Listomania! - 1982

So....1982....I am coming up empty. My memory isn't what it used to be, which was actually quite good, but I have zero recollection of anything spectacular happening in '82. The only thing that I recall is a bunch of yahoos moving in next door to us in the townhouse. They would drink and do drugs all the time, until the wee hours of the morning. Not that I was against these particular activities, but I had 2 small kids who needed their sleep, not to mention that I was working shifts and having to sleep at weird hours. For instance, these buffoons would blast their stereo at 3 in the morning on a Tuesday, usually some heavy metal crap that I would have disliked at 3 in the afternoon. One night, they seemed to have moved the party outside. I heard the usual sounds - loud tunes, yelling, drunken shouts - but this was different. They seemed to be in my backyard. I heard what sounded like someone trying to get in my back patio door.I got out of bed and went downstairs and opened the curtains over the door. I was shocked to discover a guy covered in blood from head to toe splattered against my door. I quickly closed the curtains and grabbed my hockey stick which was located conveniently in the front closet. Opening the front door, I saw that there were about 6 or 7 of these gorillas scrapping on my front lawn. I went out on the front step with the hockey stick raised over my head and hollered,"Alright, which one of you idiots wants it first?" They stopped in their tracks and, just as I thought "Christ, there's a lot of them" the one guy who actually lived there started to back up and call off the fighters. I was shaking, but ready to go all Wayne Maki (Google him if you need to) on their skulls. He apologized right away and they all went back indoors. I was pissed off and couldn't sleep of course, so I went in the living room and turned on the TV. Sure enough, about 1o minutes later, they started yelling and fighting again, this time inside their house. So, I called the cops and they were there in seconds. I watched from my window as they were led away to a paddy wagon. I never had any trouble with them after that and even shared a beer or two with the one dude a time or two. The music of 1982 continued much in the vein of the previous year, still mostly Brits and lots of noodling and twiddling.

Top 10 Of 1982

10. Save It For Later - The English Beat

In 1982, I would go downtown to buy records on Saturdays, usually with the kids in tow. There would always be a few members of the fairer sex walking around with these pink and black t-shirts on, with this image on them of a dancing girl. They were quite a popular item and it seemed only the best-looking girls wore them. I found out that they were English Beat tees and decided to investigate this band further. I had only heard Mirror In The Bathroom a couple of times at that point. But, it was always this particular song that I would keep coming back to every time. It is just too catchy and it differed from the other Two-Tone acts in that it was more Pop-based than Ska or Reggae influenced. From their final album, Special Beat Service, it was written and sung by frontman Dave Wakeling, who, with fellow Beat vocalist Ranking Roger, would go on to form General Public. The other 2 main members, bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox, joined up with vocalist Roland Gift and formed the more successful Fine Young Cannibals. I love the tongue-in-cheek double entendres in the lyrics in this song, especially the"just hold my hand while I come...to a decision on it" part. Play this and sing along and make yourself smile! "Sooner or later, your legs give way, you hit the ground. Save it for later, don't run away and let me down." My legs gave way playing badminton that time, right Gord?

9. Black Coffee In Bed - Squeeze

Every time I hear this song, it makes me think of an old friend of mine and Debbie's called Jill Parfitt. She went with us to NYC in 1980 and we had all been friends since high school. She was a big Squeeze fan and bought me this album, Sweets From A Stranger, for my 22nd birthday. She and I used to play this song a lot at parties and sing it very badly at the top of our lungs, so Jill, wherever you are, this one's for you. If the voices on the backing vocals sound familiar, it's because they are - Elvis Costello and '80s chart topper Paul Young. The great little organ lines are played by Jools Holland and Paul Carrack's replacement Don Snow. At 6 minutes plus, this was one of Squeeze's longer songs and by far their longest single, but it is such a joyous 6 minutes, even though it is a tune about a relationship ending. I always loved the sincerity and timbre of Glenn Tilbrook's voice and he does a yeoman job on this one. "The stain on my notebook remains all that's left, of the memory of late nights and coffee in bed." Now you'd have a stain on your laptop.....

8. Take A Chance With Me - Roxy Music

Most serious Roxy fans dismiss the album Avalon as too smooth and adult sounding, but it has its moments. The best moment for me is this great song. It is full of synthesizers, but not the kind Brian Eno played on the first 2 albums. Here, they fully embrace the sound of the times, but Phil Manzanera still plays some tasty guitar licks as well. Bryan Ferry is just too cool on the vocals as usual, all class and good taste. This was the last album they ever made, but it was their biggest seller of them all in the U.S.A. I adore this melody and just the overall feel of this song. "As they say, two can play, but keep that song away from me." Especially if it's by Air Supply!

