Funky world music in the 80's.........

24/8/04

1. Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen
2. Hurts so good - John Mellencamp
3. House of Fun - Madness
4. It's still rock and roll to me - Billy Joel
5. Tainted Love - Soft Cell
6. She did it - Eric Carmen
7. I don't like Mondays - Boomtown Rats
8. Refugee - Tom Petty
   
9. Can't stop this thing we started - Bryan Adams
10. What's my scene - Hoodoo Gurus
11. Scatterlings of Africa - Juluka
12. Only You - Yazoo
13. Faith - George Michael

Juluka were a favourite of mine during 1984. Johnny Clegg was an anthropologist with a penchant for music, particularly traditional Zulu sounds. He combined with Sipho Mchunu, a gardener and street musician to form South Africa's first inter-racial band. It was illegal for an inter-racial band to perform - they did, at the Wits Uni - I wasn't allowed to go :( Much of the music was politically based, lots was sung in Zulu and it was my first experience of what later became known as "World music."

Five letter words......hmm, I know a lot of 4 letter words, does it count if you add an "s"?

17/8/04

1. Witch Queen - The Chatoozies
2. Dress you up - Madonna
3. Indian Summer Sky - U2
4. Kiss the Bride - Elton John
5. Bananarama megamix 89 - Bananarama
6. Stand Back - Stevie Nicks
   
7. The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys
8. Five Letter Word - The Numbers
9. Sunglasses at night - Tiga & Zyntherius

Ok, so I know that Sunglasses at night is a cover but it was such a well done one and recent, I thought it deserved a spot just this once.

Indian Summer Sky was a track on the U2 album The Unforgettable Fire. This is what Bono has said about the song:
"A lot of cities in America are built on civilizations long since buried by the American. A friend of mine, a wise man I know, spent a lot of time within the city -- it was Toronto, so cool and so shiny -- and he felt extremely troubled and torn in two. There had been a lot of massacres of Red Indian people in that area and he felt in some way as if there were troubled spirits still there. What I was trying to get across was a sense of a spirit trapped in a concrete jungle -- something like that. Again these are just glimpses, these songs. A lot of the subject matter is very impressionistic."

Quote has come from this web site.

You might think......

10th August 2004

1. You might think - The Cars
2. Loves great adventure - Ultravox
3. Just can't get enough - Depeche Mode
4. Barracuda - Heart
5. Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
6. Playing to win - John Farnham
7. Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads
8. Sure know something - Kiss
9. You better run - Pat Benetar.

Yes, I know, "Sure know something" was a track off the Dynasty album which was released in 1979. As far as I am concerned the tracks hit the charts in the 80's so it qualifies for an airing on Choose Life. Dynasty was the only Kiss album that I ever listened to.

Jenny Morris, Bureau, Philip Bailey and Pseudo Echo......

Some less popular and known tunes here, not all favourites, but nice to have on air for something outside of the box!

3rd August 2004

1. Funky Town - Psuedo Echo
2. Holding out for a hero - Bonnie Tyler
3. Walking on the Chinese wall - Philip Bailey
4. Working class man - Jimmy Barnes
5. Chequered Love - Kim Wilde
6. It must be love - Eurogliders
7. You I know - Jenny Morris
8. Only for sheep - The Bureau (British group formed when Dexy's Midnight Runners split.)
   
9. I heard a rumour - Bananarama
10. Bad Boys - Wham
11. Could you be loved - Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Almost comically the only big hit for UK band The Bureau was "Only for Sheep." No, it wasn't a hit in the U.K. but in Australia! We must really love our sheep! In fact it seems it was only Australia and Canada who appreciated the music made by The Bureau. It's not all bad news though, one of the members of the band (Mick Talbot) went on to join Paul Weller in The Style Council.

Canaries in Coalmines?

6th July 2004

Thanks to a couple of friends of mine, I got my hands on the Zenyatta Mondatta disc. All of my Police albums were played and played and played. As they were on cassette, they didn't make it past the 90's.

Zenyatta Mondatta was perhaps the best of the Police albums and thankfully it qualified for Choose Life being released in 1980.
Here is the Wikipedia link for more info about the album.

Oh and as for Canaries in Coalmines - a song from the disc, short in duration (at 2 minutes 26 seconds) but about my attention span if I was trying to do aerobics.

1. Canary in a Coalmine - The Police
2. Bizzare Love Triangle - New Order
3. Everytime you go away - Paul Young
4. Only you - Yazoo
5. The other woman - Ray Parker Jr
6. When you walk in a room - Paul Carrack
7. Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
8. Heartbreaker - Pat Benetar
9. Hungry like the wolf - Duran Duran
10. Electric Ave - Eddy Grant
11. Livin' Thing - E.L.O.
12. I'm only shooting love - Time Bandits
13. Johnny come home - Fine Young Cannibals
14. 80's mix - clearly only had time for the short version.
    

