It’s interesting, because it’s one of my favorite years for music EXCEPT for the #1 songs. I was heavy into marathon MTV watching at the time and I used to be like, “Ugh, THIS video again?” when Sledgehammer or Take My Breath Away came on.
At a wedding or similar? It’s a guaranteed floor-filler I think - it gets the youngsters who are probably up a wee bit past their usual bed-time, and the older ones who’ve had a few drinks too many, jigging away.
Seems Cyndi Lauper songs consistently gets more votes than Madonna songs. Happened in 1984 and again in 1986.
Well, she tends to be remembered mainly for Girls Just Want to Have Fun but her other big hits (Time After Time and True Colors) are much, much better songs. And some of her slightly lesser-known numbers like She Bop, I Drove All Night and Change of Heart are also excellent. I haven’t been able to get the latter out of my head since yesterday. A great bit of power pop.
Madonna had a longer and arguably more diverse career but in the 80s, at the height of their rivalry, Lauper had the better songs IMHO and her voice was better, too. Not only stronger but also more evocative.
Interesting. Could a factor here be that, in the 80s most of us were WATCHING Cyndi and Madonna (mainly on MTV), whereas now we are more remembering the songs as music, and their voices? And that Madonna is generally considered more attractive?
Rather akin to the assertion that people who heard the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debate on the radio tended to think Nixon had “won,” but not those who saw it on TV.
In other words, as time passes we are better able to value artists for their music, rather than for their image.
That’s pretty much what I had in mind, indeed.
Regarding their respective attractiveness, there’s no doubt that I found Madonna prettier at the time and that’s still my opinion but I’ve grown to appreciate Lauper’s looks and style. Both had this little craziness in their eyes but, when I looked at vintage photos of Madonna recently, I had the feeling that hers was the “Contradict-me-and-I’ll-lash-at-your-face” craziness whereas Cyndi was more like “Hey, let’s have fun and experiment!”. I find the latter much more appealing nowadays. Plus, she had a habit of pulling her skirt up to just above her knees while dancing that’s… very pleasant.
Well, this plays into my (admittedly wildly unpopular) opinion that MTV and music videos were the worst thing that ever happened to rock ‘n’ roll.
Used to be when you listened to a song, you formed your own unique mental images in your mind, different from anyone else’s.
Once music videos came along, the only image you formed was the one formed for you…by someone (the video’s director) who in most cases had nothing to do with the artist who created the song.
And to this day (assuming you were a regular MTV viewer…thankfully, I was not), when you hear that song, the association with that video’s images is instantaneous.
To your point, maybe the passage of time has dimmed that association between a song and its video images somewhat. I’m not sure, though, that it’s to all that great a degree.
Mom? 
DChord568, I’d say that’s generally quite true, and well put. But let’s not exaggerate: 1. There’s still plenty of times we come across music these days and like it or dislike it, without ever knowing what the musician looks like; and 2. Visual imagery was a (lesser) part of music well before MTV – think of Elvis, whose music and vocal style was not really so special, but even in 1954 a lot of people know what he looked like, and his career took off more than it would have otherwise.
I’m with you on this.
I think DChord’s use of the word ‘inconsequential’ with respect to “Walk like an Egyptian” is a good jumping-off point. Sure, some pop music is ‘consequential.’ But a lot of it is simply fun, and that’s all it needs to be, to be good.
Sam the Sham’s “Woolly Bully” isn’t consequential. But after all these decades, it’ll still get me up and dancing. Great song. Same with “Egyptian.”
I completely agree that “inconsequential” is not necessarily an insult to a song. And I feel the same way about “Wooly Bully” as you do — and if some grand total were produced, I probably like more inconsequential songs than consequential ones.
In the case of “Egyptian,” I was just using in comparatively with regard to other Bangles songs that I prefer and that show off their skills to better advantage.
I wasn’t speaking about what an artist looks like, but rather images in music videos (which often don’t even show the artist at all) being associated with specific songs.
Yes, Elvis’s image had a lot to do with his career rocketing into the stratosphere the way it did. But I disagree that his music and vocal style wasn’t “so special.” In 1956, it most definitely was when compared with others.
And again, we’re really talking about two different things here. A clever music video may have enhanced some songs’ chart performance. But I was referencing more of the aesthetics of the issue…the fact that music videos took away our ability to form our own visual images as they relate to a song.
I’m reminded of a sticker I have affixed to my guitar case:
It’s not that I’m old. Your music really does suck.
P.S. Thanks to INRS for the Bloom County strip. Excellent!
Heart - These Dreams, one of my favorite songs.
You know, I have never liked music videos, and didn’t really know why, but this is quite likely the reason.
In fact, in a lot of cases, they video seemed completely disconnected from the song to me.
It’s hard to choose a favorite among so many great tracks, but “The Greatest Love of All” is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written about self-preservation, dignity. Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it’s not too late to better ourselves. Since it’s impossible in this world we live in to empathize with others, we can always empathize with ourselves. It’s an important message, crucial really. And it’s beautifully stated on the album.
Having just listened to it for the first time ever, I’m gonna have to disagree with that. It opens on a “THE CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE” bit of glurge that made me want to throw up, and then it segues into a bunch of self-worship Objectivist nonsense that sounds like something Ayn Rand would reject for being too on the nose.