My Album of the Year for 2022
The #1 Album for 2022
First off loyal readers, sorry for the delay for my choice for album of the year, but after a long awaited blog post you will get to see my choice.
And the winner is…..
(Insert long drum roll and noise of an vinyl sleeve opening)
Life Moves Pretty Fast - The John Hughes Mixtape (6LP Box Set, Red Vinyl. Special Edition)
Did you want to feel 16 again or relive the 1980s with the brilliance of John Hughes? Or did you want to listen some great New Wave or Synth-pop? If you answered yes to both or to one of these questions then this is the box set for you.
The album kicks off with, Simple Minds - Don’t You Forget About Me, the blockbuster hit from the movie, The Breakfast Club. Does it get any more 1980s than that album? Nope! It does not. Hard to believe that Chrissy Hynde of, The Pretenders, passed up on this and gave it to her husband’s group, Simple Minds, but she really did. Incredible, right?
Moving to the B-Side of the first LP we have, The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink. Interesting enough, Hughes, named his movie after this song and wrote the entire script to fit this song. The crazy thing was when he asked Richard Butler of the Furs to use this song, he asked them re-record the song in a more happy tone as it was initially too sad and dramatic.
The 2nd LP comes in with one of my favorite instrumentals of any John Hughes’ movie. March of the Switchboards by, The Beat. You may remember this one from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, at the end of the movie as he is running home to beat both his parents and vengeful sister who wants nothing more than to catch him in the act of skipping school. The iconic scene that shows Ferris hitting the trampoline and then you hear ‘Ow! Ow! Ow!’ as the slow motion kicks in and shows him clearing the fence and ultimately getting him home and safe in bed and his parents are none the wiser to his activities.
On the 2nd LP you also have the song, Eighties by the Killing Joke. Why is this song not more well known especially since the grunge rock group, Nirvana, sampled it in their hit, Come As You Are. While there was never a lawsuit, members of the band to this day say Cobain and his group ripped off the song.
Now that you have a sample of the first 2 LPs, I will ask you to give the rest of the album a listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or any other streaming service. It has many great songs from movies like, Christmas Vacation, more from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, She’s Having a Baby, and countless other wonderful movies.
If you do indeed give the album a listen make sure you tell me which song from the box set you like the best.