Yesterday was another day of going through my record collection. I went through a very important part of my collection which was the New Wave era along with other great 80's artist like Madonna and Prince who could have their own section. It's funny how people always try to compare the next young female star selling her budding sexuality to Madonna. Whether you like her or not, she reinvented herself over and over way past the budding of her womanhood. So sorry Miley, Brittany and all the other school girls.
Prince was an early influence even before Michael. The movie Purple Rain with his cheap motorcycle and Appolonia! You can't put a guy like prince in the 80's section or R&B, Rock. What an artist!
I grew up right in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans right off of the river. The musical taste in my area from the early to mid eighties was mostly R&B. Prince, Morris Day and the Time, Midnight Star, Marvin Gaye. As a freshman, I left the local high school to attend a Catholic school closer to New Orleans. The school was more of a college prep school and Prep it was. I had a peach fuzz mustache and listened to Prince but all that was about to change. I shaved for the first time and started seeing band names written all over peoples books. INXS! I used to think it read inks. Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, The Cure, The Smiths, DM, Dead Kennedy's, Sugar Cubes, New Order. Also as the mid 80's were heading towards the late 80's the music back in my home town was changing as well and becoming more electronic with a twist of New Wave but remaining true to R&B with the same swagger.
Artists like Stevie B, Noel, Johnny O, Cause and Effect, Egyptian Lover, Kyper were taking over the dance floor back home. While folks back home were open to New Wave, it didn't exactly quench their thirst for the remembered swagger of 1983. Also, the city folks would come get a taste of the country dance parties too. The Kingfish in the woods outside of Lafayette is legendary though I was too young to go.
I think the first time I heard Depeche Mode was on a mixed tape. It was like nothing I had ever heard and took me far away from my little town. They tapped into my imagination somehow and I began to wonder about the world outside of Louisiana for the first time. We were reaching the age for nights out in New Orleans at the Gold Mine Saloon where we were discovering loads of artist. I loved Decatur Street in those days. There were great small bars with great music and shops to by posters and anything black. It was always a great drive to New Orleans to hit either Tower Records or this record store on Octavia Uptown.
I was glad to come across this great record, especially since it still had the price tag on it. I bought this at Crossroads Records in Starkville, Ms. when I was in college. I first saw The The when they opened for Depeche Mode in the late eighties. Really great singer and writer.
This is one of my favorite album covers, probably right after New Order's, Power Corruption and Lies. I didn't really know about The Violent Femmes until college. I remember my good friends Rodney Rocconi and Lance Grady going see them at Tipitina's and talking about climbing up on the fence. I can imagine this band creating quite a stir live when they were at their peak. Such a great record of acoustic punk songs. I did get to see them at some point at Tipitina's in the early 90's. They were great but would have been great to see them earlier.
Depeche Mode kind of ruled the New Wave/80's collection. Over time New Order's catalog holds up the best for me. Of course Joy Division does too but that would be more post punk which should be another discussion. So many great artist in this period. Most of this music stands up to the times and aged well with the exception of some of the snare sounds and gated reverb. Well, there was the drone singing and affected cool but it was perfectly of the time. Thanks Martin Gore, Robert Smith, Stephen Morrissey, and Prince Rogers Nelson.
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