#0098 IRON DJ: 1984

An impenetrable, majestic fortress of some of the best songs, samples, and sounds from 1984.

As I started looking at songs, I realized that there was a ton of great music released in 1984, when I graduated high school. So much of it, though, falls into that category of “80s music.”  We hear it in elevators, barber shops, or shopping malls on any given day….all those songs that are compiled on hundreds of “Best of the 80s” CD compilations. So, I eliminated any of those right off the bat, with perhaps one or two exceptions, but exceptions that are so good, they justify their own existence on this mix. Many of the songs I listened to back then, but I heard a lot of them later in the 80s too. All songs were released in 1984. Besides too many big hits, I also kept away from some heavy favorites like Iron Maiden, Accept, and Priest and tried to include some different things (so that eliminated Aces High, Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had, and Jawbreaker).

At first I was trying to cram the songs I wanted into an hour long package. But then I thought about old cassette mix tapes. The ones that really sucked were the tapes that were 30 minutes on each side, or one hour mixes. 90 minute mix tapes were okay, but I really  liked 100 minute cassette mix tapes, which is the length that I ended up settling into over time. And so that’s what I made here. The longer format works for some mixes, and I think it works for this one too.

Hope you like it.

1. *Repo Man Theme (Instrumental) – Iggy Pop
2.  Death Ship – Hoodoo Gurus
3.   Wonderin’ – Neil Young**
4.  Wait – Wang Chung
5.  A Friend I Call Desire – Ultravox
6.  Got Me Under Pressure – ZZ Top ***
7.  Priestess – Wendy O. Williams
8.  Master and Servant – Depeche Mode
9.  Handsome Devil – The Smiths
10. Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
11. Pink Turns to Blue – Husker Du
12. Jam On It – Newcleus
13. Ivo – Cocteau Twins ****
14. Mama’s Boy – Ramones
15. It’s My Life – Talk Talk
16. Realization – The Art of Noise
17. Nobody’s Home – Deep Purple
18. I Would Die 4 U – Prince
19.  Stay the Night – Chicago
20. Snaggletooth – Motorhead
21. 88 Lines About 44 Women – The Nails*****
22. Maybe Partying Will Help – Minutemen
23. 99 Red Balloons – Nena
24.  Show Me – The Pretenders
25. Slippery People – Talking Heads******
26. Fight Fire With Fire – Metallica

*          Repo Man
**        Ghostbusters
***      Spinal Tap
****    Making the Grade
*****  The Man with Two Brains
****** Red Dawn

#0062 – File under: Know Bo

Confession:  Since around 1987 with the whole Bo Jackson/Bo Diddley campaign, I’ve been pretty fascinated with Bo Diddley.  When The Man passed away about two months back, I spent a good several weeks playing through a wide collection of material that he either wrote, played or helped inspire. 

Much like how Funk will probably forever be defined by the strong downbeat on the “1” as exemplified by everyone ripping off James Brown, the beat of a freight train rolling unstoppably through the heart of rock and blues will forever be tied to Bo Diddley.

In this mix, I’ll take you chronologically through music that the man himself wrote, played and inspired.  And… since this is taking place almost two months after his passing, it’s not even hip and trendy to do so, yet I do it anyway.

Play

This tribute includes…

  1. “Bo Diddley” – Art Neville & The Meters
  2. “I’m a Man” – Bo Diddley
  3. “Not Fade Away” – Buddy Holly
  4. “(Marie’s the Name of) His Latest Flame” – Elvis Presley
  5. “Cannonball” – Duane Eddy
  6. “Willie and the Hand Jive” – Shuggie Otis
  7. “I’m Crying” – The Animals
  8. “I Want Candy” – The Strangeloves
  9. “Magic Bus” – The Who
  10. “1969” – Iggy Pop & the Stooges
  11. “Pills” – New York Dolls
  12. “She’s the One” – Bruce Springsteen
  13. “Don’t Let Him Go” – REO Speedwagon
  14. “Who Do You Love” – George Thorogood
  15. “I Want Candy” – Bow Wow Wow
  16. “How Soon is Now?” – The Smiths
  17. “Mr. Brownstone” – Guns N’ Roses
  18. “Faith” – George Michael
  19. “Desire” – U2

#0055 – IRON DJ – No, let’s just be enemies

Play
Iron Deejay

gen1us profile image…in which I take you on a sonic adventure through the beginning, end, and aftermath of a trainwreck relationship. No one relationship in particular, I’ve been married so long I don’t remember any others, really. 🙂 But this is a mix that not only progresses through a series of moods but which also purports to tell a story. I hope you enjoy it.

I’ll be out of town for the weekend with little or no internet access. Hopefully when I get back I will have a whole bunch of Iron DJ entries to listen to!

  1. ELO – I’m Alive
  2. Pulp – Disco 2000
  3. Matthew Sweet – I’ve Been Waiting
  4. Stevie Wonder – I Believe
  5. Iggy Pop – Some Weird Sin
  6. Bill Withers – Who Is He And What Is He To You?
  7. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Relative Ways
  8. Beach Boys – God Only Knows
  9. The Slackers – So This Is The Night
  10. Ben Folds Five – Song For The Dumped
  11. The Police – So Lonely
  12. Aretha Franklin – Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)
  13. Unbunny – X
  14. David Bowie – Quicksand
  15. Queen – All Dead, All Dead

#0008 – File under: Lollapalooza, Fresh

Play

I sneak in a fresh mix of music by artists playing at Lollapalooza — and I probably won’t see any of them (but that may, of course, change). Enjoy this fresh mix by Kinky, Motion City Soundtrack, Silversun Pickups, Heartless Bastards, Lupe Fiasco, Jack’s Mannequin, I’m From Barcelona, Cold War Kids, Tokyo Police Club, Amy Winehouse, Paolo Nutini, Regina Spektor, Iggy Pop, Ryan Shaw, Peter Bjorn and John, Dear and the Headlights and, finally, The Cribs. With music this good that I probably won’t get to see live, you better believe how awesome the acts I do catch are. Enjoy it while it’s fresh, we’re days away from Lolla at this point and I’m too excited.

#0003 – File under: Punk, History

Play

This week’s episode of Radio Gen1us takes us to the very cliffs of insanity that were the American Punk scene starting in the late 60s with The Velvet Underground and their connections to the UK with the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Artists this week include The Buzzcocks, The Jam, MC5, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, Richard Hell of the Heartbreakers, The Runaways, Patti Smith, Television, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, The Dead Boys, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash and Plastic Bertrand (just for fun).

Continue reading “#0003 – File under: Punk, History”