This Is Art, Kids!

In an effort to broaden my taste and pop culture knowledge, I’ve decided to take a year in pop culture and just pick it to the bone. I always enjoy doing these deep dives, it gives me something to write about and more art to appreciate. I’m starting this off with a look at 1983 in music.

The Methodology

For this project I wanted to find new and exciting things, so I listened to about a hundred random records from RYM’s top album page, along with some perennial favorites and some things that just looked interesting. On top of that, I also have decided to listen to the entire billboard top 100 list for the year. Hopefully this gets me a good snapshot of the entire year.

Starting off with the billboard charts. Man, was 1983 MJ’s year or what. He has five songs from the previous year’s Thriller. Otherwise it’s a pretty sold mix of styles. There is some leftover rockers from the 70’s(Tom Petty,Joe Jackson.), some new stars making their mark(Eurythmics,Culture Club), and a whole grip of soft rock. It’s an interesting year to say the least. Let’s get started!

100.Earth Wind & Fire- Fall In Love With Me: The 100^th best selling song of 1983 slaps. It’s got this great funky bassline, and real athletic synth lines. Good shit here!

99.Joe Jackson-Breaking Us In Two: I’ve always considered Jackson to be a poor man’s Elvis Costello, but he’s not too far behind. This one’s a real classic from 1982’s Night and Day(For my money, his best record.). The piano works with the Latin drums in a way that really shouldn’t. The solo does sound a little hammy though.

98.Asia-Don’t Cry: AOR slop right here. I’ve never met a person into this genre in real life. They must exist,right?

97. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers- You Got Lucky: The sentiment of this song is just nuts. It’s another one of those “You’re never going to find another person like me” jams. It’s very petty(Ha!). Song rules ,of course, and the music video is a nice Mad Max 2 pastiche.

96.Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson- Tonight I Celebrate My Love: This sounds so dated that I can taste the cobwebs in the air. It’s too sweet sounding for me to have any real vitriol for it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

95.Stephen Bishop- It Might Be You: So sweet that it’s got cavities. Sounds like the kind of music that yuppies proposed to. This was the first song I couldn’t finish.

94.Eric Clapton-I’ve Got A Rock N Roll Heart- What do coffee and Eric Clapton have in common? They are both only good with Cream(Thank you, I got tshirts in the back!). I’m not a fan of blues rock in the first place, but if I was I wouldn’t bother with Clapton’s honky ass.

93.Frank Stallone- Far From Over: Fun sports movie montage type track. Utterly disposable, but decent while it is on.

92.Spandeau Ballet-True: An 80’s classic. Makes me wish I went to prom in the 80’s, but I was born too late.

91.Musical Youth- Pass The Dutchie: It’s really cute that these kids tried the music thing. It kind of distracts so much from the song, that you don’t realize that it’s just a generic Reggae track. I kind of have a soft spot for it, it’s endearing.

90.Def Leppard- Photograph: Easily the best of their big singles. Really straddles the line between glam and hard rock, but does it tactfully. I love the background vocals on the chorus.

89.Michael Jackson- Human Nature: Probably Michael’s best ballad. There’s not a lot of insight I can give on this one. Everyone knows this song.

88.Moving Pictures-What About Me: A really ham fisted track about how life isn’t fair. Some songs are forgotten for a reason.

87.Jackson Browne-Lawyers In Love: Is this song a metaphor for something? I don’t get it. It’s nothing special, but Browne’s falsetto before the key change is neat.

86.Shalamar- Dead Giveaway: Synthy ,bombastic, little funk tune. The lead singer’s voice has a lot of passion to it. I gotta hear more by these guys.

85.Champaign-Try Again: Another song truly lost to history. Smooth, but ultimately forgettable.

84.Stray Cats-(She’s)Sexy + 17: Never been a fan on nostalgia acts like this. It sounded dated then, it still sounds dated now. Also, the lyrical content is questionable to say the least.

83.Quarterflash- Take Me To Heart: A competent 80’s new wave slow rocker. I can’t imagine revisiting it, but it wasn’t bad.

82.Joe Jackson- Steppin’ Out: I love that bass pattern. Two people played all the notes on this! Just sounds like the beginning of an exciting evening in the city. Great song!

81.Journey-Faithfully: I don’t love Journey, but I think a few of their songs are quite good. This is a decent little love song, but it does feel a little overlong. That’s saying something for a song that is under 4 minutes.

80.Dionne Warwick- Heartbreaker: While I was listening to this I thought to myself, “This sounds like a Bee Gees cast off”. Lo and behold it is. It says a lot about the consistency of their writing that you could guess that they wrote it without knowing. That being said, this is nothing worth tracking down.

That’s all for now(I’m going to be doing these in 20 song blocks to preserve my sanity.). I enjoyed about 9 of these songs. Not too bad of a ratio. We’ll see how this goes in the upcoming weeks. I’m outta heeeeere!