1981 (aka 1981: POST-PUNK) (2004)

Tracks

CD 1 - Feet

Rise Of The East - British Electronic Foundation
You Can't Be Funky - Bush Tetras
We're Going To Live (Edit) - Heaven 17
Europe After The Rain - John Foxx
D-D-Bo - Dome
Last Words - 23 Skidoo
UFO - ESG
What We All Want - Gang Of Four
Howl! Caged Bird - Rip Rig Panic
Wonderful Offer - Lora Logic
St Patrick's Day - Mekons
Alone - Colin Newman
Numbers - Kraftwerk
Zero Leg - Liquid Liquid
Gate - Massacre
Film Music - Family Fodder
The Pirate Song - Goat That Went Om
Diselt - Dif Juz
Paper Hats (Edit) - This Heat
Danger Is - Trio
The New Stone Age - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Sunny Day (Edit) - Pigbag
Flowers Of Romance - Public Image Ltd
Light In Darkness - YMO

CD 2 - Heart

All Cats Are Grey - The Cure
Alice's Song - Passions
Any Second Now (Voices) - Depeche Mode
The Missing Boy - Durutti Column
Gloomy Sunday - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Promise Of Love - MX-80
Once In A Lifetime (Edit) - Talking Heads
Doubts Even Here - New Order
It's Hard Enough Knowing (Edit) - Pete Shelley
Winning - The Sound
Ghosts - Japan
A New Kind Of Water - This Heat
Only Loved At Night - Raincoats
Dance - Gary Numan
Love At First Sight - Gist
No Tears - Psychedelic Furs
Paralysed - Gang Of Four
Romance Of The Telescope - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Rage In Eden - Ultravox
Nostalgia (Demo) - Weekend

CD 3 - Car

Final Day - Young Marble Giants
Poor Old Soul - Orange Juice
This Is The Ice Age - Martha & The Muffins
Happy Birthday - Altered Images
Too Fast For You - The Church
The Sweetest Girl - Scritti Politti
Myself To Myself - Romeo Void
Don't Let Go - Barracudas
Black And White - The dB's
Our Lips Are Sealed - Go-Go's
The Honeymoon Killers - Magazine
Spring Came - Suburbs
Tonight - Marine Girls
Message Of Love - The Pretenders
More Real - Necessaries
Falling Down Around Me - The Teardrop Explodes
Is That Love - Squeeze
Your Turn, My Turn - The Go Betweens
Love - Robyn Hitchcock
Golden Brown - The Stranglers
It's Not My Place - Ramones
Respectable Street - XTC
Crazy - Pylon
Strict Time - Elvis Costello
Radio Free Europe - REM

CD 4 - Computer

Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
Working In A Coal Mine - Devo
Der Mussolini (Edit) - Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft
Europa & The Pirate Twins - Thomas Dolby
White Car In Germany (Edit) - Associates
Take Me To Your Heart - Eurythmics
The Height Of The Fighting - Heaven 17
Diamond Head - Plastics
Bostich (Edit) - Yello
Areas - New Musik
The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (Edit) - Human League
E2 E4 (Excerpt) - Manuel Gottsching
Girls On Film - Duran Duran
Incubus (Blue Suit) - Tuxedomoon
Stories - Gary Numan
I Love This Life - The Blue Nile
This Is Me - Chris And Cosey
Cracked Mirror (Edit) - Moev
Alleys Of Your Mind - Cybotron
Blue Nylon - The Buggles
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Shake It Up (Edit) - The Cars
623 - Classix Nouveaux
Sacred Heart - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Computer Love (Edit) - Kraftwerk

CD 5 - Amplifier

Celebrity Art Party - The Embarrassment
Straight Jacket - Minutemen
Johnny's Gonna Die - The Replacements
Pray Til You Sweat - Flesh Eaters
Louie Louie - Black Flag
The Only One - Stiff Little Fingers
Cover To Cover - MX-80
Big House - Meat Puppets
Too Young To Die - Agent Orange
Paradise - The Saints
I Look Alone - Buzzcocks
All These Things - Empire
New Routine/Suicide - Secret Hate
Coalminers Song - The Gordons
Twenty Tens - Virgin Prunes
Green Fuz - The Cramps
Straight Edge - Minor Threat
Reject Yourself - 100 Flowers
Julie Ocean - The Undertones
Pay To Cum - Bad Brains
Ha Ha Ha - Flipper
Fame And Fortune - Mission Of Burma
Goodbye Johnny - Gun Club
Crazy To Exist - Josef K
Rat Bait - Swimming Pool Q's
Nazi Punks Fuck Off - Dead Kennedys
Love Song - Au Pairs
When It's Over - Wipers
Adult Books - X
Give Your Heart - Zoomers

CD 6 - Cassette

Billy Two - The Clean
Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul - The Fall
Ladies With Appliances - Dow Jones & The Industrials
Mutilate - Ludus
Fat Cow - Nervous Gender
Love At First Sight - 49 Americans
Office Skills - Plasticland
Four Steps Toward A Cultural Revolution - The Beakers
Something Sends Me To Sleep - Felt
Duty - Work
Blue Eyes - Fall Of Saigon
Dead Man's Curve - The Blackouts
Somewhere -Scapa Flow
Mr. Morse - Dancing Cigarettes
Designer Genes - Amoebas In Chaos
All My Hollowness To You - Tall Dwarfs
Amphibious - Monitor
She Took A Long Cold Look - Dolphins
Bad Education - Blue Orchids
Departure - Ben Watt
Profi - Neonbabies
AM City - Voice Farm
Wouldn't You - Laughing Apple
Hello Texas - Social Climbers
Das Insekt - Der Plan
Reflector - Biting Tongues
Sick Butchers - Flux Of Pink Indians
Lost Outside The Tunnel - Aztec Camera
Bricks - Diagram Brothers
I Used To Believe In You - Human Switchboard
My Knowledge Was Wrong - Half Japanese
This Angry Silence - Television Personalities
Toxic Poppies - Philosophic Collage
Waiting For The Bus - Violent Femmes
Silhouettes - Thick Pigeon

CD 7 - Brain

Truth - Art Bears
Cry - The Birthday Party
Structure - Glenn Branca
The Twist - Klaus Nomi
Weapons For El Salvador - The Ex
Hands 2 Take - Flying Lizards
Dearmary - Negativland
Crazy Dreams & High Ideas - New Age Steppers
Kites - Lemon Kittens
Kummer - Trio
Lonesome Cowboy Dave - Pere Ubu
Would We Be Alive - The Residents
The River Flows East In Spring - Matt Johnson
The Decoration - Eyeless In Gaza
Abstieg & Zerfall - Einstürzende Neubauten
Candyskin - Fire Engines
Hit - Section 25
Bata Motel - Crass
Aperitif De La Mort - Liaisons Dangereuses
Factory Forehead - Crash Course In Science
Thank Heaven For Push Button Phones - Foetus
A Touch Of Evil - Cabaret Voltaire
Planet Strike - Chrome
Blonde Red Head - DNA
4 Hours - Clock DVA
Nursery Chymes - Homosexuals
Multiple 12 - Wim Mertins
Makeshift Swahili - This Heat

CD 8 - Ice

Fragrance (Edit) - Holger Czukay
Worlds In Collision - Jerry Harrison
Restless - Comsat Angels
Their Dream Goes On - Selecter
Promise Me - Gun Club
You're No Good - ESG
Into The Light - Siouxsie & The Banshees
O Superman - Laurie Anderson
Fragment (Edit) - Phew
Histoire A Suivre - Honeymoon Killers
Girl's Imagination - The Del-Byzanteens
Oh, Mr Friction - Was (Not Was)
A Secret Life - Brian Eno & David Byrne
All My Colours - Echo & The Bunnymen
Square Dance - Material
Kachakuchane (Edit) - Ryuichi Sakamoto
Nightclubbing - Grace Jones
Earthbeat (Peel Session) (Edit) - The Slits
Born Again Cretin - Robert Wyatt
Different Fur - Delta 5

