Music Recommendations, Cheap And Easy: 80's

My roommate Jennie hooked me up with a DJ gig for the Utah Cyclocross awards party in January. It was an 80's theme party so I got to dredge up a bunch of great tunes from my youth. To celebrate the event I'm recommending a list of great selections from from the 80's that are all fun, fantastic listening experiences, some of which may be iconic. I won't offer many comments, but will suggest that they are all well worth owning for the few bucks they will cost.

Police: 'Synchronicity'
Just get the whole collection with 'Message In A Box' (4xCD).

Men Without Hats: 'Pop Goes The World'
PGTW may be their best, but doesn't include their iconic 'Safety Dance', which is tricky to locate.

Men At Work: 'Business As Usual'

Eurythmics: 'Sweet Dreams', 'Touch'

Tears For Fears: 'The Hurting'

Alphaville: 'Forever Young', 'Afternoons In Utopia'

Peter Gabriel: 'So'

Yaz (or Yazoo in Europe): 'Upstairs At Eric's', 'You And Me Both'

Yes: '90125'

The The: 'Soul Mining'

Wang Chung: 'Live And Die In L.A.'

Devo: 'Oh No! It's Devo', "Freedom Of Choice'...
Many good releases but some suck. My fave Devo comp is 'Pioneers Who Got Scalped'.

Propaganda: 'Secret Wish' and/or 'Wishful Thinking'

Human League: 'Reproduction'

OMD: 'Junk Culture'...
Many great releases but everything after 'Pacific Age' blows.

Howard Jones: 'Human's Lib'

Talking Heads: 'Stop Making Sense'
Available on CD, but get the DVD.

Flock Of Seagulls: 'Flock Of Seagulls'.

Oingo Boingo: 'Dead Man's Party', 'Boi-Ngo'...
All of their 80's releases are great. I guess 20 years is long enough that many don't realize Boingo is where film score composer Danny Elfman started his brilliant career. Don't forget his 'So-Lo' release.

The Cars: 'Greatest Hits'

Thomas Dolby: 'Golden Age Of Wireless'

Duran Duran: 'Duran Duran', 'Rio'

Depeche Mode: 'Black Celebration'

The Cure: 'Staring At The Sea'

Yello: 'You Gotta Say Yes', 'Stella', 'One Second', 'Flag', 'New Mix In One Go'
Watch for a dedicated entry regarding this favorite band.

Pet Shop Boys: 'Actually', 'Disco'

The Fixx: 'Shuttered Room', 'Reach The Beach', 'Phantoms', 'Walkabout'

Art Of Noise: 'Who's Afraid', 'In No Sense, Nonsense'
The best is 'In Visible Silence' (seek versions with the instrumental, non Max Headroom version of 'Paraniomia') which seems to be out of print these days. I expect a reissue.

English Beat: 'What Is Beat'

B-52's: 'Wild Planet'
Other super-silly-fun tracks scattered around their releases. Avoid anything after '86.