Episodes

This is another episode that was done by request (thank you, Ryan!). Both of us knew absolutely nothing about Erasure before this, but came away finding them super interesting. We think you'll agree. The movie this time is The 'Burbs, starring Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher, which both of us love and find very quotable. "I want to kill. . .everyone. Satan is good. . .Satan is our pal." This and many other lines were improvised, as you will see. Love it. Erasure, "A Little Respect" official video,...

This episode of TapeHeads is about the Rembrandts. Think you don't know the Rembrandts? You absolutely do. You'll see. We discuss them at great length, as well as the nature of fame and success and the (perceived) notion of 'selling out.' These guys are an awesome band that we think deserve your attention. Our movie this time is "Communion," based on an autobiographical book by Whitley Strieber, which is about his experiences with alien abduction. It goes on to spark a very spirited discussion ...

In this episode we discuss Winger, who were one of the last of the 'hair' bands, and who were made fun of constantly by Beavis and Butthead. We focus primarily on their song "Seventeen," with its controversial lyric, "Daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me." We also learn about a derogatory term that the Winger lads had for drumming that they considered too basic. Be sure to listen for that hilarious tidbit. Our movie this time is "Gremlins," a very fun (and occasionally grueso...

This episode is our first 'by request' episode, courtesy of Todd's friend Mike (thank you, Mike!), and it finds us exploring what the Guardian newspaper controversially called the greatest UK #1 song of all time, "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys. Not sure we'd agree with that designation, but it's unquestionably a great and very interesting song, and it certainly deserves a deeper dive. Our movie this time is the 1984 Eddie Murphy showcase, "Beverly Hills Cop," an action comedy about a bla...

Def Leppard's 1987 album, "Hysteria," was four years in the making, and involved an unusual amount of tragedy, expense, rebirth, and ultimately triumph, providing a wealth of hit songs that the band still perform to this day. Come along with us on the journey, and delve into the depths. "The Black Hole," Disney's first PG-rated movie, was released in what most people assume was a response to Star Wars, but as you'll see (as we did), had its roots much further back, in the disaster movies from t...

Rick Astley is the most famous person you probably knew nothing about. That's okay, neither did we. And that was the point of this episode. What an incredible story, and an incredible human being. And one of the biggest Internet memes of all time. And an incredible production company, with an incredible string of hit songs, including everyone from Divine to Donna Summer, by way of Dead Or Alive, Kylie Minogue, Bananarama, Samantha Fox, and Rick, obviously. And all of that was with a little help ...

In this episode, we go back to the gold mine of 1984 to revisit the iconic anthem "The Warrior", by Scandal, featuring Patty Smyth (not to be confused with Patti Smith!). Blaine shares another torture device, and we introduce a new segment called Cover Your Ears, where we scour YouTube to feature a funny, terrible or awesome cover version of our chosen song. This particular one involves a hilarious moment of Perilus/Perilous that's quite possibly the first time that's ever happened. Our movie t...

After a few years of ruling the world, hard rock had become derivative and run its course, so it was only a matter of time before something new would step up, and grunge was that something. In this episode, we delve into this supremely interesting transition. Follow us on Instagram and Spotify. RELATED LINKS: Our GreatWhiteLionSnake playlist, on Spotify I Want My MTV book, on Amazon Nothin' But A Good Time book, on Amazon Hollywood Rocks book (even though we didn't mention it), on Amazon ...

In this episode, we discuss the 1984 Chicago album, "Chicago 17", more specifically the band's revival and collaboration with mega-producer David Foster, who we think you'll agree is well worth your time and investigation. We also discuss the hilarious cult classic murder mystery comedy "Clue", featuring a stellar cast that includes Tim Curry, a number of Mel Brooks alumni, and an a well-known punk rock singer. RELATED LINKS: Chicago, "Stay the Night" official video, on YouTube Our excellent...

Back in the 80's, there existed a genre--equal parts rock and beauty--that was almost exclusive to the times, called Power Ballads. Many were epic, many were cheesy, and we explore quite a few of the most famous ones in this episode. For those of you keeping track at home, not a single one of them featured a Fairlight. Have a comment or an 80's song/band/movie you'd like to hear us cover on the show? Email us at tapeheads80@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Spotify RELATED LINKS: Our Heavy ...

