Listomania! - 1980

The start of the new decade was a very good time in my life. I was working hard, but enjoying being productive and busy. My marriage in 1980 and 1981 was the strongest it ever was and we moved into a brand new townhouse on Huron Street in London. I played on the Wolverine Tube fastball team where we won the city championship in '79, '80 and '81. I was by far the youngest guy on the team and in the first 2 years, played first base alongside my Dad who played second base. I also returned to playing hockey for the company team, but started playing forward instead of my usual position of goaltender. I was an instant success. leading the league in scoring my in each of my first 2 years. It was then I realized that I had wasted my talent. I was a pretty good goalie, but at forward I felt free and able to use what goaltending had taught me about seeing the ice and flow of play. I was always a good skater and now I could use my strength and size to my advantage. It was a ton of fun, for sure. I also coached a kids Triple 'A' baseball team with a buddy from work. The team featured future NHl player Scott Thornton, who, at the age of 12, could hit a baseball over 300 feet. My son Gord was our team mascot and wore his own mini team uniform that had been altered for his small size. Too cute! Because I had been a pitcher all my life, I was the de facto pitching coach. In our first game, I went out to the mound to talk to the pitcher. Standing on the mound, I heard wailing and crying. I turned around to see Gord crying and running out to me on the field. He thought that I was leaving him on the bench all by himself! Too funny! The whole crowd was laughing their heads off! Poor kid! I took a trip to my mecca, New York City, which was fab! I also found out around Christmas that I was going to be a Dad again! As far as music went, it was a year which saw me delve deeper into New Wave, with a few of the old guard still hanging around on the fringes.

Top 10 Of 1980

10. Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) - Squeeze

I remember vividly going downtown with Gord in his stroller on a Saturday morning to Sam The Record Man and buying Squeeze's Argybargy album for the sale price of $4.99. What a great album! This song was my fave right from the start, with its fantastic melody and New Wave sound. Chris Difford and Glenn Tillbrook were being hailed as the Lennon and McCartney of the era, with their ability to write catchy, smart pop songs. More than any other song on this list, it reminds me of the summer of 1980, sitting in the backyard of our new townhouse with this cranked up loud. There is a great piano solo by Jools Holland as well, who went on to fame as host of his own late night music show on the BBC called Later With Jools Holland. "But behind the chalet my holiday's complete, and I feel like William Tell, Maid Marian on her tiptoe feet, pulling mussels from a shell." I pulled a few muscles dancing to this!

9. Respectable Street - XTC

Andy Partridge - now there was a guy with a real pure pop sensibility. I love how the song starts with that scratchy old record sound, like an old 78 RPM. That trick has been copied many times since, especially by no-talent rappers who have zero original ideas. This attack on English middle class hypocrisy brings to mind the writing of Ray Davies of The Kinks, with the sarcasm and disdain dripping from every word. I love the pounding drums in this tune, courtesy of the under-appreciated Terry Chambers. Andy Partridge sounds oh-so-English here with his too catchy vocals. He had a horrible case of stage fright, so bad that the band stopped playing live after he broke down onstage in Paris in 1982. "Sunday church and they look fetching, Saturday night saw him retching over our fence. Bang the wall for me to turn down, I can see them with their stern frown as they dispense the kind of look that says they're perfect." Gotta love the neighbours!

8. Treason - The Teardrop Explodes

This great singalong masterpiece is from the outstanding album Kilimanjaro, still one of my favourite albums ever. As usual, it's all about vocalist Julian Cope here. One of the weirdest and most outspoken voices in music during the '80s, he once wore a turtle costume for the cover of one of his solo records and was known to take copious amounts of LSD. His vocal on this tune is immaculate though as the guy could really sing. These guys came out of the Liverpool scene along with Echo & The Bunnymen and others. They were only to record 3 albums, but they certainly left a lasting impression on me. The melody of this song is so infectious that once you hear it, you will have it in your head for the rest of the day. The great organ part was played by one David Balfe, who went on to become an A&R guy and discovered and signed Blur. Damon Albarn wrote one of Blur's biggest songs, Country House, about Balfe, who had left the music business to retire to a house in the English countryside. "You've got to get ready for me. Is it real? Or is it treason? Is it treason?" Ready, steady, go!

7. Up The Hill Backwards - David Bowie

In the fall of 1980, I took my only trip to New York City, along with Debbie and friends Bill Churchill and Jill Parfitt. We went on a bus tour to see David Bowie in The Elephant Man on Broadway. I had a huge obsession with all things New York at the time and it was amazing! Bowie was terrific as John Merrick and we saw all the sights of the Big Apple, including making a pilgrimage to CBGB's. We got on the bus and the guy running the tour gave each one of us a doobie as we got on, saying that"it will be a great trip." He was right! We listened to Bowie's new album, Scary Monsters And Super Creeps, all the way there on a continuous loop. This song was the one that stuck in my head the most, especially the line "I'm OK, you're so-so." Robert Fripp plays a spacey, wicked lead guitar and the rhythm section of George Murray on bass and Dennis Davis on drums are amazing. Most critics, including myself, consider this to be Bowie's last great album. "While we sleep they go to work. We're legally crippled it's the death of love." I went to work while most people were sleeping, but I can't say I was legally crippled. Maybe illegally.......

