I have a crush on this podcast! Keith and Joe's voices just carry me to the most awesome 80s stravaganza. This will prove to be a very interesting contest, but let me tell you guys in plain argentine slang: when it comes to "Crush on you", el público los está boludeando!
Yeah, I think this is my fault. I think the folks that love "St. Elmo's Fire" are holding a grudge after I shat all over it and are taking their vengeance here.
I did miss the vote (gasp) between Ran (So Far Away) and Crush On You. I am confessing this so Joe doesn’t think that I took part in its advancement in an act of retribution 😂
::deep breath:: I love you, Keith. (/sincere) But in zero universes is "Crush On You" worthy of being this deep in the competition. Much like "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," while the song may exhibit surface qualities of the eighties, it is instead cynical, calculated pop trash aimed at those boomer parents of the era who just wanted to listen to good ol' clean fun music along side their kids. The Jets were for people who missed the Osmonds and '50s teen-love songs and desperately wanted to sing along with the hip youth - and remember how they all turned on George Michael when he went out on his own and started singing about ::horrified whisper:: sex. To lose by a coin flip - and yes, I shoulder some of the blame for missing this vote - is simply repugnant. There are five days left to vote as of this comment and so help me I *will* create dummy email accounts to shut this down because to quote a certain archaeologist's dad from later in the decade, "This is intolerable!"
Another thing I am considering doing, and will have to talk to Joe about this, is changing the voting duration. Substack has three settings: three days, seven days, and forever. So I'm thinking about changing it to "forever," and just snap-shotting the tally on the day we need it, which sometimes will be more than a week, but other times will be a little less. that will allow people to catch up, especially in the earlier rounds, without missing the deadline.
And finally, we might consider switching to three shows a week, so you have fewer to catch up on. The reason we went to four, is my argument that it takes a lot of shows to get through a 64-team bracket, and I didn't want season one to take over a year to do, and when we get down to times like now, having four a week jives with the four-region structure. Anyway these are things to think about, and we wouldn't mind hearing input on that!
I like the "forever and a snapshot" option, because it leaves room for people to discover the podcast down the road, and over time would provide a more complete data set while not altering the outcome of the podcast bracketing. (Could also make for fun retrospectives - "Can you believe that once upon a time, enough people preferred 'Crush On You' that it made the regional Final Four? 😂")
First off, that comment is hilarious 😂! Secondly, I LOVE how much this matters to everyone! This makes me happy--the show is working if people care, right?
And hey, I know I have the microphone, but I only have one vote, man! Everyone can and should vote it down! 😂 It should lose 50-1 if I am the only one deeming it 80s! Hear my argument for "Crush," and scoff at me as you vote against it!
The one thing I will say here is that a song being "good" or culturally significant or artistically innovative or legitimately cool does not HAVE to be what makes someone vote for it. Is it a good idea to vote for those things? Probably, yes. And is "Crush on You" any of these commendable things? Nope.
I get what you, and Joe, and Deni are saying. And I am aware that The Jets are not Prince. But I could show the "Crush on You" video to one of my nephews and say, "Here's kinda the entire 80s distilled into one garbage glob of terrible pastel fashion, and keytars, and banks of synths, and standing drummers, and neon, and big hair!" And that's it.
The Jets have no depth nor virtuosic talent like some of the great bands and artists. They SHOULD lose here.
But hey, that's why we vote!
Love you, too, man! 🤗 Thanks so much for playing with us along the way here!
Regarding ties, we are working on a better tie-breaking system for next time that would likely have ousted The Jets here, but for fairness, we aren't changing the system in the middle of the season.
"Here's kinda the entire 80s distilled into one garbage glob of terrible pastel fashion, and keytars, and banks of synths, and standing drummers, and neon, and big hair!" - See, to me, that's *part of the problem*. It's akin to what people lean into now when they do '80s parties, but it ignores all the kind of darker, foreboding, and underlying tones of the decade (which, surprise, still have consequences 40 years on!): The Cold War; generational alienation/latchkey kids; AIDS - not that "Sunglasses at Night" is hitting at hard truths or anything, but I think some of the best and 80s-est music was about experimenting and taking things in different directions forward rather than looking back through a neon-rose-colored brain fog. (A visual shamelessly lifted from an old Doonesbury cartoon about Reagan.) And thanks to *you and Joe* for making all this conversation happen. :)
I agree that the darker stuff was there, no doubt, no argument. And if that's most 80s to you, vote for that stuff, because that's your 80s!
