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Kick Off! 1981
7 Plays12 days ago
Join Josh as he begins the trip down memory lane's post-punk, new wave musical journey. Each episode will focus on the artist or album of a randomly drawn year from the late 70's to the mid 90's.
This episode features the album Waiata from Split Enz but begins with the band's previous album, True Colours.
You can learn more about Gen X 4Life podcasts here- https://www.instagram.com/genx4life_podcast/
And check out the growing playlist of songs mentioned here-https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6vJ4QaIavkhVM4OYDmYbVn?si=f8607b296dc04693
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Transcript
Introduction to 'That TV Sound'
00:00:16
Speaker
You're listening to That TV Sound with your host, Josh Downing, a Gen X for Life podcast.
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome listeners. Welcome to the pilot of my brand new podcast. This one is called that TV sound. And I'm going to be talking about, you know, the, my memories of that post-punk new wave
Podcast Format and Excitement
00:00:43
Speaker
era. So I grew up in the early eighties.
00:00:47
Speaker
I came from like a disco background and some sort of weird rock music background. I've always had music in my life, loved it. But I really grew up on 80s music. And so I've come up with this brand new format.
00:01:01
Speaker
I'm going to be testing it solo for a little bit just until I sort of get the groundwork done. I've put Yabazonker Zoinks on a bit of a hiatus right now. I'm doing a redesign so I can do something exciting and new for 2026.
Josh's Vancouver Roots and Musical Evolution
00:01:13
Speaker
But really excited to be here to talk about music. And hopefully I'll have my guests lined up soon so that I can really sort of dig into what was happening.
00:01:23
Speaker
The format for this one is going to be a little bit different because what I've done is I've sort of done a randomized selection. So each episode I'll have a randomized year that I'm going to be talking about. Sometimes there'll be sort of a, you know, worst music or a live show that I saw, just something unusual about that particular period.
00:01:43
Speaker
So today's episode is going to start with 1981. Now, the the sub-theme of this episode is also that it's the worst for me from 1981.
00:01:56
Speaker
Now, there's a lot of music out there that I could say is the worst, but I don't really want to focus on worst. It's more just a, here's a disappointing album from an artist that I previously liked.
Influential Friendships and New Wave Discovery
00:02:10
Speaker
So let me give you a little bit of background. In 1980, I was 14 years old. I grew up in Vancouver, BC, which is the western side of Canada, in a suburban area. It was really kind of a rough area.
00:02:26
Speaker
Um, well, it was really kind of a scary place to grow up. Uh, once I got to that sort of teenage years, um, a little bit rough and I was bullied a lot, but I kind of grew out of that and I kind of found my own way through that, that whole time period. But 14, 1980, I was grade eight and i was in grade eight really scared because I was in a school that was way out of my normal school zone. So I didn't have any school friends and I was still delivering a paper paper route. So I was making some money, but I was pretty nerdy. I was a nerdy kid. i had floppy feathered hair. at one point i
00:03:04
Speaker
At one point, i my mom gave me a perm. So I had this big, massive, curly, dried frizzy hair that I kind of hid under a ball cap that just was not my thing.
00:03:16
Speaker
But I was kind of just a loner and I just did my own thing.
Punk Fashion and Band Discoveries
00:03:22
Speaker
By the end of grade eight, I had met some people and these people helped change my life.
00:03:28
Speaker
um my My best friend, um ah I'm going to call her Terry. She was instrumental in Getting me into the the the British end of music, so the the new wave stuff, because up until that point, my current playlist was probably some disco. I had some Donna Summer going on. I was listening to Styx and Little River Band. So I just was kind of really playing it easy there.
00:04:00
Speaker
I started hearing music. I think that the first really big new wave band for me B-52s.
00:04:07
Speaker
They were on the radio with Rock Lobster. Blew me away. I'm like, this is so different from everything that I knew. And I was really excited about it. Devo was in there with Whippet. It was another song that was just like, blew my head. um I'm like, where how do I do this? How do i get into this? How do I dance to this? How do I sing with this? It was just...
00:04:31
Speaker
everything changed my whole perception of of what music was changed Gary Newman was right in there with cars that song another life-changing piece of music and Adam and the ants and I'll be talking about Adam and the ants in upcoming episodes I'm sure but that was all sort of my my beginning of how things were with music and uh I really sort of
Impact of 'True Colors' by Split Enz
00:04:56
Speaker
changed everything. and And that end of grade eight with my you know feathered hair went into grade nine with a very different kind of perspective.
00:05:04
Speaker
Still had the feathered hair for a while um as I was kind of growing into it. But 1980 was really a big year of change for me in music. Up until that point, um the most exciting thing I did ever was go to the roller rink. And of course, that was still very much, a and you know sort of led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd kind of music. Just kind of, ah you know, the kind of kids that had the long rockers, the hair and the the denim jackets and the Dayton boots that likes to chase me and throw beer bottles at me.
00:05:37
Speaker
That was kind of that environment. And I was like, I'm done with that. So by the but wouldn i say by the end of grade nine, ah things were very different.
00:05:49
Speaker
ah That summer I buzzed my head, got rid of all my stuff, long feathered hair and went for a punk do. And, uh, it was, it was quite a change. I got some, uh, military surplus shirts. Uh, my girlfriend got me a camouflage sweatshirt and I wore it with some jeans that I had tapered right down. So I could barely get them on. Uh, I wore some, uh, hand colored Adidas tennis shoes that one was green and one was kind of purple.
