Not Punk

May 18, 2012 2:25 PM

In which a commercial humorously describes The Human League and Huey Lewis as Punk.
posted by freshwater (93 comments total)

Let's face it, no one wants to be called New Wave except for some elderly British sf writers.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:34 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humor.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:34 PM on May 18, 2012 [32 favorites]

Yeah!
posted by iamck at 2:36 PM on May 18, 2012

Man, I miss the 80s.
posted by Gator at 2:36 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

Enjoyed that, man.
posted by davebush at 2:37 PM on May 18, 2012

The funny part is that this is actually a pretty decent mix, as long as "decent" is defined by "can put on at a party and not have to worry about it until it ends." I used to have a very similar CD I bought off the television in high school, and stashed away after I got broadband. When I ran the punk rock shop the owner threw out all of "our" CDs -- "our" as half were CD-Rs and the other half had seniority over the employees -- I brought it from home and it ended up in regular rotation as it was one of the few album that had something everyone liked on it (the only other one I can think of was a greatest hits compilation by Queen.)
posted by griphus at 2:37 PM on May 18, 2012 [7 favorites]

Huey played harmonica with Thin Lizzy... he's punk as fuck!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:38 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Huey Lewis and the News: The musical equivalent of chopping up your business rival with an axe since 1980.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:39 PM on May 18, 2012 [6 favorites]

The Thompson Twins' 1984 Into the Gap world tour (at the Beacon Theatre, I think) was my first concert. One of the hardest punk acts in the biz.

Marisa: I see what you did there.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:39 PM on May 18, 2012

I don't ever remember seeing this, but it would have been a nice change of pace from the endless repetition of the Freedom Rock one.
posted by jocelmeow at 2:40 PM on May 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

So many of these ≠ punk
posted by obscurator at 2:41 PM on May 18, 2012

Man, I miss the 90s.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:42 PM on May 18, 2012

I hate classic rock, roots rock, Southern rock, etc.--and I swear it was the endless Freedom Rock commercials I saw as a kid. Man, they were so fucking long. Who has a 2-minute commercial?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:42 PM on May 18, 2012

(NB: We were explicitly not allowed to play punk rock at the punk rock store. I once got chewed out for putting on Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables which was genuinely unfair compared to, say, the UK88/D-beat stuff my coworkers regularly got caught playing. That's also how all our CDs got thrown out. All except for the AC/DC, Guns and Roses and Billy Idol compilations I forbade anyone from playing around me because I had practically memorized them.)
posted by griphus at 2:43 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

-and I swear it was the endless Freedom Rock commercials I saw as a kid.

A: "Is that Freedom Rock (TM)?!"
B: "Yeah."
A: "Turn it up!!"

Remains a still-popular refrain in my household.
posted by joe lisboa at 2:44 PM on May 18, 2012 [17 favorites]

I'm actually ripping a re-release of the Avenger's pink album right now. I find this very amusing.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 2:45 PM on May 18, 2012

Huey played harmonica with Thin Lizzy... he's punk as fuck!

And Midge Ure toured as a guitarist and keyboardist with Thin Lizzy before he joined Ultravox but after he was in Rich Kids with Glen Matlock, which means that Huey Lewis was practically in the Sex Pistols! HOLY SHIT.
posted by scody at 2:46 PM on May 18, 2012 [12 favorites]

Huey Lewis --> Back to the Future --> Griff Tannen --> Punk
posted by Beardman at 2:48 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

What? Nobody has yet seen fit to quote Johnny "Slash" Ulasewicz from "Square Pegs"?

"it's a totally different head... totally."
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:49 PM on May 18, 2012 [5 favorites]

Square Pegs?! Man, the only thing I remember about that show was when that kid dyed his fauxhawk purple, and Devo played. I think that might've been the same episode, actually.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:52 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

The Human League are even closer to punk though, because A. They are awesome. and B. They used to be the Rezillos.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:53 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

It is 95 degrees out. According to the thermometer attached to the A.C. remote, it's 97 in the store. I am aware that it is hot in the city, tonight Mr. Idol.
posted by griphus at 2:53 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I saw a John Lee Hooker tribute show at the Garden in the early 90s. Huey was one of the guests. He was no Little Walter but he didn't embarrass himself. I've heard the Clover records from before the News and they're not bad in a bar band way. And I always had a soft spot for I Want a New Drug. And I both punk rock and old fart Freedom Rock (and a zillion other things) with equal zest.