CD 9 - Fire

Waterline - A Certain Ratio
Chosen Time - New Order
Make Room (Edit) - Fad Gadget
The Lunatics - Fun Boy Three
The Red House - David Byrne
But Not Them - The Creatures
Calhoun Surf - Raybeats
Tired Of My Plans - Suburbs
Crickets In The Flats - David Thomas
Butcher (Edit) - Killing Joke
Talking Drum - Japan
Give Me Back My Man (Remix) (Edit) - The B-52's
Room Mate - Lizzy Mercier-Descloux
Too Nice To Talk To - The Beat (English)
Do The Wrong Thing - Lounge Lizards
Stay Young - INXS
Controversy - Prince
Houses In Motion (Edit) - Talking Heads
Of Lillies And Remains (Edit) - Bauhaus
Ghost Town (Edit) - The Specials
Genius Of Love - Tom Tom Club
Midnight Bahnhof Cafe (Edit) - Wire
Emergency - Family Fodder
Shouting Out Loud - Raincoats

Briefcase Part 1 (MP3s)

Age Concern - Department S
Betrayed - Disturbed
Brand New Cadillac - Doctor Mix & The Remix
000010 - Cancer
Can't Blame Me - Blue Angels
Central Park - Blah Blah Blah
Continent - Danse Society
Continental Shelf - Electric Guitars
Crystal Dream - Beranek
Dance Hall - Decayes
Deutscher Wald - Deutsche Wertarbeit
Different Light - Discount Chiefs
Dogs - Christian Death
Dr. Z - Deep Freeze Mice
Dum Dum Dum - Dum Dum Dum
Entrance Of The Gladiators - Essendon Airport
Fakten - Exkurs
Fanfare In The Garden - Essential Logic
Gestures - Ceramic Hello
Getting Out Of Hand - The Bangs
Heartbeat - Dalek I Love You
Here Today (BBC) - Chameleons
I Never Knew - Avacados
I Understand - Angelic Upstarts
Ike - Chemicals Made From Dirt
In The Slot - Adaptors
Is There An Exit - Absolute Body Control
Jeannette - Braque
Lazy In Love - Eight Eyed Spy
Life Ends - Buzz
Little Johnny - Ejectors
Little Room - Bunnydrums
Logischer Gefrierpunkt - Din A Testbild
Love Needs No Disguise - Dramatis
My Hand Is Still Wet - Alternative TV
Nancy Packs A Piece - Boom
Non Stop Fun Pop - Black Sheep
On The R To TZ - Cardboards
Performance (Edit) - Club Tango
Prince Charming - Adam & The Ants
Rapture (Edit) - Blondie
Sad Day (Early) - Blancmange
Simon - Commericals
Someone I Know - The Chefs
Storage Case - Drowning Craze
Strong Box - Effigies
Subliminal - Drinking Electricity
Substance M. - Valerie Desperiez & Eric Abitol
Suburban Bitch - Conservatives
Talk To Me - APB
Tears Are Not Enough (Edit) - ABC
Telecommunication - A Flock Of Seagulls
The Calm - Lol Coxhill
The Exterminations 6 - Dark Day
The Magnificent Dance - The Clash
The Presence (Edit) - Crispy Ambulance
The Waiting (BBC) - Colours Out Of Time
Thin Line - Factrix
Uranium - Concrete
When I'm Home - Babylon Dance Band
Why Are Babies So Wise - Bow Wow Wow
Without A Care - Aquila
Zombie - Doo-Dooettes
Kojak-Wang - Dara Birnbaum
Remembrance Day - B-Movie
Fear That Mindless - CCCP-TV
1992 (Edit) - Bouncing Czechs
A.G.N.E.S. - 1000 Ohm

Briefcase Part 2 (MP3s)