00:06:23
Speaker
um And that was the beginning of my punk look. Changed it up at some point, got myself a white t-shirt and put some safety pins on it. Started buying pins, got myself like a leather jacket and started my journey into the world of punk.
Disappointment with 'Waiata' and Music Preferences
00:06:39
Speaker
Okay, so we're here to talk about 1981. 1981 was... ninety eighty one was ah I got to start with 1980 to get to 1981. 1980, there was a band that stood out for me, and that was Split Ends.
00:06:54
Speaker
Little Australian group. I heard the song, I Got You. ah Loved that song. Just absolutely connected with it. it was It was kind of a soft song, but it was just still a really, it was an amazing song. and i just I loved what it sounded like.
00:07:11
Speaker
So I bought the album and that was a really cool album. It had this laser print on it so that when it's sort of sort of a prism look when you spun the record on the the turntable and the light was just right, it had all these really cool geometric shapes coming off it.
00:07:26
Speaker
The album was called, and I just have to make sure I've got it right here, The album is True Colors. ah Amazing album. I loved this album. It was the right amount of punk for me. It was like fast and sharp, and I could jump around in my room and sing along with the album, and it was absolutely amazing.
00:07:46
Speaker
um When I eventually started going to the Teen Dance Club, that's where they would play the song. I would go nuts. I would be like jumping all over, pogo dancing with with everybody.
00:07:58
Speaker
Just had a great time with that. Let's get to the 1981 part. Now, I was still in the early stages of discovering bands and discovering sounds.
00:08:11
Speaker
So, of course, I had to grab Split End's next album, which was Wayada. This is the part where I have to kind of say this album did not grab me.
00:08:24
Speaker
I was not a fan. I think one of their big songs of that was called One Step Ahead. And there was another one that I can't even remember what it was called. Uh, didn't do it for me.
00:08:36
Speaker
So the album was a disappointment because I had such high hopes for split ends and what they were going to do And I get they're, they're on a journey. They were doing their stuff. They wanted a more accessible album. They wanted to, you know, branch out into North America.
00:08:53
Speaker
But it lost me. It was not an album that that did a lot for me. it It kind of fell short in a lot of ways. It felt slow and more pop than punk. And I think that I was kind of counting on it to be a much more punky kind of thing.
00:09:12
Speaker
Oddly enough, one of their big singles off this was Hard Act to Follow. And you know what? For me, that was a hard act to follow, that first album. Well, it's not even their first album because they had an album before true Colors.
00:09:27
Speaker
But i I didn't really kind of go backwards at that point. 1981 was a big year for me to discover new stuff. And so I didn't kind of look back. I didn't kind of sit down and well, you know, this is this is a great artist and I'm going to always follow them or I'm never going to follow them.
00:09:43
Speaker
um I had so much to explore. So, oh, that shouldn't have happened. So lot to explore that year. So I think that the Waiata album was a big disappointment for me. I don't think I got out of it what I was looking for, and it kind of fell by the
Further Musical Exploration and Crowded House
00:10:04
Speaker
wayside. I think I owned the album on vinyl for the longest time.
00:10:07
Speaker
um I didn't keep it. It's not currently in my ah my my vinyl collection. And yes, it's okay to say vinyl in addition to record. It just depends kind of how you use it.
00:10:20
Speaker
ah But it was one of those albums where I think that you know people would pull out at a party and it would just kind of kill the party. So I don't think I was the only one that wasn't crazy about that one.
00:10:31
Speaker
But yeah, so Split Ends, awesome start, fantastic True Colors album, loved it. 1981 ended up being kind of a disappointment for me and Split Ends.
00:10:47
Speaker
I will tell you too, though, I was not a fan of Crowded House, which was the sort of next formation of the whole Split Ends people, and I just... i you know I had that one album, their big album, and it's funny because...
00:11:04
Speaker
I went to a record store and bought a record and I can't tell you much what it was because I don't remember, but they gave me a free, they're like, here's a free record we're giving out to everybody. And it was one of those ones that the hole was punched in the top of the the sleeve.
00:11:19
Speaker
And it was the Crowded House album. The one that actually i think ended up turning into a big hit in North America. And I was just kind of like, nah, it's not my thing. And it never, never really grew on me. It just kind of fell short.
00:11:34
Speaker
Not a great, not a great transition for me there. I still just, I can go back and I can still listen to to True Colors any day, any time. was listening to it earlier today. Shark Attack, awesome song.
00:11:49
Speaker
um Just amazing, amazing energy in that song. And just that whole album was just a lot of fun to listen to. So yeah, so that is my kickoff for the 1981, we'll call it worst. It's not really the worst. It's just a disappointing album. It's ah one of those ones that came out and I just really didn't feel it
Conclusion and Future Podcasts
00:12:11
Speaker
anyways. Uh, so that's it. This is the beginning of a brand new series.
00:12:16
Speaker
Don't know how often I'm going to go with them, but keep an eye out for it, save them, subscribe. And, uh, I look forward to, uh, to having some guests to help me chat about music that we loved in the eighties. I'm going say seventies, eighties and nineties. Cause, uh, as a Gen Xer, there's a lot of stuff right in there that, uh,
00:12:34
Speaker
really made a lot of sense. So hope to see you soon. If you're still looking for some other things to listen to, don't forget to go check out my my podcast, Yabba Zonker Zoinks. It's my Gen X podcast about the Gen X growing up experience, Saturday morning, serial cartoons, TV shows, all that kind of stuff. Still a lot of fun. There's going to be some new stuff coming early in 2026. So really excited to to kick this off and go listen to some of my old stuff as well. And we'll be listening to you soon.