On The Roof (1986)

I know
I said you can't (even) fly
On your way
I hope you'll be OK

Stop for a while
Talk about it
For a while

From now on
Sooner or later
Sing a new song
Call me when you're better

Stop for a while
Talk about it
For a while

In a while
In a while
For a while
For a while

Something Wild (1986)

One of my favorite 80's bands, The Feelies, played a cameo in Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild" (1986). Watch for Ray Liotta (before he had all that bad work done).

The High Road

Take a ride

Take a ride and keep on going

Look around

Look around and just keep going

The white lines

The white lines the side of the road

They go on

They go on right to your home

See the signs

See the signs upon your way

On the ground

On the ground is where you'll stay

It's gonna rise

Gonna rise and carry us home

Gonna rise

Gonna rise and carry us home tonight

Now it's time

Now it's time to let 'er go

That's right

Let 'em know just where they're going

It's gonna rise

Gonna rise and carry us home

Gonna rise

Gonna rise and carry us home tonight

Strontium Builds Strong Bones

Naturally occurring rubidium is only weakly radioactive and unregulated, but manmade strontium-90 is practically a worst case scenario. Strontium-90 first acquired its bad reputation back in the 1950's when it, along with certain caesium and iodine isotopes, were identified in the fallout from nuclear weapons testing. Strontium-90 is also a decay product from nuclear reactors. The worst accidents involving strontium-90 both occurred in the former Soviet Union: Chernobyl in 1986 and the Kyshtym nuclear disaster in 1957. link

Strontium-90 decays relatively quickly (it's a beta-emitter) and is taken up in bones. Strontium "rhymes" with calcium and very much resembles it. Strontium is bone-seeking and can supplant and replace natural calcium. Calcium is the backbone of life and modern civilization: think skeletons & concrete. Ca²⁺ and Sr²⁺ are both small & hard and can interchange within living structure as oxides and polyoxoanions, e.g. phosphates.

But regular strontium, which is not essential to life, may partially redeem itself. Naturally occurring strontium is not radioactive and strontium therapy shows promise for the treatment of osteoporosis, though its use is controversial. link

Lastly, if the name strontium sounds weird it's because it was named after a Scottish town Strontian (Srón an t-Sithein) where it was first found. Van der Krogt tells the story of its naming here.

Bastards of Young

Replacements - Bastards Of Young - These bloopers are hilarious

The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest
And visit their graves on holidays at best
The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please
If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them...

H/T: bill of so quoted 

Makes No Sense At All

50 Years Of MyTunes: 1986

• Best album of 1986 easily goes to The Feelies for The Good Earth. Unavailable for many years on iTunes, I actually converted my vinyl to digital format before it finally came out a couple years ago. Here's one song, a very Peter Buck-influenced The High Road.

• Candy Apple Grey by Husker Du is a runner up. The Huskers were starting to get too big for SST records, and this album foreshadowed their move to Warner Bros records the next year. Dead Set On Destruction is an example of a Grant Hart song of the time; Hardly Getting Over It is the more melancholic Bob Mould style.

Singles for 1986:

• Cuyahoga by R.E.M. from Lifes Rich Pageant. That band had almost arrived in the main stream.

• Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days) by the Judds

• Walk This Way by Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith.  I think the main value of this song was to legitimize hip-hop to white audiences.  This was an enormous step.

• (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party). Speaking of legitimizing Hip-hop, the Beastie Boys weren't quite there yet. They were still adolescents.

• Venus by Bananarama. A cover of the original by the Dutch band Shocking Blue.  I prefer the latter version

• Speaking of covers, Stand By Me from 1961 by Ben E. King spent a few weeks on the charts in the US, thanks to the eponymous movie. Flashback to 1961: link