In this episode, we talk about one of our absolute favorite bands, Tears For Fears, and more specifically, their career-changing feminist anthem, "Woman in Chains," which introduced the world (but not Todd's dad!) to the stunning Oleta Adams. It also featured the drumming talents of both Manu Katché--already famous for playing with Peter Gabriel--and the inimitable Phil Collins. Oh yeah. . .and it totally featured a Fairlight synthesizer, too, because of COURSE it would, and if you're a regular ...

When we think of 80's glam metal, the first things we all think of are poofy hairstyles and slinky spandex pants, but the third thing we think of is amazing guitarists, the likes of which haven't really been seen either before or since. We go on a very deep dive into some of our (really Todd's, because this stuff wasn't really Blaine's cup of tea) favorites of the time. We also discuss some modern guitarists, and we even wax a bit philosophical about what this somewhat beleaguered and often mali...

This episode finds us discussing a controversial song by The Police, so much so that they actually recorded two different versions of it, the original in 1980 which creeped everybody out, and the 1986 version which not only broke up the band (essentially), but also incorporated our favorite instrument, the Fairlight. We also discuss one of the most famous 80's movies of them all, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. We spend a good amount of time on the soundtrack, and on Ferris's synthesizer, which was a...

Occasionally, we have a story that doesn't quite fit into a regular episode, but we like it enough that we still want to share it, so we thought it would be fun to create mini-episodes for those little orphan stories. Our regular episodes will come out at their regularly scheduled times, but one of these could drop at any time. This particular one involves Northern Lights, which was the Canadian equivalent of Band Aid, Live Aid, USA for Africa, and--best of all--Hear 'N' Aid. We briefly mentione...

This episode is the first in a series about the singular and super-interesting story of 80's glam rock, which seemed to rise from nowhere to the top of the charts. This subject is so vast that we will break it up and share it in a number of episodes over the next few months, and I imagine that we'll return to that particular gold mine often after that. Follow us on our small but growing Instagram page. We also have a brand spanking new Spotify profile, where we share accompanying playlists. He...

This episode is actually devoted to an entire Paul McCartney album, 1989's "Flowers in the Dirt," that we think deserves more love than it gets. This was the beginning of everything Paul is currently doing to this day, from a major world tour to including a number of Beatles songs in his set. (Also, WE SAW HIM IN CONCERT ON THIS TOUR.) This album saw Paul collaborating with songwriter Elvis Costello and various producers of the time, one of whom will be very familiar to regular listeners of this...

In this episode, we explore the 1985 hit "Voices Carry" by Aimee Mann's former band 'Til Tuesday. as well as the beginning of her solo career and her involvement with occasional collaborator Jon Brion. This then led to their eventual collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson, who based his movie "Magnolia" on a number of Aimee's songs, and Jon composed the orchestral score. We also reminisce about our favorite movie in the massive Star Trek enterprise. (See what I did there?) Contact us at tapehe...

The two of us ring in 2023 (not really) by discussing one of our favorite songs by one of our favorite bands, the 1984 hit "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen. We also discuss one of the few perfect movies in existence, "The Princess Bride," which we actually saw together in the theater when it came out in 1987. We look forward to what 2023 has in store, and we look forward to sharing lots more songs and movies with you. You can make requests, offer suggestions, or heap praise upon us by e-mailing u...

In the TapeHeads spirit of the holidays, we tackle the controversial, condescending, and ultimately extremely successful song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" released by the super-group Band Aid in 1984. For our movie recommendation, we proudly present a mostly forgotten (but completely awesome) documentary about a similarly altruistic holiday offering by the hard rock community, entitled Hear 'n' Aid. Contact us with comments, requests, or suggestions at tapeheads80@gmail.com. And, as always, w...

We kick off this new endeavor by taking a look inside Yes's 1983 hit, "Owner of a Lonely Heart," along with context about just how different this album was from all of their previous ones. There are also some entertaining personal anecdotes and hilariously surprising scatological revelations (about the band, not us) of which you may not have been aware. Our 80's movie recommendation is the excellent "WarGames," which also was released in 1983. We couldn't be more excited to introduce this podc...

Welcome to TapeHeads, a fun retrospective podcast about 80's music, culture, movies, etc., by two friends who were there.