1987 was pretty stellar itself. 30 years ago I was in my
20s and although the rock era had given way to New Wave and Heavy Metal, the
singles format was saved through the advent of the 12inch. 1987 meant New Order
and The Smiths, OMD and The Cure. It wasn't hippie cool, but it was a pretty trick
time to be 20. Some of 87’s best:
"Fairytale of New York": A working class Christmas! A clever marriage of the sacred and
the profane, quite literally, as well as two completely contrasting voices. And
as in certain marriages, it's the pulling apart that sometimes pulls a couple
together. I don't know which line I like best: "Well, so could anyone,"
or "Merry Christmas your arse!", but that’s Christmas realism.
The list of songs that compel me to repeat it over and
over and over with tears in my eyes is pretty brief, but I'm happy to say that "Fairytale" does the trick every f-ing time. And with all due respect to Nick Cave (a good
friend of Shane McGowan's, btw), saying it's a "Christmas song that's so
utterly hopeless" is completely and utterly wrong. When a dream fails, all
that's left is hope, and the final 4 lines are
among the most beautiful in all of music.
"Strangelove": The LP, Music for the Masses, was the
epitome of style, like it was packaged by Herb Ritz; it reeked 1980s. While the
music paled in comparison to Black Celebration, there was a stellar course
of radio-friendly hits that would only be exceeded with the next LP. This is
their darkest contribution to date in content, mostly about Gahan’s decent
into drug use and the fuel for raw sex. It's an album that the high school
freaks and geeks would curl up with their Walkmen after being bullied.
Gone is the cheese and bubblegum to be replaced with something alien and cold
and kinky. DM were all in their mid-twenties at this point but resonated with moody prepubescent teens during the Reagan years.
"Girlfriend in a Coma": Open to a million interpretations, "Girlfriend
In A Coma" is an affectionate and brilliantly realized pastiche of the "Death
Disc" genre that was popular in the 1960's, complete with the trademark drama
and narrative style lyric. Both Morrissey and Johnny Marr have gone on record
expressing their love of 60's teen pop music, such as Twinkle (who recorded the
death disc 'Terry') and The Shangri La's, the latter who ultimately became the
queens of this strange but short lived genre that The Smiths briefly revived.
It’s serious.
"True Faith": One of the best fusions of moody postpunk to a driving beat
that just makes you want to sway to its melding of sadness and
elation. Of course, New Order were one of the best, if not the best, singles
band of their era. The 12" is superior, obviously. Their 12" records are, along with the likes of The
Sisters of Mercy and The Smiths, like album-level statements in themselves. As
expected, the B side, "1963" is just as good and could easily have been the A side
based on its quality as a song. Stephen Hague's production on both is just
superb. Yet another striking sleeve from Peter Saville
completes the package.
Finally, face it, it’s just not 1987 with Rick Astley's "Never
Gonna Give You Up." (Man up and admit it.) Bam, all that needs to be said. I will add that, although
this was antithetical to everything my squad and I were about, Rick Astley was
my fashion maven, hands down.
