My little sister is now thirteen years old and she's growing up quite rapidly. But she's not just growing up...she's growing HIP. And not just hip...way hip. Now, I don't imagine most of you can grasp the concept of "way hip," because most of you are just the opposite: "way lame." Moving right along, my hip sister said the other day that Thomas Pynchon was, to quote, "da bomb." I wondered, "What does this 'bomb' thing mean?" So I asked her and she said that it means "really cool," or possibly "the coolest." So in layman's terms: Thomas Pynchon is the coolest.

With that out of the way, I can confidently say that New Wave Hits of the 80's: Volume 11: Just Can't Get Enough is da bomb. And I should know--I've got the complete set--volumes 1 through 20--in a shoebox under my bed. And don't get me wrong, the collection as a whole is very, very good, and some of the other volumes may qualify as "a bomb," but only good ol' number 11 can truly be considered "da bomb."

And the reason for that is track 11: "Shiny Shiny" by Haysi Fantayzee. It's a mixture of reggae, synth-pop, and baby talk. The song was originally released in 1983, (I think that was when AM radio was still all the rage) and shot right up to number #74 on the pop charts, where it fell off about five minutes later.

Anyway, there's a lot of bitchin' songs by the likes of The Fixx, Big Country, The Romantics, Nena, and The Fun Boy Three that make this a prime 80's comp for your collection.