I Love the 80s

Serbian radio stations--at least the ones I hear--seem to be stuck in the 1980s. Since those were my salad days (and Yugoslavia's as well, I suppose), that's not such a bad thing, but sometimes it can get a little ridiculous. Yesterday, at my hotel in Nis at breakfast, and while I was doing some work in the lobby, I heard the following chestnuts, among others:

• Gary Numan, Cars
• Sheena Easton, Morning Train
• J. Geils band, Freeze Frame
• Quarterflash, Harden My heart
• Toto, Rosanna
• Tommy Tutone, 867-3509
• Laura Brannigan, Gloria
• Flock of Seagulls, I Ran

That playlist arguably demands a post, but a subsequent event sealed the deal. In a conversation with the Chief Judge of the Basic Court, it somehow came up that he was a music expert, and he spent some time telling me what a vibrant scene the town had, particularly in the 1980s. When I mentioned the radio programming, he nodded knowingly:

"Oh yes, that European pop was huge," he told me. "Kajagoogoo was extremely popular."

I couldn't manage the witty riposte that formed on the tip of my tongue about one-hit wonders. Too shy, I suppose.