07 Oct '05 - 341 W, 3 I - + 6 - 7 The Spirit Of The 80s
The 1980s are alive and well and living in Moldova!
…well, not forgetting France. And Sweden.
Alcazar - the 80s up to date...?
With their mix of rhythmic electronica and wistful vocals, the French group AIR seem to be the natural inheritors of ‘80s electro-pop. http://www.intairnet.org/ On the other hand, if you want a blast of up-tempo 80s-style electro dance music, the Swedish group, Alcazar is hard to beat. Their online Media Room has a great selection of their videos online plus a library of free downloadable MP3 remixes of their hits including some fine versions of The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me.
Numa Numa - such stuff as cults are made of...
But my personal vote for The Spirit Of The 80s goes to the Moldovan ‘boy band’, O-Zone. You may be familiar with the Internet cult song known as the Numa Numa Dance, in which the American teenager, Gary Brolsma, mimes Romanian lyrics into his webcam http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/numa.php. Entertaining as this video may be, the original video by the group themselves is better. According to an O-Zone fan site http://fan.edgeofnight.net/ddt/ the ‘theme ‘ of this video is the 1980s. If you watch it you may spot a few ‘guest appearances; from ‘80s icons such as Freddy Krueger.
The genuine article - Moldovan boy-band, O-Zone
The song itself is very much in the ‘80s spirit of, say, Duran Duran or Bros. But it definitely isn’t just a rip-off of other bands. O-Zone are real originals and, of all contemporary groups, they are one of my personal favourites - even if I have no idea what the lyrics mean! Watch their video on Yahoo http://search.uk.music.yahoo.com/search/?m=all&p=o-zone or download it from the video director’s site (this may be a slow download) at: http://www.moldovanin.com/ .
Man, the numa numa, on albinoblacksheep. com is funny shit! its awesome!!!
Becky Millman () - 12 June '06 - 19:02