Thursday, July 31, 2008
Yaz - They should have been BIGGER!
In my mind, the best time for music EVER was what was coming out of the UK during the 1980's. America was pretty keen on this 'new wave' and accepted many new British artists into the top 40. We all know how Duran Duran ushered in the 'British Invasion', and how American youth was open to many new faces from The Eurythmics, to Depeche Mode, to Human League.
But SO MANY great bands were left undiscovered by American top 40 audiences. These, honestly, were some of the most original, talented and just plain awesome performers of the decade. Why did they not shoot to the top of the charts here?
For the next few days, I will reintroduce you to some of the best bands of the 1980's from the UK that were overlooked or underrated at the time by American listeners:
Yaz (or Yazoo, if you are British).'Upstairs at Eric's' was truly one of my favorite albums of the 1980's. I know they were short lived (they only had a few albums), but their awesome song 'Only You' was at the top of the charts in the UK. Here, I don't think it made a splash. Why didn't more people know about Yaz? Why don't we ever hear anything about Yaz? Did anyone come out of the 80's who could even hold a candle to Alison Moyet?
By the way, Yaz is a much COOLER name than YAZOO.
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13 comments:
I loved Yaz! Not a big fan of Only You but loved the dancey one...Move Out (?) or some such. That woman (Allison Moyet?) had a great voice.
I wore out my copy of Upstairs at Eric's. By the way, Vince Clarke started Yaz with Allison Moyet after he left Depeche Mode. After that he went on to Erasure. I liked Only You but the 12 inch of Situation is the best!
Everyone who loved Happy Days and Grease and Laverne and Shirley needs to check out head bitch in charge's cool shop of 1950's inspired stuff:
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Yeah, Traci, LOVE Situation, although don't think I've heard the 12 inch.
Aw, thanks 80smom! *blush*
nice blog. i hope you keep writing.
jenx67, thanks, I hope you keep VISITING!
no words *just dancing to their songs as they plays in my head* don't ask me what i did yesterday but i can quote Yaz...tsk tsk...
t.allen-mercado: ;-)
I love Yaz!! They were the BEST!
I saw Erasure in concert when they opened up for Duran Duran back in the day. Wasn't one of the guys from Yaz in Erasure?
momjeans, yes, I think the keyboard player in the video went on to become half of Erasure. Read the comment above from Traci - trust me, you can trust her - she knows just about every bit of 80s music trivia there is to know!
I still love YAZ and Alison Moyet.
still have the cassette tape
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