I'd also love to see a Huey or Genesis related thread without a reference to that hack Ellis.
posted by jonmc at 2:55 PM on May 18, 2012 [5 favorites]

I think the male "actor" is a little confused. Punk != surfer dude.
posted by smirkette at 2:56 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I came for the snark. I stayed for the Muffy Tepperman.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:57 PM on May 18, 2012

Oh how times have changed. Now we can actually see where all these compilations came from.
posted by lampshade at 2:59 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is what you want, THIS is what you get.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:00 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

"You can get all 36 of these great songs on two CDs..."

36 songs. Two 750Mb CDs.

My iPod Shuffle has a touch screen, holds 34 hojillion songs, and it's the size of a breath mint.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:02 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

That cannot be from the early 90's. Gotta be from somewhere around '84/'85.
posted by davebush at 3:10 PM on May 18, 2012

jocelmeow: "endless repetition of the Freedom Rock one"

No my brother…
posted by ob1quixote at 3:12 PM on May 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

Toni Basil is hardcore when you pretend that "Mickey" is a slang term for heroin.
posted by MegoSteve at 3:14 PM on May 18, 2012 [13 favorites]

Man, I miss the 80s.

The Madonna of those years seems so much prettier to me now than she did then.
posted by Trurl at 3:16 PM on May 18, 2012

The 80s were surely one of the most inventive and productive decades in music (or maybe the 10-year period between 75 and 85). I feel lucky to have been a kid then.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:20 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

I was at the same show as jonmc (he was probably the annoying guy right in front of me). I remember Huey getting a few boos from the blues purists, but he's actually not a bad blues singer & harp player.
posted by rocket88 at 3:20 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

$26.95 in 1990 would be almost $45 now. For two CDs of songs that everyone's heard way too many times on MTV already.
posted by octothorpe at 3:21 PM on May 18, 2012

Probably because you're 25+ years older.

The fact that she's 25+ years older probably helps too.

That closing shot made me want to find BitterOldPunk and buy him a consolatory can of generic beer.
posted by Trurl at 3:27 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I saw this earlier today and was prepared to be aghast, instead I came away with the realization that except for Huey Lewis, all of those songs are on my mp3 player.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:28 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Huey played harmonica with Thin Lizzy... he's punk as fuck!

And with Clover, which backed Elvis Costello on My Aim Is True (sans Huey, sadly).

So, punk by association.

(I once got a drumstick from a Huey Lewis roadie. True story.)
posted by chavenet at 3:29 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Congratulations, Warner Special Products! You are almost as bad-ass as Chipmunk Punk.

Also, I think that might actually be one of the guys from the Freedom Rock commercial.
posted by mintcake! at 3:29 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

How about a 30 minute commercial for soft rock? Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Air Supply, yo.
posted by davebush at 3:30 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Romantics played a free show at East Tennessee State while I was there about ~'93. An actual pit broke out during Talking in Your Sleep and lasted for most of the show. Surreal but good times. The slamming was downright friendly.
posted by Dano St at 3:31 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

$26.95 in 1990 would be almost $45 now. For two CDs of songs that everyone's heard way too many times on MTV already.

This was before both MP3 downloads and laptop studios. Music was expensive both on the supply and demand side.
posted by acb at 3:34 PM on May 18, 2012

Why is Fred Willard wearing a purple wig?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:34 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

all of those songs are on my mp3 player

"867-5309/Jenny" is in the special class of one-hit wonders that are also masterpieces.

I also have "Human" - which always reminds me of a Musician interview with producers Jam and Lewis, who were asked why they chose to work with the Human League rather than one of the bigger acts then clamoring for their services. The answer was "We thought they needed our help more."
posted by Trurl at 3:35 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

That cannot be from the early 90's. Gotta be from somewhere around '84/'85.

The Love and Rockets track was from '89.

