34 Comments
Jul 2Liked by The 80s-est

Hey Keith and Joe! I think you guys have pulled off a super awesome region. Having said that, and also being aware of Joe's warning, I must say that, as an international listener, I'm kind of shocked that neither "Billy Jean" or "Like a virgin" made the list, as they were super juggernauts and 80's AF! Also, don´t count "Gloria" out just yet!

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The biggest artists will be in a Legends show! Part of Joe's original concept was to not include bands or artists who clearly transcend the decade: Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Springsteen, Bowie, Queen, etc. But since we have denied you all the iconic stuff, we are going to come back and do a bracket of all those artists we omitted! A clash of the titans!

--Keith

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Jul 2Liked by The 80s-est

Can´t wait for the Legends show then! A clash of the titans indeed! By the way, are ou familiar with "Clash p the titans", the movie? It's super 80s... You guys are doing an amazing job, the podcast is really enjoyable. Congrats!

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Oh wow! I believe I DO know that movie, it was one of the ones that I wasn't allowed to see, but I saw it at a friend's house anyway.(But probably not again since?) I think I need to include that one when we do a Movies bracket!

Thanks for the kind words, thanks for listening, and thanks for your participation! We appreciate you, Alejandro!

--Keith

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Clash of the Titans was one of my favorites as a kid. One of my favorite lines to throw out at random moments is "Give us back eyeeeeee!"

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Jul 3Liked by The 80s-est

It's a fantastic movie! Release the kraken!

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Jul 2Liked by The 80s-est

I would have gone with Situation as the Yaz choice. Known as Yazoo in the rest of the world, there was apparently a group with that name already in the U.S. I was a big Yaz fan, and saw the 2008 reunion tour.

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Jul 2·edited Jul 2Author

Just listened to "Situation," didn't know the song, but I can see why you would nominate it! I did know "Don't Go" and "Only You," and that was it for my Yaz knowledge.

--Keith

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Jul 2Liked by The 80s-est

Nice bracket - Yep, knew Yaz (huge fan of Depeche Mode). Loved to see Howard Jones (against Shelia E - ugh, tough match for me) and Corey Hart in there! Break My Stride reminds me of track, listening to it on the bus to meets. 🏃‍♀️

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Love that you are listening bright and early in London! Ahhh the track bus! That brings back excellent memories! Can't wait to see who you vote for and why!

--Keith

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Jul 13Liked by The 80s-est

Playing catch-up here, but I can only hope that Pat Benatar is going to be represented in the Legends bracket as well, since she hasn't been represented yet and presumably won't be in the Foreign bracket for this season. See you in the duels...

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Pat definitely is a Legend!

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Jul 9Liked by The 80s-est

Just finally got around to listening again. I can't deny that most of the songs in this bracket belong, but aren't some hugely popular artists missing? I thought that "Like a Virgin" by Madonna, "Let's Dance" by David Bowie (with Stevie Ray Vaughn!!), "Dancing with Myself" by Billy Idol, and countless others (Billy Joel, Bryan Adams, Sting, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen (hello - "Glory Days" is the epitome of this podcast - since that is what these songs do... make us relive our glory days). Admittedly, many of these artists are not "completely" 80s, and I may have strayed a bit from the target, but something is missing...

By the way, I would have totally replaced "Wake me Up..." with "One Night in Bangkok" :).

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Jul 9·edited Jul 10Author

You may have missed the first show part or the first post where part of Joe's original concept was to try to keep out the absolute kings/queens of the decade, on purpose. So we took that as one of the core concepts, and moved on: no Prince, no Bowie, No Springsteen.

So the "no Legends" idea was baked into his concept of the show. But now we are gonna go back and let loose with the Legends bracket and see what happens!

I will be interested to see if the Legends winner can beat the regular winner!

--Keith

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Yeah I totally missed that... but I love the idea. Now this bracket makes sense!

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Jul 9Liked by The 80s-est

OK... after writing this I read the comment below about a "Legends" show. That makes me feel better :):).

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I can see where it would be like "whaaaaat? did they FORGET Michael Jackson exists?" hahaha! Glad to have you caught up conceptually now!

--Keith

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Jul 6Liked by The 80s-est

Just came to say that I have also heard "Only You" but I'm not sure WHY I know it (like I couldn't have told you the name of the song or anything). I've also heard of Yaz from commercials for birth control... :)

I've never heard One Night in Bangkok and I can't decide if I like it or hate it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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A younger Yaz listener...I'm impressed. Wonder if it has seeped in AFTER the 80s, as I have noticed it in several things SET in the 80s (e.g. "The Americans"), to set the temporal tone?

Regarding "One Night in Bangkok," it's one or the other. No middle ground on that one! ♟️

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Okay, now that you say The Americans, I'm 100% sure that's where I've heard it. Not sure if heard it before then, but I definitely can see a creepy Kimberly/Phillip scene in my head with it playing now that you mention it.

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Jul 4Liked by The 80s-est

Yaz's "Don't Go" is high high high on the rage list I am keeping of songs that this ersatz "podcast" has unjustly ignored. Haha, just kidding, guys! You are the best and I know you covered a ton of ground in your research and preparation and that you have had to make some painful cuts up in here. Alison Moyet is positively one of the all-time great singers, imho, and *Upstairs at Eric's* is a forever favorite of mine -- so fucking '80s!! (Factoid: Yaz is now the brand name of a birth control pill.)

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I personally really enjoyed Yaz (the duo, not the pill), but I just didn't think enough people knew them to include them. Then we do the episode, and I find out Alison is everyone's favorite! 🤷🏼‍♂️ (rightfully so, super-talented). I should have known, if I (in Ellsworth Township) knew her, everyone else must have!

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(Everyone except Joe, that is!) 😆--Keith

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Jul 5Liked by The 80s-est

Speaking of Joe (hi Joe!), I was absolutely thrilled to hear that he considered George Benson, who is a favorite of mine. I kid you not, I’m on GB’s mailing list because I would love to see his show here in NYC. Would even travel to NJ!!

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Jul 2Liked by The 80s-est

Well, I was looking at the bracket while listening and the 16-seed doesn't match. Disappointed to see Walking on Sunshine get cut for some reason. (Especially since there is a connection to my all time favorite singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock)

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Jul 2·edited Jul 2Author

Good news, Deni! "Sunshine" was NOT cut, I just basically made a typo. It's in the next region. When I was copying the songs, I put it in the Singers Region erroneously. (Spoiler) It's in the Foreigners Region!

--Keith

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Well that's good news! Hmm, I'm curious how you guys decided the bands vs singers vs foreigners category. Wham! could have been in all of them.

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Sometimes it was just a matter of where we had space.

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Even though "Sunshine" got cut, I would still like to hear about this connection! --Keith

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Jul 2Liked by The 80s-est

Pre-solo Robyn Hitchcock was in a band called The Soft Boys. The guitarist in The Soft Boys was Kimberly Rew. After The Soft Boys broke up in 1981 he went on to re-form an earlier band he was in called The Waves, adding Katrina Leskanich to be their lead singer. Kimberly wrote Walking on Sunshine and their other big hit, the Eurovision winning song Love Shine A Light.

Kimberly still plays with Robyn fairly regularly.

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NICE Factoid, Deni! Very cool, thanks for sharing!

--Keith

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Oh, you're right, this was an early version of the bracket! I will fix that now, thank you for noticing!

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(The graphic is fixed now, sorry for your loss!) --Keith

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Well, I'm certainly glad I slept through this whole bracket kerfuffle. After the Supreme Court ruling yesterday, I don't know if I could have survived another trauma like that.

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