10 Recording Mistakes Left In 80s Songs
10 Recording Mistakes Left in ‘80s Songs
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most infamous technical and performance errors that slipped by 1980s studio recordings.
Stutter
“You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” (1985) Billy Joel
Even mistakes like forgetting your own lyrics can be magic. After all, Billy Joel’s “You’re Only Human” is about overcoming issues more serious than stuttering the line “Sometimes that's all it takes” toward the song’s end. Joel couldn't help but laugh right after. It's the kind of charmingly mundane blooper that listeners would immediately figure was a joke. In fact, it was a genuine fumble that Joel found amusing, given the song’s subject. He mentioned in a newspaper interview that his then-wife Christie Brinkley and Paul Simon convinced him to leave that moment in after hearing the take. With what that brings to the levity in “You're Only Human,” that decision wasn't a mistake.
Delayed Vocals
“Forever in My Life” (1987) Prince
One lesser-known track on Prince’s “Sign o’ the Times” isn't quite as tight as the rest of the album, maybe for the best. “Forever in My Life” is a declaration of love that's eventually enhanced by droning ad-labbing by Prince himself in the background. Only after layering the vocal tracks did sound engineer Susan Rogers realize that the backing was roughly two bars ahead of the lead. Prince decided that this slight discrepancy made all the difference, conveying the frenzy running through the protagonist’s mind while he waxes romantic. Love may be messy, but this accidental poignant expression deserves to be in the song forever.
Opening Glitch
“Blue Monday” (1983) New Order
The hit single that established New Order as synthpop superstars still had a punk quality to its iconic hook. Keyboardist and programmer Gillian Gilbert opens “Blue Monday” with a riff that she meant to sync to the mechanical beat of a DMX. A manual programming error ended up placing it slightly late, which split the melody and the rhythm into a consistent groove. The band embraced this maverick twist on the high-tech composition for bringing a flawed human feel to the synthesized jam. With so much dance music that feels coldly perfectionistic, the opening of “Blue Monday” may be more infectious than ever for that glitch.
Squeal
“Master of Puppets” (1986) Metallica
It doesn't seem like Metallica's monstrous masterpiece misses a note in nearly nine minutes. But nearly six minutes into “Master of Puppets,” Kirk Hammett hits a distinctly shrill harmonic in the middle of an epic guitar solo. He had accidentally bent the string so hard that it left the fretboard, producing what would have sounded like a raw note in lesser hands. Hammett worried that this lick ruined the take, but everyone was so thrilled with its intensity that they wanted him to replicate it. He never could. To this day, Hammett dreads playing such a difficult solo, especially when it was a slip-up that made it so iconic. Metal guitarists have been chasing that perfect off-the-fretboard lick ever since.
Falling Behind
“Eminence Front” (1982) The Who
Perhaps Roger Daltrey resented only doing the backing vocals on The Who’s “Eminence Front.” Pete Townshend fronts the anthem’s infectious groove, which is suddenly thrown off when Daltrey comes in late at the top of the first chorus’s harmony. This glaring error has been quietly exposed by the singers’ dead-on harmony during live performances and studio remasters. Otherwise, nobody involved has explained why the discrepancy made the original cut. Some suspect that it was a consequence of the notoriously rushed production on the album “It’s Hard.” “Eminence Front” was still an instant classic, but the absolute perfection of later versions is just a put-on.
“Tin Roof! Rusted!
“Love Shack” (1989) The B52’s
It's hard to separate the mistakes from the genius in The B52’s’ quirky style and experimental productions. The frantic climax of “Love Shack” actually feels tightly punctuated by Cindy Wilson’s a capella exclamation, The problem is that nobody knew what exactly that line meant. The band members have disputed theories that it’s a euphemism for getting pregnant. Wilson was just ad-libbing reference to rusted houses during a take when the band jammed to the end of the backing track tape. Producer Don Was was so moved by the energy that he cued the “Tin roof” line and followed it with a coda in the final mix. It may sound like a precise outburst, but it’s really spontaneous nonsense at its finest.
Malfunctioning Harmonizer
“Surfing with the Alien” (1987) Joe Satriani
Generations of guitar virtuosos have been inspired by the Joe Satriani album “Surfing with the Alien.” He himself has long been after the otherworldly tone in that opening title track. Budgetary restraints forced Satriani to get creative with studio equipment and recording live to tape. As he blasted into the main solo, his Eventide H949 harmonizer malfunctioned to create an intense pitch. It somehow sounded awesome, but Satriani could never deliberately replicate the iconic tone. He's gotten close enough for “Surfing the Alien” to consistently bring down the house as a live staple. Still, it would ironically take some pretty sophisticated equipment and engineering to play the studio version properly.
The Forgettable Cue
“The Unforgettable Fire” (1984) U2
One of U2’s most enchanting anthems is particularly moving if you don’t pay too much attention right away. Behind the ambient opening of “The Unforgettable Fire” is the faint sound of Larry Mullen Jr. counting in with his drumsticks, 20 seconds before he’s meant to play. Even more faint is him swearing once he realizes his mistake. Of course, that’s just fans’ solid guess on the circumstances of the recording. Mullen never admitted to the mistake, nor has anyone explained why it was kept in the song and future remasters. As much as “The Unforgettable Fire” lives up to its title, the same can be said of that opening mistake once you notice it.
Rambling Roth
“Everybody Wants Some!!” (1980) Van Halen
David Lee Roth has owned up to not always being professional in the studio with Van Halen. “Everybody Wants Some!!” is particularly memorable for the wiry frontman getting carried away. He opens the second verse with so much force that he fumbles the line, “I've seen a lot of people just lookin’ for a moonbeam.” And his spoken-word ad-lib during the bridge is immediately interrupted by Eddie Van Halen and Michael Anthony’s riff. As airtight as the band’s songwriting was, they tended to embrace mistakes that added to the intensity of a recording. The flubs in “Everybody Wants Some!!” may be particularly noticeable, but they do indeed add to the charm.
Gated Reverb
“In the Air Tonight” (1981) Phil Collins
One of the most haunting ballads of the ‘80s is particularly iconic for Phil Collins breaking the ambiance. He and engineer Hugh Padgham were actually more surprised than anyone by the drum break on “In the Air Tonight.” They had forgotten to turn off a talkback microphone routed through the compressor after an earlier recording. So when Collins hit the drums, it unleashed an explosive reverb that Padgham quickly muted. They were so impressed by the final product that they kept it as is, not realizing the impending metaphorical impact. One of the most iconic drum breaks ever popularized the deliberate audio processing effect known as “gated reverb.” Leave it to truly creative artists to turn a mistake into a triumph.
What are some other recording mistakes that you can’t unhear? Point them out in the comments below.