They left out the greatest punk anthem of all (NSFW there at the end).
posted by mph at 3:39 PM on May 18, 2012

It's hard to credit if you only know Midge Ure's time in the band, but Ultravox(!) were hard as fuck when they started. They played punk gigs and kept order by facing off the kids. John Foxx is an imposing bugger, and can stare out the Sphinx.

(Contrary to legend, Gary Numan was never prop for the South African rugby team, and didn't leave to form Tubeway Army after a controversial maul where two members of the All Blacks were left limbless after one of Gazza's trademark 'Krakatoa' moves...)
posted by Devonian at 3:39 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

I also have "Human" - which always reminds me of a Musician interview with producers Jam and Lewis, who were asked why they chose to work with the Human League rather than one of the bigger acts then clamoring for their services. The answer was "We thought they needed our help more."

IMHO, Love Is All That Matters is the standout track off that LP. Human is a standard slab of late-80s Jam & Lewis production (which, whilst fine in its own right, is nothing exceptional), but Love Is... combines that sensibility with something not unlike Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill.
posted by acb at 3:40 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

This just reminded me I saw INXS open for The Go Go's in the summer of 1984, on a beach.
posted by davebush at 3:49 PM on May 18, 2012

Punk or not, Fascination gets my blood up just as effectively as the Bad Brains' Pay To Cum.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:49 PM on May 18, 2012

The Madonna of those years seems so much prettier to me now than she did then.

That's because in 1984 the look that she had was considered trashy and somewhat shocking. For many years now, things that used to be described as "slutty" or "trashy" are now described as being "cute." After that many years of conditioning, Madonna from 1984 looks neither shocking nor trashy. You are able to focus more on her physical appearance because the things decorating her aren't distracting you so much.
posted by flarbuse at 3:53 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

I love both the Foxx era and the Midge era of Ultravox; the Midge years are certainly my sentimental favorite (due to falling madly in love with them while my family lived in Vienna in 1981, when a certain song of theirs was all over the airwaves), but the Foxx years are really pretty incredible -- this is my favorite of that period, I think, but it's hard to say.
posted by scody at 4:03 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I saw a newscast in the late 70's which deemed KISS "punk rock".
posted by telstar at 4:06 PM on May 18, 2012

Culture Club? QUARTER-fucking-FLASH??

I swear to god I thought I was watching an unreleased sketch from Mr. Show!
posted by porn in the woods at 4:07 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

That's because in 1984 the look that she had was considered trashy and somewhat shocking. For many years now, things that used to be described as "slutty" or "trashy" are now described as being "cute." After that many years of conditioning, Madonna from 1984 looks neither shocking nor trashy. You are able to focus more on her physical appearance because the things decorating her aren't distracting you so much.

This is also why most of the songs on Nirvana's Nevermind now sound like mild, catchy pop tunes.
posted by straight at 4:08 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

If Huey Lewis was punk then Mike and The Mechanics were black metal.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 4:09 PM on May 18, 2012 [11 favorites]

This is a song for all you big-heads out there who think disco music is lower than the irrelevant musical gibberish and tired platitudes that you try to impress your parents with...We're The Human League, we're much cleverer than you and this is called 'Dance Like A Star'...".
posted by neroli at 4:10 PM on May 18, 2012

Toni Basil is hardcore when you pretend that "Mickey" is a slang term for heroin.

Well it's already pretty hardcore if you take the interpretation that was going around at the time that it's allegedly about Toni persuading a gay guy that she had the hots for to have sex with her by offering to ahem 'take it like a man'
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:11 PM on May 18, 2012

The address for Westwood Promotions matches the address of "Sessions", the company that brought us Freedom Rock.

Maybe this comp was too punk for Sessions.
posted by helicomatic at 4:11 PM on May 18, 2012

And with Clover, which backed Elvis Costello on My Aim Is True (sans Huey, sadly).

Oh God, I am so old. All right, we're doing this.

I am a huge Elvis Costello fan. I mean, I like Mighty Like The Rose for God's sake. I like North. I'm deranged in my fandom for Elvis Costello. I would gladly make a case for him being the finest songwriter of the last 35 years in terms of quality and in terms of great songs per total song released.

That said, even though he was lumped in with that genre at one point, he is only punk in the same way that the Talking Heads and Blondie were punk - and let's remember that both of those bands were considered punk at one time. For a while, punk was the catch all word for bands that were playing something that didn't sound like this or this.

