When I revived New Wave Parade earlier this month, I had this vision of THE PLAYLIST, a day-by-day New Wave blog/playlist that spotlighted a different obscure New Wave song every time.

So I got all excited and set out to post one music video a day and write a silly blurb about why I’d chosen it. Simple. But no matter how fun the idea seemed in the abstract, I never got around to actually doing it.

I’m not giving up on the idea of THE PLAYLIST, but I am changing the structure of the assignment for myself, and for you, of course.

From here on out, I’ll be spotlighting one song per day from the massive Living in Oblivion compilation of New Wave songs. Because maybe that’ll give me a known structure to cling to when I lose motivation or creativity.

Originally released on cassette and compact disc in the mid-90’s, Living in Oblivion spans five volumes, totaling 95 New Wave tracks. Some were major hits, but one of many masses of things I love about Living in Oblivion is that it includes quite a few total and complete non-hits, too. Which I guess you’d call… misses? The point is, they’re still great, maybe even more awesome because the public didn’t quite get them. Hence, the “oblivion” in Living in Oblivion. (IDK, maybe. Just a theory.)

And I would be negligent not to mention how critical the Living in Oblivion compilation was to my impressionable young mind, as a 90’s teenager forming her opinions and preferences about music. It’s been so much freaking FUN to revisit the compilation as a 45-year-old person (who never left the party of ‘80s music, actually). As a teen, I could only get my hands on two out of the five volumes here, so there are even some songs that are new to me, now…

Something new, playful, fun, glittering, and glamorous. Now how fucking New Wave is THAT?!?

In the big picture, I’m hoping that my commentary on these songs and their music videos will deepen my own sense of novelty, playfulness, fun, glitter, glamour, and overall deep fucking spiritual connection to these songs.

Is that so lofty a goal?

At the very least, the journey of Living in Oblivion promises your newfound appreciation for Bananarama — if I have anything to do with it.

💘