Sunday, June 15, 2024

Flopcast 632: The New Wave Game Part 4 - Where Fashion Sits

The struggle continues, as we're still trying to guess each other's favorite songs from the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series. By 1983, the radio was bursting with new wave weirdos who never would have dented the Top 40 in the pre-MTV era. But suddenly acts like Madness, Nena, and Taco (TACO!) were scoring huge oddball hits. Culture Club was peaking, while Tears For Fears was just getting started. Spandau Ballet delivered a new romantic classic. Big Country turned their guitars into bagpipes. And even a young Tracey Ullman tossed off a gorgeous throwback pop single. Meanwhile some truly goofy (but still super-fun) acts kept a safe distance from mainstream success. (Casey Kasem never had to introduce "Earthquake Song" by Little Girls.) Let's sort it all out and try to score a few more points in this penultimate edition of our silly New Wave Game. Also: A visit to the ukulele festival with the Unlikely Strummers, the Somerville Ukulele Club, and a thousand more ukulele-wielding humans; Lindsay Wagner's bionic birthday; Kevin's parentheses; Kornflake's "eep" words; and Joe's (possibly successful) attempt to swoop in and win the whole game.

Show Notes

Kevin's sister, singer of our theme song on this episode, is a member of the Unlikely Strummers! Check out their performance of the Laverne & Shirley theme.

It's time to tackle Just Can't Get Enough Vols. 10-12! Find tracklists on Wikipedia and a playlist containing all 15 albums on YouTube.

Kevin's Picks:

Vol. 10

Vol. 11

Vol. 12

Kornflake's Picks:

Vol. 10

Vol. 11

Vol. 12

The Mayor's Favorites: