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The podcast for our April 24, 2009 Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up and available at the bottom of this post.
This week’s show features some classic alternative tracks from artists including Strawberry Switchblade, Captain Sensible, INXS and the Soup Dragons with some deeper cuts from The Flirts and Kate Bush. We also introduced a new feature: the “Later Cut,” where we play some of the artists’ post-1980s work between the end of the decade and new music from recent years. The first Revenge of the 80s “Later Cut” is Andy Prieboy‘s “Montezuma Was a Man of Faith” from the self-titled EP (and the album Upon My Wayward Son).
We also played a number of your requests. Keep them coming: e-mail us with yours at radio@revengeofthe80sradio.com.
Tonight’s Revenge of the 80s Radio will feature classic alternative tracks from Strawaberry Switchblade, Altered Images, INXS and REM as well as some deeper cuts from Kate Bush, The Flirts and Mojo Nixon.
Revenge of the 80s airs live on Friday nights 7-9ET on Q99.1FM in the Hudson Valley (www.wtbq.com) and on Wednesdays 12noon Melbourne, AUS time on Radio 80s 87.6FM. Podcasts are available on Saturdays after the live show. We also air Wednesdays 6-8pm and Saturdays 10am-12noon on The Volt.
Alt-Synth-Pop Pioneers Depeche Mode‘s long-awaited new studio album, Sounds of the Universe, is now available in North America. The band released its first single from the composition, “Wrong,” earlier this month, the track was played on Revenge of the 80s Radio in February.
They are set to kick off a world tour on May 6th in Luxembourg. Their North American leg begins on July 24th with a date in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Road trip highlights include two dates at Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 3rd and 4th.
Organizers of the 2009 Lollapalooza concert festival announced Depeche Mode will be among the headlining bands playing at their August 7-9 event. Jane’s Addiction is also scheduled to perform.
The podcast for our 4/17/09 Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up and available at the bottom of this post. This week, we featured classic alternative tracks from Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Tuxedomoon, REM and The Clash with deeper cuts from Falco, Laibach and Men Without Hats.
Tonight’s Revenge of the 80s Radio show will feature music from classic alternative artists including Blondie, Tuxedomoon, The Clash and The Tom Tom Club.
Revenge of the 80s airs live on Friday nights 7-9ET on Q99.1FM in the Hudson Valley (www.wtbq.com) and on Wednesdays 12noon Melbourne, AUS time on Radio 80s 87.6FM. Podcasts are available on Saturdays after the live show. We also air Wednesdays 6-8pm and Saturdays 10am-12noon on The Volt.
As a junior high school student, CBS Television Network’s show “Sqaure Pegs” was required viewing. The show was an instant hit, featuring Tracey Nelson of the famous Nelson family (Ozzie, Harriet, Ricky, etc) and future stars like Sarah Jessica Parker and Jamie Gertz.
One of the strong points of the show was the use of some of the great new wave talents of the era like The Waitresses and Devo, who each performed on an episode. The school’s radio station would play and reference several classic alternative performers as well.
The show did not last more than one season, but might have been on for longer if not for the rampant drug use and less-than-professional atmosphere as reported by TV Guide in 1984. The 25-year-old story was recently re-confirmed in a Heeb Magazine interview with Devo’s bassist Gerald V, Casale. In that episode, Devo was booked to play at Muffy’s Bat Mitzvah (although she also struck a deal with Johnny Slash’s band, Open 24 Hours/Open 48 Hours) for the gig. Casale told Heeb about the cocaine-induced hi-jinks that many attributed to the show’s quick death:
“The girls were out of control—they were doing drugs and they were making out and they were coming on to us in a big way… They might have been 15 or 16, but in their heads they were already 40. I don’t think there was a virgin on the set, except maybe a couple of the guys.”
Casale also told Heeb of a crush on Gertz, who recently starred in the sitcom “Still Standing” with British comedian David Addy.
It would be naive to think that over-partying and rampant drug use has not a long-standing Hollywood tradition, but one of the secrets of the industry is to not let a good project be destroyed by those activities. Might the demise of “Square Pegs” be chalked up to lack of experience by those on and off-screen? The potential for a good show was there as was the talent, but declining ratings did not help the show’s producers either.
The band No Doubt seemed to be the stereotypical 90s “angst band” when they stormed the mainstream music scene with their release of 1995′s Tragic Kingdom album. Two prior releases, however, revealed the ska/post-punk roots of the band and their potential for a more esoteric mix of styles. Much of No Doubt’s work, in fact, was heavily influenced by classic alternative music of the 1980s. They later covered the Talk Talk hit “It’s My Life” with great chart success and homage to the original but not without their own stamp on the track. Another interesting 80′s band parallel is the concept of their “Don’t Speak” video being reminiscent of “Til Tuesday’s “Looking Over My Shoulder” where the band was upset with the music industry suits’ intense focus on the lead singer with little regard for the rest of the group and the subsequent guilt felt by the photogenic female lead.
