I came across this great YouTube channel by ‘Some Random Guy” who seems to be very knowledgeable about music from several decades. Here is his channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-_cAYaeuq2w0T6aZFdVP7Q/featured
He has two videos that show snippets of videos of the eighties that he has deemed the “Forgotten songs” and divided them into two videos on his channel. One is for 1980-1984 and the other is 1985-1989. What I want to do is post these songs in their entirety and comment on them as well. A lot of them are not “forgotten” for me cause I was a huge fan of some of these artists so even though they may not be popular songs, they were in heavy rotation in my life at the time. Others I’m discovering for the first time which is one of my goals on here: discovering new music by artists I’m familiar with already.
(Note: I will supply the link to the artist’s official site or wiki page and the song will be linked to the wiki page so that you can read about the history of each song.)
So here we go with 1980-1984:
Toto is one of those bands who were lucky to have a huge hit that will live on forever and played incessantly on classic rock stations. Their little tune “Africa” is a favorite even among people who don’t like eighties music. I put them in the same category as say Chicago. They are not an “in-your-face” band at all and something one can have in the background. You tend to hear them while shopping in a Target perhaps. This song I am not familiar with at all and at first listen it reminds me of Christopher Cross’ “Sailing”. Looking at the lyrics without looking at the wiki first, I’m not sure who “99” refers to. Is this the 99th woman they have fallen in love with and it didn’t work out? The lyrics make absolutely no sense to me. But alas, you will find that a lot in eighties music. (REM built an entire catalog of music where the words don’t make sense but we love them anyway!) The video is full of eighties man hair and a porn stache too! This is definitely “yacht rock” which is a thing now. Overall this is a very in-the-background type song and pretty boring overall. It has a lot of instrumental moments too. I don’t dislike but I don’t like it either. Let’s just say if I was going through the radio dial and this was playing, I would keep turning the dial.
2. “A Fine Fine Day” by Tony Carey
Never heard of this song or singer but in doing some research he was part of the band Rainbow early in his career and I do like them a lot. This song is really good structurally and I really like it. It seems “Uncle Sonny” is a mobster perhaps and has done some time in jail (“You did your sittin’ you did hard time”). I like the story this song tells. He has a great voice for rock so I can see how he fit in with Rainbow’s vibe. He is still kicking it and is originally from California. His website says “A California native, Carey relocated to Germany in 1978 to pursue a solo career.” I will have to check out more of his music when I get time but overall I found this song to be very enjoyable!
3. “All Right” by Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross is very easy listening, adult contemporary all the way. He had a string of hits in the eighties and I really like this gem of a song. One of those bob-your-head-to songs. It is very catchy. It reminds me of that song from The Greatest American Hero theme song “Believe It Or Not” by Joey Scarbury which I guess could possibly be another “forgotten” eighties song! If you need a refresher on that song, here it is:
4. “All Through the Night” by Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper is one of the greatest performers and singers of all time in my opinion. She has always been raw and authentic throughout her career. She is witty and talented. She also gave us memorable videos in the early MTV days and made being an “outcast” cool. She is a huge supporter of the LGBTQ community and I’ve always admired her for that support over the years. Now this particular song is not forgotten on any level. I hear it pretty frequently on 80’s themed stations. Or maybe it’s because I always list her as one of my favorites. This song is haunting and lovely and you just close your eyes and get all Zen when it comes on. One of my favorite songs of all time.
THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED ON A REGULAR BASIS AS I MAKE MY WAY THROUGH THE LIST OF SONGS FROM “SOME RANDOM GUY”S YOUTUBE VIDEO. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE =)