Back to the 1980s - ZZ Top

Picture Credit: Wikipedia

Zipping up this 1980s series, I want to give space to music styles and artists that did not quite fit anywhere else, such as ZZ Top. While they are not strictly an 80s band, they had very memorable hits like Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man, and Legs, which gave them massive exposure on MTV and made them iconic within 1980s pop culture. Did you know that in 2018 the band reportedly set a Guinness World Record for the longest running active group with an unchanged lineup?

Growing up in Europe, I feel the 80s music landscape was far more diverse than today. We had very popular artists singing in the languages of our neighbouring countries.

France:
Jean-Jacques Goldman is a French composer and performer who has sold around 30 million records under his own name. He also wrote and composed for other artists such as Johnny Hallyday, Patricia Kaas, and Céline Dion. My favourite Goldman songs are Je marche seul and Puisque tu pars.

Germany:
Nena with 99 Luftballons. The song became one of the most successful tracks of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement and one of the most successful German language pop songs internationally. The English version, 99 Red Balloons, released in 1984, also became a global hit.

Austria:
Udo Jürgens with Ich war noch niemals in New York. The 1982 song tells the story of a man who, after dinner, impulsively considers escaping his everyday life to travel to New York, Hawaii, or San Francisco, but ultimately returns home, as if nothing had happened. The jukebox musical based on the song premiered in Hamburg in 2007, and a feature film of the same name was released in 2019.

Italy:
Eros Ramazzotti achieved his international breakthrough in 1986 with Adesso tu. Since then, many of his albums have reached number one or number two in the Italian charts, making him one of Italy’s most successful artists, with over 60 million records sold worldwide. Another Italian rock icon of the decade is Gianna Nannini, whose 1986 hit Bello e impossibile perfectly captures the rebellious, passionate side of 80s Italian music.

Of course Switzerland also produced its own 80s music, such as local pop and rock acts that may not have travelled far beyond national borders but were very present on Swiss radio and in youth culture at the time. Artists like Polo Hofer helped shape Mundartrock, singing in Swiss German with a thick Bernese accent and bringing a distinctly local voice to the decade. My favourite song is Alperose.

It tells a melancholic story of a brief relationship that begins during a mountain hike in late spring. The couple moves in together, but when fall arrives, the girlfriend disappears. “Gone is gone, and soon it snowed. Love comes, and love goes,” he sings.

Alongside him, bands like Krokus achieved international success, especially in the heavy rock and metal scene, proving that Swiss music could also be loud and exportable.

And in a more pop and electronic direction, Yello showed a more experimental and futuristic side of the 80s sound. Their song Oh Yeah was also featured in the 1987 film The Secret of My Success starring Michael J. Fox.

Can you believe it is already April 30, and this is the last post of my 1980s series? I hope you enjoyed this blast from the past. Thank you so much for being part of my journey!

Do you know any of the European artists I mentioned? What moments, music, or memories from the 1980s stand out most for you?

For those who participated in the A - Z Challenge, I'll publish my Reflection Post tomorrow.