The 80's Pop Pickers Podcast

This podcast was inspired by a post over at www.nialler9.com From nowhere people started to admit to certain a guilty pleasure they got from listening to particular tunes from the 1980's. Always a keen member of the nostalgia brigade I decided to dig through some boxes of seven inches from the eighties. This isn't a favourite top ten by any means but is instead intended as a representation of the stuff that really defined the charts during the period in question. Enjoy the trip down memory lane. If you enjoy it then go and buy one of those cheap compilations available in all good supermarkets. Better still you could offer to buy all mine from me.

The 80's Pop Pickers Podcast


1. Pop Musik – M

This one just manages to sum up the eighties for me. Perfect pop.

2. Living it Up – Level 42

I used to hate this band when this was released. Some pasty faced blokes trying to reinvent white soul music in the UK. That said I’ve revised my thinking considerably. It’s great.

3. Owner of a Lonely Heart – Yes

A great rock-pop crossover at the time. The production is great. The sound is set in a distinct time and place, a place that Yes never really managed to revisit. Pity.

4. Teardrops – Womack & Womack

The girls always loved this one. That’s enough reason to merit its inclusion.

5. Dancehall Days – Wang Chung

This reminds me of MT USA. I’m sorry that I didn’t include the Safety Dance by Men without Hats. I always associate the two songs together for some reason. Don’t know why.

6. All Night Long – Lionel Richie

The original soul-glo star of the eighties, Lionel really had it going on for a while. He had a succession of huge hits like that ‘Hello’ tune. In the video the chick made a hilarious bust of Lionel out of clay. It was a toss-up to include this tune or Dancing on the Ceiling but this one won out on account of it being just cheesey and great. But so is the other one you say!

7. I can’t go for that – Hall & Oates

I’m not sure how this one snuck onto the podcast but I decided to leave it in. I was never a huge fan of these chaps. The blonde one always reminded me of a mulleted mate and the little one always reminded me of one of the guys from Cannon & Ball. That doesn’t quite paint a delightful picture in the mind but the tune is good in a typical eighties kind of way. We were satisfied with less in those days.

8. State of Independence – Donna Summer

This tune really owes everything to the Quincy Jones production on it. The guy was on fire back in the eighties producing stuff like this as well as the Thriller album by Michael Jackson. It’s not really fast enough to get a dancefloor rocking but it still deserves its place in pop history.

9. Joe Le Taxi – Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa appeared on Top of the Pops singing this and I was smitten. I harboured thoughts of marrying her for several years but when you’re vying against Lenny Kravitz and Johnny Depp you realise you’ve got to give the game up. I learnt all the lyrics to this and its only recently I translated them. As it turns out its brilliantly nonsensical.

10. Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel

Although Peter Gabriel put out an unholy amount of shite back in the eighties he did manage to release this piece of genuine brilliance. It was accompanied by a groundbreaking video that was the toast of MTV for a long time. I’ve never really wondered what the lyrics are about so I must give them a proper listen one of these days. Or else someone else might want to listen and leave a quick synopsis in the comment box.