We at Revenge of the 80s Radio want to thank all of you who read and participate in this blog and listen to the Revenge of the 80s radio show and podcasts for a wonderful first year on the air. We will continue in 2009 to expand our playlist, have conversations with more of your favorite artists and bring you new music from the great classic alternative performers.
For 2009, we plan to expand the number of radio affiliates and expand the services of our blog/website. We are always happy to hear your ideas and opinions on the show. You can always comment on the site or e-mail us: radio@revengeofthe80sradio.com.
Thank you for listening and logging on to the site; we can not do this without you. Best Wishes for a great 2009!.
This week we aired an encore Revenge of the 80s program. The podcast is up and available at the end of this post.
We at Revenge of the 80s Radio wish you a very Happy Holidays!
While we went through some classic alt-80s holiday tracks, I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmastime videos from some of the era’s great artists:
If I had to choose, my favorite (non-comedy) Christmas song is “Fairytale of New York.” The Pogues and Kirsty McColl tell a touching tale that could be about many first and second generation families of European immigrants from the early part of the 20th century. It’s a holiday love and anger song portraying the struggles of an Irish couple hurt by broken dreams. While not a typical song of holiday cheer, it will still be sung by music fans well into th enext century:
As far as nice Christmas songs go, Timbuk 3 put together a tune evoking memories of childhood toys while asking for true blessings of peace in “All I Want for Christmas:”
Adrian Edmonson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson as the Mock-Roickers Bad News showed the true spirit of holiday commercialism with the twisted tune: “Cashing In On Christmas:”
Former Saturday Night Live band leader and guy who played Officer Toody in the movie remake of “Car 54, Where Are You?,” Buster Poindexter put together a fun video for his cover of the Louie Armstrong classic “‘Zat You, Santa Claus?”
‘Zat You Santa Claus? – B. Poindexter
…and then there is this one by Mojo Nixon. “Christmas, Christmas” is his first tribute to the holidays. This video is from a potential documentary called “The Meaning of Louie:”
Once again: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!”
A musical master strikes again: Andy Prieboy has released three new tracks in addition to the five he previously put out, some of which were featured on Revenge of the 80s last month.
During our interview with Prieboy in November, he said he prefers to release music this way rather than in a regular album/CD format as most other artists do. The latest creations go from the tragic to the sarcastically celebratory.
With “From Pauper to a King,” Prieboy tells the tragic story of a man who had nothing, was blessed with riches and power and squandered everything through his own misuse of his gains. His vocals may sound dark and somewhat gothic on the surface, a few more listens to the track offer one a chance to empathize with the sorrowful figure — a talent that Prieboy has that had always solidified an edge to his music. His haunting keyboards in the background help bring out the feelings of the tragic figure as Prieboy adds references from Shakespeare and Ancient Mythology to strengthen his story.
While he made us sympathize with the man featured in “From Pauper to a King,” we get an opposite perspective in “Hearty Drinking Men.” The song starts off as reminiscent of the songs sung by soldiers and secret society nobles of the Middle Ages as they quaff several ales and bottles of rum, luring many of us to enjoy and sing along. As Andy reels the listeners in with a rousing French Horn sound and the first lines causing one to be thinking about raising a pint of Guiness with him, he quickly attacks with a left-hook of disdain toward modern drunkards who act like overgrown frat-boys with lyrics like “we’re happy, high Retard-ians” and later describing the harassment of a female Guatemalan doughnut shop owner. Listening to it a few times might remind some of us about our old College days. For others, it might have been last week.
Prieboy also released “Pricks Up Front Con Carne,” a new version of “Pricks Up Front” with an orchestral backing. It’s the same honest song with a more full instrumental backing that shows exactly how complex the former Wall of Voodoo frontman’s musical style is: one can put it to a rock, Americana, classical or most other genres and still have a high quality song without losing any of the intended effect or meaning to the work. Once again, Prieboy shows why he deserves a place among the great storytellers in American History — a list that includes not only musicians like Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie, but other great writers like Mark Twain and John Steinbeck.
Edwin Vacek, who had previously crafted some interesting videos for Andy Prieboy’s new music for YouTube users, has two more. The first one is for “Hearty Drinking Men:”
This one is for a song not yet available for sale on Andy Prieboy’s site. This is “The Fate Awaiting Thee:”
The podcast for our 12/19 Christmas Special is now up and available at the bottom of this post.
As you might expect, we have all of the holiday classics like The Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrappings,” “Thanks For Christmas” by the Three Wise Men (XTC) and “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl. We also feature Christmas Tracks from artists including Wall of Voodoo, Captain Sensible, Bad News, Siouxsie and the Banshees Klark Kent and The Dickies as well as some comedy Christmas tunes by the likes of Dread Zeppelin, Root Boy Slim, Al Yankovic and The McKenzie Brothers.
We hope you enjoy this special presentation of “Revenge of the 80s Radio” as taped during a huge blizzard that kept me from doing it live in the studio.
We at Revenge of the 80s Radio want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!
Tonight, Revenge of the 80s features its first annual Christmas Special, featuring holiday music from artists of the era including The Alarm, Captain Sensible, Kate Bush, Wall of Voodoo and Squeeze. Of course, we wouldn’t be a Revenge of the 80s Christmas Special without the timeless classics from The Waitresses, Band Aid and The Pogues with Kirsty McColl. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from us at Revenge of the 80s Radio!
The long-awaited new album by Depeche Mode has been completed. Dave Gahan, the band’s frontman, told reporters from the LA Times Music Blog, “Pop & Hiss.” The album, which has not been titled at the time of this post, is due out next year.
In May, Depeche Mode will embark on the European leg of its “Tour of the Universe 2009.” U.S. dates have not been set.
This Friday, Revenge of the 80s will air its first Christmas Special, featuring classic holiday cheer from top new wave/alternative artists from the 1980s — the decade when even Santa wore thin ties and sunglasses with his suit.
Along with the standards from The Waitresses, The Pogues (with Kirsty MacColl), David Bowie (with Bing Crosby) and The Pretenders, we will also feature holiday tracks from The Dickies, The Alarm, Kate Bush and Timbuk 3 as well as some hard-to-find ones from Wall of Voodoo, Dread Zeppelin, Captain Sensible and the British mock-band Bad News.
The Podcast for our 12/12 Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up. This week, we featured several requests (we were a bit backlogged on those) and other music from artists of the era. Included in this week’s show are tracks from ABC, XTC, INXS, The Clash and deeper cuts from King and Laibach.
Next week, we will have our Revenge of the 80s Christmas Special. More on that to come in future posts.
This week on Revenge of the 80s we will play some requests from listeners to our radio broadcast and podcast. We will feature tracks from several artists including XTC, REM, ABC and Voice of the Beehive.
You can suggest or request a song or artist via our e-mail address: radio@revengeofthe80sradio.com
