Borrowed Nostalgia For The Unremembered '80s

Circa 1981 to 1986 is full of all these wonderful, forgotten pop nuggets. The guitars motor along, the synths take over the chorus and the lyrics get too melodramatic about love that was never going to be anything but brief. But slow these songs down by at least a third, simplify the chord progression, make the synths drone a bit longer and isolate the vocals, and suddenly these aren't pop hits any longer -- they're something much sadder and wistful, longing poking through a pile of sugar. Did you realize that the first line leading into the chorus of "Take on Me" is "It's no better to be safe than sorry"? Turn its meaning into whatever you want it to be.

Above is the video for the latest example I discovered, via, of all places, the radio at the gym. It's called "Goodbye to You," by Scandal, who unexpectedly enough, were led by Patty Smyth (no not that Patti Smith!), who's now John McEnroe's wife. This is one of Scandal's biggest hits, apparently, boosted and then forgotten by MTV's early days. In 20 years, music historians will sift through these years' videos, just as paleontologists do for fossils, for treasures like this. Listen closely because this song is perfect.

Thanks to LCD Soundsystem for the post's title. Their song lyrics and titles routinely make for good blog post titles.