1980

[Captain Bacardi]

Just a bit of trivia here: on this date in 1980 President Jimmy Carter decides that the U.S. athletes will not participate in the Summer Olympics in Moscow as part of a boycott for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Politics aside, this was a bummer for Herb Alpert fans who had hoped to hear Herb's "1980" repeatedly on the NBC telecast of the Summer Games. I had always wondered "what if" there was no boycott (or invasion) and how that may have brought even more attention to Herb's return to the top of the charts with Rise.

I always loved "1980". It was just a well-produced tune, with all the synthesizer stuff going on in the background. I used to always crank this up with the headphones on.


Capt. Bacardi
NW: Cubs vs Padres exhibition game

 

[daveK]

I was 14 in 1980 and played "Rise" practically every day! I loved the song "1980" and thought it was so cool the first time I heard it on a TV sports telecast. It would've been so cool for it to receive all the exposure it could have gotten from the Olympics. I also get goosebumps everytime the bases are loaded at a Texas Rangers game and they play the middle portion from "Zorba The Greek" where the tempo begins to speed up and everyone claps their hands and stomps their feet in time! Non-Herb fans just wouldn't understand!

 

[Dave]

I think "1980" is good enough that if another Compilation by Herb Alpert ever comes out, it should be included.

Before "Rise", if ever possible!

Otherwise, I play my "1980" '45' B/W "Street Life" before playing my You Know What CD... :twitchy:

Dave

 

[alpertfan]

I agree. "1980" should be on a compilation. Great track!

 

[Brasil_Nut]

"1980" was far more successful than Sergio's ill-fated "Olympia" -- song and album included. This is just my opinion. Some like the OLYMPIA album, while others dismiss it as light pop (with a little too much Pizzulo).

"1980" embodies the spirit of not only a decade, but the dawn of a new chapter for Herb Alpert, the musician. That's what it's always meant to me.

Jon

 

[Dave]

I agree. "1980" should be on a compilation. Great track!

Yes, very unusual to have it available on a '45', actually as a B-Side to "Streetlife". I think its arrangement sounds like Herb made it as a "potential theme" to the "then-future of music"--sort of like Gil Scott-Heron's 1980, used as an album-title; he and Brian Jackson are pictured on the cover with the large T.O.N.T.O. Synthesizer Unit on the cover.

Dave

...happy to, at least, have it supplement my Herb Alpert DEFINITIVE HITS, collection...