So anyhow, at the end of the 70's, there were a lot of new sounds emerging and they didn't really have a name for them as a group yet. "Punk" was one label that sort of evolved from a slightly more authentic group of A&R men (McLaren among them) and "New Wave" was a more unit-shifter friendly term developed by another group of A&R men. Many of the groups that were considered "punk" but weren't especially loud or aggressive eventually were considered "new wave" instead of "punk." Both terms are kind of stupid, but whatever.

By the way, bitteroldpunk will, I hope, correct me where this rant goes off track. I get surprisingly worked up about this.

Costello was a top notch pub rocker with an excellent musical pedigree. As of his first album, I don't think he could correctly be called a punk even in the sense that The Talking Heads or Bondie were considered punk. I offer the following tracks as evidence of this:

"Blame It On Cain"

"Sneaky Feelings" (warning: cute kitties)

"Waiting for the End of The World"

Costello was influenced by punk, especially by The Clash. The story goes that, when he first heard their debut album, he listened to it for 36 hours straight and then wrote this song - which is an amazing song, but doesn't sound like what we'd call punk today. Was it punk then? People must have thought so.

What Costello had in common with some punk rock in the late 70's was that he was angry, but I think even in those days he was restless in terms of musical style (something else he shared with The Clash, so if we accept that every single song the Clash released was ipso facto punk - which opens up a sonic can of worms - then I suppose we could argue that Costello was punk on sheer attitude).

Anyhow, my point here (and I do have one) is that a case can be made that Costello was a musician who went through a punk-influenced phase but that his music wasn't especially punk in the same sense that, say, the music of The Sex Pistols (much less the later American DIY scene) was punk.

To whit, I can instantly think of five Costello songs that wouldn't be out of place on this silly K-Tel Punk album (three of which were actual pop chart hits), but I can't think of a single Black Flag that would fit. And thank God for that.

At any rate, the songs on this Punk album were marketed as New Wave (or in the case of Love and Rockets, alternative) but were essentially accessible 80's pop. Not a one of them features the musical experimentation that was the hallmark of the Talking Heads chunk of punk bands or the anger that was the hallmark of the classic British punk acts.

I short, I found a list of the tracks on the CD and am proud to say I have them all on my iPod, so I'm now going to make an awesome mix and name it "Awesome 80's Pop."

Justice is done.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:15 PM on May 18, 2012 [9 favorites]

Egads, sorry, that was long and pointless in retrospect.

And theraputic. Adrien Belew, play me out of this. Goodnight, Foxborough!
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:24 PM on May 18, 2012

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:25 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

Well it's already pretty hardcore if you take the interpretation that was going around at the time that it's allegedly about Toni persuading a gay guy that she had the hots for to have sex with her by offering to ahem 'take it like a man'
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:11 PM on May 18 [+] [!]

Supposedly the song Mickey is about Mickey Dolenz. She worked with him on the set of the movie Head. Here she is in that movie with Davy Jones.
posted by vewystwange at 4:31 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also, arguing about 'what's punk' is a conversation that belongs on the late shift at Hot Topic, not MeFi.
posted by jonmc at 4:32 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

I liked Huey Lewis enough to name a hamster after him; of course we had to change it to Chuey Lewis though.
posted by p3t3 at 4:34 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

I was a punk punk in the early 80's though heavily conflicted because punk was meant to "be dead" but to us it was very much alive. (I did have some cred, my eldest sister really was a punk, squatting in the Coronation Drive Terraces, she knew the Saints) but then NME said we could be "Post Punk" and that was better because it was even more about disillusionment, Thatcher, Regan, AIDS etc, and we didn't have to dress like punks we could dress like Ian Curtis or Ian McCullough and that meant our parents would still come down to the bus stop an pick us up rather than driving past and pretending we were someone else's problem. We couldn't get girls to sleep with us, and we blamed AIDS and the futility of it all- but in reality it was most probably because we were pimply and quite ugly with shit dress sense, and I didn't look like Robert Smith (well she didn't look like Siouxsie Sioux)- I digress. With all of the hideousness of the world, and the crass commercialisation of music, with bands like U2 leaving us behind (they gave us Boy, October and War, then commercial radio picked them up after Live at Red Rock and we were forced to say good bye). We did cheer when the Cure played Primary on Count Down with impossibly loose bass strings, and speeding Iggy mimed I'm Bored with semi erotic overtones and we loved it and gritted our teeth hoping mum wasn't paying attention because it was she that was going to say yes, you can go to his concert. Through all of this, I always maintained a special place in my heart for Huey Lewis and the News.
posted by mattoxic at 4:36 PM on May 18, 2012 [8 favorites]

