A year of pop music, condensed to 4:38

Is it wrong that the sum of the whole was generally better than the parts?

I know that just about everybody gets nostalgic for the music of their teens, but this is one of the things that makes me think we really did have better pop music in the eighties. A mashup of The Stray Cats, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett and Falco would be hilarious.

Stephanie Z, I get what you're saying, but to be fair, Joan Jett and Cyndi Lauper are different genres.

Think of a mix of 25 late 1970s disco songs. Or the same number of 80s euro-electro-pop songs or big-hair-metal songs. Don't just remember the ones you liked, remember the ones you didn't like and tuned out.

One more thing. This is one of my favourite scenes from The Simpsons:

TV host: Thank you, that was Whitesnake!
Vocalist: We're not Whitesnake man, we're Poison.
Guitarist: I thought we were Quiet Riot?
Drummer (looking at the logo on the drum): Uhh, it says here we're Ratt.

Pseudonym, I agree. They are widely different genres, but the thing is that they all got plenty of play on the local Top 40 stations (and the music video shows) when I was growing up. So did some of the hair metal bands. That's what I think was beautiful about eighties pop music. Everything was pop.

And yeah, that's a great scene. Of course, I can still mostly tell them apart.

Just for reference, here is Billboard's top 25 singles for 1985:

1. Careless Whisper, Wham!
2. Like A Virgin, Madonna
3. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Wham!
4. I Want To Know What Love Is, Foreigner
5. I Feel For You, Chaka Khan
6. Out Of Touch, Daryl Hall and John Oates
7. Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Tears For Fears
8. Money For Nothing, Dire Straits
9. Crazy For You, Madonna
10. Take On Me, A-Ha
11. Everytime You Go Away, Paul Young
12. Easy Lover, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey
13. Can't Fight This Feeling, REO Speedwagon
14. We Built This City, Starship
15. The Power Of Love, Huey Lewis and The News
16. Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds
17. Cherish, Kool and The Gang
18. St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion), John Parr
19. The Heat Is On, Glenn Frey
20. We Are The World, U.S.A. For Africa
21. Shout, Tears For Fears
22. Part-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder
23. Saving All My Love For You, Whitney Houston
24. Heaven, Bryan Adams
25. Everything She Wants, Wham!

If any aspiring DJ wants to have a go, there you are.

We got into a discussion of the 1984, '85, and '89 Billboard lists last weekend, and concluded that they would make some really rocking mashups in the right hands. However, I'd still argue that the 2008 mashup is more sonically homogenous than an '80s mashup could be. However, I'd love to see someone take up the gauntlet and prove us wrong!

Incidentally, I find that I really like this DJ Earworm track. I keep listening to it, although I tune out as soon as it comes on. It's just that hooky. Imagine how powerful it would be as the backing to a commercial: Must. . . buy. . . (product of choice here)

Just to prove that you don't just need modern pop... While searching around I discovered another amazing DJ Earworm track. The artists used are:

Ace of Bass
Mamas and the Papas
Brandy & Monica
Aaliyah
Britney Spears
Beyonce
Donna Summer
Maroon 5
Eminem
Alicia Keys
Destiny's Child
Snoop Dogg
DMX
The Who
Madison Avenue
Eurythmics
Peter Gabriel
Irene Cara
Kanye West
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Jason Mraz
Phil Collins

A more heterogeneous mix would be hard to find without going way outside the mainstream (e.g. mixing fusion jazz and Scandinavian death metal, though the combination of 80s thrash and 50s boy band comes pretty close). Still, it works.

Um, that was really well executed for what it was but it nonetheless hurt my ears a lot. And I don't remember any of the components doing that.