A Gift Of Tears - Jeunesse D'Ivoire
A Gigantic Raft (Edit) - It's Immaterial
Absolute Beginners - The Jam
Am Hauptfelsen - Klopferbande
Animal In My Head - Marine
Beat Crazy - Joe Jackson
Biscuits & Gravy - Gizmos
Body To Body - Front 242
Can I See Your Clock - Jandek
Chinese Dragon - Jezebel
Cross Purposes - Mass
Daddy's Gone Mad - Legal Weapon
Dancing With Myself - Generation X
Decent Town - The Lambrettas
Diddy Wah Diddy - Last Four Digits
Do Not - Instant Music
Do The Residue - Kontakt Microfoon Orkest
Eisiger Wind - Liliput
Favourite Shirt - Haircut 100
Filmen - Kitchen & The Plastic Spoons
Fish Can Talk - Jad Fair
Gilmore Of The Filmore - Indoor Life
Go For Gold - Girls At Our Best
Going Places - Kid Creole
Graveyard Stomp - Meteors
Hey Say! (Edit) - Jagatara
Himmel Auf Erden - Geisterfahrer
Hostiches - The Fritz
How Do You Like My New Dog - Malaria
Hung Up To Dry Whilst Building An Arch - Gilbert & Lewis
Icehouse (Edit) - Icehouse
Ich Komme Aus Der DDR - Gleitzeit
Ich Lieb Sie - Grauzone
I'm 37 - The Macs
Information - Jeff & Jane Hudson
King Of The Rumbling Spires - The Fast Set
Kings Of Sham - Thomas Leer
Kosmonautentraum 6 - Kosmonautentraum
Last Chance For You - Fifteen Minutes
Launderette - Vivien Goldman
Lesezirkel Melodie - Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle
Lichtenstein Girl - Gifted Children
Life Is A Joke - Kebab
Mad Horses - Paul Haig
Microbes - Mekanik Kommando
Mondo Zombie - Hermann Kopp
Motiv - Ike Yard
Neue Straßen - Metro Pakt
New Toy - Lene Lovich
News - Kirlian Camera
No GDM (Edit) - Gina X
People In Space - Kevin Harrison
Poupee De Circe, Poupee De Con - Jeanette Und Das Land Z
Right & Wrong - Freddy And The Fruitloops
Shadowed - Fingerprintz
Statues - Husker Du
Stretch (Edit) - Maximum Joy
The Dreg - Fleshtones
The Glitterhouse - Medium Medium
The Trial - Five Or Six
Time To Get Up - Los Microwaves
When Winter Lasted Forever (Edit) - Icicle Works
Working Youth - Kim Gordon & Miranda
Yoghurt - George Harrassment
Mission Impossible Theme - Ippu-Do
Robbespierre's Re-Marx - Mecano
45 Grave - Forty Five Grave

Briefcase Part 3 (MP3s)

Airlines - Our Daughter's Wedding
An Old Man's Dream - Red Krayola
Baby Tonight - Snowy Red
Ballad Of The Metronome - The Metronomes
Bated Breath - The Room
Black Houses - Modern English
Capitalism - Oingo Boingo
Cleveland - Spanish Dogs
Converse - My Captains
Cowpunk Medlum - Splodgenessabounds
Cut - Ski Patrol
Darkness - The Police
Digesting War - Mnemonists
Distortion (Edit) - Second Layer
Dolphin's Spurt - Minny Pops
Elefantendisco - Pyrolator
Euthentics - Modern Eon
Everywhere I Go - Scars
Gluecklich Wie Nie - Palais Shaunburg
Halloween - The Misfits
Hip Rebels - Passage
I Am Your Shadow - Colin Potter
I Want To See The Light - Rational Youth
Ich Fress Dir Aus Der Hand - Splitter
Ideologically Unsound - Poison Girls
Ipanema Mon Amour - Pel Mel
Keys And Colleges - Steve Parker
La Femme - Naked Lunch
Lust Of Berlin - Neu Electrikk
M.U.S.I.C. - Normal Brain
Mass Brew Action - Rally Go
Mercenaire Solitaire - Moderne
Mothers Little Helper - Polyphonic Size
Mr. Science - Mr Science
Music For Someone - Names
O - Plain Characters
Pink Lincoln - Post Raisin Band
Puss 'N' Boots - Red Cross
Rain - Polyrock
Red Asphalt - Red Asphalt
Robot Secret Agents - Mythos
Schizo Revolution - Slugfuckers
Schlaglichter - Matthais Schuster
Sea Of Love - Iggy Pop
She Said She Loves Me - Scientists
Shift - Lee Ranaldo
Someone's In The Bathroom - Monique Experience
Spring In Fialta - Slow Children
Statik Dancin - Minimal Compact
Suicide Commando - No More
Teenage Time Killer - Rudimentary Peni
Telephone And Rubber Band - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Ten Don'ts For Honeymooners - Monochrome Set
The Fucking Youth Of Today - Thurston Moore
Theme For Great Cities (Edit) - Simple Minds
Things - Plus Instruments
To Cut A Long Story Short (Edit) - Spandau Ballet
Toy Planet (Edit) - Irmin Schmidt & Bruno Spoerri
Tropical Fish In The Sink - Native Hipsters
Turkey Mambo Momma (Peel Session) - Pulp
Vaseline Des Artistes - Nasmak
What Are You Looking At - R. Steven Moore
Heartbeat (Peel) - Mo-Dettes
Mini-Skirt Minnie - Plimsouls
4 Countries - The Reflections

