DISQUS

Popdose: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 25 | Popdose

  • David_E · 1 year ago
    I have been searching for that Diving For Pearls song since MP3s were invented!

    And now that I have it, I don't know why!

    Thank you!

    I think!
  • Eric S. · 1 year ago
    I loved that Diving For Pearls song and album back in the day (even still have the original CD), but I agree that it doesn't seem to have aged that well.
  • jack · 1 year ago
    Didn't Dion kill himself just before the surviving members of the Traveling Wilburys could call and offer him the Roy Orbison spot in their band?

    Oops.
  • Thierry · 1 year ago
    Dion is still around and making absolutely fantastic records - you're thinking of Del Shannon.
  • WHarrisBullzEye · 1 year ago
    And the album from which "And the Night Stood Still" originates - "Yo Frankie" - isn't too shabby, either. It's a bit too glossy in production, perhaps, but, man, I could listen to "Written on the Subway Wall" all day long. (It also features a fantastic guest vocal by Paul Simon, singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.")
  • scrumble · 1 year ago
    Dokken had the requisite Spinal Tappish afterlife post-1988, with Don D. not allowed to use the band's name on what was then billed his "solo" album, reunions and re-breakups and etc.

    But what really must've hurt was this becoming a bigger Hot 100 hit than any of their own:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjw8e_AKVcs
  • MichaelFortes · 1 year ago
    Seriously, those Fresh Prince tunes never cracked the top 40?? "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" was pretty big back in the day from what I remember. I must have been a bigger fan at the time than I realized.

    "Skateaway" is awesome, one of my favorite Dire Straits tunes. I probably admire Mark Knopfler more than I enjoy listening to an entire album of his, but I could never get sick of listening to "Skateaway" or "Sultans of Swing."
  • steed · 1 year ago
    I swear they never cracked the top 40!

    I've listened to "Skateaway" a few times today and I like it more and more each time I listen to it. It's never really been on my radar before, but I'm getting it now. I think I might have to go and give these albums a few good listens again.
  • Pete · 1 year ago
    I had the Doctor & the Medics 45. I played it quite a bit through the 80s...but listening to it now I see it's just a straightforward retread of the original. The backup dancer/singers were fun though.
  • WHarrisBullzEye · 1 year ago
    One of the first cut-out CDs I ever purchased was the Doctor and the Medics' "I Keep Thinking It's Tuesday." Not a great disc, but there's a cover of ABBA's "Waterloo" which features sax from Roy Wood, and a ridiculously silly cover of "Burning Love" that I always liked despite knowing it wasn't really very good...which, come to think of it, rather sums up my feelings on Doctor and the Medics themselves.
  • steed · 1 year ago
    I never actually bothered going beyond this song. As much as I heard it growing up and despite the fact it was really the first piece of the collection - I never really thought of this as more than a simple novelty. I don't want to smash it, but there's nothing about "Spirit in the Sky" that makes me want to dig any deeper.
  • JohnHughes · 1 year ago
    I guess the draw with them is the sexual overtones in the songs and the naughty-little-girl persona of singer Christina Amphlett, because, on the whole, they weren’t a very good band.

    ***thud***

    (Gets up, puts on "Boys In Town"...)
  • JonCummings · 1 year ago
    The album that contains "And the Night Stood Still," titled Yo Frankie, is truly magnificent. It was a well-hyped comeback album that was actually worth all the buzz--if you've never heard it, track it down...or I suppose you could pester me until I upload a few tracks, such as the brilliant, brilliant, brilliant (can I say "brilliant" enough?) "Written on the Subway Wall." That song evokes the street-singing culture that Dion grew up in, and the bridge features Paul Simon covering the '50s doo-wop classic "Little Star."

    I always had a thing for "Industrial Disease." The guitars sound like a bad case of gas.
  • WHarrisBullzEye · 1 year ago
    Ha! Great minds think alike, as you can see above...
  • steed · 1 year ago
    I do own Yo Frankie. Gave it the initial listen upon purchasing and I do remember that it was way better than I expected, but I don't think I've ever went back to it. Between this and the Dire Straits albums, looks like I need to pull out a few LP's and get listening.
  • MarlboroTestMonkey7 · 1 year ago
    Subject: FYI
    There's a quite nice cover of Pleasure and Pain by Manfred Mann in the Soft Vengance album.
  • the Bar · 1 year ago
    Only one more week until my favorite bottom feeder - "What's A Little Lady Like You" by Duke Jupiter! :D
  • Tony Billoni · 1 year ago
    Quick Hit: Worst song -- Neil Diamond, "Headed for the Future." As in worst song, ever!!

    I'm convinced Neil is hugely ashamed by this stereophonically swooshing synth dreck. Did he demand his background music mimic the 1984 stylings of the Pointer Sisters? "Hey, I sure loved those gals' "Neutron Dance!" But he pens lame-o lines like, "We're headed for the future, and the future's now! Show you how."

    Some of the worst stuff of his or anyone's career. I wish he had paid Diane Warren to help him do better. Maybe she was to busy fending off calls from Frank Stallone.
  • steed · 1 year ago
    I was waiting for someone to talk about this. I'm fascinated by this song - I love it and love the album, though I definitely know that most people don't feel that way. I can still listen to the album straight through and enjoy though.
  • Christian Kennedy · 1 year ago
    I was expecting a disco or dance version of "Raging Bull" being in the charts and being 1981. I was surprised.