The Wily Filipino

Mix Tape: RT/NU.

I love a little brain dump every now and then; it reminds me of how much useless junk is stuck in my head. My brother has listed what he calls his favorite new wave songs.

My list is more like 48 definitive singles (not necessarily my favorites, and the titles may be wrong) from Philippine "college radio" from the early to mid-'80s (with some exceptions for the late-'80s). There were two stations that played this stuff, 99.5 RT (before it disappointingly switched to an American Top 40 format) and NU 107. (There was a third -- BX? -- but I could never get it in Los Banos on our dinky radio.) The "sound," luckily, spread to other stations, so some singles are bigger than others. This is, in any case, a little snapshot of that era.

I won't call it New Wave, but Filipinos sure called it that. And it's 48 because it's getting late and I can't free-associate any further. In no order:

1. The Cure, "In Between Days" [this should really be "Fire in Cairo"]
2. Psychedelic Furs, "The Ghost in You"
3. The Lotus Eaters, "The First Picture of You"
4. Wire Train, "Chamber of Hellos"
5. Prefab Sprout, "When Love Breaks Down" [better: "Cars and Girls," but that was later]
6. The Style Council, "You're The Best Thing"
7. Seona Dancing, "More to Lose"
8. Aztec Camera, "Still on Fire" [better: "How Men Are," but that was also later]
9. Fiction Factory, "Feels Like Heaven"
10. Modern English, "Melt With You" [though "Ink and Paper" is probably the better song]
11. Vitamin Z, "Burning Flame"
12. Fra Lippo Lippi, "Everytime I See You" [better: "Light and Shade"]
13. Cock Robin, "The Promise You Made"
14. China Crisis, "Wishful Thinking"
15. New Order, "Thieves Like Us" [better: "Temptation"]
16. The Smiths, "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"
17. Orchestral Maneouvres In The Dark, "Secret"
18. Depeche Mode, "Somebody"
19. Tears For Fears, "Change"
20. A Flock Of Seagulls, "The More You Live, The More You Love"
21. The Icicle Works, "Birds Fly (A Whisper to a Scream)"
22. Red Flag, "Russian Radio" [awful]
23. The Care, "Whatever Possessed You"
24. The Fall, "C.R.E.E.P." [though "Cruisers Creek" and "No Bulbs" are my faves]
25. Gene Loves Jezebel, "The Motion of Love"
26. The Bolshoi, "Away"
27. The Sisters of Mercy, "Walk Away"
28. Big Country, "In a Big Country"
29. The Mighty Lemon Drops, "Inside Out"
30. Nik Kershaw, "Wouldn't It Be Good"
31. When In Rome, "The Promise" [a little later]
32. The Adventures, "Two Rivers"
33. Industry, "State of the Nation"
34. Simple Minds, "(Don't You) Forget About Me" [big everywhere]
35. Everything But The Girl, "When All's Well"
36. Alphaville, "Big in Japan" [horrible]
37. The Alarm, "Absolute Reality" [even worse]
38. Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Cities on Fire" [what a great goddamn song]
39. Xmal Deutschland, "Matador" [another great song]
40. Echo and The Bunnymen, "Seven Seas"
41. Talk Talk, "It's My Life" [way better than what's-her-face's version]
42. Cactus World News, "Worlds Apart"
43. Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" [earlier]
44. Propaganda, "Duel"
45. The Primitives, "Crash"
46. Real Life, "Catch Me I'm Falling"
47. The Fixx, "One Thing Leads To Another"
48. Ultravox, "All Stood Still"

Sigh. I feel like firing up Soulseek and looking for this stuff now, but... Man, dial-up sucks.