Briefcase Part 4 (MP3s)

Another 8 Hours - Two By Fours
Are Kisses Out Of Fashion - Sudenten Geche
Beyond The Law - Wanderers
Biff! Bang! Pow! - The Times
Business And The Rational Mind - Urban Verbs
Call Me Honey - Swamp Children
Computer Date - Suburban Lawns
Crack The Bell - Wall Of Voodoo
Cruisin - Tronics
Demystification - Zounds
Die Lachenden Idioten - The Tanzdiele
Discover Your Feet - Student Nurse
Dub Bums - Bruce Tovsky
Electronic Angie (Studio) - Theoretical Girls
Empty (Edit) - Via Veneto
Evil Going On - Terraplanes
Falling In Love Again - Techno Twins
Fierce Atoms - Wild West
Forest Fire - Swell Maps
Haven't We Met Somewhere Before - Telex
How Much Are They - Wobble, Czukay & Liebezeit
I Believe - Alan Vega
I Hate - Urinals
I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape - Teenage Filmstars
I'm Tired Of Life - TSOL
Jimmie Jones (Single Version) - The Vapors
Let's Kill Each Other - Surplus Stock
Let's Talk About Prams - Vital Disorder
Louie Louie - Maureen Tucker
Luck Of Loveliness - Tall Dwarfs
Mind Of A Toy - Visage
Minutes To Silence - Stranger Station
My Own Invention - Theatre Of Hate
New Day - Walter Steding & The Dragon People
New Law - Xpozez
No Next Time - Walking Floors
One In Ten - UB40
Opera Of Worms - Van Kaye & Ignit
Parallel Lines - The Subway Sect
Part Of You - Starter
Politics - Thompson Twins
Raindance (Edit) - The Past Seven Days
Sentimental - Those Little Aliens
Sex Ist Out, Ich Bin Geklont - Schaltkreis Wassermann
Solid Ground - Telefones
Something In The Air - Yukihiro Takahashi
Submind - The Tenants
This Boy - Triffids
Turning Yellow - Worldbackwards
Untitled - The The
Veb Heimat - Weltklang

Releases

9CD-R + MP3s Box Set - Unofficial Release - No Label or Catalog Number (USA)

Notes

Listen to and download these mixes and get more info at these Musicophilia site pages: April 4, 2017 and Jan. 4, 2021.

Write up at Musicophilia:

1981 was not the year that defined post-punk (look, probably, to 1979); but it was the year that most exemplifies it's almost-boundless breadth and depth.

'1981' was originally created as a physical box set of themed mixes across nine CD-Rs almost seventeen years ago, in 2004. In 2021, these tracks are almost four decades old. But the music heard here (and on the sister mixes, '1980' and '1979') feels as vibrant and brand-new as ever. It is music that will forever be reborn, as it's heard for the first time by successive generations who are perennially inspired by its total freedom from artistic limitations, its wit, its stylishnessm and its open-eared energy.

If this set has a thesis, it's that post-punk was defined not by its "greats," but by how great even its peripheral players were, as a movement that empowered people to both take over the means of production (and distribution and criticism and celebration, in ways that epitomized the ethos of "independent music" to this day), and also the means of expression. It democratized artiness and attitude. You didn't have to be spiky and energetic or arty and erudite: why not be both? And you didn't need anyone's permission.

The "greats" are indeed great in 1981: Talking Heads, Gang of Four, Wire, Raincoats, OMDs, This Heat. But in intensity, if not in reach, they were matched by Family Fodder, Crash Course in Science, Dif Juz, and Goat That Went Om–and hundreds more. This set is a celebration of them all, their indefatigable spirit of artistry, exploration and fun.

Please, support artists who made music in 1981, and especially those who make it in 20221; buy music, don't just stream!