Yes, I’m doing one of these again! Been a while. I
took a long break from them to work on higher-priority projects, but now that
I’ve worked on them for a while, I think I can take a short break. I’m probably
going to keep this rather short and sweet though; not every song is getting a little essay to itself. Let us continue into the late 1980’s
with a look into the year 1987.
1987 in Culture
The year brought us classic films
such as Robocop, The Lost Boys, The Princess Bride, Spaceballs, the
third and my favorite A Nightmare on Elm Street movie Dream Warriors,
and Evil Dead 2, my favorite of that franchise. So, it was a year that
proved sequels don’t always have to suck. The year also debuted the first Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, which to me will always be the true one, only
rivaled by the 1990 movie. We also had the debut of Duck Tales, which my
later political leanings have made impossible for me to really enjoy anymore as
it glorifies greed and billionaires, but I must admit I liked it as a child.
And it did lead to higher quality television animation. This was also the year
Hulk Hogan fought Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III, although really, the
best match that night was Macho Man Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat, as any fan
of the athletic side of professional wrestling will tell you. Also that year
was the first Survivor Series pay-per-view, which I just so happen to have an
original VHS release of, pictured above! It’s my oldest wrestling tape.
Discussing all this kind of makes me
wish I’d been born earlier so I could have enjoyed it. I was busy sucking on
pacifiers and soiling diapers while all this was going on.
1987 in Music
My favorite album of 1987 is New
Order’s Substance 1987, which being a collection of singles released in
earlier years might be a slight cheat, but it contained a lot of remixed and
reedited versions of older songs, so it wasn't entirely unoriginal. My top 3 songs of the year are “Behind the
Wheel” by Depeche Mode, “Shell Shock” by New order, and “Just Like Heaven” by
The Cure. A bunch of my favorite bands of the 1980’s seemed to be sitting 1987
out for whatever reason, making it hard to fill up this playlist. But, I
succeeded in filling a blank CD with songs I at least thought were okay. There
was only one song that wasn’t on Spotify, meaning this will be one of the more
mainstream year mixes I’ve put together.
Spotify
Playlist
New
Order – Shell Shock
It was difficult to choose just one song from New
Order’s Substance 1987 to include. “Temptation ‘87”, and perhaps their
most famous hit “Blue Monday” would also have been worthy additions. Many of
the other good songs on the album have been on previous year mixes. This song
in particular is something I listen to when I need motivation. “It’s never
enough until your heart stops beating.” It strikes a cord in me in a way that
the other two songs don’t as much. And with these mixes I like to veer towards
the more overlooked songs when I can. It’d be easy to pick “Blue Monday”, but I
decided on this one instead.
Depeche
Mode – Behind the Wheel
I first got into this song in 2008, for some reason
it took me that long to hear it. But I liked it a lot back then. I guess it’s a
song about being the more submissive one in a relationship, and being
comfortable with that. Which, I suppose, is how I feel sometimes. There are
times when I feel I’d rather not be the one behind the wheel.
Siouxsie
and the Banshees – Hall of Mirrors
This is a cover of one of my favorite Kraftwerk
songs. It being sung by Siouxsie meant the gender pronouns were switched, but
other than that it’s a faithful rendition. I get the feeling a lot of fans of
Siouxsie and the Banshees never heard the original, since it’s such a huge
genre leap. Another example of how Kraftwerk’s influence stretched far and
wide. It’s kind of strange to hear a more upbeat version of the song with guitars
and drums, when I’m used to Kraftwerk’s slower and more trippy version. It’s a
song about self-image, or even body dysmorphia. The original song is one of the
few that I think captures the feeling of depersonalization pretty well. This
version doesn’t capture it in quite the same way. There’s nothing wrong with
this version, per se, but it doesn’t quite resonate with me as much as the
original.
David
Bowie – Time Will Crawl
I saw that David Bowie had an album in 1987, and
picked a song I liked from it, and here it is. It’s like that with a lot of
these songs, really. This song is catchy, got some good 80’s sax in it too.
Can’t go wrong with Bowie.
Pink
Floyd – Learning to Fly
Pink Floyd was still around in the late 1980’s?
Apparently! I always think of them as a 70’s band. It’s kind of the opposite of
when I found out The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees released music in the
70’s. Anyway, I do remember hearing this song at some point during my
childhood, vaguely. It’s a nice, relaxing song. I can’t stop thinking about the
Stratovarius song also called “Learning to Fly” when I hear this song (which is
probably a lot less well-known than this song), but that just goes to show my
musical preferences, I suppose.
This
was included on my Moon Mix, and I talked about the song some there. It’s a
song about escapism, about being fed up with the world, which automatically
appeals to me. It deserves to be less obscure than it is. Spotify needs to get
with it and add the song. Beyond Words was a French new wave band. Sounds a lot
like Siouxsie and the Banshees.
INXS
– Need You Tonight
Now this is certainly a song I’ve known since
childhood. Always liked this one. In fact, it was on my first ever mix tape as
well back in 1999. So it was obligatory to be on this mix.
Michael
Jackson – Leave Me Alone
Michael Jackson’s album Bad came out this
year. I wanted to pick a song that I grew up with, but is somewhat
lesser-known. So this song fit the bill. As a child the music video intrigued
me; obviously I was unaware of any symbolism going on in it, as the video and
song are about how the press went after Jackson (and still does after his death
from time to time).
Pet
Shop Boys – What Have I Done to Deserve This?
This song is outside my usual music preferences, but
for some reason I like it anyway. Dusty Springfield sang in this song, who I
only really know of because of this song but she was apparently big in the
1960’s. Before my time I suppose. Won’t it be fun explaining 80’s and 90’s
music to my son three decades from now?
The
Cure – Just Like Heaven
The Cure was still in their pop phase in 1987, and
would return to the dark side in 1989. But I pretty consistently like all their
music regardless, even if I do have my preferences for their darker stuff. I
wonder if Robert Smith was on really good antidepressants during the mid-1980’s
or something. This song reminds me a bit of New Order, in a way. Except for the
vocals of course, only Robert Smith sounds like that. Compare this to the song
“Cold”.
Echo
& The Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
“The Killing Moon” is still my favorite song by this
band. This is probably their second biggest hit. It’s alright, I like it enough
to include it.
Guns
n Roses – Sweet Child of Mine
Everyone knows this song. My parents were really
into Guns n Roses so I heard it a lot growing up. Nowadays I can never stop
thinking about those Fat Axl Rose memes from a few years ago when I listen to
their music. Poor Axl. Time laughs at all things.
Metallica
– The Small Hours
I went through a Metallica phase in
my early teens, as I’m sure I’ve already mentioned on the blog before. They did
an album of music they used to play when they were a garage band, and this is
one of their lesser-known sings from it. I’ve always liked the creepy feel of
this song. It’s a good song to listen to in the middle of the night when you
have insomnia.
Gerard
McMann - Cry Little Sister
From the movie The Lost Boys,
this song has long since been a goth staple. It was famously covered by Marilyn
Manson, not to mention Blutengel, but I’ll always like the original best.
Dead
Can Dance – Anywhere Out of the World
This song rounds out the dark section of the mix, I
suppose. Dead Can Dance is a band I should listen to more of. I gave this song
a try when I was making the mix, and I like it well enough.
Conclusion
And that’s the mix, I hope you’ve
enjoyed it and might consider reproducing the mix on your own playlist or blank
CD. I’ll have 1988 in Music up in due time.
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