Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally)

LIKE, OMIGOD... hits almost all of the popularly acknowledged high points, including "867-5309/Jenny," "Tainted Love," "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," - as well as great novelty numbers and underground tunes like "Pac-Man Fever," "Da Da Da," and "Turning Japanese." While not in strict chronological order like Rhino's 70s set, HAVE A NICE DECADE, LIKE, OMIGOD... is well-sequenced and provides a relatively satisfying trip - as well as a great set for any party. No need for "random play" here - just load this set, hit "play" and dance away.

While this set is almost certainly a one-stop shop for the music fan simply looking for a well-balanced 80s collection, the completist and discerning collector will no doubt view this as the tip of the iceberg. Those such as myself, more enthralled with the simultaneous New Wave movement, will find lots more to love (approximately 300 tracks worth - with minimal duplication) in Rhino's 15-volume JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH 80s collection. Even then, LIKE, OMIGOD... will spur you on to fill up your shopping cart with with entire albums by Billy Squier, Duran Duran, The Fixx, Pretenders and more.

The only downside to be found is that LIKE, OMIGOD... also forces the listener to take the bad with the good (or the worse with the bad?), presenting end-of-the-decade stinkers such as New Kids on the Block and Richard Marx toward the end of the seventh disc. For this listener, those musical tragedies are still too recent, too terrible to revisit with any degree of nostalgia.

As gaudily packaged as the decade it represents, LIKE, OMIGOD... is presented in a hardcover book format identical to HAVE A NICE DECADE and contains a similar full-color booklet complete with essays, trivia, 80s timeline and notes on each of the performers and songs included. The sound of the CDs, as with all Rhino product, is pristine. As for the sound of some of the music - well, you can't blame Rhino...


Nice Overview of the 80's   January 13, 2006
amy lynn (pennsylvania United States)
40 out of 49 found this review helpful

This collection will save you alot of money. Think if you were to go out and buy every CD that these songs are on. Here you get over 141 top hit songs of the 80's on 7 discs plus an awesome collectable box and a novelty 80's book with facts and pictures for every single year. Information about all the songs, artists, events , tv shows, movies and happenings during the 80's. Open up the Box and you see all the popular dances of the 80's including the Head Spin, The Wave, The Tick, The Mannequin and more. It also shows you how to do them with pictures step by step! The box is truly unique. Heres the song listings disk by disk.

Disc 1-
1.Devo- Whip It
2.The Buggles- Video Killed the Radio Star
3.Meco- Empire Strikes Back
4.Queen- Another One Bites the Dust
5.Kool and the Gang- Celebration
6.Kurtis Blow- The Breaks Part 1
7.Pete Townshend- Let my love open the Door
8.Blondie- Call Me
9.REO Speedwagon- Keep on loving you
10.The Vapors- Turning Japanese
11.Air Supply- Lost in Love
12.Dolly Parton- 9 to 5
13.Eddie Rabbitt- I love a rainy night
14. Christopher Cross- Sailing
15.Grover Washington Jr- Just the 2 of us
16.Gary Numan- Cars
17.Donnie Iris- Ah!Yeah!
18.Frankie and the Knockouts- Sweetheart
19.The Cars- Shake It Up
20.Billy Squire- The stroke

Disc 2
1.Billy Idol- Dancing with Myself
2.Loverboy- Working for the Weekend
3.Rick Springfield- Jessie's Girl
4.Tom Tom Clun- Genius of Love
5.J Geils Band- Centerfold
6.Billy and the Beaters- At this moment
7.Quarterflash- Harden My Heart
8.38 Special- Hold on loosely
9.Joey Scarbury- Theme from Greatest American Hero
10.Bob and Doug Mckenzie- Take off
11.Rick James- Super Freak Part 1
12.Tommy Tutone- Jenny/867-5309
13.Kim Carnes- Bette Davis Eyes
14.Alan parsons project- time
15.Laura Branigan- Gloria
16.Hall and Oates- Maneater
17.Theme from Hill street Blues
18.Frank Zappa and Moon Unit- Valley Girl
19.Trio- Da da da
20.Gap Band- You dropped a bomb on me