I missed a good portion of that darkness, being permanently manic and all. I gravitated toward fast, upbeat, bright, etc., with some exceptions, of course. So my 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, etc. are all similarly upbeat, on balance, due to brain chemistry, probably?
"Cynical, calculated pop trash" is a great way to describe a lot of 80s music! - This is more than a fair point. Sincerely, crushonyou@joewackandthemormonturds.com
Still listening but have my first comment already. Whoever made the list calling the I Ran the best one-wonder is an idiot. First of all, that distinction goes to Come On Eileen. Second, Flock's song Wishing (I Had a Photograph of You) charted the same in the U.S. as I Ran, both peaking at #3. And Wishing got a lot more play in the clubs, even today at 80s New Wave retro nights (yes, I go to those) Wishing will get played, not I Ran.
By the way, look up a list of the singles they released. The number of their song titles that include parenthesis in insanely excessive.
I can definitely see a case for "Eileen" being at or near the top of that list.
Also, thanks for the info on "Wishing," I will have to go check it out. (Just listened, it didn't ring any bells for me, good song, very 80s.) Those making one-hit wonder lists appear to be as under-informed as we are! 😝
I also love that you're still going out to clubs! Concerts are about as close as I get these days.
The parenthetical titles may make me an even bigger fan!
I voted Crush, but I swear it's not to spite you, Joe! But I'm now adding hatred of the song to the backstory of my one-time detective partner...it explains so much, Burkowski.
I'm starting to think people are voting for Crush on You just to spite Joe. I can't believe it's ahead right now. *shudder*
Voices Carry shouldn't have made it this far to begin with. I don't say that because I don't like it, I love it, and I go see Aimee Mann any chance I get. It just is not as 80s as the song it previously beat and not even close to being as 80s as I Melt With You. I think if you went around and asked 100 people to quickly name 20 80s songs off the top of their head that I Melt With You shows up on a big number of lists, and Voices Carry doesn't show up at all.
I Melt With You should have been the #1 seed here anyway, I'd say this one is likely my vote for the winner out of the whole group of 64.
I think the popularity of "I Melt with You" grew over time and while it was a bit of a rock-ish hit, it was not the blockbuster dance pop synth hit the other Brit bands had in the US evoking that 80s feel and electronic production. And, I agree "Voices Carry" is not in that top 20 list, and honestly most of those slots would go to legends. Love your insights, BTW!
I think it's very true that I Melt With You got more and more heard as the 80s went on, and by the end of the 80s everyone knew it, even though it barely made a blip on the charts. I think that's why they did the 1990 thing, everyone knew the song but they hadn't really gotten the "hit" status out of it so they did that rerecording travesty of a piece of shit. (There were freaking hand claps during the chorus!)
interesting to listen to these back to back - both sets. Knowing all 4 songs and the bands when these were released provides some experiential bias just like listening now with some older perspective and a technical ear has a different bias.
Then, I couldn't wait to turn off "Crush on You". Its over-the-top, bubble gum synth-pop was not my flavor at all. Listening now, it does capture all of the sounds you expect in 80s pop production. And, following "I Ran..." it even felt a bit more 80s because "I Ran..." is quite subdued, and a little flat in comparison. Hmmm, I with you Keith.
One could argue "I Melt With You" transcends because Modern English released it twice - the original in 83(?) and again in 90. Never really a Billboard Hit (except rock) either time so it's interesting how we perceive its 80s pop strength now. MTV, Valley Girl certainly helped and it's been used a lot commercially. The sound - which I love and I am Modern English fan - easily could be outside the 80s and was. "Voices Carry" does have more of the 80s synth sound than "I Melt..." and really can't exist outside the 80s.
I don't know, saying it transcends ignores the fact that the 1990 version was godawful. I think it almost ruined the legacy of the song. Luckily no one ever plays it.
I have a crush on this podcast! Keith and Joe's voices just carry me to the most awesome 80s stravaganza. This will prove to be a very interesting contest, but let me tell you guys in plain argentine slang: when it comes to "Crush on you", el público los está boludeando!
"The public is ****ing them?" 😝 Am I translating that correctly? 😂 Or maybe the public is (loving) them? Help me out, here!
haha! It can translate as "the public is fooling with you / toying with you", meaning that is voting on purpose for a song that you love to hate!