Another song listing from June

29/6/04

1. Small town boy - Bronski Beat
2. Word Up - Cameo
3. Black Man Ray - China Crisis
4. Current Stand - Kids in the Kitchen
   
5. Edge of Heaven - Wham
6. You spin me right round - Dead or Alive
7. Lily was here - David Stewart and Candy Dulfer
8. Straight from the heart - Bryan Adams
9. Hymn - Ultravox
10. China Girl - David Bowie
    
11. Man Overboard - Do Re Mi

I would get comments often about the music I played on air. Sometimes my friends would hate it and sometimes they would love it. What I learnt was you can't please everyone and if I only played the music I liked, my only regular listener would be myself. As it was I think I had a small captive audience in office workers and mechanics, so I would play music that I really didn't like as often as music that I did. I was often surprised at what was commented on. Music is such a personal thing! I gave up and even played Bryan Adams once or twice! (no comment)

22nd of June 2004

Clearly I had spent some time researching and recording my cassettes for a new digital era! (the Ultravox music I played was all from cassette.)

1. Let's Dance - Chris Rea
2. One small day - Ultravox
3. Living on the ceiling - Blancmange
4. Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush
5. Wouldn't it be good - Nik Kershaw
6. Stop the Cavalry - Jona Lewie
7. We came to dance - Ultravox
8. Wild, wild life - Talking Heads
9. Golden Brown - The Stranglers
10. Kiss the Bride - Elton John
11. Talk of the Town - The Pretenders
12. When the going gets tough - Billy Ocean
    

Psychadelic Furs, Wham, Talking Heads, Eurythmics have I missed anyone....?

Well maybe just a few but a fun show nevertheless...........

15th June 2004

1. City of Soul - Eurogliders
2. Right by your side - Eurythmics
3. Maneater - Hall & Oates
4. The Politics of Dancing - Reflex
5. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
6. Smooth Operator - Sade
7. Let's Dance - David Bowie
8. Strangers on a train - The Sports
9. Girl on the wall - Jane Clifton (played again by request)
10. Love my way - Psychadelic Furs
11. Drive - The Cars
12. Wham Rap - Wham
13. Once in a lifetime - Talking Heads
    

Something other than music.....

I am a collector, I have a badge to prove it....somewhere on this desktop....I know I have it somewhere in amongst all this stuff.....trust me it's here. It IS. REALLY. Well anyway, even if you don't believe me, I collect 80's memorabilia. I don't have a lot left but what I do have, well it's classic (and sadly... original and worn.)

I am also a novice digital scrapbooker. I say "novice" because I work on a smallish computer - not ideal for digital page layouts. I collect free online fonts. I tend to get a little snobbish about text. I would like to use some really cool fonts on my blog pages.... but I do want you all to be able to READ these words though, so I don't mess with that stuff too much.
So, for all you 80's nuts, here is the font for you!
Pacmania font

Oh, and it's free. All you need is to be able to unzip a file.

The only May Choose Life show

Must have been VERY busy in this month - think I had heaps of paid work!!

1. I ran - A Flock of Seagulls
2. True Blue - Madonna
   
3. Walking down your street - The Bangles
4. Rock n roll is king - E.L.O
5. Poison Pen - Hoo doo Gurus
6. Girl on the Wall - Jane Clifton
7. Hundreds of Languages - Gangajang
8. I missed again - Phil Collins
9. I love it when you call me names - Joan Armatrading
10. Running with the night - Lionel Ritchie
11. Looking for Clues - Robert Palmer
12. Hand on your heart - Kylie Minogue
13. Valotte - Julian Lennon
14. How am I gonna sleep - Tim Finn

This show featured the "mystery song." I had a request for a song and the request didn't come with a song title, only words from the song and no artist. Whew. After MUCH research I finally came up with a song and thanks to Lord Duggan I was able to play it on air! What WAS the song??? Girl on the Wall by Jane Clifton - you know, that girl from Prisoner!

Just a bit of everything in this show.......

6/4/04

1. 500 Miles - The Proclaimers
2. Boys in Town - The Divinyls
3. Broken English - Marianne Faithfull
4. Bad vs Ghostbusters - Michael Jackson vs Ray Parker Jr
5. Bizarre love triangle - New Order
6. Big in Japan - Alphaville
   
7. Love my way - Psychadelic Furs
8. Heaven must be there - Eurogliders
9. Robert de Niros waiting - Bananarama
10. He's just no good for you - Mental as Anything
11. Wouldn't it be good - Nik Kershaw
12. Shout to the top - Style Council
13. Teardrops - Womack and Womack
14. If you leave - Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark

Corey Hart, Ultravox and Peter Gabriel

23 March 2004

1. True - Spandau Ballet
2. Careless Whispers - George Michael (extended version)
3. Nikita - Elton John
4. Sunglasses at night - Corey Hart
5. Hungry like the Wolf - Duran Duran
6. The Unforgettable Fire - U2
7. Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
8. Running up that hill - Kate Bush
9. The Riddle - Nik Kershaw
10. Vienna - Ultravox

The second or third week of March..........