Disc 3
1.Duran Duran-Hungry like the Wolf
2.ABC- The Look Of Love
3.Soft Cell- Tainted Love
4.Stray Cats- Rock this Town
5.Thompson Twins- Lies
6.Missing Persons- words
7.The Human League- Dont you want me
8.Haircut One Hundred- Love plus One
9.Men at work- down under
10.Joe Jackson- Steppin Out
11.Bow Wow Wow- I Want Candy
12.Dexies Midnight Runners- Come on Eileen
13.Toni Basil- Mickey
14.Golden Earing- Twilight Zone
15.Melissa Manchester- You should hear how she talks about you
16.Bertie Higgins- Key Largo
17.Buckner and Garcia- Pac Man Fever
18.Bonnie Tyler- Total eclipse of the heart
19.Toto- Africa
20.Scandal- Goodbye to you
21.Taco- Puttin on the Ritz

Disc 4
1.Greg Kihn Band- Jeopardy
2.Thomas Dolby- She blinded me with science
3.Eddy Grant- Electric Avenue
4.Eurythmics- Sweet dreams are made of these
5.Madness- Our House
6.Martin Briley- The salt in my tears
7.Cyndi Lauper- Girls just want to have fun
8.The romantics- Talking in your sleep
9. Peter Shilling- Major Tom coming Home
10.Naked Eyes- Always somthing there to remind me
11.Big Country- In a Big County
12.The Fixx- One thing leads to another
13.After the Fire- Der Komisser
14.The Motels- Suddenly Last Summer
15.Culture Club- Karma Chameleon
16.The Cure- Lets go to Bed
17.Kajagoogoo- Too Shy
18.Michael Sambello- Maniac
19.Night Ranger- Sister Christian
20.Quiet Riot- Cum On Feel the Noise

Disc 5
1.Yes- Owner of a lonely Heart
2.Styx- Mr. Roboto
3.Pointer Sisters- Im so Excited
4.The Pretenders- Back on the chain gang
5.Foreigner- I want to know what Love is
6.Corey Hart- Sunglasses at Night
7.John Waite- Missing You
8.Nena-99 LuftBalloons
9.General Public- Tenderness
10.Tracey Ullman- They dont know
11.Bryan Adams- Heaven
12.White horse- Laidback
13.Shannon- Let the music play
14.Deniece Williams- Lets hear it for the boy
15. New Edition- Cool it Now
16.Ray Parker Jr- Ghostbusters
17.Kenny Loggins- Footloose
18.Twisted Sister- We're not gonna take it
19.The Scorpions- Rock you like A Hurricane
20.Sheila E- The Glamourous Life

Disc 6
1.Animotion- Obesession
2.Tears for Fears- Shout
3.A-Ha- Take on me
4.Simple Minds- Dont you Forget About Me
5.Katrina and the Waves- Walkin on Sunshine
6.Til Tuesday- Voices Carry
7.Oingo Boingo- Weird Science
8.Dead or Alive- You Spin me Round like a Record
9.Jan Hammer- Miami Vice Theme
10.Dream Academy- Life in a Northern Town
11.Mr. Mister- Kyrie
12.Paul Young- everytime you go away
13.Starship- We Built This City
14.John Parr- St Elmos Fire
15.Robert Palmer- Addicted To Love
16.Harold Faltermeyer- Axel F
17.Debarge- Rhythm of the night
18.Billy Crystal - You Look Marvelous
19.Don Johnson- Heartbeat ( Dont know why they put this one on here) lol
20.Wang Chung- Everybody have fun Tonight