Maybe I am just so persuasive, that I am changing hearts and minds across the world? 🤔 --K
Yeah, I think this is my fault. I think the folks that love "St. Elmo's Fire" are holding a grudge after I shat all over it and are taking their vengeance here.
I did miss the vote (gasp) between Ran (So Far Away) and Crush On You. I am confessing this so Joe doesn’t think that I took part in its advancement in an act of retribution 😂
::deep breath:: I love you, Keith. (/sincere) But in zero universes is "Crush On You" worthy of being this deep in the competition. Much like "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," while the song may exhibit surface qualities of the eighties, it is instead cynical, calculated pop trash aimed at those boomer parents of the era who just wanted to listen to good ol' clean fun music along side their kids. The Jets were for people who missed the Osmonds and '50s teen-love songs and desperately wanted to sing along with the hip youth - and remember how they all turned on George Michael when he went out on his own and started singing about ::horrified whisper:: sex. To lose by a coin flip - and yes, I shoulder some of the blame for missing this vote - is simply repugnant. There are five days left to vote as of this comment and so help me I *will* create dummy email accounts to shut this down because to quote a certain archaeologist's dad from later in the decade, "This is intolerable!"
Another thing I am considering doing, and will have to talk to Joe about this, is changing the voting duration. Substack has three settings: three days, seven days, and forever. So I'm thinking about changing it to "forever," and just snap-shotting the tally on the day we need it, which sometimes will be more than a week, but other times will be a little less. that will allow people to catch up, especially in the earlier rounds, without missing the deadline.
And finally, we might consider switching to three shows a week, so you have fewer to catch up on. The reason we went to four, is my argument that it takes a lot of shows to get through a 64-team bracket, and I didn't want season one to take over a year to do, and when we get down to times like now, having four a week jives with the four-region structure. Anyway these are things to think about, and we wouldn't mind hearing input on that!
--Keith
I like the "forever and a snapshot" option, because it leaves room for people to discover the podcast down the road, and over time would provide a more complete data set while not altering the outcome of the podcast bracketing. (Could also make for fun retrospectives - "Can you believe that once upon a time, enough people preferred 'Crush On You' that it made the regional Final Four? 😂")
First off, that comment is hilarious 😂! Secondly, I LOVE how much this matters to everyone! This makes me happy--the show is working if people care, right?
And hey, I know I have the microphone, but I only have one vote, man! Everyone can and should vote it down! 😂 It should lose 50-1 if I am the only one deeming it 80s! Hear my argument for "Crush," and scoff at me as you vote against it!
The one thing I will say here is that a song being "good" or culturally significant or artistically innovative or legitimately cool does not HAVE to be what makes someone vote for it. Is it a good idea to vote for those things? Probably, yes. And is "Crush on You" any of these commendable things? Nope.
I get what you, and Joe, and Deni are saying. And I am aware that The Jets are not Prince. But I could show the "Crush on You" video to one of my nephews and say, "Here's kinda the entire 80s distilled into one garbage glob of terrible pastel fashion, and keytars, and banks of synths, and standing drummers, and neon, and big hair!" And that's it.
The Jets have no depth nor virtuosic talent like some of the great bands and artists. They SHOULD lose here.
But hey, that's why we vote!
Love you, too, man! 🤗 Thanks so much for playing with us along the way here!
Regarding ties, we are working on a better tie-breaking system for next time that would likely have ousted The Jets here, but for fairness, we aren't changing the system in the middle of the season.
Thanks 😊
--Keith
"Here's kinda the entire 80s distilled into one garbage glob of terrible pastel fashion, and keytars, and banks of synths, and standing drummers, and neon, and big hair!" - See, to me, that's *part of the problem*. It's akin to what people lean into now when they do '80s parties, but it ignores all the kind of darker, foreboding, and underlying tones of the decade (which, surprise, still have consequences 40 years on!): The Cold War; generational alienation/latchkey kids; AIDS - not that "Sunglasses at Night" is hitting at hard truths or anything, but I think some of the best and 80s-est music was about experimenting and taking things in different directions forward rather than looking back through a neon-rose-colored brain fog. (A visual shamelessly lifted from an old Doonesbury cartoon about Reagan.) And thanks to *you and Joe* for making all this conversation happen. :)
I agree that the darker stuff was there, no doubt, no argument. And if that's most 80s to you, vote for that stuff, because that's your 80s!
I missed a good portion of that darkness, being permanently manic and all. I gravitated toward fast, upbeat, bright, etc., with some exceptions, of course. So my 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, etc. are all similarly upbeat, on balance, due to brain chemistry, probably?