1. China Girl - David Bowie
2. Girls on Film - Duran Duran
   
3. Lets Go - The Cars
4. What is love - Howard Jones
5. Freedom - Wham
6. Help - John Farnham
7. Chain Reaction - Diana Ross
8. Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
9. Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
10. Bitter Sweet - Hoo Doo Gurus
11. Walking on the Chinese Wall - Philip Bailey
12. Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads
13. Every Little thing she does is magic - The Police
    

Some classics and a few others

24 Feb 2004

1. Take on me - A-ha
2. Things can only get better - Howard Jones
3. Do you really want to hurt me - Culture Club
4. Too nice to talk to - English Beat
5. Bad - Michael Jackson
6. Blue Monday - New Order
7. Bizarre love triangle - New Order
8. Just can't get enough - Depeche Mode
9. The Riddle - Nik Kershaw
10. Big Boss Groove - Style Council
11. Duran Duran Megamix (all 13 minutes of it)

First show for 2004

1. Dreadlock Holiday - 10CC
2. Especially for you - Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan
3. New Groove - The Rockmelons
4. Streets of your town - The Go-Betweens
5. Too much ain't enough love - Jimmy Barnes
6. Say Goodbye - Indecent Obsession
7. Modern Girl - James Freud
8. Out of mind out of sight - The Models
9. Fraction too much friction - Tim Finn
10. Change in Mood - Kids in the Kitchen
11. Happy Man - The Sunnyboys
12. Say I love you - Renee Geyer
13. Before too long - Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls
14. Fame - Irene Cara

I guess I was in the mood for Australian 80's music on this particular Tuesday.

3/2/04

You won't get no dessert until you clean off your plate

So now that I have all of the records for 2003 posted, I thought I might depart from the programme and add something different. While looking for 80's info on the net I came across some music videos and information on a site I hadn't been to before. Unfortunately, unlike YouTube, these videos play in Windows Media Player. However having said that, I haven't seen Al Yankovics "Eat It" anywhere else.
Klaus Olsens Duran Duran Site - Visualize The 80's.

Last show for 2003 - 30/12/03

1. Ghost Town - The Specials
2. We can get together - Icehouse
3. Pur some sugar on me - Def Lepard
4. Der Kommisar - After the Fire
5. You can't hurry love - Phil Collins
6. Only you - Yazoo
7. Classic - Adrian Gurvitz
8. Stop dragging my heart around - Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks
9. Straight from the heart - Bryan Adams
10. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
11. People are people - Depeche Mode
12. Man Eater - Daryl Hall & John Oates
13. Papa don't preach - Madonna
14. Take my breath away - Berlin
15. 80's mix (3 mins)
    

I had time to do a show on the 23rd? I MUST have been organised!

23rd December 2003

Got some requests in this show but I didn't always record which songs were and which weren't.

1. Miami Vice theme - Jan Hammer
2. 80's retro medley
3. We are the Champions - Queen (request)
   
4. Dreadlock Holiday - 10CC
5. Golden Brown - The Stranglers (request)
6. One night in Bangkok - Murray Head
7. Tall Cool One - Robert Plant
8. Nikita - Elton John
9. True Faith - New Order
10. Big Boss Groove - Style Council
11. Do they know it's Christmas ? - Band Aid
12. Last Christmas - Wham
    

December 9th 2003

1. 80's mix
2. Stay Young - INXS
3. When the going gets tough - Billy Ocean
   
4. You win again - Bee Gees
5. I melt with you - Modern English
6. Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
7. Wouldn't it be good - Nik Kershaw
8. Talk Talk - Talk Talk
9. It's my life - Talk Talk
10. Only You - Yazoo
11. Everybody have fun - Wang Chung
12. Whose problem? - The Motels
13. He's gonna step on you again - Party Boys
14. True Faith - New Order
15. Last Christmas - Wham

Stay Young was the INXS song that hit my radar in the 8o's. I loved the band from that point on, all through the 80's.

2nd December 2003

1. Careless Whispers - George Michael
2. Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
3. Always something there to remind me - Naked Eyes
4. Happy Birthday - Altered Images
5. A Touch of Paradise - John Farnham
6. Come back and stay - Paul Young
7. Belfast Child - Simple Minds
8. Heart and Soul - T'Pau
9. Gotta pull myself together - The Nolans
10. In your room - The Bangles
11. Dr. Beat - Miami Sound Machine
12. Generals and Majors - XTC
13. Sex Crime 1984 - Eurythmics

I wasn't sure if Careless Whisper was a solo hit for George Michael, I was never really a huge fan of Wham. (names of websites and on air show aside.) I looked it up and came across this Wikipedia article.

Choose Life - 25th November 2003

1. Nasty - Janet Jackson
   
2. Living on the Ceiling - Blancmange
3. Open your heart - Madonna
4. Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
5. Hands up in the air - Boom Crash Opera
6. Right by your side - Eurythmics
7. The War Song - Culture Club
8. Wild, wild west - Escape Club
9. Hello again - The Cars
10. The Way it is - Bruce Hornsby
11. What is love? - Howard Jones
12. Johnny come home - Fine Young Cannibals
13. Don't give up - Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush