PUNK: THE COMPILATION (Which of these tracks is the most UNpunk?)

xxp - Wiki sez Toni Basil changed "Kitty" to "Mickey" in honour of Mickey Dolenz (and to make the song about a man).

There's some serious gender-bending going on in that cover though given all the lyrics she didn't gender-flip, like "i'll take it like a man". Kinda have new respect for Toni Basil....

quarterflash were from portland; did they ever play at satyricon? did rindy ross ever have a beer with the wipers?

I've never even heard of Quarterflash.

"harden my heart" and "find another fool" were fairly big hits, but somehow they weren't swept up with the current wave of '80s nostalgia.

quarterflash were from portland...did rindy ross ever have a beer with the wipers?

Probably not, but maybe with Nu Shooz. (Led by another husband-and-wife team -- maybe they double-dated!)

i recall liking 'harden my heart' a lot as a wee lad

"harden my heart" would be a good song for someone like carrie underwood to cover.

Voted for "She's A Beauty" just on principle. I will take any opportunity to cast a vote against that ghastly song.

I really loved this ad though! If there were a DVD of compilation ads I would totally buy it. They are the perfect kind of ad.

Abbbottt super-otm, unsurprisingly

voting huey lewis because

a)the bouncy groove and yuppie sentiment of "i want a new drug" represent everything fucked about the 80s

b)he just sounds and looks too wholesome to be anything but UNpunk

Secret Love!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIAhBaLap-g

Freedom Rock!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGWW8KOQiom

"Hey man, remember the good old days? You know, war. Protests."
"Going to JAIL!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGWW8KOQio

OK sorry to hijack this thread with old '80s compilation commercials. Carry on...

Voting "Karma Chameleon" because Boy George inspired a book called Like Punk Never Happened.

MTV used to constantly play the live video for Quarterflash Find Another Fool, which contained one of the great 80s sax solos.

does Huey Lewis get a pass for playing with the group that backed up on Elvis Costello's debut?

huey had severed his ties with clover by that point iirc

would be kind of hilarious if the rest of this comp was filled with like "lexicon devil" and "police story" and this was just what they put in the commercial to grab the curious

Voting "Karma Chameleon" because Boy George inspired a book called Like Punk Never Happened.

which makes the crucial point that many of the New Pop kewpie dolls started off as punks.

So one way to determine the most unpunk of the above is to determine which of them would have existed without punk.

It's really hard to determine whether x could happened if y had not happened (when y did happen - all these artists, including Quarterflash, exist in a reality where punk happened) but I have no trouble imagining that Cars-style new wave could have emerged without the Ramones or Sex Pistols also needing to emerge. Stuff like Flock of Seagulls or Erasure seems to me to owe more to disco and/or Kraftwerk than to punk rock.

Man, I wonder how many of those "only available from this TV offer" albums they sold. Had to be significant...

Erasure seems to me to owe more to disco and/or Kraftwerk than to punk rock.

The Quietus had a nice roundup of Andy Bell's 13 favorite albums, many of which are slightly more punk than this compilation's offerings. "I had been a rather reluctant punk as a teenager, finding the whole movement too aggressive for a Peterborough gay boy..."

can't find any evidence outside youtube that this thing ever existed

Ha, it would make sense if it's a fake.

It's brilliant if so!

The reason I'm convinced it's legit is because the friend who posted it on fb had mentioned in the past seeing this commercial when it was new and was happy to finally find it online.

sessions (the label) definitely existed, but there isn't much about it online.

apparently, a company at the same address produced two other 36 song collections:

All for Love - 36 '90s rock ballads
Totally '90's - 36 original hits from the '90's

I really hope everyone who "starred" in one of these ads was in on the joke and not really some struggling actor who thought of this as a stepping stone to fame.

xxp - is it a sessions release? the end of the ad says that it was put out by "westwood promotions". maybe that's the same thing, i dunno.

My favorite compilation ad was for "Into The Night," with 36 seductive sophisti-pop hits.

Westwood was(is?) a huge music promoter back in the day, and had their own syndicated shows on radio. Maybe this isn't the same company, but it seems right up their alley.

i could be confusing it with the "secret love" comp, which was "compiled by westwood promotions for sessions" per the internet!

Totally '90's - 36 original hits from the '90's

Featuring your favorite hits, like "Umbrella" by Rhianna, A-Ha's "Take On Me", and "We're In The Money" by the inimitable Ginger Rogers.

I've never heard Kirsty MacColl from andy bells list.

Really? You have some fun times ahead.

Sessions Presents: Night Beat (1988)

Wait a sec... I always thought that Quarterflash was trying to copy what The Motels were doing. If I remember correctly, the Motels already had a hit in '79 and had this weird punk connection (existing band moves to another city, is broke, hangs out with punks)

Westwood was(is?) a huge music promoter back in the day, and had their own syndicated shows on radio. Maybe this isn't the same company

That's Westwood One (which <> Westwood Promotions, whoever they were, but the resemblance was probably intentional)

xxp - is it a sessions release? the end of the ad says that it was put out by "westwood promotions". maybe that's the same thing, i dunno.

The Amazon page for this comp seems to suggest that Sessions and Westwood Promotions are cosely connected. Other stuff found on google implies that they were one and the same

Ahemn "closely connected"

I have a dim childhood recollection of Quarterflash being sold as New Wave, and being terribly confused and disappointed when I finally heard them. I can't get my head around people not understanding how punk being an out gay pop star in 80s was. Look up the damn word. Voted for Escape Club. Freedom Rock was an objectively terrific comp, and I think it sold incredibly well.

Quarterflash, without much doubt. I had some remarks to add regarding hairdos and the Beserkely label but the points have already been made by Xhuxk and others.

omg I can't get past the beginning of the commercial without breaking down

I hope those actors were paid in Happy Meals

thats like $45 in 2012 dollars right? thank god rush delivery was available.

if we're talking strictly about the track, not the act, I think "Eyes Without A Face" is the least punk song here by a good distance

"gimme gimme wild west, gimme gimme safe sex"
doesn't get more punk rock than that

The hell it doesn't.

this whole thread is the funniest fucking thing

doesnt billy at least steal a car and go to vegas in that song? dude didnt give a fuck