Last Back in the 80's: Paul

Music News Sun, 26 Sep 2010 Written by Paul Kelly
Scene from Blade Runner

This last piece in the series picks up where Rasha and Mick D left off - with Paul Kelly looking at his favourite moments of the decade that spawned Hypercolour t-shirts and day-glo leggins.

So, what is it? I take the 3rd slot each week, get left with nothing to choose except portentous indie-nerd tunes and films, get no cred and therefore don’t get our weekly prize of free Thursday lunch for the best story of the week.

So I decided, because I can, that my list was going to get prime-time Sunday night. Ah-ha!

With a heavy heart, I present Paul’s list. Most of the bits I was going to use, I thought, had been taken by Mick D and Rasha. Turns out that was wrong, they missed the best bits.

So. Here is my list.

MUSIC

PIXIES - DOOLITTLE

Any album that starts with a song as good as Debaser has to be my favourite album, almost of all time, but definitely the ’80’s. I’ll never forget hearing it for the first time and being blown away. It was indie before indie was a tag, it was alt-rock before alt-rock and it was certainly a signal of things to come in the ‘90’s from music as a whole. It also began my not-so-secret love affair with label 4AD.

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DEF LEPPARD - HYSTERIA

Overblown, bombastic, big, ridiculous, awesome. I’ve watched ‘Classic Albums: Hysteria’ nigh on 20 times and it never gets boring. The inventors of over-blown production – there was 72 vocal tracks on one take of ‘Armageddon It’ – this album was plagued with everything. It ended up with a one-armed drummer and one of the definitive rock albums on the decade. Interesting fact: their record label rejected the first cut of the album, saying there wasn’t a lead single. After taking 2 years to make the album, they produced Pour Some Sugar On Me in 8 hours. Imagine if the whole album was done like that? Interesting fact 2: I travelled to Vegas to see them from Dubai in 2005.

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AC/DC - BACK IN BLACK

Not much needs to be said here, just scraping into the decade in 1980, it again forms the meat to this unholy quintet of some of the most influential albums of all time, in my opinion, that arrived in this decade. The track-listing alone is worth the price of the album – Let Me Put My Love Into You, Givin The Dog A Bone What Do You Do For Money Honey, sittin’ pretty next to Back In Black,**** Bells and You Shook Me All Night Long. Wonder what was on their mind?

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PUBLIC ENEMY - IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK

The album that introduced me to hip hop (well, actually, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five were the first on The Message…), and what better way? After I first heard it, all I wanted to do was meet Chuck D and Flavor Flav, primarily for the cool factor. The sharp political lyrics and call to action were far beyond my comprehension at the time, but the older I’ve got, the more appreciative I’ve been of those messages. Perhaps even greater than the music itself these days. Don’t Believe The Hype is still one of my all-time favourites.

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FILMS

Seeing as most lists will have Raging Bull, Platoon etc etc, I tried to be personal here for some of my favourites… My taste in films is terrible.

CADDYSHACK

The movie that inspired a renewed effort towards world peace, had a deep and profound impact on the film scene of the 1980’s. From Bill Murray’s  Carl, the slightly deranged groundskeeper, to Chevy Chase’s Ty Webb, the eccentric golf star and Rodney Dangerfield’s finest moment as Al, creating spontaneous parties all over the place, it’s an enormously fun movie that has dated terribly. Confused? Don’t be, I love it!

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MAD MAX 2/THE ROAD WARRIOR

Mad Max (the original) was one of ‘those’ movies, great story, idea and execution – but not many saw it. The first one had a limited release around the world, so Mad Max 2 became The Road Warrior; and by the time the sequel was shot (by one of the most eclectic directors around, George Miller, who apart from this masterpiece did Babe, Lorenzo’s Oil, Happy Feet and The Witches of Eastwick) catapulted Mel Gibson to fame. Still watchable and one very cool film; the chase sequences are still some of the best ever!

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BLADE RUNNER

My last pick of the decade goes to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. With Harrison Ford, in probably his best film, hunts down the Replicants  in a dystopian view of LA in 2019. The film was light-years ahead of its time in both the way it was shot and the storyline. Wasn’t a hit when it was released, but sure became a classic in the following years.

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