Entertainment Monday: 1980's Flashback (Monday, June 11, 2016)

1980's Flashback

As a child of the 80's I have always had a special place in my heart for the music of the decade.  It was the beginning of an exit from the disco and hard rock that dominated the 1970s and a movement into the popular and alternative music genres that dominate today's music.  In a way the advent of music television may have started the over saturation of popular music.  There is a plus and a minus to that.  I feel like that it's difficult not to find some music you like in 2016.  The challenge is more about sifting through all the the available music to find what you love.  This week I wanted to share some of the music from bands that first became popular in the 1980s that really influenced my musical tastes today. To this day the 1980s might be my favorite musical decade, but with so many songs from so many bands to share I will limit myself to just four.

R.E.M.'s musical catalog is legendary. I think I used to get under my sister's skin a bit when I would insist that I knew the lyrics to every R.E.M. song ever written. She would ask me lyrics to one song or another and I would always find some way to deflect her direct question by insisting that I did not have to prove anything.  I like that Michael Stipe mentions in this video that his favorite R.E.M. song is Fall On Me, which is also my favorite.  To me Michael Stipe has one of the most distinct and iconic voices of all time.

Fall On Me by R.E.M.

One of the first videos that made a real impact on me when I was a kid was Where the Streets Have No Name by U2. This made me think music and being a rock star was cool.  Which we all know to be true.

Where the Streets Have No Name by U2

While Tom Petty's American Girl may be best known for it's place in The Silence of the Lambs, it was an awesome tune way before that and way after.  This is the only of the songs I am sharing that I had the great honor to hear and watch performed live in Saratoga Springs, NY.  The version I am sharing is off of youtube and not from the concert I was at

American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

While Tears for Fears has not had the same staying power as the three previous band's music I shared, Everybody Wants to Rule the World was one of the most popular songs and videos of the 1980s.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

I will always love the 1980s because of the amazing music from that decade.  Please feel free to share your favorite 1980s tunes in our comments section.