Offbeat Tracks

What happens when the New York pop art scene collides with the burgeoning technology of sampling? Ebn-Ozn, that's what.

Perhaps the only band that gets called a one-hit wonder for two different songs in two different countries, we review the first three albums by the British art school kids who got their band name from Star Trek.

A panned movie that happens to have an incredible Hi-NRG aerobics soundtrack! John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis crotch thrusting in '80s workout attire - why are you not listening yet??

A sexy model making killer late '80s pop -- have we discovered Offbeat Xanadu?

Staying in England this week, but we're talking about a very interesting fella with a big heart, leftist politics, and a Tascam 4-track recorder.

Our first-ever listener-submitted episode idea! We're discussing the incorrigble, goofy, and oh-so-stylish sisters from Hackney who dominated the UK charts in '87 and '88.

Two lads from England who spent the '80s recording under two different band names but staying both very British and very '80s the entire time.

Back already, it's another edition of the Offbeat Trivia Challenge! This time, we quiz each other about the artists we've covered and our favorite absurd comments over the last two years. Thank you so much for listening to us for 100 episodes!

A woman whose unmistakable voice you've no doubt heard, just maybe not in song (yet). How did she survive her busy 1985?

From her early days making mellow gold softballs to her heyday in hard-hitting Hi-NRG, this week we scope out the career of (probably) the only person whose real name sounds faker than her stage name.

A model-turned-pop-techno act and another entry in the "Europeans making records in other languages than their native one" binder. Stay until the end for a special message.

We couldn't possibly have anything bad to say about charity singles, right? Well, put two weird British radio DJs - one with a mullet - at the helm, and let's see.

This week it's a duo from Canada who jumped into the sampling craze of the late 1980s and then tried a few different things that really didn't work for them in the 1990s. Do you want to hustle? Do you want to salsa?

It's that time of the year - Happy Eurovision Week! We bring in a friend of ours who also loves Eurovision and share our picks among (and point and laugh a bit at) this year's entries!

Offbeat in so many ways - a British band that didn't have any hits in Britain, and one-hit wonders whose less popular hit is the one more often included in throwback compilations and playlists. What exactly was the deal with Naked Eyes and their obsession with fire?

We go about as offbeat as we've ever gone this week and discuss an album written entirely in gibberish. Guaranteed to make hu gvarpa gu schtep qwinn glorp gorble schtack fengin hungin huveppa grappa dip.

Sure, their name is extra, but the concept is anything but: Two guys who hated rock music set out to make music out of anything that wasn't guitars and drums. The result is a career that - with a couple of breaks - is still cranking today!

As we promised you 10 episodes go, we're spending Episode 90 discussing what we feel are the qualities that most define the music of the 1990s.

We're already travelling back to the Pacific Island nations this week to discuss a group from New Zealand that made an unexpected worldwide ripple in the mid 1990s.

If you're a casual '80s music listener, you've probably never heard of Maria Vidal. If you're into '80s dance music, you probably see her as a one-hit wonder who had a club hit with a movie theme. Either way, this week, we're here to tell you about the rest of her catalog that you've (probably) never heard!