Pure 80's Rock
While the cultural shorthand image for '80s pop--pogoing new wavers in skinny ties and parachute pants--may be endearing, it ignores some inconvenient realities, i.e. big hair, arena pomp, glam metal, and the ascendancy of corporate rock. Here's one collection that doesn't overlook all that head-banging, hair-teasing, or overwrought, squeaky guitar soloing. Ranging from relatively tasteful radio fare (Foreigner's archetypical "Juke Box Hero," Billy Squier's late-decade "Don't Say You Love Me," "Twilight Zone" by Dutch vets Golden Earring) to energetically mindless anthems (Night Ranger's "Rock in America," Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight") to prime power ballads (Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again") to acts so wretched (the shameless Zep-aping of Kingdom Come, Cinderella--period) they make one yearn for the relief of David Lee Roth video marathon, this collection offers up a good cross section of what kept the music business solvent during the decade--and gave a subsequent generation of alt-rockers a target wider than David Coverdale's hair. It also documents hits by some now lesser-known contenders (Y&T;, Triumph, Autograph) and the fact that acts like Ratt could muster infectious pop hooks as bright as those red vinyl suits the Romantics insisted on wearing. But then it was a silly decade, wasn't it?--Jerry McCulley