CASSETTE MIX-TAPE

It was early in the 80's. Nose-Candy was still sorta' legal...you could still get your scripts for Ecstasy filled at the corner drugstore. Music & fashion were all over the place....mindless, clueless, gender-bent. Miami Vice was King. In certain circles, still is. The world was slathered in pastels & neons. Poofy shirts. Poofy haircuts. Peg Leg pants and jazz-shoes. God Bless Z-Cavaricci!

Like any red-blooded American boy, I spent my nights making cassette mix-tapes....and shaving the hair from the palms of my hands.

This weeks mix-tape includes a few of my most memorable NU-RO (New-Romantic) and New Wave faves.

Classix Nouveaux "Guilty"
-Cross dressed, pre-Goth, pogo dancing gayness. I bought the 7"...who didn't?...and swore up and down that this was the edgiest NuRo jam ever. Ever! Today was the first time I've listened to "Guilty" in well over 25 years...and I still know all of the lyrics, all 3 of them.




Righeira "Vamos a la Playa"
-I bought the 7" single at my local mall music store. I was always sweatin' the girl up behind the counter. She had big hair...BIG! I still remember the picture sleeve...2 copper-toned greased fellas on a white sand beach, wearing Euro Speedo's. I believe they were smuggling gerbils in the front of their man-pannies.




Adam and the Ants "Stand and Deliver"
Another NuRo superstar. Adam was no mere flash in the pan. He straddled the fence, somewhere between Punk Rock pirate & New Romantic highwayman. The band had 2 drummers and they layed heavy, heavy, infectious beats that would excite me like no other band...causing me to toss on a pair of New Wave sunglasses (picture Star Trek's LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge) as I jumped out of my seat to pogo all around the living room, like all of the kiddies on American Bandstand.