By Taylor Dahl
The ’80s are bigger than ever right now. Fashion heavyweights H&M and American Apparel are carrying neon-colored tops and tights, along with flashy ’80s-inspired jewelry. Artists such as Britney Spears, Rihanna and Maroon 5 are pumping up the volume with dance tracks featuring 20-year-old samples. Don’t settle for “new” New Wave. Catch the originals on the Regeneration Tour, coming to Chastain Amphitheater on Aug. 29. Here’s a brief look at who you’ll see:
The Human League formed in 1977 in Sheffield, Yorkshire. The British synthpop band originally was all-male; however, Phillip Oakey now performs with Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. Expect to hear hits such as “Don’t You Want Me” and “Human.”
British pop band ABC formed in 1980, when Martin Fry interviewed the band Vice Versa for the magazine Modern Drugs. Vice Versa hired Fry to be the lead vocalist and changed its name to ABC. The band had five U.S. Top-40 singles between 1981 and 1990. Greatest hits include “The Look of Love, Pt. 1,” “Poison Arrow” and “Be Near Me.”
New Wave band A Flock of Seagulls formed in 1979 in Liverpool, England. Despite recurring jokes about “Flock of Seagulls” hairdos in TV shows such as “Friends” and movies such as The Wedding Singer, the band was best known for songs such as 1982’s “I Ran,” which hit No. 8 on U.S. dance charts and was in heavy rotation on MTV. Current members include Mike Score, Joe Rodriguez, Pando, Michael Brahm and Rob Koreman.
Belinda Carlisle, rocketed to fame as the founding member and front woman of The Go-Go’s. After The Go-Go’s broke up in 1985, Carlisle released a solo album Belinda, which featured the hit single “Mad About You” (recently featured in the Jennifer Garner movie 13 Going on 30). Other hits you may hear at the Chastain show are “Heaven is a Place on Earth,” “I Get Weak” and “In My Wildest Dreams” — the theme song for the 1987 Kim Cattrall (“Sex and the City”) movie Mannequin.
Naked Eyes is primarily known for its Top-10 cover version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me.” In fact, Bacharach said the song was one of his personal favorites. Other smash hits included “Promises Promises” and “Fortune and Fame.” The duo — Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher — were childhood friends who originally played in a band called Neon, which featured future members of Tears for Fears. After Neon split up, Byrne and Fisher formed Naked Eyes and played on and off together until Fisher’s death in 1999. Byrne’s 2001 solo album featured songs originally intended for Naked Eyes’ third album. The CD Fumbling With the Covers, featuring Bob Dylan, Beatles and Elvis Costello covers along with Naked Eyes hits, was released in 2007.