6. Same Old Scene - Roxy Music

I didn't care for Roxy's previous album, Manifesto, and I didn't like Flesh + Blood much either. But, this great dance song is undeniable. Roxy were down to a 3 piece with Ferry, Manzanera and Mackay and several studio musicians. This is a priceless melody, put forth by Ferry's one of a kind smooth vocals, but it is the funky, popping bass guitar that makes it for me. It was played by a dude named Alan Spenner, who was Joe Cocker's bass player at Woodstock, and played on many other records in his career. This was recorded with a drum machine, which was becoming more popular at the time. Andy Mackay lays down a killer sax solo near the end as well, showing that, when they wanted to, Roxy Music could still bang out a fantastic song. "In our lighter moments, precious few. It's all that heavy weather we're going through." Now that is a great line!

5. Cross-eyed And Painless - Talking Heads

Speaking of monster bass riffs.......holy smokes! Tina Weymouth just throws down the gauntlet with this huge, throbbing slab of funk! This is from the groundbreaking Remain In Light album, in which the Heads and producer Brian Eno took African rhythms and incorporated them into white rock music, pioneering the World Music style and bringing African stars such as Fela Kuti to worldwide prominence. This influential record was also strongly marked by Weymouth and drummer/husband Chris Frantz listening to early New York City Hip-Hop records, primarily The Breaks by Kurtis Blow. They played The Breaks for David Byrne, who had it in mind when he wrote the lyrics to this song, especially the "Facts are simple and facts are straight" little rap he does at the end of the song. "The feeling returns whenever we close out eyes. Lifting my head, looking around inside" Let's dance!

4. Sister Europe - The Psychedelic Furs

This gorgeous tune is from the Furs' self-titled debut album, produced by the very- busy- in- those- days Steve Lillywhite. Richard Butler's understated, raspy vocals were often compared to David Bowie, but it was never a comparison that I thought apt. He may have the same "feel" as Bowie, but he sounds nothing like him. Butler wrote the lyrics after his girlfriend had left him to go and live in Italy. The melody is quite beautiful, contrasting with the atonal drone of the music. This became a signature sound of the Furs though, at least until they went for a bigger, clearer sound on their later albums. "The radio upon the floor is stupid, it plays Aznavour, so out of key." Change the channel then!

3. Babylon Sisters - Steely Dan

From a muddy sound, we move to perhaps the cleanest sound ever put on record. The production is even more polished than usual on this record, as each instrument is polished to a glossy sheen. Some people (ahem, Martina) find it too cold and clinical, which it may well be, but when the best players around are doing their thing, it is just magic.This is from the album Gaucho, which would be their last for 20 years. All the familiar Steely themes are here, such as the lyrics telling a story, and it is a tour de force. It features Chuck Rainey on the bass, Larry Carlton playing a funky, scratchy guitar, Fagan's trademark vocals, the amazing backing vocals from the likes of Patti Austin and Valerie Simpson, but the show stopper is the great Bernard Purdie on the drums. He plays his signature half-time shuffle to perfection, dubbed the "Purdie Shuffle." Just check out the drumming folks, even if you don't like the song, you cannot deny that Purdie is a genius. "Drive west on Sunset to the sea, turn that jungle music down just until we're out of town." Take the "please pull me over, my car is full of illegal drugs" sign off your forehead too will ya?

2. An Cat Dubh / Into The Heart - U2

Christ I was young! Christ they were young! I remember an interview with Bono and Adam Clayton on The New Music at the time. What babies! Noted journalist and star-fucker Jeannie Beker conducted the interview in a lunch counter in Woolco, if memory serves me correct. This was the first I'd heard of these Irish blokes, but I heard I Will Follow on the show and instantly loved it, so I went out and bought the album. It is full of the thoughts and feelings of young men, but in some ways it is my fave U2 record because of that freshness and innocence. These are actually 2 separate songs, but I will list them both because one runs directly into the other and they are always played live that way as well. An Cat Dubh is apparently Gaelic for The Black Cat, but don't ask me to pronounce it. Bono's vocals sound very young and laddish, especially the "yo-ho-ho-ho-ho" parts. The Edge is a star here too, with his unique guitar sounds, especially since this was the first exposure of that sound to the world. The song morphs into the beautiful Into The Heart, but doesn't lose any steam because the song is so gorgeous. This was the beginning of their journey into becoming the biggest band in the world and what a solid debut it was! "Into the heart of a child, I can go back. I can stay awhile." Beautiful!

1. Going Underground - The Jam

This stinging indictment of the Thatcher government and the English people's apathy is Paul Weller's masterpiece. The song was The Jam's first #1 - not only #1, but straight into the charts at #1! The song talks of the government spending money on nuclear weapons instead of things like health care programs, while the public sit around brainwashed by the whole thing. This is Weller at his angriest and, up until that time, his most overtly political. He is realizing that he has some influence on British youth and wants to try to make them think about the world around them and what is happening. He has said he tried to take the mantle of the voice of the youth because all his contemporaries, especially The Clash, had sold out to the corporations and had become cynical. This single-only release is a stomper of a tune, with a great big bass riff from Bruce Foxton underneath Weller's bilious delivery of the lyrics. This cemented The Jam as a huge band in the U.K., but made nary a ripple on this side of the world. "We talk and we talk until my head explodes. I turn on the news and my body froze. Braying sheep on my TV screen Make this boy shout, make this boy scream!" Stand down Margaret!