construction of Light tour.

Slacker George's picture

I had this on cassette back in the day. I can't find the CD anywhere, but haven't looked too hard. The album was very good.

Eddie Veder did an almost note-for-note cover for the "Into the Wild" soundtrack, but I prefer the original. The background singers add that extra punch.

This is the original song, set to still photos and scrolling lyrics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb5KXozi_HM

miss_kitty's picture

Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight

Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days: UK Version

Bix12's picture

Lol...howzabout these cats:

Love and Rockets: So Alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFObRusJt24

fastfeat's picture

"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."

---Southwest Airlines

calgarylady's picture

I love Wang Chung!

justadood's picture

hmmmmm.
'Relax' - Frankie Goes to Hollywood..?
or maybe
'Things Can Only Get Better' - Howard Jones

techno-pop was where it was at......

miss_kitty's picture

Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps

Delta 5 - mind your own business

justadood's picture

Big Hotel

Nation

good social commentary when it wasn't yet in style...

miss_kitty's picture

Run-DMC feat. Aerosmith - Walk This Way

fastfeat's picture

And I've got all of them.


"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."

---Southwest Airlines

miss_kitty's picture

Gang Starr - Words I Manifest

obiwan's picture

Two 80's songs that are real seminal (to me anyway):

"Shake The Disease" by Depeche Mode

and

"How Soon Is Now?" by the Smiths

dordogne's picture

sorry, but most of this music has/should be forgotten.

here is a couple that should not.

Neil Young, Ambulance Blues

Genesis - The Musical Box

Edwin's picture

I never even got to know most of it.


"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!

miss_kitty's picture

Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy

miss_kitty's picture

terence trent d arby - wishing well
haha

oodaloop's picture

Catchiest tune ever

New_Damage's picture

Hüsker Dü - Celebrated Summer

All other '80's bands pale.

bruce_sears's picture

people dis the 80's, but my god, husker du, replacements, camper van beethoven, public enemy, U2 in their prime, waterboys. the 80's was the best decade of rock and roll since the (okay) late 70's. and nothing has touched it since then. (oops, X, too!)

Andy K's picture

How can you name great bands that were on the margins and forget one that eventually broke in and became huge?

R.E.M.

7 Chinese Brothers/Talk About The Passion/Sitting Still

bruce_sears's picture

U2 didn't make it big? News to me... :)

Yeah, but you're right. REM. Excellent!

and Meat Puppets.

Andy K's picture

I Will Follow, from their first album, was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. They got airplay. R.E.M.'s first three albums only got airplay on college stations. Husker Du, The Replacements and CVB got little airplay anywhere.

And I'm still pissed that I couldn't get off of my shift at work when U2 was touring right after Boy was released, before I Will Follow broke nationally. Our local AOR station was playing it very early. U2 played at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids- a small venue (and a real, non-denominational church). I've had a moratorium on seeing shows at large venues- over 3,000 at a show and it's too impersonal for me- for about 25 years now, so I'll probably never see them live.

bruce_sears's picture

My best ever was seeing camper van when they opened for two other bands in about a 40 seat bar in san diego right after their first album came out. i had no idea who they were. everyone in the bar including the "headliners" were just blown away. They were invited to come back out and play some more after the other bands had finished :)

Andy K's picture

It was one of the three times I lifted the moratorium(the other two times were for Neil Diamond, one of my guilty pleasures), and I did it for them- I'd already seen REM a few times earlier in the '80's. I actually interviewed the lead singer (Dave?) for a 'zine that I wrote for.

bruce_sears's picture
CVB

yeah, that'd be david lowery. one of the all time great voices of sarcasm in pop music. up there with elvis costello (imo at least)

Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate? Was that Danny & Dusty?

bruce_sears's picture

danny and dusty was a great album. not david lowery though. forget who that was. dream syndicate- Halloween is one of my all time favorite songs. i can just play that great feedback over and over. love it!

Andy K's picture

Days Of Wine And Roses is one of my favorite albums EVAH. Saw The Dream Syndicate at Joe's Star Lounge in Ann Arbor in '83, then again, in Royal Oak opening for...wait for it...REM!...during the latter's Little America (Reckoning) tour.

That show in AA was very intimate. They killed, too. I was standing right next to the stage, and near the end of the set asked for them to play, Too Little, Too Late. Kendra had already quit the band, Wynn laughed it off. They did Werewolves Of London as their encore. Karl Precoda (whatever happened to that guy?) roooooled! Great show.

bruce_sears's picture

all right, you're makin me bring out my big guns :)

saw the clash open for the who- townshend said they wouldn't be playing my generation on that tour- and then they opened with it- woohoo! :)))

okay man, that's the best i can do!

okay, seeing CVB open for 2 no-name bands is actually better, but this wasn't half bad either :)

Andy K's picture

Yawn. ;D

Pontiac Silverdome. Missed The Clash playing, unannounced, at Clutch Cargo's (or was it the Grand Circus) in Detroit earlier in the week. :^(

But I'd seen them in Grand Rapids about a month earlier at the Welsh Auditorium. Curtis Blow opened up. Blow got booed off the stage by the rednecks who showed up only because they heard that a band- any band- was playing. Both acts were good, imo, but the crowd killed my buzz.

