The peak year for post punk, 1981 even had its own theme song of sorts in Kim Wilde’s immortal “Kids In America”. It came from the synth-end of that spectrum, along with other such newfangled artists as Depeche Mode, OMD and Soft Cell (not to mention then-veterans Kraftwerk); on the guitar-end, you had The English Beat, Pretenders, The Go-Go’s, even the good ol’ Ramones. More often than not, however, post punk encompassed a canny blend of the two, an in-between space that collected oddballs from Romeo Void (with Deborah Iyall wailing “I might like you better if we slept together” over and over again into the void) to angular glam pirates Adam & The Ants, whose “Prince Charming” is surely one of the oddest UK number one hits of the 80s.
On that note, Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” is easily the oddest UK number two hit ever, a free-form, spoken word proto-ASMR tone poem spread out over eight minutes. A six-year-old in Wisconsin in ’81, I didn’t hear it until I was in my twenties. My favorite song at the time was undoubtedly the famous-orchestral-flourishes-over-a-drum-machine-beat medley “Hooked On Classics”; I remember becoming ecstatic whenever it came on the radio and more recently, I fully appreciated its appearance in the gay sex montage in the first episode of It’s A Sin.
Most of the stuff I knew at the time came from Solid Gold and my parents’ preferred soft rock station; while I have a nagging respect for some of it, you won’t see the likes of Air Supply, Christopher Cross or even Rick Springfield here. But Kim Carnes’ husky voice (and slap-happy music video for “Bette Davis Eyes”) endures, as does Lindsey Buckingham’s “Trouble” (he had no good reason to keep such gibberish in the intro, but I’m thankful he did) and ABBA’s startling, verging-on-post-punk “The Visitors” (Who are these “Visitors”? Immigrant hordes? Alien invaders? Mere figments of the singer’s imagination?)
This is the year hip-hop begins to seep (however slowly) into pop culture. Although I didn’t include Blondie’s “Rapture” (too obvious) or Grandmaster Flash, I did make room for the soon-to-be heavily-sampled ESG and Tom Tom Club, plus Frankie Smith’s novelty crossover and Gil Scott-Heron’s epic proto-rap Reagan takedown. Inevitably, my attention shifts over to post-disco anthems by Taana Gardner, Was (Not Was) and former disco diva herself Grace Jones: Nightclubbing, her gender-bending (and genre-bending) covers-heavy apotheosis (from Iggy Pop’s title track to selections from Bill Withers and The Police) has steadily grown into one of my favorite albums since first hearing it just a few years ago, with slinky, sultry “Walking In The Rain” (also a cover!) its perfect leadoff track.
1981: Feeling Like A Woman, Looking Like A Man
- Kim Wilde, “Kids In America”
- Pretenders, “Talk of The Town”
- Lindsey Buckingham, “Trouble”
- Frankie Smith, “Double Dutch Bus”
- Prince, “Controversy”
- ESG, “U.F.O”
- Grace Jones, “Walking In The Rain”
- Blue Oyster Cult, “Burnin’ For You”
- The Go-Go’s, “Our Lips Are Sealed”
- Taana Gardner, “Heartbeat”
- Kim Carnes, “Bette Davis Eyes”
- OMD, “Souvenir”
- Dollar, “Mirror Mirror”
- The English Beat, “Too Nice To Talk To”
- Adam & The Ants, “Prince Charming”
- Ultravox, “Vienna”
- Kraftwerk, “Computer Love”
- Tom Tom Club, “Genius of Love”
- Family Fodder, “Film Music”
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, “Hooked on Classics (Parts 1 & 2)”
- Was (Not Was), “Wheel Me Out (Long Version)”
- Romeo Void, “Never Say Never”
- Ramones, “The KKK Took My Baby Away”
- Stevie Wonder, “That Girl”
- The Specials, “Ghost Town”
- ABBA, “The Visitors”
- Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, “Bad Reputation”
- Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Seventeen”
- Bee Gees, “Living Eyes”
- Laurie Anderson, “O Superman”
- Depeche Mode, “Just Can’t Get Enough”
- Soft Cell, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”
- Gil Scott-Heron, “’B’ Movie (Intro, Poem, Song)”
Haunted Jukebox 