The sound of the 1980s

I wrote this little reflection for The Facebook this morning. I'm copying it here in case I ever needed to find it again. It's not likely, but hey, one never knows.

Do you have a moment to talk about Kajagoogoo?

I enjoy playing bass guitar from time to time, though I'm not as good at it as I'd like to be. Sometimes I watch bass-related videos on YouTube, which of course means that YouTube tries to give me more bass-related videos. Last week, I watched one about Nick Beggs, bass player for the band Kajagoogoo.

I had never heard of Kajagoogoo before. Keep in mind that in the actual 1980s, I really only listened to Weird Al. I recognized the catchy pop song being discussed in the video, though. "Too Shy." Sing along with me: You're too shy shy, hush-hush, eye-to-eye. That's the one.

Unexpected to me was that this song has an absolutely killer bassline. It's wildly complicated, deploying a host of techniques that are beyond my skill. Listening to the song again with the ears of a bass guitarist, I was blown away. This inspired me to put on a Kajagoogoo album while cleaning up the kitchen the other day.

Now, we have to turn to the other important part of the story: I love bad 1980s movies. Give me MST3K or Rifftrax and a movie like Miami Connection or Pumaman, and I'm a happy camper. Part of what makes these movies so iconic is the sound of them: they sound like the 1980s.

Putting on Kajagoogoo's second album while cleaning up the kitchen made me feel like I was in one of these bad movies. I had never heard any of the songs before, but each was poppy and catchy and could have been used in the Mac and Me soundtrack. Turns out, there's a good reason for this: the lead singer from Kajagoogoo sang "The Neverending Story." That basically *is* the sound of the 1980s. Well, that and the screaming of "Atreyu!" and "Falcor!" but that just goes to show why my generation is the way we are.