sounds of the 80's

music is such an important part of my life, from my late-bloom-pubescent, to my clueless adolescence, to my current midlife crisis adult-life. and i dun freekin' care if it sounds cliched, becoz itz true ... "cliched" is if i told y'all what music does "to me" ... so i shall share some faded memories instead ...

i'm told by my mum that my maid used to sing a lot to me, in the early 70's when i was but a wee toddler and that i eventually sung back! and there's even a cassette tape somewhere with me singing ... but alas, these memories escape me totally ...

my earliest memory of "music", was probably in early secondary school, with my trusty white-panda-shaped mono-speakered cassette player-cum-radio! (wish i had a picture) i remember recording songs off the radio (cool player, huh? :p), most times pissed frustrated with the non-stop-talking-DJs! ... my finger will be poised on the "record" button, waiting for the DJs to stop yacking, then i'd press as quick as my fingers would allow me, not wanting to miss anymore of the song than i'd already had (i might've been trained to be a great gameshow contestant = Press Buzzer NOW!) ... but that's not the end of it yet ... my fingers will still be poised at the "stop" or "pause" button = waiting for the end of the song, before the DJ when come back on to yackyackyack ... but the stress was lesser, becoz even if he/she spoke beyond the song, i'd rewind back to the point before the yack-started ... and wait to record the next song that'll come along at that point = non-stop-hits like that mah! ahahahahaha :)

mayhaps that's what started me down the dark-path of impatience, innit? ... and maybe why i dun listen to radio much? ... hhhmmm ...

and i'd not be ashamed to admit, i was a really big fan of Dick Lee! hahahaha (pre-Mad Chinaman era, mind) i'd even memorized his "Flower Drum Song", "Fried Rice Paradize" et al ~ those were the good shitte then, before all the glamsham and commercial-shtick (IMHO) ... tho i'd enjoy even more, coz the DJs never really did talk that much when they played his songs! hahaha (oops) and yes, that too was the era of (and yes, i too recorded it) Tokyo Square's "Within You I'll Remain" ...

dun laugh ... ;p

and of coz who can forget the 3-tapes-for-$5-pirated cassettes? with the cheaply printed covers? and where; if you were lucky, they might even include (misspelt) lyrics? and sometimes it was hard to discern who it was i really wanted ~ this was becoz some DJs spoke too darn fast, for me to copy/write down the song-titles and artiste! and this too was before i started buying Smash Hits or No.1 magazines (remember those? great for posters too HAH) ... i had remembered most times i'd pickup "unknown" artistes (to make up the difference in quantity) and i guess it worked out well, coz that way; i'd expose myself to more artistes, innit? and hence i "discovered" The Kinks, Madness, Haircut 100, Dead Or Alive, Kajagoogoo, Scritti Politti and loads of "others" not of the "mainstream" ~ and if ya recognize the names, you'd know im a true music-child of the 80's, from British New Wave Pop to American Shtick (Rick Springfield, Huey Lewis & the News, Irene Cara, Chicago, Survivor, REO Speedwagon, etc AHAHAHAHA) ... coupled with a a few select japanese groups (Anchen TiTai, Checkers) and even canto-pop (Alam Tam ahahahaha and TatMing-duo) ... this is what happens when ya have cheap pirated cassettes ~ for which im eternally grateful, if not my "tastes" might been too "limited", wouldn't it? IMHO :p

but then again, i wouldn't be the music-schizo i am now, innit?

BAH. ;p

and from cheapo-cassettes, i graduated to "the higher class types" (aka "More Expensive") ... pre-recorded songs in Chrome or Metallice Chrome cassettes! ~ found mainly in Coronation Plaza (along Bukit Timah Rd) ... classmates had recommended them, saying they'd last longer and the sound would be so much better = and they were! the sound was crispier and clearer and much better than the muffled-shitte on ye ol cassettes and radio-recorded-grunts ...

had i become such a music-elitistconnoisseur, then? hurhurhur

the ignorance and arrogance foolishness of "youth"... aahhhh

... i think i have somewhere (amongst the many carton-coffins-boxes) the first two ever Chrome-cassettes i've ever savedup for and bought! (yes im a sucker for nostalgia *blergh*). and of coz they included the regular suspects like: Bananarama, Talk Talk, Fiction Factory, Thomsom Twins, Allison Moyet, Yazoo, A Flock Of Seagulls ... endless endless ... hahaha and oh yes, before i forget: those two tapes were actually songs which i'd choosen and requested from the cassette-shop owner ~ tho i'd suspect he just found a cassette with basically most of the same songs from my (not so) extensive list and pawned it off to me ... and i even paid extra for "requested songs"! hahahaha but tis cool, and i enjoyed (again) the newfound artistes and songs ... i was a simple child :)



ah but for the simple life of a kid with limited spending power ... and from cassettes i gradutated briefly into LP/records (Long Playing Records), mainly becoz of the influence of my richer frens, who started their own "Mobile Disco" (hahahaha remember those? even before "Tea Dances" sial) ~ teenage entrepreneurs in the 80's already leh! and i'd tag along for the "glam" to rub off me ... but realizing this "jet-settin-lifestyle" ain't for me, coz i was always the wallflower ... sad fcuk lah hahahah ... anyways, the LP-collection/fad didn't last long (only my brother became the hardcore-one! LOL ;p) ...

and i remember before the advent of Compact Discs, i was actually reluctant to switch. i was basically (and probably still am) resistent to change. altho the LPs didn't really stick, i still had my trusty cassettes! money spent on mini-combo with cassette player already! got double-cassette-decks somemore! can dub my fav songs leh! can make money leh! hahahaha ... but of coz, we stop not the evolution of industry and here i am, typing this entry on my Mac, listening to Judy and Mary (japanese group) wailing from my iTunes and downloading more songs to put into my multiply-playlist ... seems things haven't really changed much, innit? heh :)

... or at least i dun haveta worry about DJ's yacking during a song ... :p

what are your memories of 80's music? :)



(this entry was first posted on another online-entity on 29.06.2005)