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Post by The Captain on May 16, 2016 11:44:14 GMT -5
I first encountered them on American Bandstand around ... '72? ... syncing to "Talent is an Asset," I'm pretty sure. They might've done "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" (same album & a hit in the UK) as well. Edit: Aaaaaand I erred. Apparently it was "Wonder Girl" (tenuous comics relevance!) & "(No More) Mr. Nice Guys" i nstead. I definitely remembered the latter, but thought I had to be confusing it with Alice Cooper's similarly titled hit. (I'd still bet money that I heard "Talent is an Asset" on TV. Must've been one of the late-night weekend shows, like In Concert or Don Kirsher's or Midnight Special.) I only discovered them a little over a decade ago. Before Pandora, there was a streaming music service whose name slips my mind that used to have "channels" set up based on a genre of music or some other factor. One of the stations played a mix of the KROQ year-end top 107 songs from 1980 through 1990, and Sparks was really big for them during that period. I came to know "This Town Ain't Big Enough...", "I Married a Martian", "Something for the Girl with Everything", and "Cool Places" from that, and I've been using other sources since then to learn the rest of their catalog.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2016 12:01:39 GMT -5
The 2nd album of theirs I ever bought, I think, was Propaganda -- on, god help me, 8-track.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 16, 2016 13:41:19 GMT -5
Uggh ... spiders! Damn black widow made a web in the stack of pallets we keep inside the warehouse. Went to take one off the stack to do and order, and saw it when I started putting parts on the pallet. Now I can't sit without looking, don't want to put gloves on cause I haven't used them since winter. I'm worried it's on the forklift or something cause now I can't find the b____! I got my lighter in my pocket and my can of starting fluid on the lift now. She better make herself scarce!
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Post by impulse on May 16, 2016 13:52:11 GMT -5
While a lot of my favorite music is from the 80s, I'd hardly say I'm a huge "80s" fan, per se. I love old school thrash metal - Metallica, Megadeth, etc, and most of those guys peaked in the 80s, which is really interesting in that it sounds almost nothing like...well, pretty much all other music associated with an 80s sound in general.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2016 13:57:01 GMT -5
I first encountered them on American Bandstand around ... '72? ... syncing to "Talent is an Asset," I'm pretty sure. They might've done "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" (same album & a hit in the UK) as well. Edit: Aaaaaand I erred. Apparently it was "Wonder Girl" (tenuous comics relevance!) & "(No More) Mr. Nice Guys" i nstead. I definitely remembered the latter, but thought I had to be confusing it with Alice Cooper's similarly titled hit. (I'd still bet money that I heard "Talent is an Asset" on TV. Must've been one of the late-night weekend shows, like In Concert or Don Kirshner's or Midnight Special.) Probably this --
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 16, 2016 14:15:07 GMT -5
Yeah -- virtually all of my listening was courtesy of radio till I was maybe 16 & joined the Columbia House record club. My introductory-offer choices (either 7 records or 10; can't remember at this late date) included Sparks' Indiscreet & the Wailers' Burnin', but I'm not sure what else. Quite possibly the ubiquitous Frampton Comes Alive. I'm amazed. You're only the second person I have ever known who is aware that Sparks even exist (the other's my dad, but because of his profession, that wasn't surprising to me at all). Sparks are really well known here in the UK to anybody who lived through the '70s or anyone younger with an interest in '70s rock. They were a pretty big singles band over here back in the day and songs like "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" and "Beat the Clock" are still heard fairly regularly on oldies radio. Plus, the keyboard player's creepy, overly-stern, half-psychotic stare and that Hitler mustache he sported isn't something that is easily forgotten, once you've seen it. I know he used to scare the living crap out of me as a little 'un! Edit: I did a cover of Sparks' song "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" at a bar on the day of the Japanese tsunami in 2011 and, I swear, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Actually, Martin Gore of Depeche Mode fame did a fantastic cover of the song too in 1989, which probably surpasses the original...