Also, arguing about 'what's punk' is a conversation that belongs on the late shift at Hot Topic, not MeFi.

My point had more to do with how labeling music was something that the corporations did, though I did a bad job making that point. However, if I'm ever in Hot Topic, I'll look for you.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:52 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

"How do I get my OWN copy?"... :)
posted by Bindyree at 5:22 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

The guy had all the good lines in that.
posted by carter at 5:30 PM on May 18, 2012

Speaking as another person who lived through that era as a young person...okay, I'm just going to leave this here. In 1981, this was hot shit.

Likewise, this album cover was enjoyed in my crowd as the height of hipsterish snark.
posted by gimonca at 8:00 PM on May 18, 2012

Also, Toni Basil's "Mickey" = overplayed and tiresome.

But, Toni Basil's "Mickey" in the Spanish version (which I'm told actually did very well in Mexico) can be played and enjoyed for its kitsch value. ¡Son tipos como tú, Mickey!
posted by gimonca at 8:06 PM on May 18, 2012

Toni Basil is, in fact, punk as fuck.

In addition to being a cofounder of the Lockers -- the dance troupe that invented "locking" -- she also directed all her own music videos, including two Devo covers, plus two for Talking Heads, at least one of which you'll probably recognize (though the other one is better, IMO, and not just because it beat Beat It to the choreographed knife fight by two years without ripping off West Side Story in the process).

Also, she is old! That cheerleader in the Mickey video was pushing forty at the time. She'll be seventy next year.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:21 PM on May 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

Also, while I personally can't stand Ultravox, I give Midge Ure a lot of props for starring in an episode of Filthy Rich & Catflap that scathingly tore apart Rupert Murdoch's sleazy celebrity gossip machine twenty-five years before the phone hacking scandals.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:28 PM on May 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

What kills me the most about these compilation CDs is that because of the way my head works, I'm liable to learn the audio from the commercial as its own song. To the point where I can play or sing just that part of songs I've otherwise never learned. They'll also run together in my head such that if my mind is in playback mode I might run them together just like in the commercial. "So alive, un huh, so alive. Hair down hair down don't dream it's ov-er. Now you might think I'm craz… God damn it!"

Thankfully, now that I don't often see commercials like this anymore, the effect is fading and that only happens with songs that were on radio-recorded high-school mix-tapes. As in, to this day I still expect "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" to fade into "Smuggler's Blues."

That being said, at some point in 2000 or 2001 I succumbed to the siren song of compilation marketing and bought The Buzz and Non-Stop 90's Rock as a two CD set because I really wanted most of the songs on them, but I was too square to steal them off the Internet. I'm only a little ashamed to admit that of the 36 songs on those two CDs, more than half are still in my default playlist.



Bindyree: ""How do I get my OWN copy?"... :)"

I knew I wasn't the only one.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:30 PM on May 18, 2012

Toni Basil directed "Once in a Lifetime"? My sister and I have used that hand-chop-down-the-arm gesture for YEARS as a secret signal whenever someone starts carping and kvetching. "Yeah, yeah, same as it ever was..."

Thanks, Toni!
posted by memewit at 8:35 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

Sys Rq: "Toni Basil is, in fact, punk as fuck.

In addition to being a cofounder of the Lockers -- "

I did not know that, but after seeing your post, I found this one: her dancing on Soul Train with the Lockers. (vid starts at her part). I am absolutely willing to concede that Toni Basil is punker than anyone else on Punk.
posted by dejah420 at 8:40 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Toni Basil is, in fact, punk as fuck.

