This playlist has been nothing but made of *awesome* :-)

This playlist has been nothing but made of *awesome* :-)

Another reason to love RP! Who knew?

 hcaudill wrote: 

more to the point, they're portraits of the band: Andy; Sting (with the spiky hair); Stewart (long face).

 Dave_Mack wrote: 
I count myself amongst the ignorant on this too. Never looked at it that closely.
Thanks for that tidbit.

A heavy song from a heavy album. There're few light=hearted tunes on Ghost, but "Invisible Sun" is brilliant.

 scraig wrote: 
I'd forgotten that it was banned, but I'm not at all surprised. You really had to be in the UK when the Troubles were at their height to appreciate the highly febrile atmosphere of the time. The early 80s were a time of intense guerilla warfare in Northern Ireland/Six Counties/Ulster (delete according to political/sectarian taste) which also spilled over on to the mainland with the IRA and INLA carrying out bombing campaigns, and even assassinations of UK political figures. To the British State, and by extension the official media, the UK was at war with 'Republican terrorists', and any comment - written, spoken, sung - that deviated from the standard State line was considered to be aiding and abetting the enemy.

Although this song's lyrics about the experience of ordinary folk caught up in the Troubles may seem tame, apolitical and uncontentious by today's standards, at the time they'd have been seen as implicitly Republican because they didn't follow the standard State line. This is a period when the Thatcher regime famously decreed that the words of Republican spokespeople could not be heard on TV and radio so that they wouldn't be afforded "the oxygen of publicity", leading to the ludicrous and comical situation where actors were hired to dub the words of Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and others on TV. The UK political police - MI5 and Special Branch - openly and covertly monitored and harassed groups such as Troops Out who campaigned, legally, for the withdrawal of the British army from NI. Left politicians in the UK, such as Ken Livingstone (then leader of the Greater London Council), were pilloried in the media and parliament for breaking the consensus on the 'Northern Ireland situation'. Innocent Irish people were framed for terrorist atrocities and imprisoned for decades.

Perhaps the times weren't dissimilar to that in the US and, to a lesser extent, the UK after the 9/11 atrocity, when dissenting voices were few and the Security State gained the upper hand which it's strengthened ever since. Whenever politicians say "if you're not with us you're against us", you know for sure that truth and democracy have well and truly been suspended for the duration, and that was certainly the case in the UK and NI during The Troubles. I wouldn't be surprised if I were told that Sting et al were investigated by the political police.

I heard last week playing a trivia game that this song was banned by the BBC because of it's content. Seriously. The Police were banned.

Haunting song about Northern Ireland and England. One of the understated hits from a band that seemed to touch gold on almost anything it did.

Flash back to high school.

FILLER

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
WT...   So DO I!   I'm a little less ignorant, now. Thank you!

Definitely not my favourite tune but it's still great to listen something from this great great band.

 hcaudill wrote: 
Me too.

 drsteevo wrote: 
This in the same post as "but hip hop sucks anyway, so who really cares".

 hcaudill wrote: 

O M F G!!!

I'm right there with you in ignorance. I'd always just assumed they were creepy, possessed LEDs — never looked closer than that. Guess you really do learn something new every day. And thanks for pointing it out!

This hasn't aged well at all. Filler from this album.

Just tossed on the vinyl of Novo Combo after hearing this.

 hencini wrote: 
would old sting be punching young sting or t'other way round? And who cares?

I've often wondered what would happen if 1978 Sting met 2008 Sting.  Would he punch himself in the face or shake his own hand?  How did the same man who wrote "Dead End Job" also release and album of lute music?  LUTE MUSIC!!!!  

:) 

Great song. So want 'Hungry For You' to kick in next.

Teen angst years before Nirvana. Good stuff.

 sronis wrote: 
You are so wrong.  Electronica started in the 70's (ever hear of Kraftwerk?).  Hip-hop started in the 80's (but hip hop sucks anyway, so who really cares).  I think you have to consider the late 70's through mid-80's (1977-1985) as the last great music era.  Since the mid 90's there just hasn't been the same quantity and quality of music as there was before that.  The early 90's showed a small surge, but nothing compared to the late 70's/early 80's or the second half of the 60's.  The variety, richness, and quality of music has generally been lacking since 1995 or so...

"80s music does suck, generally" - that is an idiotic statement

 Tippster wrote: 
first, some of these bands were formed in the 70s or even before that.
second, some did their finest work before or after the 80s.
third, that's all you can think of? 10 bands of the top off your head? for every other era i have many more than that...
and lastly - electronica was birthed in the 90s, and hip-hop got to its peak only then.

In conclusion - 80s music does suck, generally ;-)

I was staring at the album cover just now trying to figure out for the millionth time what those symbols are supposed to MEAN, when I finally saw that they're faces. Three decades slow on the uptake...

 lemmoth wrote: 
Nicely articulated. There were few good bands that came out of the 80's. Depeche Mode and The Smiths besides the previously mentioned are a few. The 80's was the Micheal Jackson sound, and everybody wanted to capitalize on it, Because the magnet draw to money and the latest sound the music suffered. Thank you to the groups that refused to compromise their sound for the dollar.   

 h8rhater wrote: 
You're High.  I love this masturbatory "The 80's SUCKED" BS but it is just that,  These are just off the top of my head:

Guitar Rock:
Van Halen
Rush
Metallica
Guns n'Roses

Alternative Rock (British New Wave:)
Clash
Smiths
Cure
Joy Division/New Order
Depeche Mode
Psychedelic Furs

So many more.  Maybe you had your head stuck in Led Zeppelin breaking up or Gabriel leaving Genesis, but There was some serious music that came out in the 80's.  Hell, it birthed/solidified two new genres - Hip Hop and Electronica.