The band took a short break in 2004, where Stefani found an interesting solo run, and reassembled in 2008. They are putting together a tour and upcoming album. One of their new projects is a cover of the Adam and the Ants classic “Stand and Deliver” intended for an episode of the “Gossip Girl” television show. While the expected skepticism over the woman who brought us “Holloback Girl” and the melodramatic “Don’t Speak” encroaching work by New Wave royalty is understood here, Stephani’s ability to cross several genres as a vocalist coupled with the band’s well-respected musicians should warrant an honest listen before visions of Celine Dion destroying Roy Orbison’s “I Drove All Night” dominate the collective wavers’ though processes. No Doubt should also be given positive credit for recording a real classic alternative tune and not going the “easy route” by re-hashing a proven U.S. hit like “Goody Two Shoes.”
Copies of the No Doubt recording of “Stand and Deliver” have leaked out and were the subject of a recent Rolling Stone magazine article. It is available on Youtube in some forms until site watchdogs remove uploads as they have in the past week (as of the time of this post, most of the quality uploads of the song have been eliminated).
Any Adam and the Ants song would be extremely difficult for the vast majority of today’s bands to perform mainly because of the unique style of “Ant Music” and the personality that goes into their creations. No Doubt was clearly up to the task: drummer Adrian Young matched the intensity of the African-inspired beats while Stefani shows another angle to her already-diverse repertoire. Her voice tackles the demands of emulating Ant’s chanting style as she adds her own melodic flavor to the chorus. While this reviewer had some doubts about No Doubt covering a song as important to the history of alt-new wave as “Stand and Deliver” is, the band actually adheres to what the title demands.
Adam Ant’s “Stand and Deliver” will continue to be the version preferred by purists, but No Doubt might be able to turn it into a huge mainstream hit as producers added several studio elements to appeal to the current club-going young music listeners. For them, it would be an improvement over a lot of what they have been fed by record label suits over the past many years.
The podcast for the 4/10/09 Revenge of the 80s Radio show is up and available at the bottom of this post. This week’s Revenge of the 80s Radio features a conversation with actress Sally Kellerman, best known to 80s fans as Rodney Dangerfield’s English Professor/love interest in the movie Back to School and the Judge in Moving Violations. She also helped create the character that would elevate her to legendary status: Major Margaret Houlihan in the MASH movie. Sally’s memorable voice can be heard on several commercials and in many animated features.
Much of our discussion is about Sally’s music. While most people know her as an actress and voiceover specialist, Kelerman’s love is music. She had a record contract at age 18 and a well-received album in the early 1970s. She recently released a new CD, Sally, which she promoted while out touring with what she calls her “anti-show.” Her celebrated voice translated extremely well to song: her repertoire includes jazz classics, lounge and a very well-done cover of a Stephen Tyler song (which we play at the end of our interview). Our discussion leads off the second hour of the show.
We also played classic-alternative tracks from artists including Strawberry Switchblade, The Little Girls, Devo, Altered Images and Big Audio Dynamite.
Tonight’s Revenge of the 80s features a conversation with Sally Kellerman, who is best known to 80s fans as Rodney Dangerfield’s love interest and English Professor in the movie Back to School. She is most well-known to everyone else as Major Margaret Houlihan in the MASH movie, as well as for several other movie roles, TV appearances and voiceovers.
Tonight, we talk about Sally’s music: she has been singing since her teens (including a record contract at the age of 18), she tours with a band and has a new CD out, Sally. Our discussion leads off the second hour.
As always, we will feature classic alternative tracks from artists including Altered Images, INXS, Strawberry Switchblade and The Little Girls.
Revenge of the 80s airs live on Friday nights 7-9ET on Q99.1FM in the Hudson Valley (www.wtbq.com) and on Wednesdays 12noon Melbourne, AUS time on Radio 80s 87.6FM. Podcasts are available on Saturdays after the live show. We also air Wednesdays 6-8pm and Saturdays 10am-12noon on The Volt.
Revenge of the 80s Radio is happy to announce it has been added to the schedule for “The Volt” — a new internet radio station based in Ontario, Canada.
The Volt‘s format is mainly focused on Hot Modern Rock, mixing the classics with today, and is currently putting together its regular programming lineup. Revenge of the 80s will air Wednesdays 6-8pm and on Saturdays 10am-12pm (all Eastern US time). The Volt is the brainchild of the management of Retro Radio One and Program Director Mark Duncan. Revenge of the 80s Radio will be further expanding its reach both on terrestrial radio and internet radio under the name “BC Eagle Radio Network.”
