I have two versions of this song. The grittier punk rock version above and the original (1987) softer synthpop below. Which one do you like best and why, if you don't mind telling.
When I was in junior high all the kids were listening to Def Leppard. I preferred Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, A-Ha, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Human League, Heaven 17, Smiths, Tears for Fears, etc.
My first album, from B Side Records in Madison, was Relax-the 12 inch....natch. Next came Two Tribes (from Frankie) with Gorbachev and Reagan in a boxing ring.
I wanted to be British when I was like 12.
I was hungry like a wolf and wanted to go to Rio or the Mississippi River and be a Karma Chameleon, and then travel to Paris and ride on the Metro, from Berlin (american based band).
The Missing Person version is more betterer done. Clearer melody lines and playing. I doubt the other version would have been a hit. The hooks aren't as well defined and hookilishous.
MTV was an awesome idea and execution back in the 80's and later just dissolved for whatever reason. It was a whole genera of entertainment and a major part of the culture all by its little self. One channel, one simple idea that enticed people to be creative in ways we never were before by taking tools we had already worn out and using them in fun new ways and creating some whole new tools as well. I'm glad I grew up with it. Most things in music and video even today are still derivative of that time and those artist.
Electronic music and new wave did not, imo, withstand the test of time.
In small doses, some of it remains a guilty pleasure. right? wrong? Anyone have a favorite 80's song? sing along? got a bong? wear your thong?
I love the idea of a well made cre-8-TiVe-ly orchestrated music video. I never really cared for videos that were just the band standing there rocking on their instruments. (boring) Tell me a story.
Dale Bozzio posed for Playboy and used to appear on stage wearing just Saran Wrap.
She used to make her own outfits out of stuff from the hardware store. Sadly, later in life she was jailed for animal cruelty. She allegedly hoarded cats and then left them alone to die.
If I did, then the memory or having been annoyed would stick out like rock candy on string pulled through my ears. Saccharine. So the top version is better, since you asked, otherwise I'd sit here and mind my own biz wax and not be so annoying myself like this.
As to 80's music, nothing beats Depeche Mode. What a great way to learn and practice another language. That's how I know all their songs. I didn't even have to memorize anything, my body did that. Now, whenever a song comes on I feel faint muscular motor impulses all over being suppressed, conflicted, trying to say the song and trying to behave at the same time. By merely saying the song then repeated phrases become a dance, a couple of times and the song becomes basically a dance routine, one that makes perfect interpretive sense. So when a song comes on that I like, and I like them all, then it is hard to resist the tiny electric impulses I feel physically all over.
"Why you twitchin'?"
" Tiny electrical motor impulses that I am suppressing, the result of interpretive dancing in my mind.
"Never mind."
It all started out one day with a song that went, "Pain. Will you return it? I say it again. Pain. Pain." The song has a lot industrial noise laden on that is quite catchy and I like that too, and I thought, I wonder what else these blokes do, and it turns out I like it all.
All the way through.
Even so late as Your Own Personal Jesus.
I realized by saying the song repeatedly that it has nothing to do with Jesus nor with religion. It is not anti-religious. The song subjects itself to very likely surface misreading. Imagine a guy saying to a girl or even another guy, "I am not your personal Jesus." The person being sung to is asking too much of the singer in terms of personal confidant. That's how my body says it anyway, it's not so much a matter of me thinking it. And all Depeche Mode songs are like that.
Definitely the Missing Persons versions. Why? Well, first of all Dale Bozzio. Hawt!!! Second of all, it's 80's synthpop, which by the way is making a big comeback and I like it. Thirdly, it sounds so much better than the sloppy postpunk version of it. That is just a train wreck,.
Electronic music and new wave did not, imo, withstand the test of time.
Electronic music has evolved and it was largely due to new wave. But new wave died because it burned itself out and MTV had a large part in that. It got overplayed quickly, but that doesn't matter anymore. However, with electronic music, you can see what it has become today.
35 comments:
I like the Dale Bozzio version.
You are not going to get me to admit that I was once an over-the-moon die hard crazy Missing Persons fan.
OK. Too embarrassing. Wasn't me.
I like the Dale Bozzio version better, too.
Missing Persons belongs to that golden era of MTV when it started out: Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood, JJ Jackson, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter.
Locally we had "teletunes" on channel 12. Before MTV (I guess?)
Mental Hopscotch played normal rotation and that song made me flip.
Lem - what version do you prefer?
When I was in junior high all the kids were listening to Def Leppard. I preferred Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, A-Ha, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Human League, Heaven 17, Smiths, Tears for Fears, etc.
My first album, from B Side Records in Madison, was Relax-the 12 inch....natch. Next came Two Tribes (from Frankie) with Gorbachev and Reagan in a boxing ring.
I wanted to be British when I was like 12.
I was hungry like a wolf and wanted to go to Rio or the Mississippi River and be a Karma Chameleon, and then travel to Paris and ride on the Metro, from Berlin (american based band).
kis kiss.
I like the punk rock version.
before MTV, there was teletunes.
