80's hits Ska / Swing / Dancehall / Rockabilly "danceable" covers

Noob - just found today. Also just started working through http://www.inthe80s.com/covers/index.shtml

Past several years scouring for 80's covers, particularly Ska / Swing / Rockabilly covers that emote upbeat dancing.

Posting what I've got so far below (some are of more dubious quality than others, none are outright poor / amateur / cheap musical ability) and what these should do is evoke nostalgia for anyone who was a teen in the 80's while being "danceable" and a "good" cover. Heavily prefer songs which were actually released / new / on the charts / airwaves in the 80's (exceptions for either side of the decade for serious quality.) Not looking for Rap, Country, Speed Metal (need to be amenable to partner dancing) or note-for-note remakes. Dupes are fine as long as fresh interpretation.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

The list (and I think the link to public Youtube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSV7TJps2us_TeLK2BdNAGFCSlOyj5Sj8)

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Ska Flashes

Ska Flashes

2:47

One Way Or Another

Skandalous All-Stars

Punk Steady

4:06

On the Radio

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!

3:36

Movin' Right Along

Alkaline Trio

Muppets: The Green Album

2:34

The Metro

Rude Boy George

Confessions

3:49

Dance the Night Away

The Forces Of Evil

Friend Or Foe

2:50

99 Red Balloons

Goldfinger

The Best Of Goldfinger

3:55

Take On Me

Reel Big Fish

Greatest Hit And More

3:02

Dancing with Myself (Single Version)

The Donnas

Love Shack: The New Wave Sound

3:28

Vacation

MU330

Best of MU330

2:49

Come on Eileen

Save Ferris

It Means Everything

4:09

Another Day In Paradise

Reel Big Fish

Monkeys For Nothin' And The Chimps For Free

2:41

Always Something There To Remind Me

The Hippos

Heads Are Gonna Roll

3:39

Africa

Weezer

Weezer (Teal Album)

3:59

Girls On Film

Bjorn Again

The Duran Duran Tribute Album

3:52

Let's Dance

Cecilia Noël

Havana Rocks

3:57

Just What I Needed

Caleigh Peters

Sky High

3:39

I Want You to Want Me

Letters to Cleo

When Did We Do That?

3:26

Hungry Like The Wolf (Best Of)

Reel Big Fish

A Best Of Us For The Rest Of Us - Bigger Better Deluxe Digital Version

2:53

Walking On Sunshine

Ghoti Hook

Songs We Didn't Write

3:26

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Ska Cubano

¡Ay Caramba!

2:36

Cum On Feel The Noize

Twin

Cum On Feel The Noize

3:25

Rock This Town

The Brian Setzer Orchestra

The Dirty Boogie

6:37

Let's Go

Dum Dog Run

Dum Dog Run

3:31

Nothin' But A Good Time (Best Of)

Reel Big Fish

A Best Of Us For The Rest Of Us - Bigger Better Deluxe Digital Version

3:00

Is There Something I Should Know

Mr. T. Experience

The Duran Duran Tribute Album

3:40

Lee Press-On And The Nails - Mexican Radio (Wall Of Voodoo Swing Cover)

CoverHeaven

3:38

Walk Like An Egyptian

The Puppini Sisters

The Rise And Fall Of Ruby Woo

2:43

Kiss Me Deadly (Best Of)

Reel Big Fish

A Best Of Us For The Rest Of Us - Bigger Better Deluxe Digital Version

3:46

Rio [Pass the Baton] (feat. John Taylor & Simon Le Bon)

CSS

Rio (Pass the Baton)

3:38

Bad Moon Rising

Ozomatli

Quiero Creedence

3:37

Boys Don't Cry (Best Of)

Reel Big Fish

A Best Of Us For The Rest Of Us - Bigger Better Deluxe Digital Version

2:17

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Runaway Ricochet

Don't You (Forget About Me)

3:16

I Melt With You

Bowling For Soup

Bowling For Soup Goes To The Movies

4:01

Hot for Teacher

Lee Presson and the Nails

Jump-Swing from Hell: Live at the Hi-Ball Lounge (10th Anniversary Edition)

4:37

Never Tear Us Apart

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Go Down Under - EP

2:04

Party Like It's...Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - (Cyndi Lauper Cover)

Party Like It's...

