“Oblivious” by Aztec Camera

I was talking with a good friend of mine the other day about music, and more specifically pop music from the 1980’s and how creative and interesting many of the artists and their “hit” singles were. This is especially notable when compared with today’s formulaic and cookie cutter singing and production. We specifically brought up 1983 and were blown away by the originality, musicianship, and sonic landscapes that even the top 20 artists brought to the charts.

One single I adore from that year was from a little-known band from Scotland called Aztec Camera. They never took off in the states, but their third single from their debut album High Land, Hard Rain is just pure 80’s magic.

“Oblivious” was released in February of 1983, and made it to 47 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was re-released later that year and broke into the top 20, finishing at 18. It’s an upbeat number, touching upon various styles of music, and doesn’t hide its infectious chorus.
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Frontperson and songwriter Roddy Frame admitted years later that he indeed wrote the song as a shameless pop number, and yet there is more creativity and musicianship in his blatant attempt at selling records than any number of pop songs released in the last ten years. ​