@Titus: I'm shocked, shocked! that you don't like The Pet Shop Boys!
Dale Bozzio posed for Playboy and used to appear on stage wearing just Saran Wrap.
The Missing Person version is more betterer done. Clearer melody lines and playing. I doubt the other version would have been a hit. The hooks aren't as well defined and hookilishous.
MTV was an awesome idea and execution back in the 80's and later just dissolved for whatever reason. It was a whole genera of entertainment and a major part of the culture all by its little self. One channel, one simple idea that enticed people to be creative in ways we never were before by taking tools we had already worn out and using them in fun new ways and creating some whole new tools as well. I'm glad I grew up with it. Most things in music and video even today are still derivative of that time and those artist.
Electronic music and new wave did not, imo, withstand the test of time.
In small doses, some of it remains a guilty pleasure. right? wrong? Anyone have a favorite 80's song? sing along? got a bong? wear your thong?
I love the idea of a well made cre-8-TiVe-ly orchestrated music video. I never really cared for videos that were just the band standing there rocking on their instruments. (boring) Tell me a story.
@April: I must have 200-300 "favorite songs" from the 80's. It was a great period.
Here's a "synth-pop" favorite of mine:
"True Faith" by New Order. It has real drums and a cool guitar line which occasionally shines through, especially near the end.
My favorite artist from the 80's is John Philips Sousa. I couldn't find any of his MTV videos though.
bagoh20 said...
My favorite artist from the 80's is John Philips Sousa.
He was in The Mama & The Papa's, right? The one with the hot wife?
200-300 -Alright man!
New Order- I like the timed slapping.
remember Electronic? Same singer, Bernard Sumner.
built like a major 6 feet tall!
JPS? oh he died. or he dead. Something.
"Naaa, he's just tired and shagged out from a long squawk."
I did not know that band, April. Thanks!
Dale Bozzio posed for Playboy and used to appear on stage wearing just Saran Wrap.
She used to make her own outfits out of stuff from the hardware store. Sadly, later in life she was jailed for animal cruelty.
She allegedly hoarded cats and then left them alone to die.
JPS was a Hero on a stamp!
She allegedly hoarded cats and then left them alone to die.
That's an old lady syndrome. I wonder what happened.
Chickl - I think the Electronic (self-titled) CD came out in 1991. (oops - not 80s.)
JPS - 80's connections galore!
I only remember the second one.
I *like* the first one better.
Everything you are talking about is beyond me.
I never heard this song.
If I did, then the memory or having been annoyed would stick out like rock candy on string pulled through my ears. Saccharine. So the top version is better, since you asked, otherwise I'd sit here and mind my own biz wax and not be so annoying myself like this.
As to 80's music, nothing beats Depeche Mode. What a great way to learn and practice another language. That's how I know all their songs. I didn't even have to memorize anything, my body did that. Now, whenever a song comes on I feel faint muscular motor impulses all over being suppressed, conflicted, trying to say the song and trying to behave at the same time. By merely saying the song then repeated phrases become a dance, a couple of times and the song becomes basically a dance routine, one that makes perfect interpretive sense. So when a song comes on that I like, and I like them all, then it is hard to resist the tiny electric impulses I feel physically all over.
"Why you twitchin'?"
" Tiny electrical motor impulses that I am suppressing, the result of interpretive dancing in my mind.
"Never mind."
It all started out one day with a song that went, "Pain. Will you return it? I say it again. Pain. Pain." The song has a lot industrial noise laden on that is quite catchy and I like that too, and I thought, I wonder what else these blokes do, and it turns out I like it all.
All the way through.
Even so late as Your Own Personal Jesus.
I realized by saying the song repeatedly that it has nothing to do with Jesus nor with religion. It is not anti-religious. The song subjects itself to very likely surface misreading. Imagine a guy saying to a girl or even another guy, "I am not your personal Jesus." The person being sung to is asking too much of the singer in terms of personal confidant. That's how my body says it anyway, it's not so much a matter of me thinking it. And all Depeche Mode songs are like that.
I love New Order and is on my Spotify Radio.
Blue Monday-delish.
kiss kiss.
I liked Pet Shop Boys-but they were not my fave-sorry to dissapoint chick.
tits.
I had and still have terrible taste in music. Though, last night in a dream I was singing Chris Isaak songs.
I do like Chris Isaak. That's not terrible, is it?
It's not terrible, April.
My father was conducted by John Phillips Sousa back in '31.
I have always been partial to his marches. Except The Washington Post - that's a commie rag. Mama rag. I do believe it's true.
Definitely the Missing Persons versions. Why? Well, first of all Dale Bozzio. Hawt!!! Second of all, it's 80's synthpop, which by the way is making a big comeback and I like it. Thirdly, it sounds so much better than the sloppy postpunk version of it. That is just a train wreck,.
April Apple said...
Electronic music and new wave did not, imo, withstand the test of time.
Electronic music has evolved and it was largely due to new wave. But new wave died because it burned itself out and MTV had a large part in that. It got overplayed quickly, but that doesn't matter anymore. However, with electronic music, you can see what it has become today.
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