4:03

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Offcutts

What Happened Don't Lie

2:29

Kids In America

Cascada

Everytime We Touch

3:00

Jump

Cecilia Noël

Havana Rocks

3:32

Burning Down The House (feat. The Cardigans)

Tom Jones

Reload

3:40

I Want You To Want Me

Lindsay Lohan

A Little More Personal (RAW)

3:09

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

The Brian Setzer Orchestra

Jump, Jive An' Wail: The Very Best Of The Brian Setzer Orchestra (1994-2000)

2:18

Africa

Relient K

Is For Karaoke

4:57

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Lee Presson and the Nails

Last Request

2:47

Tequila

Ska Cubano

Mambo Ska

3:37

The Metro

Eve's Drop

The Specter

4:01

She Blinded Me With Science

Violet Transmissions

She Blinded Me With Science (EP)

3:45

Walking On Sunshine

Abandon

The Covers EP

3:19

Tainted Love

Imelda May

Mayhem

2:46

Time After Time (Previously Unreleased)

Sugar Ray

The Best Of Sugar Ray

3:54

You've Got a Friend in Me

Suburban Legends

Dreams Aren't Real, But These Songs Are, Vol. 1

1:51

Thanks for reading and any thoughts!

Last edit: 2020-10-09 02:26:25 UTC by Charles Mote Jr

There must be thousands of covers on site that meet your needs, but I know of no way to sort them out easily. Since SHS generally doesn't attach a genre to performances (you will find genres noted in the comments under artists from time to time), so a more time consuming approach will likely be necessary. For instance:

Go to Crazy Little Thing Called Love (the "work") and then the "Versions" tab for a list of all covers on site of that song. You could make some educated guesses based on artist names (e.g. Dwight Yoakam sometimes records in a rockabilly style). Also on the left side of the list, there's an icon for each cover that has an audio clip.

On the other hand, I do attach genres to artists in my notes. I sorted out everything I have coded as "Ska" listed by uniform song title. At the top was Don't Go Back to Rockville ("(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" in my notes). I changed the genre from Ska to Psychobilly, but that may work for you and Long Tall Texans have several covers on site that may be of interest.

Thanks VirileVagabound!

That's what I have been doing. Also unfortunately no way to search by release year that I can see (e.g. 1984). So it's mostly having to go song by song off Billboard etc. I can't get the audio clip to work (might be my browser extensions.)

" I sorted out everything I have coded as "Ska" listed by uniform song title." Is there a way I can do that across the site (I think you probably were able to do so just for your contributions.) "At the top was Don't Go Back to Rockville ("(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" in my notes). I changed the genre from Ska to Psychobilly, but that may work for you and Long Tall Texans have several covers on site that may be of interest." Thanks, I will definitely check those out!

Taking a shot that wealth of 80's knowledge here and had heard some of the more unusual - that's how I got started, just googling "80's ska covers" and seeing posts on random music forums (I suppose I should try my luck on Reddit, loath as I am to support that site.)

Thanks again!

Quote from Charles Mote Jr

Also unfortunately no way to search by release year that I can see (e.g. 1984). So it's mostly having to go song by song off Billboard etc.

Best I can offer: https://secondhandsongs.com/statistics/stats_most_covered_work_per_original_year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1982_songs

" I sorted out everything I have coded as "Ska" listed by uniform song title." Is there a way I can do that across the site (I think you probably were able to do so just for your contributions.) "

My notes are independent of SHS and are not accessible by the public.

Sorted again by Ska and the new top of the list is I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight ("(I Just) Died In Your Arms" in my notes). The Holophonics will likely have a number of recordings of interest.

Thanks for the immediate response!

Yes, Holophonics have come up before - next issue is finding tracks, I had to go with Google (now YouTube music) to be able to get through the Great Corporate Firewall in the past so I'm stuck with them for now.

Thanks again!

Last edit: 2020-10-09 15:10:59 UTC by Charles Mote Jr

You already know about Rude Boy George, so the third time's the charm (in order of song title in my notes coded as Ska): New England ("A New England" in my notes).

I didn't know Rude Boy George had so many 80's. Third time was the charm!

Sorry to be obtuse.

"Sorted again by Ska and the new top of the list is I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight ("(I Just) Died In Your Arms" in my notes). The Holophonics will likely have a number of recordings of interest."

Died in Your Arms was Holophonics no? They apparently did multiple volumes of self-published covers that have never made it into the streaming services. Regularly see mention of them but can't find much else.

The songs and artists are internal links. Just click on them.

Thanks again.

May I bother to ask what's your favorite cover (no judgement here, but I'd love to know from someone else who seems to value them, as it seems it's rare that others do)?

Last edit: 2020-10-09 15:56:16 UTC by Charles Mote Jr

Quote from Charles Mote Jr

May I bother to ask what's your favorite cover (no judgement here, but I'd love to know from someone else who seems to value them, as it seems it's rare that others do)?

The site is full of people who are interested in covers, but most don't participate in the forums.

