A Tale of two 80's

 

People who know me, know that I have a very diverse group of friends.  It's actually something that I'm very proud of.  Living in the San Francisco Bay Area you can get lulled to sleep and think that things are that way everywhere.  NOT EXACTLY.  I lived in the South for some time and it would be very odd to find a diverse group of people all dancing and mingling together.  I was even in DC a month ago and though the movie-plex I was in was about 50/50 white/non-white, there was not one group that was mixed.  This was one of the other reasons I ended up in the Bay Area for college.

I grew up in a city that was about 60% non-white (black and mexican made up the majority), but was one of two black kids in my elementary class (I was bused across town to go to the "special" school).  I had mostly white friends and I learned their music and ways of life.  Then I went to an all black high school (black principal, black teachers, and a black mascot with an afro painted on the gym wall) and fit in well there.  This is why I have friends from both sides of the river and grew up with two distinct cultures. It isn't the classic "some of my best friends are white/black" line... I really have best friends from both races.  It is beacause of this that I understand that in the 80's there were two distinct cultures of music.

As black folks, we understand this because we had one radio station (if that) in every city that would play our music.  I've argued time and time again with some of my white friends that there was another 80's culture that didn't involve them.  Most young black kids had never heard of The Ramones, Styx, and dare I say... The Police (I learned of them when they beat Michael Jackson in the 1983 Grammys for Best Song).  Just the same as the majority of my white friends couldn't pick Al B. Sure, Full Force, or Morris Day if they lined up in front of them.  There was a different music, dress, and way of living.  For a lot of them this is a shock because their vision of the 80's is what is shown on television as.... THE 80's.

Now I'm not here to argue that one is better than the other.  I like both, but definitely have 80's R&B in my heart.  I just hate that some people can't imagine that Bel Biv Devoe was really nothing but the backup vocals for New Edition (and yes that's Bobby Brown in the picture too).

That's why I was so happy when VH1 did the show Black To The Future during Black History Month.  Though most of it was comedic in nature, it really was a great compliation of one side of the 80's that I lived, but didn't get to see anymore on TV.  The show was done in the same format as VH1's I love the 80's  but all the material was on black pop culture from the 70's to today (If you haven't seen it yet, set your TiVo).

 

So here's my musical interpretations of two different 80's.  If you can sing along to both, that's great, but don't be surprised if you can't (only a few of us can).  I urge you to listen to both and enjoy.

I Love the 80's Quick Mix

Black to the Future Quick Mix

My apologies to you if you aren't black or white and you feel left out... I mean look at the demographics of my hometown... in the 80's that's all I knew.  :-)