Old Music Friday: 8/9/84

I found eight songs I thought were worth recommending in this week's New Music Friday... but nine debuted on the Hot 100 this week in 1984, so in the interest of giving you the most bang for your buck, I decided to linger in the past. Let's have a listen:

"The More You Live, the More You Love," A Flock of Seagulls
While they're unquestionably best known for their first big hit, "I Ran," these guys actually managed to linger on the U.S. charts for a little longer than their one-and-done rep would suggest. This song, the first single from their The Story of a Young Heart LP, peaked at No. 56 after debuting this week at No. 93, but like the rest of their successful Stateside releases, it fared better on rock radio. There may have been a chance for them to linger, Simple Minds-like, on the format into the '90s, but personnel changes and assorted behind-the-scenes drama led to the collapse of the lineup after 1986's Dream Come True album. Temporarily, anyway; like many if not most well-known acts of the era, A Flock of Seagulls has soldiered on as a brand and/or a band since the late '80s. As for this song? Sounds like a No. 56 single to me.

"Stranger," Stephen Stills
Here's a classic example — one among many — of an older artist making a go of it in the '80s by leaning into current production techniques, even if they have nothing to do with the style of music that earned that artist their fanbase in the first place. It's also a terrific example of an '80s rock video that clumsily attempts to hide the artist's age; there were reasons Stills took a back seat to speedboats and bikini-clad beauties in this clip, and they weren't artistic.