Last week we took a look at the pop charts as they stood in May and June of 1983. The featured songs were fairly predictable, and often kitschy, but overall, not unpleasant. As pop songs, they represented a mixture of familiarity with blatant commerciality, often with ‘contemporary’ production styles that dated much of the songs in an unflattering manner.

For this show, we will look at music from that exact same time period, but we are going deep beneath the pop chart offerings. The results are telling. Here, the variety is incredible, and the production values are incredibly varied. Many of these songs have since been more or less forgotten, so it is worthwhile to hear these songs again in their own right.

Featured tracks include;

1) The Sixties – T-Bone Burnett (‘Proof Through the Night’)

2) The Murder Weapon – T-Bone Burnett (‘Proof Through the Night’)

3) Radio Free Europe – R.E.M. (‘Murmur’)

4) Talk About the Passion – R.E.M. (‘Murmur’)

5) Buffalo Girls – Malcolm McLaren (‘Duck Rock’) 6) Color Me Impressed – The Replacements (“Hootenanny’)

7) A New England – Billy Bragg (‘Life’s a Riot with Spy vs. Spy’)

8) Blister in the Sun – Violent Femmes (‘Violent Femmes’)

9) Age of Consent – New Order (‘Power, Corruption, and Lies’)

10) Mad World – Tears for Fears (‘The Hurting’)

11) Pale Shelter – Tears for Fears (‘The Hurting’)