Hair Band Throwdown!

In a bit of a departure from the record reviews, I’m going to write about a mix CD I made recently that I’m very proud of. (Hopefully, this will not disappoint any of my millions of readers.)

Chee-Zee 80s Rock
or
A Journey from Europe to Asia

1. Danger on the Track - Europe
2. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) – Journey
3. Turn up the Radio – Autograph
4. Never – Moving Pictures
5. The Stroke – Billy Squier
6. Cherry Pie – Warrant
7. In My Dreams – Dokken
8. Heat of the Moment – Asia
9. Working for the Weekend – Loverboy
10. Cherokee – Europe
11. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
12. You’re the Voice – John Farnham

The inspiration for this CD came from two sources:
1. an online essay about the most inspirational songs of the 1980s (thanks, JC): http://www.cracked.com/article_15636_10-most-terrifyingly-inspirational-80s-songs.html
2. the soundtrack to the movie Hot Rod. For those of you who didn’t see it (and I think that’s just about everyone), Hot Rod is the inspirationally hilarious story of a hapless wannabe stuntman/daredevil. Even though the film is set in the present day, the music is predominantly hair bands from 1986. Righteous.

I have to say, I was a little wary of collecting this much wanky cock rock in one place. It’s really potent, powerful stuff. I think critical mass of this sort of music is about 10 minutes, and I’ve assembled an album nearly an hour long. I grew a rat-tail just putting it together. Definitely do not let pregnant women handle the CD. Or any especially fertile women. Like I said, this is strong stuff, and I don’t want any lawsuits.

Some of the songs were included because they’re awesome (“Danger on the Track”), some because they’re ridiculously awful (“Never”), and some because they are both (“Cherokee”). But all the songs rock in that pop-metal, how-preposterous-were-the-80s kind of way. And if you’re still curious how preposterous the 80s were, here’s another link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxxOyGK1pMk