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December 30, 2007

Rock '80

Okay, I admit that I used to buy albums released on cheesy K-Tel Records. Didn't every kid in the 70s and early 80s? Most were truly awful... here's an example of the sort of commercials (more of which will hopefully be available soon at this site-in-progress) that they used to consistently play on TV :

Particularly awful were these two "novelty song" compilations I remember nearly everyone in grade school, circa '75 or so, owning... I had one called Goofy Greats that mixed horrid music like Ray Stevens' "Ahab the Arab" and Piero Umiliani's "Ma Nah Ma Nah" (possibly the stupidest song ever written--and, god forbid, my high-school chorus teacher in Little River, Kansas actually made us PERFORM that song at public concerts) with the occasional quite respectable bubblegum pop song like the Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine" or stuff by the 1910 Fruitgum Company.

Fast forward to the end of the 70s. Punk and New Wave were happening, and K-Tel decided to push out a record devoted to it. And surprisingly, this time they put together a good compilation. The album was called Rock 80 (eight-track tape pictured above). I was in junior high at the time, worshiping The Cars while my most of my friends were listening to the Oak Ridge Boys, and I loved this--it contained truly great stuff like "Driver's Seat" and "Cars" and "One Way or Another," and turned me on to music like Joe Jackson and The Pretenders. (Okay, maybe Pat Benatar and Ian Gomm weren't exactly New Wave, but K-Tel tried.) I'll always remember this album because it came out at a precise turning point in my life--a time when I, and a few other kids from my tiny, 25-person class, became the "New Wavers" and entered a world of dressing differently, getting teased & catcalled at our rather scary local mall, and listening to great music.

What follows are the videos to the songs that made up Rock 80. First, Side One:

Gary Numan, "Cars"

The Pretenders, "Brass In Pocket"

Sniff & The Tears, "Driver's Seat"

Nick Lowe, "Cruel to Be Kind"

Joe Jackson, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" (couldn't find the promo, so here's the song live)

Pat Benatar, "Heartbreaker"

Blondie, "Call Me"

Side Two:
Ramones, "Do You Remember Rock 'n Roll Radio"

The Knack, "My Sharona"

Cheap Trick, "I Want You To Want Me"

Ian Gomm, "Hold On" (no video, so here's an early live performance)

Blondie, "One Way or Another" (on American Bandstand)

Pat Benatar, "We Live For Love" (segment)

M, "Pop Musik"