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1999, on one of my epic cycling trips, I had this strange urge to return to a mall that I last visited around 1992 or so, but the feeling was very eerie, empty, and strange, but first let me set the scene about a place that's perfect with what I'm introducing to you. Many Malls are still open, of course, but there's that odd attraction to the Dead Mall, or sometimes called Ghost Mall.

This journal is focusing on the The 1980's US Pop scene where BIG ruled and the Malls served as the main place for the Mainstream to get it's music, only to fall harder in the next decade. Still, in a way, I had a feeling that the era would come to a close anyways even back then, although it would take several to finally arrive at that time when things were going to get shut. I was kind of a witness to these through running through the C/O bins.

Many, I'm sure including the US Music Industry, did not expect things to happen that way...always happens. When you take a look at it, the majors depended on these kinds of Mall based sales, when Music was a luxury that was a must own and there were those who were buyers for a lot of what they hyped when they were shoving anything interesting to the side. I would love to focus on these under-performing albums, kind of like digging up something that was found at an abandoned place and finding that it was worth the dig, even for just one song that fits.

Many of the songs and examples here are more from the fall of any Pop scene in 1979 to 1992, where in The US, MTV was big and the production was filled with colorful trends, big hair, and loud over-produced music and there was maybe a little room for some "Alternative Pop" hype that tried to make the business a lot less square than it actually was, and hypes fell by the dozens through the decade with a few having some quality among the crap, with many music fans sometimes going to the big music stores just to see what they can get in a bout of guilty pleasure after getting hit with that New Pop Bug that just would not go away. In The 80's, many Music Fans were looking through the bins for a long time, possibly scaring the clerks who were more comfortable with the impulse buyer, maybe finding that final album by a band one once liked for dirt cheap for that strange feeling that at least one "was there" although one knew that those records would usually not be as collectable as other "Last Rounds" from the 60's and Early 70's...by The Mid 90's, those who were still getting a guilty pleasure of going to what was a center to hang out and look around were searching for signs of life at most places although still getting a strange pleasure to see the Fall of an Empire, the place that one was called many names by the Mainstream in those ugly Neon and Acid Washed fashions that now possibly clutter up the Goodwill or found that strange creature that actually made the trip very interesting.





To take one back in time...


Strange thing was I already knew that Pop Carnivals would never be forever...already at 13 before the New Wave Hype took over for a while, and I would be attracted to these ends. Being hooked by Power Pop, I started to find a lot of that attraction by 1981 once I started to know what was going on. By the time of my Punk days, around Late '82-'83 in starts and stops, I was growing in my listening, but a lot of what I was interested in stayed with me. Who knew that many of these Consumer Amusement Parks would be left standing without anything inside but remnants of what was not picked up in the long run.

The Northtowne Mall in Toledo was one of the places that my parents too me and my sister to for those shopping days back in The Early 80's; Opening in 1980, it was Toledo's North End place to go to before Wal Mart and Target went in for the kill. It really had nothing too out there that stood out, but for the time being it did have some of the things that made the trips worthwhile including the Dollar Theater where me and my friends went to during the Mid 80's for some cool films to check out and most importantly the Camelot Music store where there was plenty of Bargain Bin albums to pick from (First seriously important purchase from that bin was Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle!), and knowing that my music tastes were not the thing of the US Mainstream was going to make these look-throughs a major trip.

Oddly enough, even during it's early days, I developed an interest in the Music Business, buying an issue of Billboard at a B Dalton store in 1981 with the small amount of money my parents gave me with a full page as for Foreigner 4 on the back cover. Looking through the news and figures, I was strangely attracted to the Lower Half of any chart, let along the "Bubbling Under" section let along the Hits of the World section, always looking at the UK chart, of course. Time passed on, some visits to some trendy stores here and there dotting the path, and then it was time to move on by the Mid 80's, knowing that some (not all) of the stores refused to carry "That Punk Rock Music", even if it was sometimes that safe and fun music of bands like the Fleshtones (must have been the name, I guess), although of course I would visit the malls sometimes to get a Dollar Movie and look around to see where things were headed in Pop Culture (South, to Hell in a Hand Basket of course!).

The Mall would slowly close up shop by around 2001, like Water Torture. By my last visit, I decided to visit a Musicland and buy a couple of albums related to a scene that already was closing up shop, Britpop, one being a Cutout Cassette of The Charlatans, annoyingly aka in The US known as Charlatans UK and Rides' Tarantula. The only one in the store...maybe the only one within a long distance who bought the albums. It's now a Storage place with a couple of "Health Spas" at the West End of the building.

UPDATE: I just passed by the Mall the other day, and found some demolishing in the center of the building going on. The space that was a Montgomery Ward is still up with the "Health Spa" and some Vitamin shop. Oddly enough, that was the area where a Camelot Records was, where I think my last purchase was an Industrial Strength compilation.


So, come in, enjoy the trip through halls of names which moved, boarded up shops, iron gates, maybe a couple of "Anchor Stores" hanging around (Usually positioned at the ends of the building), crappy food courts, old "Mall Walkers" just getting in their exercise, families with nothing else to do when resting from useless Facebook posts, and cheesy music, some of it reflecting on a time long gone.

NOTE: Some posts might be about the odd surprise find from The 60's and 70's. Oddly enough, there would be some of that going on in the bins, too thanks to complete cleaning outs. I was a witness to some of those sightings as well, sometimes at a Rinks Bargain City just a slight way away from a mall.



Still for now, this needs a theme...one from Arcadia's SO RED THE ROSE in 1985 may fit the bill. The New Pop was long gone, and 3/5'ths of the biggest 80's Music band were finding it hard to promote their most ambitious work yet to a group of fans who just wanted the sure fire hits. This may not really have been a Cut Out item, but the final reception was very disappointing, and after a few weeks it just sat there, kind of like a dying mall with a lot of space but a couple of stores that have some business to keep it existing. Thankfully for the band, DuranLand had a successful re-model, but not many bands featured here survived the final count...er-I mean final round of Pop Business (I will try to stay away from Hair Metal as much as possible, but you know that the flying Aqua Net monster will catch me somehow!)

"Goodbye Is Forever" is a perfect title. While it may not be a perfect song, I just wanted to have something familiar, kind of like an open door that sets the scene which may lead to more interesting things - some great, some seriously crap beyond belief (or, if you hate The 80's, it will be a journey of crap that may hook you).


To close this post, here's a 'Tube of a look into one such Mall.