Self amusement through the 80s

Now I'm on a huge 80s music nostalgia trip.

I'm not sure if some of these were popular here or not, and I am not prone to making lists. But I somehow felt like sitting down and listing songs from the Delhi disco period of my life. I actually own some of these. Others I came across and remembered that I used to love while winding down the 80s road on iTunes.

This isn't comprehensive, in any particular order, or anything. And some of it might even pain you.

Forever Young - Alphaville
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
Rio - Duran Duran
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - Attraction
All Night Long - Lionel Richie
Goodbye Girl - Squeeze
Ain't Nothin' Goin' on but the Rent - Gwen Guthrie
Venus - Bananarama
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Here Comes the Rain Again - Eurythmics
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
Broken Wings - Mister Mister
True - Spandau Ballet
The Power of Love - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham!
Something About You - Level 42
Obsession - Animotion
Lady in Red - Chris de Burgh
19 - Paul Hardcastle
Wouldn't It Be Good - Nik Kershaw
Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins
No One is to Blame - Howard Jones
Caribbean Queen - Billy Ocean
Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Don't You Want Me - Human League
Need You Tonight - INXS
Whisper to a Scream - Icycle Works
Two of Hearts - Stacy Q
Rhythm of the Night - DeBarge
Safety Dance - Men Without Hats

I know there are many I'm forgetting. Since Kristin dated the DJ at the Gunghroo for a while, we had an excellent mixed tape of many of the gems listed above. Which we played over and over and over. I wish I still had it, although I have nothing to play it on at this point.

We did a cheerleading routine (yes, I was a cheerleader - but only for a year, and it was India, so I feel like that mitigates the ridiculousness of it) to a Human League song, and I think it was Seconds - it was definitely off the Dare album, but it bugs me that I can't remember which song it was at this point.

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is a song I found on iTunes. That they played every night at the Number One disco. A phone rings during the song, and it's the ring of one of those old, dial telephones. Which we had one of, for the entire house, in Delhi.

The phone was very heavy black plastic. It sat in our front all. And sometimes worked, sometimes not. Sometimes you could hear the men who (we were pretty sure) tapped our line having a conversation. You could politely tell them that you wanted to make a call, and they'd stop talking.

Once Betty got so frustrated with lack of phone connection that she picked up the phone and bashed it against the wall. And it broke apart.

She went to the neighbors to call the phone company to say her phone wasn't working.

When the repairman came to fix it, he saw it shattered. "Madam," he said, holding distinct chunks of the phone in each hand, "I see your problem."

He was entirely unfazed. Perhaps he saw this level of phone frustration all the time.

Digging into your music past, even if it's embarrassing, is so much fun. Some of these songs, like All Night Long, make me wistful. That was the song played at the end of the night, and everyone would get in a big group slow dance circle and sway. How many times in your life are you that intensely close to a large number of people? I don't mean just physically. I loved the sense of community, the closeness.

If you believe that music tells you a lot about a person, that's who I was in high school. Or maybe who I still am.