7. African And White - China Crisis

I really started to dig going out dancing around this time. It would ratchet up even more in the next few years after '82, but it started then. Therefore, as you can tell, a lot of the music I like from this era is danceable. This song just says, "Get up and dance!" Those are actual real drums even though these guys were only a 3 piece, guitar and synths being the other instruments. I saw them open for Simple Minds in about 1985 and they opened with this song and blew the roof off the place! The song has a super chanting sort of vocal and it is extremely memorable - again, it's one of those songs that really sticks in the old craw. The kicker though is that superb synth bass line that snakes all through the tune. "We need your faith and hostility to be certain of a change, and could you ever recover from, forever recover from this prejudice." Remember, Mandela was still in prison and apartheid still had an iron grip in South Africa.

6. Love My Way - The Psychedelic Furs

This is the Furs' signature song for most people, along with Pretty In Pink, due to both tunes being featured in movies of the day. This is another amazing Todd Rundgren production job, cleaning up their fuzzy sound somewhat and making them more accessible to the masses. Todd also contributes the catchy keyboard part that sounds like a xylophone that runs through the song. Richard Butler still sounds like he needs a Fisherman's Friend, but that cigarette-stained voice was this band's calling card. I really dig the big thumping tom-toms in the chorus played by drummer Vince Ely too. "They just want to steal us all and take us all apart." Sorta like I did to my sister Jondah's Barbies...

5. Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson

This synthesizer tour de force was Joe's biggest hit in the States, reaching #6 on the Billboard charts. From the album Night And Day, which was a sort of tribute to the songwriter Cole Porter, I liked to play it before going out for the evening, just to get into that clubbing mood. The video sticks out in my mind as well, with the housekeeper playing a Cinderella role in it. I love Jackson's sense of melody in his writing too. He had a true gift of pinning down the core of a song and bashing it home over and over. The bass part is brilliant, moving so quickly against the piano and providing a great counterpoint. "We... are young but getting old before our time. We'll leave the TV and the radio behind, don't you wonder what we'll find, steppin' out tonight." But Eight Is Enough is on!

4. One Hundred Years - The Cure

This song is just relentless. It is gloomy and Gothic and creepy. I think Fat Bob must have had a very bad experience on acid when he wrote this. I mean, the first line is "It doesn't matter if we all die" ferchristsakes! The instruments are all so claustrophobic, giving the listener a sense of foreboding, of something awful just around that next dark corner. This is, I humbly submit, their darkest record ever. Hell, the whole Pornography album is like that. Smith's voice is a cry for help, but there seems to be nobody to come to his aid. All that said, my advice is to smoke a joint and put this on, but I caution you, dear readers, have a good pal close by as I don't want to be responsible for any harm that may come to you. What an epic tune! "Creeping up the stairs in the dark, waiting for the death blow." Maybe I'll leave the bathroom light on tonight.....

3. Senses Working Overtime - XTC

When my kids were quite young, I would play this song and we would all sing along together. While it wasn't intended as a children's song, it may well be one of the best ones ever written. I have yet to meet a child who doesn't love the "1,2,3,4,5" singalong chorus. It is certainly my fave XTC tune, with it's brilliant concept and lyrics. The acoustic guitar is fantastic and Andy Partridge sounds like an extra from a Monty Python skit. The way they incorporate all the senses into the lyrics is pure genius, especially the"And I can see his smell, touch, taste" line. You cannot resist the overwhelming urge to embrace you inner child when you hear it and just start singing away. "And all the world is biscuit-shaped, it's just for me to feed my face." Yummy!

2. New Gold Dream ('81-'82-'83-'84) - Simple Minds

Now this is dancin' music! It even has cowbell, and no, you don't need more. I remember this DJ whose real name was John, but Steve and I thought his name was Sean, so when we found out we just started to call him AKA. He worked at a club in the Selby building in London and he played this one night when I was there and I was John Freaking Travolta for about 5:35! He later worked at other clubs around town and because he knew me and liked my taste in music, he would always play songs I liked. The buzzing-bee bass line, the wash of the keyboards, the baritone croon of Jim Kerr - well, this is about as perfect a dance song as I could ever hope to hear. This is from the album of the same name and it is still my favourite record of theirs. "New Gold Dream, she is the one in front of me, the siren and the ecstasy." Ooh, that is a great line!

1. Beat Surrender - The Jam

At the height of their popularity, after only 5 years of recording together, Paul Weller decided he had done all he could in this band. He shocked his fans by putting out a statement that The Jam were splitting up, saying, and I paraphrase, that he didn't want to become a boring old fart like Mick Jagger and keep playing the same old songs forever. But, what a way to go out! This is the last record they released and it is a scorcher! This is soul music maaan, and it points toward the new direction he would pursue with The Style Council. It is a full-on raver, with horns and rollicking piano and groovy bass. Future Councillor Tracie Young is also featured on backing vocals, lending the tune an air of Motown and Northern Soul. It is also a much more political Weller with lyrics that show his growing anger at the situation in the U.K. at the time. If you want to quit a band, then release a monster song like this to top it all off! Genius! "And as it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end, that bullshit is bullshit, it just goes by different names." Doo doo? Ka-ka? Poo-Poo?