Song help
December 9, 2010 2:12 PM Subscribe
What 80s song is Passion Pit's "Little Secrets" reminding me of?
I usually refrain from asking these questions because 1. there are about 100 current songs that remind me naggingly of songs from the 80s and 2. I find them disappointing when other people post them, because the best answers never sound anything like the posted songs, or the OP never finds the right song.
That said, this is driving me insane. Little Secrets sounds EXACTLY like some other song to me (or MAYBE 2 songs, but I don't think so). I'm thinking it was around 1984-1987, played frequently but briefly, and was probably a top 100 song but not a top 10 song.
The part that sounds most familiar is the very beginning of the song and the beginning of the chorus, but throw whatever you've got at me. I read all the youtube comments (hold me) and the only other song mention is Higher by Steve Winwood and that is not the song I'm thinking of.
I usually refrain from asking these questions because 1. there are about 100 current songs that remind me naggingly of songs from the 80s and 2. I find them disappointing when other people post them, because the best answers never sound anything like the posted songs, or the OP never finds the right song.
That said, this is driving me insane. Little Secrets sounds EXACTLY like some other song to me (or MAYBE 2 songs, but I don't think so). I'm thinking it was around 1984-1987, played frequently but briefly, and was probably a top 100 song but not a top 10 song.
The part that sounds most familiar is the very beginning of the song and the beginning of the chorus, but throw whatever you've got at me. I read all the youtube comments (hold me) and the only other song mention is Higher by Steve Winwood and that is not the song I'm thinking of.
Maybe Catch Me I'm Falling - Pretty Poison?
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:19 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:19 PM on December 9, 2010
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says, or Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:25 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:25 PM on December 9, 2010
Best answer: Could it be Nena - 99 Luftballoons? (The bass line I'm thinking of kicks in at 0:30.)
posted by pluckemin at 3:50 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by pluckemin at 3:50 PM on December 9, 2010
The very beginning reminds me of Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
posted by Dreamcast at 4:16 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by Dreamcast at 4:16 PM on December 9, 2010
Nice one, Serene Empress Dork. Peep, if that's not the one, can you tell us if there are particular song elements that most resonate with you? Like there are a couple of very distinctive synth sounds in this that are grabbing me in a hazy hazy way, reminding me of...something. SuperSquirrel nailed one of them dead on. The particular keyboard sound you hear in Little Secrets starting at 0:27 and repeating every five seconds thereafter is almost exactly the same as the one in Girls Just Want To Have Fun that starts at 0:08 and repeats every four seconds. The pitch and speed are just slightly different. It sounds to me kind of like a "pushed" synth burst in both cases (I just made that description up). And Pluckemin's Nena bassline does sound similar to the one in Little secrets starting at 1:31 - not the same tune, but the same "instrument" or sound. But are either of those what stands out to you? Is it the percussion? The singer's voice? The melody in the chorus? I'm thinking you mean the synth, but maybe you're saying all of it together. If there's any one thing that jumps out most prominently, let us know.
Sometimes I wonder if we're partly projecting backwards in these cases, like the new song snags a few hooks of multiple partly-related older things embedded in our memories and creates the illusion of something that never was. This happened to me with Ringside's song called Tired of Being Sorry and I never found an 80's match. It was just the keyboard part that was resonating with me. It's like they borrowed the sad keyboard tune from Tom Petty's You Got Lucky but used a more metallic sound like something from Eddie Grant's Romancing the Stone, but it wasn't quite either of those. I could swear I knew it exactly in some other song from the 80s. I hunted for keyboards like that forever, always on the edge of recall, but exhausted all options I knew. Alas.
I hope you find the song!
posted by Askr at 4:22 PM on December 9, 2010
Sometimes I wonder if we're partly projecting backwards in these cases, like the new song snags a few hooks of multiple partly-related older things embedded in our memories and creates the illusion of something that never was. This happened to me with Ringside's song called Tired of Being Sorry and I never found an 80's match. It was just the keyboard part that was resonating with me. It's like they borrowed the sad keyboard tune from Tom Petty's You Got Lucky but used a more metallic sound like something from Eddie Grant's Romancing the Stone, but it wasn't quite either of those. I could swear I knew it exactly in some other song from the 80s. I hunted for keyboards like that forever, always on the edge of recall, but exhausted all options I knew. Alas.
I hope you find the song!
posted by Askr at 4:22 PM on December 9, 2010
Best answer: I think I'm hearing some Scritti Politti - The Perfect Way in there - something about the way the bassline-equivalent keyboard jumps around and jangles in the background.
posted by Askr at 4:27 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by Askr at 4:27 PM on December 9, 2010
Response by poster: OK, 99 Luftballoons is one winner. I definitely hear Nena's bassline in the bounciness of the first several seconds of Little Secrets, and the rest of the song.
So far Catch Me I'm Falling sort of sounds similar, but I'm not sure that's what I was thinking of. Jane Says jumped out at me as too late, so maybe the song was toward the 1984 end of things, or even earlier.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - I don't know if what's nagging me is as small as a few seconds of repeated synth. Maybe this is it, and that's why it's not obvious and jumping out to me. But it's more like huge chunks of the song.
Part of it is the high vocals, and maybe even the "little" in the lyrics. The thing that nags me most is literally the first two lines of the chorus and the way they're sung: "Let this be our little secret, no one needs to know we're feeling . . ."
The melody (?) of that line, the music. Just the way that line sounds, it's like it was almost pulled directly out of some other song. Askr may be right about projecting backward. I'd still like to hear your ideas!
posted by peep at 4:50 PM on December 9, 2010
So far Catch Me I'm Falling sort of sounds similar, but I'm not sure that's what I was thinking of. Jane Says jumped out at me as too late, so maybe the song was toward the 1984 end of things, or even earlier.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - I don't know if what's nagging me is as small as a few seconds of repeated synth. Maybe this is it, and that's why it's not obvious and jumping out to me. But it's more like huge chunks of the song.
Part of it is the high vocals, and maybe even the "little" in the lyrics. The thing that nags me most is literally the first two lines of the chorus and the way they're sung: "Let this be our little secret, no one needs to know we're feeling . . ."
The melody (?) of that line, the music. Just the way that line sounds, it's like it was almost pulled directly out of some other song. Askr may be right about projecting backward. I'd still like to hear your ideas!
posted by peep at 4:50 PM on December 9, 2010
Response by poster: OMG OMG. It's totally the Perfect Way.
posted by peep at 4:51 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by peep at 4:51 PM on December 9, 2010
HA HA HA, FUCK YEAH! God isn't that so satisfying?! Whew! Music detective agency - SCORE!
posted by Askr at 4:53 PM on December 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Askr at 4:53 PM on December 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Great memory, too. You said 1984-1987 and it was 1985. You said top 100 but not top 10 - and it reached #11 in the US. It definitely got a lot of play, but like you said, didn't linger long. It was sort of one of those known-but-peripheral songs that was part of our 80s music tapestry, just not enough in the foreground that you'd hear it at 80s night.
posted by Askr at 6:08 PM on December 9, 2010
posted by Askr at 6:08 PM on December 9, 2010
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posted by peep at 2:13 PM on December 9, 2010