Disc 7
1.Bananarama- Venus
2.The Bangles- Walk like an Egyptian
3.The Art of Noise With Max Headroom- Paranoimia
4.Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark- If you Leave
5.Georgia Satellites- Keep your hands to yourself
6.INXS- What you need
7.Run-D.M.C.- Walk this Way
8.Timex Social Club- Rumors
9.Crowded House- Dont dream its over
10.Simply Red- Holding back the Years
11.New Kids on the Block- i'll be loving you forever
12.The Fabulous Thunderbirds- Tuff Enuff
13.The Outfield- Since youve been gone
14.Debbie Gibson- Only in my Dreams
15.Rick Astley- Never gonna give you Up
16.Los Lobos- La Bamba
17.The Escape Club- Wild Wild West
18.Bobby Mcferrin- Dont worry Be Happy
19.Richard Marx- Right Here Waiting
20.The B-52's- Roam

Is missing some great artists from the 80's but overall it's a nice collection of songs and would make a good gift for anyone who loved the 80's. 4.5 Stars.


Doesn't compare to Rhino's 70's box   July 24, 2002
34 out of 46 found this review helpful

Okay, I'll concede this point: If you like a lot of 80's pop, from "new wave/new romantic/synth pop" to metal to plain-old top 40, you'll enjoy the music. I'll also concede that the art direction is both amusing and top-notch, in typical Rhino style. Their box sets are beyond compare in terms of presentation.

The problems: Almost all of these songs have been released on other 80's compilations, and many on Rhino's own product. Billy Crystal's novelty song is probably the rarest thing here. This is a general beef with Rhino, which reissues the same one or two tracks by a certain artist over and over as opposed to picking a lesser known hit. My guess is that most people likely to buy a package like this probably has at least some of Rhino's "Just Can't Get Enough" series, perhaps some of their Billboard 80's discs, and some other companies' compilations. I end up feeling like I pay $10 to $20 per song, or end up buying a package because I like the packaging! (It's true -- suckers are born every minute.)

What's most disappointing, however, is that Rhino did a much better job with their 70's box set. The 70's box set DID contain a few rarities from some big name artists. In fact, their "Have a Nice Decade" box is the ONLY place I'm aware of that one can buy the single version of David Bowie's "Fame" on cd. Similarly it was one of the first cd's to feature the single edit of Gladys Knight and the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia." These are just two examples. The only unusual sounding mix I heard on this box was the Romantics' "Talking In Your Sleep", and I didn't listen closely enough to be sure that there was something different about it.

The 70's box also had many interesting sound bites from the 70's (Nixon, Patty Hearst, etc) placed at amusing points during the program. The 80's box contains NO sound bites. This makes this box set more of a collection of tunes and less of an "experience." Sure, the music alone evokes nostalgia but sound clips from Reagan, Bush, Quayle, or "Murphy Brown" would have been interesting. Imagine a soundbite from the news of the shuttle exploding right before Peter Shilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)". That's the kind of fun the 70's box provided.

I also thought the first essay in the booklet was lame, but that's neither here nor there.

I know that my critique may seem overly harsh to some. If I were reviewing this only for people who didn't have any 80's music on cd and wanted a great amount and variety of tunes, I'd certainly recommend this at the 5-star level. Somehow I don't think that is the primary market envisioned for this.


A Nearly Perfect Compilation   December 17, 2002
Penner (Brattleboro, VT USA)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

This new 7-disc set of 1980s pop tunes stands head and shoulders above previous compilations for its completeness as well as its range. Too many of the previous nostalgia collections focused on tracks that received "retro" attention during the craze of the late 90s, or tried to distill the music of the 80s into specific genres such as the vague and inapt "new wave." Rhino's compilation, conversely, treats itself as a cultural and historical document, and thus strives to present a broad overview of the decade -- not just musically, but culturally as well.

