My name is Bonnie. I'm a 36 year old native New Yorker. I'm a life-long music lover and self-described genre hopper. This is my music blog.
Tom Tom Club: Suboceana (1989)
The Tom Tom Club is best known for their early 80s hits “Genius of Love” and “Wordy Rappinghood” from their debut album, but their ‘88 album Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom didn’t get as much attention. This song was the main single, and I remember hearing it on WDRE back in the day. The video is pretty awesome - an underwater delight!
Ultravox: Visions In Blue
This is easily one of my most favorite songs ever. Here is the full, uncut video.
(Source: youtube.com)
Kirsty MacColl: Walking Down Madison
I walk down Madison every day. Kirsty MacColl was a great singer, most famous for her collaborations with The Pogues and The Smiths. This is from the ‘91 album, Electric Landlady and was her biggest hit in America.
Kirsty MacColl: Walking Down Madison (Official Video) 4 of 5 (via calicomoonchild)
The Clean: Tally Ho (1981)
This is something I just discovered and actually couldn’t tell if it was genuine “old” new wave or whether it was a new track. The keyboard kind of gave it away, and this has a sound that so many indie bands these days are trying to accomplish - the manic vocals with bouncy pop-like melody. Anyway, The Clean are a band hailing from New Zealand and are little known outside their corner of the world. This is usually the case whenever I find obscure new wave.
(Source: youtube.com)
Erasure: Drama!
The kick off single to Erasure’s 1989 Wild!, Drama! was a pretty, um, dramatic song which starts out slow and increasingly gets chaotic, complete with a “jury” comprised on (get this) the Jesus and Mary Chain (yep, it was them chanting in the background since they were in the studio next door). It’s a fun track, with scathing, witty lyrics. So many people laugh and dismiss Erasure (well, they were quite flamboyant), but their contribution to synthpop is nothing to sneeze at. Vince Clarke was in Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and The Assembly after all.
(Source: youtube.com)
Depeche Mode: Puppets
Depeche Mode is and always will be one of my favorite bands ever. This early track from ‘81 is a bit lighter than the darker themes and sounds they became known for later on (well, especially after Vince Clarke left and Alan Wilder joined). I still like their earlier tunes. This video is from an early TV appearance. Check out the reel-to-reel & the Moog!
(Source: youtube.com)
Altered Images: I Could Be Happy (1981)
This song makes me happy, so really you really can’t ask for anything more. I was going to post their creepily timed “Dead Pop Stars” - a single that was released after John Lennon’s death, yet recorded earlier (spooky), but that was not as, well, you know, happy.
(Source: youtube.com)
U2: 11 O’Clock, Tick Tock
Martin Hannett was an amazing producer who was kind of insane. U2 were a bright-eyed young Irish band looking to break through. The result was this one single, which in my opinion, is U2 at their best. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock is a dark song, and Hannett captures it perfectly.
(Source: youtube.com)
Pretty Girls Make Graves:
“Speakers Push The Air”
This song, to me exemplifies what it’s like to go to the record store, buy something new, unwrap it, and just listen endlessly. Falling in love with a song you hear does something to you - all you want to do is hear it over and over. When I first heard this track, it brought back a lot of nostalgia for me, since one of my favorite hobbies was to spend an entire Sunday afternoon record store hopping in the Village with my friends. Unfortunately, those days are gone. So many record stores that I visited regularly are all memories in the digital age. It’s sad, because I really do miss having something tangible.
(Source: youtube.com)
NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY
