Monthly Archives: August 2009

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Julie & Julia

juliejuliaI don’t think there’s any real question that Meryl Streep is the finest actor of her generation. And at the risk of indulging in hyperbole, it might be safe to say at this point that she’s the finest actor of any generation.

Can you even conceive of a movie review that goes something like this: “The film is quite good but for the flat leading performance by Ms. Streep”? Of course not.

On the other hand, I’ve read plenty of reviews along these lines: “The film has its shortcomings but Ms. Streep’s commanding performance elevates the material.” Indeed, her very presence makes every film she’s in at least a little bit better.

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Song of the Day #386: ‘Tainted Love’ – Soft Cell

softcell20 Best Songs of the 80s – #16

Here’s an example of an 80s song that didn’t make much of an impression on me at the time of release (after all, I was only 9 in 1981 when it came out) but has muscled its way into my brain as a quintessential 80s song in the years since. ‘Tainted Love’ so typifies that 80s sound that, coming out as early as ’81, I suppose it really should be credited with creating that sound.

And that makes it all the more surprising that this is actually a cover of a 1964 song recorded by Gloria Jones. I had no idea this song wasn’t an original. Somehow that takes away from what Soft Cell accomplished. I mean, doesn’t that make them even less than a one-hit wonder? Sort of a half-hit wonder? I don’t know, maybe not. Here’s the Gloria Jones version if you’d like to compare.

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Song of the Day #385: ‘Faith’ – George Michael

faith20 Best Songs of the 80s – #17

Here’s an example of a song and an artist that transcend the 80s… George Michael’s next album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, came out in the early 90s and was even better than this one. That album represented his creative peak, however, and what followed was many years of silence and then a very public fall from grace.

And the wonderful Faith album holds up to this day, not as an 80s relic but as an involving, passionate work. If I were arranging this list strictly by the quality of these songs, this one would be near the top. But ‘Faith’ does crack my list of 80s favorites because I have strong memories of Michael’s transition from Wham! fairy to solo sex symbol.

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Song of the Day #384: ‘Eye of the Tiger’ – Survivor

survivor20 Best Songs of the 80s – #18

1982 brought Rocky III, at the time just about the best movie ever. I remember the thrill of hearing the Rocky theme music kicking in over the United Artists logo as I sat in the 167th Street theater in North Miami.

Rocky III had Mr. T as Clubber Lang and Hulk Hogan as Thunderlips. It had the death of Mickey and the evolution of Apollo Creed from enemy to friend and trainer. It had that great Talia Shire motivational speech (“not for money or me”) followed by the training montage to end all training montages.

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Song of the Day #383: ‘Relax’ – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

frankie20 Best Songs of the 80s – #19

1984’s ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood has to be the dirtiest record to ever get non-stop popular airplay. It’s certainly the gayest. In fact, the video for this song (embedded below) was banned by both the BBC and MTV due to its mature content. Compared to the stuff MTV plays today (when it actually plays music videos) this is pretty tame, but I wonder if the gay themes would still get it into hot water even today.

It wasn’t just the video for ‘Relax’ that was banned by the BBC. The song itself was blacklisted after a DJ took a little time to actually read the lyrics. As always, the ban just made the song more popular and it rocketed to #1 on the charts as people rushed out to buy what they were told they shouldn’t listen to.

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