Sys Rq, you say that, but then you change the subject completely and discuss how she was part of a big, pop dance movement, and made music videos.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:46 PM on May 18, 2012

Well, yes. Punk as fuck. Not punk rock as fuck.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:49 PM on May 18, 2012

And, I mean, relative to Huey Lewis.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:58 PM on May 18, 2012

Let's face it, no one wants to be called New Wave except for some elderly British sf writers.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:34 PM on 5/18
[2 favorites +] [q!]

My closest friend freshman year of college (94) introduced herself to me as a "waver" and it took me about a week of listening to her blather on about obscure New Order 12"s before I realized she wasn't a raver with a mild speech impediment.
posted by thivaia at 9:52 PM on May 18, 2012

Toni Basil is, in fact, punk as fuck.

Additional Fun Toni Basil Fact: She's one of the hookers in the graveyard scene in Easy Rider.
posted by Rangeboy at 11:38 PM on May 18, 2012

This thread is awesome. It has everything I want, and need today.
Especially the early Ultravox.

I have Mickey on 7" somewhere, for some reason, and the B-side is pretty solid.
Sadly, it's not on YouTube, so y'all can't double the number of her songs you've heard.

Fun fact: Mickey was originally called Kitty, according to Wiki.
What that means for "Anyway you want to do it I'll take it like a man" I have ideas.
posted by Mezentian at 12:16 AM on May 19, 2012

But will this compilation afford me the opportunity to Wang Chung tonight?

Also: NEEDS MOAR KAJAGOOGOO.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:18 AM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Kajagoogoo are too shy to come out.

But you can, in fact, Wang Chung tonight.
Everybody can have fun, Wang Chung tonight.
posted by Mezentian at 3:28 AM on May 19, 2012

I didn't realize how much I miss music collection commercials where the Chyron scroll had the band names in different colors: white for included in the collection, yellow for playing on this commercial. sigh. Thanks for posting.
posted by Dean358 at 5:08 AM on May 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

My closest friend freshman year of college (94) introduced herself to me as a "waver" and it took me about a week of listening to her blather on about obscure New Order 12"s before I realized she wasn't a raver with a mild speech impediment.

In early 1980s Brisbane (the capital of the most repressively conservative state of Australia), “New Waver” was a term of abuse used by the local meatheads to refer to people who were into music rather than sports, and thus probably gay and deserving a beating. One guy who grew up there ended up using the term as the name of a long-running satirical musical project.
posted by acb at 6:04 AM on May 19, 2012

Back in the days of Napster someone in a chatroom there was talking about how Nirvana invented punk rock. I pointed out that this wasn't the case and was told to name a punk rock band before Nirvana. I named several and then was told that yeah, but no one really knew about it until Nirvana made it famous.

Oh, kids.
posted by Legomancer at 6:56 AM on May 19, 2012

The Thompson Twins are the band that made me stop listening to popular music.
posted by freakazoid at 8:18 AM on May 19, 2012

Let's face it, no one wants to be called New Wave except for some elderly British sf writers.

Is this where we argue about whether it's more punk to never release The Last Dangerous Visions at all or to release it 40 years after it was first announced?
posted by straight at 9:45 AM on May 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Toni Basil and Rerun in a Schlitz Malt Liquor commercial.
posted by The Lamplighter at 10:25 AM on May 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

Fry: "Everything else held up okay"
Bender: "Except Sports by Huey Lewis"
posted by TheDonF at 7:24 AM on May 20, 2012

Let's face it, no one wants to be called New Wave except for some elderly British sf writers.

Don't forget European filmmakers!
posted by Sys Rq at 11:18 AM on May 20, 2012

Well, yes. Punk as fuck. Not punk rock as fuck.
...
And, I mean, relative to Huey Lewis.

Oh, well then, Sys Rq, if you're going to use a brush that broad... ;)
posted by IAmBroom at 8:23 AM on May 21, 2012

But, Toni Basil's "Mickey" in the Spanish version (which I'm told actually did very well in Mexico) can be played and enjoyed for its kitsch value. ¡Son tipos como tú, Mickey!

Worth entering this thread for! Decontextualized I was forced for perhaps the first time watch Toni dance. Word, she had some crazy moves in that video! There's like some shimmery street robot and some goddamned capoeira in there...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:41 PM on May 23, 2012