Back to the 80s: dedicated to the decade of big hair and great pop music

“It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me” more or less explained Billy Joel’s attitude towards the New Wave movement. Acknowledging (or dismissing) it as the latest craze, he more or less kept doing what he had been doing in the ’70s. Rod Stewart may have switched to drum machines and synthesizers at the turn of the…

It’s near the end of 1983, and a new song has just hit the airwaves. Starting off with synths, drum machine fills and an electronic bass line, for a second you might think this was the new Men Without Hats single… Until you hear Ray start to sing. With that smooth, distinctive voice, you could always…

“Every breath I take/Every move I make…” —Led Zeppelin, “D’yer Mak’er” At least once a week during the summer of 1983, I rode a city bus to downtown Toledo to visit the Abbey Road record store. At 17, I was at the zenith of my love for record collecting, but I would walk past the…

It would be putting it mildly to say that in the spring of 1983, Michael Jackson was hot. Fueled by the popularity of “The Girl Is Mine” and “Billie Jean,” his album Thriller was three months into an amazing 37-week run at the top of the album charts. “Billie Jean” was #1 on the Top 40 and “Beat It”…

You can have Joan Baez croaking about how many roads a man must walk down before they call him a man, or Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder agonizing because Jeremy spoke in class today. For me, no music is as near and dear as ’80s pop. Wagner might enjoy the Sturm und Drang of Seattle grunge,…