I can't believe I'm voting against Take on Me for a second round in a row. But I just can't not go with Soft Cell. A-ha was a huge band for me when they came out, I'm listening a lot to the Hunting High and Low album as penance for voting against them.
Take on Me has the best and most iconic video of the decade to be sure. And it is one of my favorite songs off one of my favorite albums of my early teens. But Tainted Love just has so much more there that were about the 80s, with some darkness in there and some 80s sensuality. And I think the Post-Punk/New Wave movement of the 80s has endured as the real legacy of the 80s more than synth pop.
(I'll leave the Northern Soul history out of it this time, despite the fat that this is probably my last chance to wax about it on here)
And here's the thing, at a party put on Take on Me and then put on Tainted Love. I guarantee you that Tainted Love gets a bunch of Gen-Xers up on their feet dancing (and hopping in unison on that beat) in a way that Take on Me never could.
Sweet Dreams vs. 99 Luftballons is a lot tougher. I decided to go with Nena because I think Eurythmics were a singular band with a unique sound that stands in a different category than "80s band." Despite the presence of synthesizer (which does exist in different decades by the way) I think Sweet Dreams - like all Eurythmics songs - could be from any decade. 99 Luftballons is solidly in that decade.
That's a good line of reasoning on the Nena matchup, one that I didn't come up with. And I don't blame you, based on your 80s experience, for picking against A-ha! Thanks for the intro to Northern Soul! --Keith
I have to think about the first group a bit more...but to no surprise, I will argue for Sweet Dreams, VMA 1984 Best New Artist in a Video, reached #1 in US, and the song was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. It set the bar for 80s sound production and Annie's voice is truly iconic. Really like Nena, the sound is clearly 80s, reached #2 in US, but as a package not as strong as Eurythmics.
I have to go Circus Atari. Because you run around trying to balance everything, and just when you've hit your stride and everything's going your way, all it takes is one slip and you fall on you face. And people laugh. All while ruining the environment with a bunch of dead balloons. Or should I say ballons?
Probably not...the nature of a lot of video games is barely avoiding doom, and the exhilaration of extending the time that you have avoided failure. --K
Before I vote: That video game opening question was great. My first reaction was similar to Joe's: "BurgerTime." You just keep working until you're overwhelmed. But Keith's "Pitfall" turns out to be gloomily PERFECT: All you can do is move and avoid obstacles. Occasionally you find something shiny that makes you happy, but then you realize that you just have to keep running and finding more shiny somethings - and here's the kicker: You can't win. Even if you never suffer and collect all the shinies, eventually you simply run out of time. Game over, man. GAME OVER.
Pitfall -- man, that takes me back. We could do a whole retrospective on 80s video games. Thank you Atari 2600, Intellivision, Apple, etc.
In addition to Pitfall, there was Adventure, Missile Command, of course Space Invaders, Asteroids, Defender, Donkey Kong, Tempest, Tank Battle, Berzerk, the list just goes on and on. Lots of hours wasted there setting "new" high scores.
I definitely played a lot of Pitfall, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Berserk, and Defender. A lot of single-player stuff, since I often played after everyone else went to bed. I played lots of Commodore 64 games as well, a little later: Summer and Winter Games, Racing Destruction Set, and so many others. --Keith
You still have one week to vote. (due to Substack settings on polls.)
The problem we run into at the end of this tourney is to give you a full week for each of these, we can't do any more shows until we have results, and we won't have final results until next Monday, Tuesday, Wed, Thursday. But our schedules do not allow for recording every single night of the week, so after the next set of 4 Region Finals, we wait some more, or shorten the voting window, or do some other shows while we wait for returns... still figuring it out. Maybe we should overlap our seasons? 🤔
I guess the only difference to the listener this week is that no NEW shows will pile up on you in the interim! 😁
I can't believe I'm voting against Take on Me for a second round in a row. But I just can't not go with Soft Cell. A-ha was a huge band for me when they came out, I'm listening a lot to the Hunting High and Low album as penance for voting against them.
Take on Me has the best and most iconic video of the decade to be sure. And it is one of my favorite songs off one of my favorite albums of my early teens. But Tainted Love just has so much more there that were about the 80s, with some darkness in there and some 80s sensuality. And I think the Post-Punk/New Wave movement of the 80s has endured as the real legacy of the 80s more than synth pop.
