Random List: Four 80s Songs That Came Out In The Last Five Years

I know, you're scratching your heads on the title right now. But just because I'm not a sweet tranvestite from transexual Transylvania doesn't mean I can't do the Time Warp (again.)

Everyone knows there is no new thing under the sun, but the 80s are always being mined for inspiration in the music world. Vh1 had it right people do love the 80s! Every once and a while, a song goes beyond just inspired by the 80s. These are songs that sound like they just missed ending up on the American Top 40 With Casey Kasem for the week of October 28, 1984:

"The Wind Blows" - All American Rejects (from When The World Comes Down, 2008)
This is the song that inspired this list. I heard it on the radio a few weeks ago and thought "How did I miss this single from the Ladyhawke soundtrack?" That beat, the meandering electric guitar, the chorus, it's so 80s you'd expect it to wear sunglasses at night.



"Cool" - Gwen Stefani (from Love.Angel.Music.Baby, 2005)
Those new wave synths get quite a work out in my favorite solo track from No Doubt frontwoman Stefani. And who doesn't love a misty-eyed chorus about staying friendly with the ex?



"The (After) Life Of The Party" - Fall Out Boy (from Infinity On High, 2007)
Again, with the totally 80s beat! I can't get enough of the zillionth-generation New Wave sound that the emo kids are jacking, but this sounds like the first wave and Gary Numan was just getting into his car.



"One Touch" - Doe Deere (from Supernatural, 2008)
This is one jam that doesn't even look sideways at recreating New Wave rock. It's all club, baby. Like every Madonna remix and Shannon b-side rolled into a disco-drenched club thumbing booty groover, Doe Deere is the next Lady Gaga only ten times more old-school. Check it at MySpace, sister is doing for herself.

[Diva Week] My Diva: Alice

And so it ends! Diva Week comes to a close with the diva, the girl whose path I have followed since I was a child. Before I started reading My Diva, I had a million divas in mind. My friends thought Madonna was my ultimate diva, I figured Kelly Clarkson was the diva I loved most.

But reading so many men who found a connection early on, I knew it wasn't Kelly. Don't get me wrong, I love Kelly. But when I though back to the diva who inspired me from childhood, it came to me.

I can't remember the first time I read Alice's Adventures In Wonderland or the sequel, Through The Looking Glass. I'm sure I saw the Disney cartoon very early on, with it's garish technicolored hues and catchy songs. But the book came into my life as child in an abridged from, one of those inexpensive children's hardbacks they used to sell at Walmart. As I grew up, I read the actual Carroll book many times and purchased an Annotated copy when I was teenager. I still read it once a year or so.

Alice inspires me. I know, a grown man of almost 26 being inspired by a small Victorian-era dreamchild is ridiculous. From the moment she sees that White Rabbit go running by, she follows it. She isn't fearful, she isn't stopped by the question of what practical good it is to chase a rabbit into it's hole. Even when her scenario turns frightening, she pushes on. Her curiosity and tenacity never waver, she still possesses that childlike idea that if something is interesting one should pursue it.

A lot of strange and wonderful things happen to Alice in her adventures. She changes sizes, because she keeps putting on gloves and eating things she shouldn't. It should be a warning to her, but she doesn't want to stop experiencing things. That is one way Alice has inspired me. I often want to stop putting my hand in the fire, to give up on dating or writing. But I know that I will never experience life unless I risk it again.

I know there is much to said for contentment. But I don't want to be content with mediocrity. And neither does Alice, she pushes for that garden she spies through the key hole. She doesn't accept just sitting and having tea with a March Hare and a Mad Hatter. She has a goal, a dream. And she pursues it.

I wish I could be like that all the time. In my best moments, the ones that have resulted in the biggest joys, and sometimes pains, I am like that. Long before I started this blog, I had already chosen a name and the quote that sits atop the page. It's a quote from the very beginning of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. There isn't really any special meaning to the quote, just something I liked and though fit the mood.

In fact, my favorite quote is kind of Alice-inspired. From Gwen Stefani's Wonderland-esque video "What You Waitin' For?" comes this gem that gives me the push to follow that White Rabbit down the hole into a new place I never dreamed of: "Take a chance, you stupid ho."



In a way, Alice has always been reminding me of both the joys and pitfalls of being a Diva. You carve your own path, you follow your own dream and know that through patience, determination and hard work you will get what you want. And be fabulous doing it!