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Post by lobsterjohnson on May 16, 2016 14:16:34 GMT -5
Uggh ... spiders! Damn black widow made a web in the stack of pallets we keep inside the warehouse. Went to take one off the stack to do and order, and saw it when I started putting parts on the pallet. Now I can't sit without looking, don't want to put gloves on cause I haven't used them since winter. I'm worried it's on the forklift or something cause now I can't find the b____! I got my lighter in my pocket and my can of starting fluid on the lift now. She better make herself scarce! Yikes!
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2016 14:32:00 GMT -5
And the Banshees led off their fine covers LP, Through the Looking Glass, with this one back in '87 ...
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Post by DE Sinclair on May 16, 2016 16:04:38 GMT -5
Uggh ... spiders! Damn black widow made a web in the stack of pallets we keep inside the warehouse. Went to take one off the stack to do and order, and saw it when I started putting parts on the pallet. Now I can't sit without looking, don't want to put gloves on cause I haven't used them since winter. I'm worried it's on the forklift or something cause now I can't find the b____! I got my lighter in my pocket and my can of starting fluid on the lift now. She better make herself scarce! FYI, an aerosol can of Lysol makes an excellent flame thrower as well. Legacy of a (mostly) unsupervised youth.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 16, 2016 16:49:42 GMT -5
Come to think of it, quite a few '80s fans here, like young adam, might recall them for "Cool Places" with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's back in '83 ... ... or maybe not. Wikipedia surprised me just now by showing that it made only No. 49 in the Top 100. I'd have guessed Top 20, easily. I didn't know that one, but I clicked on "Rush Hour" in the youtube suggestions under that and recognized that from back then. I thought her named looked familiar when you posted it.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2016 8:27:31 GMT -5
My door panel is back together (though I'd be shocked if I somehow stumbled into reattaching the 4 plastic tab things ... still, it seems tight) & the window is on track. Oddly, the control to the window is now reversed -- that is, pushing it down sends the window up, & pulling it up sends it down. That wasn't the case before, & the other windows operate oppositely. Hardly something I can't live with, of course.
I suspect I might well have to replace the moisture/vapor/whatever-you-call-the-inside-plastic-sheet, but I guess time & for that matter rainfall (predicted later this week) will tell.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 17, 2016 9:50:06 GMT -5
I can't stand the Grateful Dead. There isn't enough LSD in the world to get me through one of their interminably masturbatory live albums. It's always amusing to watch my Deadhead friends get their panties in a bunch when I say things like that.
I like Journey well enough to have a Greatest Hits collection. Ditto Styx, Foreigner, and Starship.
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is one of the few Billy Joel songs I loathe, partly because I hate manufactured nostalgia, mostly because it's a crappy tune. Not crazy about "Piano Man" either. "A Matter of Trust" is my favorite Joel tune.
Cei-U! Out of step and proud of it!
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2016 9:52:00 GMT -5
Cei-U! Out of step and proud of it!
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2016 9:53:34 GMT -5
I suppose all the horrible jam bands can be laid at the Dead's door. All the more reason to despise them.
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Post by Mormel on May 17, 2016 12:15:38 GMT -5
I can't stand the Grateful Dead. There isn't enough LSD in the world to get me through one of their interminably masturbatory live albums. It's always amusing to watch my Deadhead friends get their panties in a bunch when I say things like that. I like Journey well enough to have a Greatest Hits collection. Ditto Styx, Foreigner, and Starship. "We Didn't Start the Fire" is one of the few Billy Joel songs I loathe, partly because I hate manufactured nostalgia, mostly because it's a crappy tune. Not crazy about "Piano Man" either. "A Matter of Trust" is my favorite Joel tune. Cei-U! Out of step and proud of it! What are your feelings on 'Uptown Girl'? I get that it's supposed to be a homage to the sound of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, but it just doesn't do it for me. Otherwise I'm quite fond of Billy Joel and my favourite song of his is 'Goodnight Saigon'.
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