--Keith
"Cynical, calculated pop trash" is a great way to describe a lot of 80s music!
And if you "Crush" haters are going to start creating dummy email accounts, then we "Crush" voters will have no choice but to do the same. It's on.
(Joe and I would be emailed any time a new account is created, so we will notice if 50 new people subscribe this weekend 😂!) --K
"Cynical, calculated pop trash" is a great way to describe a lot of 80s music! - This is more than a fair point. Sincerely, crushonyou@joewackandthemormonturds.com
🤣🤣🤣
😂 😂
Still listening but have my first comment already. Whoever made the list calling the I Ran the best one-wonder is an idiot. First of all, that distinction goes to Come On Eileen. Second, Flock's song Wishing (I Had a Photograph of You) charted the same in the U.S. as I Ran, both peaking at #3. And Wishing got a lot more play in the clubs, even today at 80s New Wave retro nights (yes, I go to those) Wishing will get played, not I Ran.
By the way, look up a list of the singles they released. The number of their song titles that include parenthesis in insanely excessive.
I can definitely see a case for "Eileen" being at or near the top of that list.
Also, thanks for the info on "Wishing," I will have to go check it out. (Just listened, it didn't ring any bells for me, good song, very 80s.) Those making one-hit wonder lists appear to be as under-informed as we are! 😝
I also love that you're still going out to clubs! Concerts are about as close as I get these days.
The parenthetical titles may make me an even bigger fan!
--Keith
I voted Crush, but I swear it's not to spite you, Joe! But I'm now adding hatred of the song to the backstory of my one-time detective partner...it explains so much, Burkowski.
I think the listeners LOVE Joe, and the "Crush" phenomenon is genuine. Your comment is evidence of this! Thanks!
--K
I'm starting to think people are voting for Crush on You just to spite Joe. I can't believe it's ahead right now. *shudder*
Voices Carry shouldn't have made it this far to begin with. I don't say that because I don't like it, I love it, and I go see Aimee Mann any chance I get. It just is not as 80s as the song it previously beat and not even close to being as 80s as I Melt With You. I think if you went around and asked 100 people to quickly name 20 80s songs off the top of their head that I Melt With You shows up on a big number of lists, and Voices Carry doesn't show up at all.
I Melt With You should have been the #1 seed here anyway, I'd say this one is likely my vote for the winner out of the whole group of 64.
But I Melt With You was not really a hit in the 80s, it barely broke into the top 100.
I think the popularity of "I Melt with You" grew over time and while it was a bit of a rock-ish hit, it was not the blockbuster dance pop synth hit the other Brit bands had in the US evoking that 80s feel and electronic production. And, I agree "Voices Carry" is not in that top 20 list, and honestly most of those slots would go to legends. Love your insights, BTW!
Thanks, I like yours too!
I think it's very true that I Melt With You got more and more heard as the 80s went on, and by the end of the 80s everyone knew it, even though it barely made a blip on the charts. I think that's why they did the 1990 thing, everyone knew the song but they hadn't really gotten the "hit" status out of it so they did that rerecording travesty of a piece of shit. (There were freaking hand claps during the chorus!)
interesting to listen to these back to back - both sets. Knowing all 4 songs and the bands when these were released provides some experiential bias just like listening now with some older perspective and a technical ear has a different bias.
Then, I couldn't wait to turn off "Crush on You". Its over-the-top, bubble gum synth-pop was not my flavor at all. Listening now, it does capture all of the sounds you expect in 80s pop production. And, following "I Ran..." it even felt a bit more 80s because "I Ran..." is quite subdued, and a little flat in comparison. Hmmm, I with you Keith.
One could argue "I Melt With You" transcends because Modern English released it twice - the original in 83(?) and again in 90. Never really a Billboard Hit (except rock) either time so it's interesting how we perceive its 80s pop strength now. MTV, Valley Girl certainly helped and it's been used a lot commercially. The sound - which I love and I am Modern English fan - easily could be outside the 80s and was. "Voices Carry" does have more of the 80s synth sound than "I Melt..." and really can't exist outside the 80s.
Dr. Janet, I simply cannot argue with your scholarly and very obviously correct analysis! Well done!😉. --Keith
I don't know, saying it transcends ignores the fact that the 1990 version was godawful. I think it almost ruined the legacy of the song. Luckily no one ever plays it.
I never heard that 1990 version. 😬