If they're still touring and you get a chance to see them, check out The Fleshtones. Saw 'em in the late '90's at a local alt-dive bar (The Reptile House)and other than the gray hair , you'd have thought these guys were still playing in '81. Tons of energy. Talked with Peter Zaremba- well, drank with him, I have little memory of the later part of the evening- after the set. My impression- again, drinky-drinky- is that he was a really cool guy.

On edit: I saw a very young Jack White drumming for Goober & The Peas on a few different occasions. Goober (Dan something) was White's legal guardian, iirc.

miss_kitty's picture

Duran Duran - Save A Prayer

boocilla69's picture

to Romeo Void. Absolutely love them. Recently bought a
greatest hits CD, it's excellent.

miss_kitty's picture
...

A ha - Take On Me

Mark Sanford's picture

This is common mistake young people make, but the 1980s was not the Me Decade. That would be the 1970s.

Andy K's picture

was that the '80's was the "Me- Al Franken!" decade.

You owe me for that one, Max.

:D

deang's picture
yep

I was going to say the same thing. If you look at the end-of-the-decade summaries that newspapers and magazines used to run and you go back to December 1979 or January 1980, that is what the 70s were being called. Writers at the time contrasted the societal, communal vibe of the 60s with the increased emphasis on personal growth in the 70s to come up with the label. The self-absorbed consumerism and me-first-fuck-everybody-else selfishness of the 80s does suit the moniker better, though ...

covered's picture
yup

And so we can sorta find out where the corruption began. LOL.
For my friends in LA that took me to see this spectacle at the Coliseum:

GNR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI

MaxMarginal's picture

And the STRIKE html tag. I stand corrected...

Edwin's picture

Nuh-uh, not where I came from. I suppose if you got into disco, but I sure as hell didn't. We listened to rock. There were bikers around. None of our clothes had labels. We did dr*gs and had bonfires. We read The Whole Earth Catalogue and talked about global warming and overpopulation. Then everyone hitch-hiked out to the West coast when the 80s started. Voila, meet Vancouver! (At least in Ontario we did. I had some wild friends!! Good times!!)


"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!

boocilla69's picture

mentioned the B52s yet?
I really loved everything they did, but always got an extra special kick out of "Party Out of Bounds," and "Dance This Mess Around."

covered's picture

I thought "Deadbeat Club" was way underrated. Saw them do it live...course they brought the house down.

Bix12's picture

I still love the B52s.

"Deadbeat Club" is such a great song...I love that entire album, including "Follow Your Bliss".

Edwin's picture

Oh, yeah. Still like the B52s!!


"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!

boocilla69's picture

anything by The Pretenders. Saw them in Vegas at HOB a few years ago and Chrissie Hynde was still in rare form. She told the audience that the song they had just played was new and asked how the audience liked it, they responded rather tepidly and she yelled, "Well then, fuck you!"

constituent's picture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCf5wLyfkvQ

chrissie hynde just drips cool.

oodaloop's picture

Nothing says 80's like some Flyte-Tyme Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, & Monte Moir-produced R&B.

S.O.S. Band- Just Be Good To Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khj9jyNvhpQ&fe...

If you were here tonight-Alexander O'Neal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpmdNqRhhR0&fe... (great song, hate the video)

Thelma Houston - You Used To Hold Me So Tight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2J6AQ3AyI0

Don't forget Atomic Dog. And there's always Kashif (Livin for Your love - Melba Moore http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti5Wwraiq_E )and Andre Cymone. R&B RIP...

oodaloop's picture

Nothing says 80's like some Mindcrime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34SEESxcaV4

Spreading The Disease from '88. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oUAekdWSO4&fe... (includes the F word)

MaxMarginal's picture

In my top 10 albums ever. That record is so confident and unstoppable.

constituent's picture
bruce_sears's picture

Talking Heads and Tom Waits (well, not together at least)

:( :(

Ridleyculous's picture

A solid PRO in the Canadian Content laws is that a lot of what would have remained local bands got a chance to make good nationally

my top six Can80ian tunes (as of this moment)

echo beach - Martha & The Muffins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvqjYxeTODY

rise up - parachute club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNIdqu7crW8

let it go - luba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK3L6ccMQ4U

should I see - frozen ghost

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50u6lcLsMY

tokyo rose - idle eyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50u6lcLsMY

don't walk on past - blue peter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YumwwfjJW18

enjoy, eh!

dondiago's picture

Most of their better stuff came out in the 80s!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS9aY41G9EQ

gogetem's picture

Almost forgot "Photograph" by Def Leppard.

They never topped that first biggie for me.


If a drone kills a child in Kandahar, do the crying parents make a sound?

ysbaddaden's picture
)O(

Diabolus est Deus Inversus

ysbaddaden's picture
)O(

Diabolus est Deus Inversus

screwedrus's picture

I always did love that song. Close runners up are Fascination by Human League, True by Spadau Ballet and The Look of Love by ABC.

For harder stuff, Photograph by Def Leppard, Run, Run Away by Slade and Shot in the Dark by Ozzy.

I'll also throw in On the Loose by Saga. I'm not sure where they fit in.

80's music was awesome. Screw you if you if you don't believe me.

ezdukowski's picture

How soon is now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U5HpeA_WSo

And Johnny Marr is still one of my most favorite guitar players.

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