Lost in the 'Me' Decade

"Tell Me Something New" by The Pink -- Talk about obscure... ok, so The Pink is a hot little 4-piece band that was active in the early 80s, out on Long Island. The back of the EP, Get The Pink, talks about how the band met, and how they played in the City, and went to England and stuff, but jesus, could they have a more un-google-able name?

I think this song is a hot little number, with the synth line and the jangley little guitar line that starts up half-way through the song. On some of the other songs on the record, the girl, who's singing on the chorus parts, sings the lead vocals, but I went with this one because the guy's vocals are great. The way he sings, and just the overall tone of this song, reminds me of Joe Jackson, one of my personal favorites. They also obviously listened to the Cars a lot... Anyway, if anyone knows anything about these guys, or what happened to them, let me know.

This, like so many of my random finds, is a dollar-bin-find from the Brooklyn annex of Academy Records, which I highly reccomend.

"Does Anybody Know Me?" by Lipps, Inc. -- Now, with Lipps, Inc., we've got someone who at least made it seriously big early on in their careers. They are famous for their enormous disco hit "Funkytown," released by Casablanca in 1979, but this particular song comes from a 1985 single on the hallowed Twin/Tone records from Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Twin/Tone is best known for their roster of pioneering indie rock bands, like the Replacements, Pere Ubu, the Mekons, Soul Aslyum and Ween. Seemingly an odd choice for Twin/Tone to release a Lipps, Inc. single, but they were nothing if not loyal to home-town artists.
This cut sees them working the early 80s synth-pop angle - how perfect is that buzzy synth line? - sounding not too unlike another Minneapolis-St. Paul pop-musician and producer, the tiny purple wonder, Prince.

If you like Lipps, Inc. and really who doesn't, then pick up their best-of collection, Funkyworld.
Man, did I really just write that?