(I'll leave the Northern Soul history out of it this time, despite the fat that this is probably my last chance to wax about it on here)
And here's the thing, at a party put on Take on Me and then put on Tainted Love. I guarantee you that Tainted Love gets a bunch of Gen-Xers up on their feet dancing (and hopping in unison on that beat) in a way that Take on Me never could.
Sweet Dreams vs. 99 Luftballons is a lot tougher. I decided to go with Nena because I think Eurythmics were a singular band with a unique sound that stands in a different category than "80s band." Despite the presence of synthesizer (which does exist in different decades by the way) I think Sweet Dreams - like all Eurythmics songs - could be from any decade. 99 Luftballons is solidly in that decade.
That's a good line of reasoning on the Nena matchup, one that I didn't come up with. And I don't blame you, based on your 80s experience, for picking against A-ha! Thanks for the intro to Northern Soul! --Keith
I have to think about the first group a bit more...but to no surprise, I will argue for Sweet Dreams, VMA 1984 Best New Artist in a Video, reached #1 in US, and the song was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. It set the bar for 80s sound production and Annie's voice is truly iconic. Really like Nena, the sound is clearly 80s, reached #2 in US, but as a package not as strong as Eurythmics.
It's a strong horse to back in this race, for sure! --K
I have to go Circus Atari. Because you run around trying to balance everything, and just when you've hit your stride and everything's going your way, all it takes is one slip and you fall on you face. And people laugh. All while ruining the environment with a bunch of dead balloons. Or should I say ballons?
And does anyone have a happy answer to this grim question? 😂
Probably not...the nature of a lot of video games is barely avoiding doom, and the exhilaration of extending the time that you have avoided failure. --K
Have a great vacation, Keith! See you guys ater the hiatus.
Thank you! I will, of course be hunting for TOIDs and perhaps some remote sound for the show! See you in September! --Keith
Before I vote: That video game opening question was great. My first reaction was similar to Joe's: "BurgerTime." You just keep working until you're overwhelmed. But Keith's "Pitfall" turns out to be gloomily PERFECT: All you can do is move and avoid obstacles. Occasionally you find something shiny that makes you happy, but then you realize that you just have to keep running and finding more shiny somethings - and here's the kicker: You can't win. Even if you never suffer and collect all the shinies, eventually you simply run out of time. Game over, man. GAME OVER.
Pitfall -- man, that takes me back. We could do a whole retrospective on 80s video games. Thank you Atari 2600, Intellivision, Apple, etc.
In addition to Pitfall, there was Adventure, Missile Command, of course Space Invaders, Asteroids, Defender, Donkey Kong, Tempest, Tank Battle, Berzerk, the list just goes on and on. Lots of hours wasted there setting "new" high scores.
I definitely played a lot of Pitfall, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Berserk, and Defender. A lot of single-player stuff, since I often played after everyone else went to bed. I played lots of Commodore 64 games as well, a little later: Summer and Winter Games, Racing Destruction Set, and so many others. --Keith
Also: https://www.facebook.com/berkeleybreathed/photos/february-27-1983/943388027148717/?_rdr
😂 hahaha love it!
Ha!
This is such a deeper analysis of my snap reaction, kinda really good Psychology Today-type shit! 😝
OMG Burger Time and Tapper were just so exhausting. Was that FUN? 🕹️ 🍔 🍺
--K
That's grim.
You still have one week to vote. (due to Substack settings on polls.)
The problem we run into at the end of this tourney is to give you a full week for each of these, we can't do any more shows until we have results, and we won't have final results until next Monday, Tuesday, Wed, Thursday. But our schedules do not allow for recording every single night of the week, so after the next set of 4 Region Finals, we wait some more, or shorten the voting window, or do some other shows while we wait for returns... still figuring it out. Maybe we should overlap our seasons? 🤔
I guess the only difference to the listener this week is that no NEW shows will pile up on you in the interim! 😁
--Keith
So do we have an extra week to vote, or do these still all close in a week?
They still all close in a week, due to the limited available settings of polls on Substack.