I have no favorite cover and don't rate performances on site. The sole exception being Come and Get Your Love since it's from a local NC band that I saw live back in the day, have that CD floating around somewhere, and really like the original and that cover.

Bonus ska sort for the next performance in my alpha-beta list that may be of possible interest: Abracadabra

Maybe it's time to get out of the kiddie pool and make your first submission as a SHS contributor. First and while there's no "right way" to format a cover submission, below is an example of one of mine for a release with more than one cover:

https://secondhandsongs.com/submission/87418

I recently discovered the release below and is currently early in my review and eventual submission process (namely I have yet to listen to a single track). Based on the title, tracklist, and genre (per Discogs), it may be of interest to you. Why not check it out yourself and make your first submission?

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Paul Stone

https://www.discogs.com/Paul-Stone-Reprise-Of-Swing/release/11127889

https://music.apple.com/us/album/reprise-of-swing/1191890866

Don't You Forget About Me · Paul Stone

Reprise Of Swing

℗ Paul Stone

Released on: 2017-01-06

Done (I think.)

Thanks for the suggestion/guidance.

Will it really be five years before it shows up?

I'll start working on the rest of the album.

Also, what is your process for finding new works to submit?

Quote from Charles Mote Jr

Will it really be five years before it shows up?

I'll start working on the rest of the album.

The time for submission processing is variable. Some editors will hit posts from new contributors for early guidance to improve future submissions. An editor may have an interest in the song, etc. The submission will still be listed under the work.

Contributors and editors differ on if they like to submit more than one cover from the same release (e.g. an album). I generally submit one, noting the others for reference. If I return to the release for some reason, I may separately submit another. Some contributors will submit each one. Some editors prefer to process one and add the rest themselves. Some like each one submitted.

My one per release policy is due to the sheer number of my finds not on site and the concerns of some editors over the accumulating number of unprocessed submissions (aka "backlog"). Do whatever you prefer.

Quote from Charles Mote Jr

Also, what is your process for finding new works to submit?

First, SHS uses terms of art. A "work" is the intangible musical composition. The sheet music if you will. A "performance" is an actual recording that one can hear.

As to the question, that is harder to answer. A typical situation is my starting with a performance on site that I try to find and confirm the research (e.g. original release). That may result in my scanning that artist's other releases for covers that the editors missed/skipped or were released more recently. Searching YouTube for that recording may yield recordings of the same song by other artists, which may be new finds, which can quickly grow to lots of new recordings.

Sometimes I start whole cloth for covers that are relatively rare on site or of songs of high personal interest. Searching YouTube and Discogs by song title and songwriter can sometimes yield leads for possible covers not yet discovered.

Did already lose our new contributor?

As teaser yet another ska recording in my notes that may be of interest (going down alpha-beta): Bang the Drum All Day

Thanks! Exactly what I am looking for!

The more I browse, the more I am stunned with the depth of SHS. Too bad there isn't an easy way to get the SHS links into the entries at Wikipedia - that would certainly make more people aware of this tremendous resource.

I'm sure it's fairly clear, but my objective is getting more "mileage" out of past hits; that is, it seems the more "Internet" there is, the less people have in common (everyone focused on narrow interest of their particular sub-group.) Add the recent change in social norms (for good reason) and the isolation just grows. I like having a playlist more people can have something in common with (the only real niche knowledge I might be able to bring to SHS is Brazilian folk music that I've dabbled in over the years.)

Trying to add something here makes one appreciate the extraordinary amount of work which has gone in to SHS. It's Smithsonian level coverage and I have to wonder at how people of archivists tendencies have helped along the way.

Thanks again!

Last edit: 2020-10-16 22:24:53 UTC by Charles Mote Jr

I think everyone beat me to it:

Reprise of Swing

I tried searching the lyrics I could get from the Amazon previews for the three songs that aren't already listed and nothing comes back, making me think these are original works.

Thanks again for the tips and I'm plotting out how to get my Brazilian folk knowledge sorted out for starting to get submissions in.

Quote from VirileVagabond

Maybe it's time to get out of the kiddie pool and make your first submission as a SHS contributor. First and while there's no "right way" to format a cover submission, below is an example of one of mine for a release with more than one cover:

https://secondhandsongs.com/submission/87418

I recently discovered the release below and is currently early in my review and eventual submission process (namely I have yet to listen to a single track). Based on the title, tracklist, and genre (per Discogs), it may be of interest to you. Why not check it out yourself and make your first submission?

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Paul Stone

https://www.discogs.com/Paul-Stone-Reprise-Of-Swing/release/11127889

https://music.apple.com/us/album/reprise-of-swing/1191890866

Don't You Forget About Me · Paul Stone

Reprise Of Swing

℗ Paul Stone

Released on: 2017-01-06