Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1986

It's been a while since the last post in our "Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities" series, so I'll start by reminding you that the simple idea behind it, is to pick a year and then select three great songs released as singles that fall in one of these three categories, based on the level of their critical and commercial success.

Last year, when we did our first post in this series, we started by going back 30 years to 1985. This is exactly what I'm going to do for the reboot: time for a flashback to 1986 for three, pretty "funky" songs; one that you definitely know, one that you probably do and one that the odds are you're hearing for the first time:

Run DMC - Walk This Way

The more than 27 million views of this video on YouTube really says it all about the level of success for Run DMC when they had the brilliant idea to cover Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" with the participation of its songwriters, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. The song became the first hip hop single to crack the US Top 5 and helped "Raising Hell", Run DMC's third LP, to achieve triple-platinum status and become the first rap album to reach Number One in the charts. This was not the first track to bring hip hop and rock together, but its unprecedented level of success birthed the rap-rock hybrid and opened the doors of the mainstream to hip hop music.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth

"World Shut Your Mouth" was the title of Julian Cope's first solo album in 1984, a few years after the demise of The Teardrop Explodes, one of the key bands of the post-punk Liverpool scene of the late '70s - early '80s era. The song of the same title surfaced two years later when it was released as the single to prepare the ground for Cope's third solo LP, "St. Julian", which followed in March 1987.

The upbeat single became Cope's biggest commercial success, reaching the Top 20 in the UK and even managing an entry into the US Top 100. The 12-inch version of the single is highly recommended as there you can also find a Trouble Funk remix of the title song, as well as two killer cover versions of the 13th Floor Elevators' "(I've Got) Levitation" and Pere Ubu's "Non-Alignment Pact", two of Julian Cope's favorite bands.

The Spikes - River of Love

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a video for The Spikes' 1986 single "River Of Love", as the band from Adelaide, Australia that was active between 1983 and 1986 never found much commercial success and an internet search of their name will not give you back many useful results (apparently there was also an Irish band with the same name in more recent years).

The Spikes made their debut in 1983, a fine era for Australian rock, with the excellent single "She’s Melting" which was released on Greasy Pop Records, a label founded by their guitarist Doug Thomas. After the 1984 mini LP "Six Sharp Cuts" and another single ("Bloody Mess") the next year, they released in 1986 their first and last album "Colour In A Black Forest", a great "lost" garage-rock gem of the '80s, which opened with the funky bass line of "River Of Love", also released as a 7-inch single. I could say that this was a track ahead of its time, as it was bringing together rock and dance grooves a few years before the rock-dance crossover started to rise in popularity in the UK indie scene of the late '80s - early '90s. Unfortunately the The Spikes were from a different continent and a few years too early for that, so they remained a name known only to those few who kept an ear to the underground Aussie rock scene of the '80s. Not that the rock-dance thing was their main style. Check out here "Colour In A Black Forest" to better understand why The Spikes deserved a wider audience.

Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1990

In the three previous editions of our latest series of posts, we've traveled back to 1980, 1985 and 1995 to remind you of some key tracks from these years that can be classified as hits, cult classics or obscurities based on their level of commercial success. Regardless of their popularity though, there is no doubt in my mind that the most appropriate label for all the song trios we've presented so far is Killer Tracks. Here's another killer trio, this time from 1990:

The early '90s was certainly a great era for the UK alternative music scene. Among the numerous new bands taking their first steps in that period were The Charlatans from the West Midlands, a band whose sound was quickly associated with the Madchester scene, and Ride from Oxford who soon became one of the pivotal bands of the shoegazing sound. 

"The Only One I Know" was just the second single of The Charlatans, released on May 14th, 1990, and it instantly became a big hit, landing at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart and also breaking into the Top 10 of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in the US. Here's our choice for hit single of 1990:

It would take Ride a little longer to have a similar hit in the UK (that would be 1992's "Leave Them All Behind", which also peaked at number 9), but there is no doubt in the mind of shoegaze fans everywhere that the string of EPs that launched the band's career in 1990 include some of their best and most influential songs. One of them is our choice for this year's cult classic: here's "Chelsea Girl", track 1, side A of their debut, self-titled EP released on January 15th, 1990 on Creation Records, the song that was my introduction to Ride:

Danielle Dax has created throughout the '80s some truly unique, inspiring experimental pop records, all released on small, independent labels. In 1990 she made her major label debut with the fine "Blast The Human Flower", produced by Stephen Street. Despite a more accessible sound and a very good cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" which she released as a single, the record didn't find the success it deserved and after one more independent release in 1995, Dax retired from music to focus on other artistic endeavors including interior design. 

Have a listen to her cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows" below and make sure to check out her original compositions as well, not only on "Blast The Human Flower" but also on records like "Inky Bloaters", "Jesus Egg That Wept" or "Pop-Eyes".

Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1995

For the third installment of Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities we are going back 20 years to 1995.

You can find all previous posts in this series here, so let's not waste time with introductions and go straight to the music with The Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". Released on October 24, 1995, it was the lead single off the band's third album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and became their first Top 40 hit in the US, while also reaching the Top 20 in the UK:

San Diego's Rocket From The Crypt have given us several excellent albums and singles throughout the '90s and "Born in '69", the lead single off their major-label debut "Scream, Dracula, Scream!", is certainly among their best. Enjoy John Reis and company in top screaming form in our selection for the cult classic of 1995:

Scarce, the power trio featuring Anastasia Screamed singer/guitarist Chick Graning and bassist Joyce Raskin, could have easily found success on the strength of their astonishing debut album "Deadsexy", but a near fatal brain aneurysm stopped them in their tracks. Thankfully Graning was able to pull through, but the momentum for the band was lost and they eventually split up two years later without any more releases until their reformation in 2008. As luck would have it, without any promotion their excellent 1995 single "Glamourizing Cigarettes" as well as the album did not reach many ears, but those of us who own a copy of "Deadsexy" will always cherish it.

Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1980

Part two of our new, monthly series of posts where we pick a year from the '80s or '90s and present three favorite songs that fall into one of these three categories: Hit, Cult Classic or Obscurity.

Of course, it's not always easy to decide to which category a song fits in - surely, a hit cannot also be categorized as an obscurity, but it is possible that a song that had huge commercial success in one part of the world remained, at best, a cult classic in other territories.

This is exactly the case for the single I've chosen as my favorite hit of 1980: on March 10 of that year, The Jam released the double A-side 7'' single "Going Underground / Dreams of Children" which went straight to the top of the UK chart and remained there for three consecutive weeks. It was The Jam's first number one in their country (three more would follow before Paul Weller's shock decision to break up the band at the top of its popularity in 1982), but success for them never came on the other side of the pond, so, as far as North America is concerned, this one rather belongs to the Cult Classic category. No matter how you choose to categorize it, though, there is no doubt that "Going Underground" is one of the finest rock tracks of the '80s:

Choosing just one Cult Classic from 1980 is certainly a tough task. Just about any entry in our Top 50 Singles list of that year (apart from the few other obvious hits, of course) can be classified as a cult classic, so I could really just pick a random number and go with that one. Instead I'll break the tie with an obvious choice from one of the countless classics that The Fall have recorded throughout the '80s (and '70s, and '90s, and '00s, and so on) - here's "Totally Wired" from September 1980, released on Rough Trade as a 7'' single with "Putta Block" on the B-side:

Our final selection from 1980 was chosen as "Single of the Week" in all major British music newspapers in the spring of that year but failed to break into the charts. "Seven Minutes to Midnight" by Pete Wylie's Wah! Heat (one of his many Wah!-related incarnations) is undoubtedly a classic, but given that it is perhaps the least well-known track in my 1980's Top 10, I will pick it as the year's obscurity. On a positive note, its critical approval led to a contract with a major label where Wylie released the following year "Nah = Poo -The Art of Bluff", his debut album as Wah! (no more Heat, but not yet Mighty, if you know what I mean) which included this excellent song about the cold war and the era's nuclear paranoia:

On another positive note, Pete Wylie is preparing his first album in this century, titled "Pete Sounds" and you can help by pledging your support here.

Check out here the first part of Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities with our selections from 1985.

Hits, Cult Classics & Obscurities: 1985

First edition of a new series of posts where we pick a year and choose three songs that belong in one of these three categories: Hits, Cult Classics or Obscurities.

The first category includes bona fide hit singles chosen among the year’s top-sellers in the US or the UK. The second includes songs that may not have found much commercial success when they were released, yet their lasting influence has given them cult status. In the third category there are songs that perhaps you've never heard before but among them there are plenty of hidden gems that deserve your attention.

For the premiere of Hits, Cult Classics and Obscurities we go back 30 years to 1985 and start off with Paul Hardcastle's UK Number One hit "19", an anti-war song released on February 17 inspired by a documentary on the Vietnam war and the electro sounds of Afrika Bambaataa:

The indie scene of 1985 has certainly plenty of cult classics to offer. Let's hear another release from February 1985, "Field Of Glass" by The Triffids, the title track of an excellent EP that the cult Australian band recorded at BBC's Maida Vale studios on November 6, 1984, produced by Mark Radcliffe - not one of their most known songs but undoubtedly one of their most powerful:

Last but no least, have a listen to "Chance", a post-punk roller-coaster ride by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, released as a single in 1985 but not included in the Leeds band's debut album of the same year "Talk About the Weather":