newcoleco's Random Blog

Money for Nothing.

Take On Me - A-Ha

Money for Nothing - Dire Straights

Whip It - Devo

A friend gave me a list of more than a dozen songs, just a sample here with years, some fit my criteria of 1982-83 :

 

1982 - Billy Idol - White Wedding

1982 - Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

1982 - Michael Jackson - Beat It

1982 - Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

1982 - The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go

1983 - Irene Cara - What A Feeling

1983 - The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another

1983 - Motley Crue - Looks That Kill

1983 - Men at Work - It's a mistake

1984 - Madonna - Borderline

1984 - Madonna - Like a Virgin

1984 - The Cars - Magic

1984 - Eddy Grant - Romancing the Stone

1984 - Ray Parker Jr - Ghostbusters

1985 - Madonna - Material Girl

1985 - Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me)

1987 - Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls

In case it has any relevance, the following songs are not part of the High Voltage SID Collection, meaning there are no known C64 covers of those songs. Whether that is due they weren't popular songs, too difficult to cover or something else is not known. Also I haven't cross referenced any AY, POKEY, NES etc chip music libraries to determine if they're present there.

 

Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me

Devo - Whip It

Dexys Midnight Funners - Come on Eileen

Earth, Wind & Fire - Let's Groove

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

Eddy Grant - Romancing the Stone

Foreigner - Waiting For A Girl Like You

Imagination - Just An Illusion

Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

Men at Work - It's a mistake

Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls

Motley Crue - Looks That Kill

Olivia Newton - Physical

Rod Stewart - Young Turks

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go

The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another

Toni Basil - Mickey

In case it has any relevance, the following songs are not part of the High Voltage SID Collection, meaning there are no known C64 covers of those songs. Whether that is due they weren't popular songs, too difficult to cover or something else is not known. Also I haven't cross referenced any AY, POKEY, NES etc chip music libraries to determine if they're present there.

...

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

...

I've found a disturbingly funny text-to-speech and C64 version of the Safety Dance. So the SID version might be under an unusual name or simply composed and never shared by this guy.

Part of that track might be recorded with a SID chip, but it most likely is not an executable runnable on a C64.

 

HVSC only contains songs runnable on C64 class hardware with a SID chip, usually 1 or 2 chips. There were sound cards fo the PC and standalone synthesizers built around the SID chip too, but any sequenced music on those are not part of the collection.

My Satefy Dance... at least what I've done so far with it.

 

2018 is over, let's see what are the votes for the new song to compose.

*Note: the huge numbers are the number of results on Google search.

1982

-------

Michael Jackson - Beat It : 125 000 000

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go : 84 300 000

Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me : 37 400 000

Imagination - Just An Illusion : 32 300 000

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean : 28 300 000

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance : 25 600 000 + 2 votes

Toto - Africa : 25 000 000 + 3 votes

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean : 20 800 000

Survivor - Eye of the Tiger : 16 900 000 + 3 votes

Billy Idol - White Wedding : 16 800 000

Willie Nelson - Always On My Mind : 10 800 000 + 2 votes

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue : 7 380 000

Laura Branigan - Gloria : 3 700 000 + 2 votes

Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf : 1 170 000 + 1 vote

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing : 1 060 000

Hall & Oates - Maneater : 352 000 + 2 votes

Dexys Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen : 166 000 + 1 vote

not 1982

------------

A-Ha - Take On Me (1985) : 1 060 000 000 + 1 mention

Men at Work - It is a mistake (1983) : 190 000 000

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing (1985) : 11 300 000 + 1 mention

Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It (1981) : 8 250 000

Olivia Newton - Physical (1981) : 8 010 000

Foreigner - Waiting For A Girl Like You (1981) : 7 990 000 + 1 vote

Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls (1987) : 4 090 000

Earth, Wind & Fire - Let is Groove (1981) : 4 000 000

Journey - Do not Stop Believin (1981) : 1 930 000 + 3 votes

Toni Basil - Mickey (1981) : 1 610 000 + 1 vote

Rod Stewart - Young Turks (1981) : 1 260 000 + 2 votes

Devo - Whip It (1980) : 903 000 + 1 mention

JoanJett & The Blackhearts - I Love Rock and Roll (1981) : 637 000 + 1 vote

Motley Crue - Looks That Kill (1983) : 556 000

J. Geils Band - Centerfold (1981) : 496 000 + 2 votes

Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire (1981) : 486 000 + 3 votes

The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another (1983) : 142 000

So, for the Hits of 1982, Google is suggesting Michael Jackson - Beat It, and the AtariAge forums users are suggesting Survivor - Eye of the Tiger. Both have their challenges and distinctive sounds, I really like these choices. We will see which music I end up composing first between the two... unless I've already done it but I don't remember.