Do you remember the 1980’s? I remember it was a good time to go through high school and college during that decade, and I especially remember the music. Although I was a middle-of-the-road American Top 40 kind of guy, you couldn’t help but take notice of the mostly British New Wave at the time, what with the hair and the make-up and the catchy pop tunes bouncing off the air waves. While reading Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that defined the 1980’s, I was struck by how many bands and songs I could recall, and how fresh they still sounded upon listening to them again. This book takes a look at some 36 bands of that era and isolates one song per band. Band members then provide their recollections of the song, some good, some bad, and some ugly. It was interesting how many of the bands named David Bowie as their primary influence, though it seems obvious now in hindsight.
Some of my favorite oral histories were from bands such as Echo and the Bunnymen “The Killing Moon”, Duran Duran “Girls on Film” (though my favorite of theirs will always be “Ordinary World”), Dexys Midnight Runners “Come on Eileen”, Bow Wow Wow “I Want Candy”, Spandau Ballet “True” (includes how they came up with the rather disturbing name of their band), Modern English “I Melt With You”, and the Thompson Twins “Hold Me Now.” I remember two songs from popular movies at the time: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark “If You Leave”, from the John Hughes movie “Pretty in Pink”, and Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me) from yet another John Hughes movie “The Breakfast Club.”
But if those songs aren’t among your favorites there are much more to choose from including Joy Division, New Order, Kim Wilde, Berlin, A Flock of Seagulls, The Waitresses, Devo, The Smiths, Tears for Fears, and several others you‘ll no doubt recognize. This book was a lot of fun and brought back many good memories. Luckily, a lot of these bands are still touring today. Please let them continue. They have a great sound.
