1980s Music: Anthem to a Young Man's Life

Perhaps the greatest musical period of my life was back in the early 1980s when I was working for United Parcel Service and going out to Mod Clubs and concerts with neighborhood friends.  I used to go to The Crush Bar on Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood and to the Sunset Club, you got it, on Sunset Blvd., a tiny place that used to play early 60's mod tunes, pieces like the Monkees', "I'm a Believer," 1966.  I did go to the Odyssey one year and had a bizarre experience.  I asked a young woman to dance, and her girlfriend came up to her, grabbed her hand, and walked off with her.  Okay, I was not in Kansas anymore.  

Lots of great music.  One song I used to hear on the radio a lot back then was XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel."

The other band that I just loved was Big Country and their hit song "In a Big Country," released in May of 1983, just one month after I started driving for UPS in Beverly Hills. 

I was telling a friend of mine how the Madness video of "One Step Beyond," released in October of 1979, is one of the most iconic of all Mod songs.  I loved Mexican Radio

I loved Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio," released in 1982.  It would come on the radio late at night while driving into Baldwin Park from Duarte to work nightshift at UPS.  

And who could forget Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party," released 1985.  John Simpson and I hosted a party at the Baldwin property, 2006 Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia.  (Will never forget Von's trucks rambling in the middle of the night up to the stores in Arcadia and Monrovia.  Used to get woke by them constantly.)  Someone played this song and all in attendance were up dancing on the living floor.  It was fun.  Loved that song and those times.  They were, to quote a friend, "Off the hook."

And it was Roy Parker who turned me onto the English Beat and their song, "Mirror in the Bathroom," released in 1980, and other classics, like a reprisal of Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown."  

And "Save It for Later," released 1982.  I'd seen the English Beat at Perkins Palace in Pasadena and at the Palladium in Hollywood.   

I also saw the Ramones at Perkins Palace; in fact, I saw them from "the pit."  Oh, yeah!

And though everyone had heard The Pretenders' "Back on the Chain Gang," 1984, a thousand times, perhaps one of their favorites is "I'll Stand By You," 1994.  

Perhaps the most memorable and loved song from that period was The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," 1987.  I know I loved it then and I love it now, perhaps even more so now.  For more, see here.