In addition to including the de rigeur one-hit wonders for which the 80s are famous (the Vapors' "Turning Japanese" and Kajagoogoo's "Too Shy," for example), this set also includes 80s hits by more successful artists whose careers spanned more than one decade, a feature sadly lacking in many other compilations. Queen, Yes, and INXS are all represented here, even though their success was not confined to the 80s (megahit pop powerhouses like Madonna, Michael Jackson and the Police are not, however).

More importantly, Rhino includes tracks that represent trends in other areas of 80s culture: Films (Meco's hilarious "Empire Strikes Back" medley, Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F"), television (the Afternoon Delights' "General Hospi-Tale," Jan Hammer's "Miami Vice"), Broadway musicals (Murray Head's "One Night in Bangkok"), and even video games (Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever"). Also included are short-lived "novelty" tracks that may not have done much on the charts at the time, but provide precious cultural insights: Bob & Doug McKenzie's "Take Off," Bertie Higgins's "Key Largo," Billy Crystal's "You Look Marvelous," and the Art of Noise's "Paranoimia."

Perhaps the greatest aspect of this box set is that it includes a lushly produced 88-page book that's more than just liner notes. It's a set of analytical pop culture essays on the decade that defined a generation, from politics, media, medicine and technology to TV, Hollywood, music and all the trappings of pop culture. In addition to these intellectually stimulating essays are discussions of every single one of the 142 included songs, as well as hundreds of photographs that will resurrect all your memories from the decade, even the ones you thought you'd successfully interred forever.

If you're an aficionado of 80s pop music who was collecting back in the day, this compilation may be all you need to complete your 80s experience. You probably have your own suite of favorite artists from the decade, and already own their CDs (Depeche Mode, U2, Duran Duran and Tears for Fears come to mind). This CD set will fill in the nooks and crannies, for those are the gaps where culture grows.


Omigod! Rhino does it again.   July 4, 2002
Pat Kelly (Here, There & Everywhere)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

OK, OK, it has no Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Prince or Madonna. Get over it. One, there's no hope in hell that those artists' record companies would let them on a compilation like this. And two, if you're even thinking about buying this set and you don't own at least three CD's from each of those artists, you're warped. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

On the positive side, you probably don't have albums by Trio, Thomas Dolby, or Billy Crystal, to name just three. And tracks by those 3 artists, amongst over a hundred others will bring you back over twenty years within a few notes.

As they did with the "Have A Nice Decade" 70's box set, Rhino has again produced an eclectic amalgam of multi-format music of a decade, mixing #1 hits with almost obscure novelties. Where else will you get Pete Townshend of the Who on the same CD as rapper Kurtis Blow? Each CD has more variety than any US radio station.

The concentration in the box set is clearly on top 40 material. Fair enough, since Rhino has already put out the "Just Can't Get Enough" series for people whose tastes favoured The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, REM, New Order etc. for those with more eccentric tastes.

Two things become apparent in retrospective looking back at music of the 80's.

One is how quickly video took off (to paraphrase Bob & Doug McKenzie). The first 2 CD's are pre-MTV, the last 5 after it started, and suddenly looks were as (or rather more) important than music. ("Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles - the frist ever MTV video - is included, although it was released in late 1979.) Could A-Ha or Duran Duran or Stray Cats have made it big in America in the pre-video era? Unlikely.

Two, and certainly related, look at how many non-US acts appear at the start of the video era. The first 2 (pre-MTV) CDs contain only 7 out of 41 non-US acts, and that grouo includes Bob & Doug, Rick Springfield and Billy Idol. CD-3 has 14 out of 21 foreign acts. Why? US record companies were about 18 months behind in the video revolution.

By CD 4 the numbers are about even (9 US, 11 foreign), and by CD 5 (circa 1986) US music has clearly recovered. At decade ends, the big US hitmakers included New Kids on the Block, Richard Marx, and Bobby McFerrin. Kinda makes you long for Culture Club and The Eurythmics, eh?

So treat the thirtysomething significant other in your life and get them this collection, or splurge and get it for yourself. Either way, you'll be glad you did.

And don't worry. Be happy.