Best Decade Tournament - 80s: Koopee wins!

[dsb1218]

I like flagpole sitta, for reals.

Same

[Kaius]

numbers
Lament
PryTo
Kaius

[numbers]

I like flagpole sitta, for reals.

Same

It's awesome.

[epilogue]

Numbers
Lament
Pryto
Kaius

[Lament]

Numbers (Both groups have songs I really like, but Numbers has only one song I truly don't care for)
Me (Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge...)
PryTo (He has seven songs that appear on albums that at some point in time have passed through my personal top ten)
Kaius (I wanted to hold the fact that you picked the song that killed Simple Minds for over a decade against you, but I really can't stand Paul Simon)

[Kaius]

Do you dislike the song or just the effect it ultimately had on the band?

[Lament]

I'm indifferent to the song for the most part. But Derek Forbes quit the band over whether or not they should accept the request to record the song (it wasn't written by them, they were just asked to do it). He was far and away the heart and soul of the band's sound to that point. With his departure they went from being possibly the most interesting, creative, daring, and mysterious of the entire crop of bands to emerge from that side of the ocean in the wake of punk to an embarrassing, fourth-rate U2. They put out garbage records (for the most part) until he finally rejoined in 1997. They were in the midst of one of the greatest four album runs ever (Empires & Dance, Sons & Fascination, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), and Sparkle in the Rain), and were pretty much DOA after his departure.

Simple Minds with Derek Forbes



Simple Minds without Derek Forbes



Simple Minds with Derek Forbes (the second time)



Forbes left again after Neapolis, but he set them back on track enough that two of the three albums they've released since then have been outstanding additions to their catalog. It really is a story of three totally different bands. Or one band that got replaced by a bad joke for a decade in the middle.

[numbers]

I didnt know any of that, interesting stuff, Lament.

[Jorge]

Sounds like Derek Forbes ruined Simple Minds.

"Don't You Forget About Me" is one of the hookiest, most memorable singles of the eighties. It's an anomaly within their catalogue, but still a really good tune, and a worthy pick.

[Kaius]

Same here. I figured you'd answer my question beyond my expectations.

I just have a soft spot for the Breakfast Club, and thus that song.

[Jorge]

Speaking of synthpop, you know what's a great fucking album that went completely untouched in this tourney? Hats by The Blue Nile. "The Downtown Lights" particularly.

[Rangi Guy]

I thought Forbes got fired from the band

[Lament]

Sounds like Derek Forbes ruined Simple Minds.

"Don't You Forget About Me" is one of the hookiest, most memorable singles of the eighties. It's an anomaly within their catalogue, but still a really good tune, and a worthy pick.

"Don't You Forget About Me" is a song that could have been performed to more or less the same effect by any number of bands in 1985. It wouldn't be a problem if it were just an "anomaly" in their catalog. The problem is they then spent a decade trying to tailor their catalog to follow in the footsteps of that song and ending up becoming one of the most generic of late 80s bands after being one of the most unique ones of the early 80s.

And seriously, it's not that good of a song. The enduring quality of it is tied more into the enduring quality of The Breakfast Club than anything else.

[Lament]

I thought Forbes got fired from the band

That was the story at the time, but according to him he quit, and the stuff Jim and Charlie have said about that period in the last decade or so seem to back up his claim.

[numbers]

Lament, which song of mine was the one you didnt like? Cult of Personality or Take On Me?

[Rangi Guy]

I thought Forbes got fired from the band

That was the story at the time, but according to him he quit, and the stuff Jim and Charlie have said about that period in the last decade or so seem to back up his claim.

From an interview.....

Derek, the next album, 1984's Sparkle in the Rain then produced a slew of hit singles in its own right, but it was the song from the movie, The Breakfast Club ('Don't You Forget About Me') that finally broke Simple Minds in the US market almost overnight! What can you remember of that time period, between having recorded it and being told you were suddenly #1 in not just the US, but many other countries around the world? DEREK - "I remember first hearing the song at Barwell Court, home of my successor, John Giblin. John had a rehearsal / recording room at his enormous manor in Surrey. We had been told that we were first in line to record the main track for the movie 'The Breakfast Club'. Jim heard the song, but didn't want to do it. Mick, Charlie, Mel and myself decided that we would do it, and I was to sing it. Luckily for the film and the World, I persuaded Jim that this would be an American Number One record, he gave in, and made it the song that it is."

"We put the Simple Minds stamp on it, and with Jims "Hey Hey..and La La La's", we stormed the charts everywhere. When we reached number one in the States, I had already been sacked, So, for me it was bitter sweet. I was really proud of my achievements with the band, but I felt that I had lost all of my close family. Little did I know that I would join the hottest German band around in the following two months..Propaganda. I recruited Brian McGee into the band after my good friend Steve Jansen of the band Japan, had left for projects new."

[Iholdthepain]

I don't care who thinks whose picks are 4th rate, or whose are not obscure enough. I have a good cross-section (not genre-specific) of my best representation of the 80's... and more importantly, have a cool new playlist of 25 songs.

I think it's mostly fun (and in some cases... interesting) to see what everyone picks, opening my eyes to songs/bands I wasn't previously familiar with (that's why I DO watch the videos). It's this voting part, or more specifically the attempt to discredit someone else's picks that I get turned off by... especially by those who do not play.

[Lament]

Lament, which song of mine was the one you didnt like? Cult of Personality or Take On Me?

Watching the Wheels, actually.

Speaking of synthpop, you know what's a great fucking album that went completely untouched in this tourney? Hats by The Blue Nile. "The Downtown Lights" particularly.

I've always meant to check this album out. The Downtown Lights and Headlights on the Parade are the only songs I know from it, but a bunch of regulars at the new wave/classic alternative night I used to do swore by that album.

[numbers]

I cant wait to listen to all my picks in a chronological playlist when we are done with all these.

[numbers]

Lament, which song of mine was the one you didnt like? Cult of Personality or Take On Me?

Watching the Wheels, actually.

Ah, I almost went with Starting Over there, but thought Watching The Wheels would appeal more to the masses.