Looking through the list of topics on this 30 Day Music Challenge, I realise that some of the harder topics to answer are among these first few days. This one, for me, is perhaps one of the hardest, because I tend to like almost all genres of music. What genres I do dislike, I either dislike the whole genre and don’t like any artists, or the artists I do like fall under multiple genres (for example, I’m not a huge fan of rap, but I love RHCP’s older stuff (first 5 or 6 albums) which are really a rap, funk and rock fusion).
So I’ve decided to elect not so much a genre, but a style of music within a specific era. Now, the 1980s had some great things about them, and music was no different – The Police were fantastic, U2 were actually good back then, and Australia had some huge moments with Men At Work at the start of 80s writing the song that would make an awesome national anthem (it mentions vegemite sandwiches in the lyrics, enough said), and INXS at the end of the 80s taking the world by storm.
The 80s also had some terrible music. It had a lot of terrible music. It had music that doesn’t have a specific genre, music that I label with the term “cheesy cringe-worthy bad 80s music”. But there is one artist who pushes this description so far, I kind of like him because of it: Phil Collins. He was the absolute master of cringe-worthy 80s songs, and they were absolutely awful but oh so good!
This is too hard to demonstrate with just one song, so enjoy a few:
Okay so that first one is a pretty good song, so let’s increase the cheese factor:
Still not cheesy enough? I present you the cheesiest 80s song of all time:
Do you agree? Is Phil Collins so bad he’s good? Or is he just bad?
Wanton Creation 
Really dude? You’re going to pick on Phil Collins? Shame on you. 🙂 There were far worse cheesy songs of the 80s. Walk Like an Egyptian (the Bangles), Islands in the Stream (Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers), Karma Chameleon (nice beat but really?), The Look (Roxette), Blame it on the Rain (Millie Vanilli – the kings of lip sync), Ebony & Ivory (Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder)…Gag. The list goes on and on. I do have to admit that Groovy Kind of Love was barf worthy, but In the Air tonight? Oh, I have one that’s worse. Micky by Toni Basil. “Hey Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey.” Agggggghhhhhh! Calgon, take me away!!
Great post, my friend, even if I was trying to forget the music of the 80s.
Hahaha! I knew I’d get into trouble off someone for this post 😛 (I have realised I am being cheekier and taking swipes at artists more in these music posts than I do in my book posts). But I chose Phil Collins because while all those songs you mentioned are indeed cheesier songs, many of them are the only well known cheesy song by those artists (or the only ones we remember) – Milli Vanilli had no other songs (probably because of THAT incident), McCartney and Wonder didn’t collaborate for another 30 years after that terrible song of theirs, and so on and so forth. Phil Collins poured out cheesy hit after cheesy hit – I have a “greatest hits” collection of his, and every song is incredibly cheesy! I love it actually, but it is super cheesy.
I actually do quite like the song In The Air Tonight, though. To give him credit where it’s due, he was a pretty okay drummer, and he drummed for a lot of artists that people aren’t even aware of – I have some of Robert Plant’s 80s albums which have Phil Collins on drums (and I’m sure the cheesiness was rubbing off on Plant).
Glad you liked the post! I will try to avoid the 80s for the remaining 24 days of this challenge, but I can’t make any guarantees 🙂
Oh my . . . 80s music! And Phil Collins? You’re right, pretty darn cheesy. 🙂
Hahaha. I’ve stirred the pot more than I expected with this post I think 😛
Not that cheesy is necessarily bad. 🙂 I happen to like some of those cheesy 80s songs, but I never liked Phil Collins (even when we were in the 80s.) 🙂
Well this is true, and I guess that’s the point I was trying to make (although a little cheekily), that some cheesy music is good, or at least likeable. I’ve always loved that one Peter Gabriel song, Sledgehammer. Especially the clip for it. 🙂
You’re right, of course. 🙂 Now that I think about it, those sounds sound cheesy now, but when they first came out, those songs were pretty cool. And yes, I liked Sledgehammer, too. 🙂 In a few more decades, those cheesy songs will probably be remade or remixed and then they’ll appeal to a whole new generation.
Absolutely! Not even a few decades, probably in a few years! 😛
LOVED Sledgehammer! Great tune, great beat. Words…eh, but who listens to words anyway? *wink*
I actually have no idea about any of the words to that song except for “Sledgehammer”, hahaha!
Oh, no. You too, huh? Now the world is going to know my deepest, darkest secret because of this comment – I don’t hate Phil Collins. 😛
He’s actually not that bad. Well, okay, he is. But I can’t help it. I found a cassette lying around the house years ago, and I was mildly curious, and so I played it, and I ended up liking him. Not enough to listen to him over and over, but still. I’ve never been able to un-like him. 😛
Hahaha, I think he is a lot of people’s guilty pleasure music (which I think I made one of the questions later on in the 30 days). He’s not my ultimate guilty pleasure music though – I like him, but not that much. Like, I get the giggles when I hear him, and I will listen to him but I never think “geeze I want to listen to Phil Collins right now”. But he’s okay. Like you say, I don’t hate him or dislike him. 😛
Exactly! Although, if I walk into a place that’s playing him, a little head-bopping and singing-along might happen. Under the table. Where nobody can see me. Maybe.
Oh, who am I kidding? I LOVE singing Another Day In Paradise. And Against All Odds. LOUDLY.
Hahahahaha. I must confess, when In The Air Tonight comes on I play the air-drums. Or just bang against random surfaces in time to the song. 😛
Oooo! I do that, too! Have you watched the Family Guy episode where they laugh at Poltergeist (is it The Poltergeist? I forgot), and Stewie gets stuck in the television set and he’s trying to warn them about the poltergeist, but then he says, “Wait I’ve always wanted to try this..” and then he proceeds to sing In The Air Tonight? “Aaaaaii remember! I remember the worry, worry!” And he does the drum thing! 😀
HAHAHAHA that episode was on a few nights ago actually! That has to be one of my favourite ever Family Guy moments, along with the bit where Peter sits down and says “here’s a song that might make you feel a little better” before proceeding to play on acoustic and sing “Rock Lobster” for a good couple of minutes. I went off that show for a while but I’m starting to get back into it again – it’s just so silly. 😛
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pick my top ten Family Guy moments – I freaking love that show. It cracks me up so much that I’m always clutching my stomach, and tears are rolling down my face, and I just about get it together when they crack me up again. Have you seen that one where Stewie is trying to compose a song for that little girl next door, and Brian burts his bubble by saying, “You’re giving the song the same name as the girl? Isn’t that a little overdone?” And then Stewie challenges him to name ten songs with girl-name titles. And Brian goes on.. and on.. and on.. 🙂
Hahahaha yes I remember that episode. I think that’s the trick to FG humour, it stretches the jokes out so long they become unfunny, and then funny again. I loved the “Bird is the Word” episode. So ridiculous, but so funny. Like, half the episode was just that song. I had some students in a class start singing it and I just went “ohhh noooo you don’t, just because it was on Family Guy doesn’t mean you can do it in my classroom”, and then I think the students thought I was some kind of amazing teacher for actually getting the reference, bahaha. Teenagers are so easy to impress sometimes. “WHAT, YOU’RE A HUMAN TOO?!?! NO WAY!”
Eeek! That song was stuck in my head for weeks! I drove people crazy singing it! ” Don’t you know about the bird? Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!” I love the papa-oo-ma-maow-maow bits. 😀
Hahaha, it was so annoying but funny that song! 😛
He did a great job with the Tarzan soundtrack. (hee hee)
Haha, he did, didn’t he? I don’t know why, but I feel terribly guilty every time I like one of his songs. 😛
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I’m afraid I did like him that was a weird decade. The genre I dislike the most is country and western but I have to admit my love for Willy Nelson and sometimes I like to sing aloud like Dolly Parton. Anon.
I’m not huge on country/western/bluegrass music either, though there’s probably a couple of artists I like from that genre even if I don’t realise it. That and rap are probably the only two genres I would go so far as to say I dislike, to be honest.
I have to agree with you about rap and country music. Phil Collins’ song In The Air reminds me of a Magnum P. I. episode I really liked that used this song to represent a rather creepy serial killer. I still get chills when I hear it. As for ‘Another Day In Paradise’ and ‘A Crazy Kind of Love’ maybe I just like ‘cheesy’. A lot of people pan Barry Manilow, too, but I don’t mind listening to his stuff, either. Then, again, I like ‘elevator music’. I guess I’m not much of a music connoisseur! 🙂
In The Air Tonight will now always remind me of that Cadbury ad, with the gorilla playing the drums. Still don’t get what that ad had to do with chocolate but it got people’s attention.
Yeah, I have heard very strong opinions one way or the other about Barry Manilow – personally I’m not really of any opinion of his music…it’s just kind of there. I don’t hate it or love it, really. I think the bad music in the 80s was just cheesy, but it was far better than the music I would label bad from the last decade or so. 😛
I LOVE Phil Collins. LOVE him. “Billy Don’t Lose My Number.” Doesn’t get any better than that.
Hahaha. I actually don’t think a single person so far has said they hate Phil Collins, which is good to see 😛