Places From Music
That Are Real

This is a strange idea for a page I had the other day, how many places in eighties music are based on real places. Here are a few I could think of off the top of my head. If anyone has pictures or directions to these places, I'd love an email!

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• 7-Up, New York City
  "My Own Way", Rio album by Duran Duran
  A now defunct night club, which as the song states, is on 45th avenue, between 6th and Broadway.
  
  
• Allentown PA
  Billy Joel had a song called Allentown, which was about this steel town.
  
  
• Automatic for the People, Georgia
  Album title of same name, by R.E.M.
  This is the slogan of a small restaurant in rural Gerogia, where the slogan is something along the lines of, "you want something extra, well it's automatic for the people"
  
  
• Bourbon Street
  It is in New Orleans, and it is in the song "Fascination Street" by the Cure
  
  
• Chez Nous Restaurant
  Chez Nous, although a fairly common name for French restaurants, refers specifically to the Chez Nous off of hwy 101 in North Hollywood, CA in the 1987 YES single "Love Will Find A Way"
  
  
• Club Tropicana
  From Wham!'s song "Club Tropicana", it's Club Privilege, Ibiza.
  
  
• Electric Avenue
  Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant it's in London, in Brixton, I believe.
  
  
• Emmeline
  The song "Seven Wonders" by Fleetwood Mac Emmeline is the tree that Evangeline waited for Gabriel in the epic poem "Evangeline" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- it is located in St.Martinville, Louisiana
  
  
• Highway Nine
  "Born To Run", Bruce Springsteen
  Freehold NJ, well, that's the part where Bruce was singing about 'cuz he grew up there... it also runs through Howell, Lakewood... etc...
  
  
• Joshua, Califorina
  "Where The Streets Have No Names", Joshua Tree album by U2
  This town in California really has no names on their streets, or at least didn't when the song was written.
  
  
• Lake Geneva/Finland Station
  In the song "West End Girls", the Pet SHop Boys sang about going from "Lake Geneva to the Finland Station". Lake Geneva is in Switzerland, and the Finland Station is the station in St. Petersburg/Leningrad that receives trains from Helsinki.
  
  
• Lakeside Park, Toronto, Canada
  The place is in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario. The park "Lakeside Park" is right down the street from me. It is about 100 kms from Toronto. There is a bar beside "Lakeside Park" called "The Lakeside" and at the close of every Friday and Saturday night they play that song. It's from the Rush song "Lakeside Park".
  
  
• Last Resort
  There is/was a hangout called "The Last Resort" on campus at Providence College in Providence, RI. In the song "Last Resort" by the Eagles, the lyrics say, "She came to Providence...." This is probably just a coincidence....
  
  
• Love Shack, Athens, Georgia
  "Love Shack", Cosmic Thing album by The B-52's
  Acording to Kate Pierson, the "Love Shack" was inspired by a place that she lived at when she was dirt poor. The rent was like $35 a month, and she had a humongueous garden outside where she grew all kinds of veggies.
  
  
• One Tree Hill
  U2's song 'One Tree Hill' from The Joshua Tree album is named for a volcano in Auckland, New Zealand with a monument and a tree on the summit. Tree not expected to last very long so Bono may have to retitle the song 'No Tree Hill'.
  
  
• Rockaway Beach, Long Island
  "Rockaway Beach" by The Ramones. A beach on the south shore near Queens, where the Ramones lived.
  
  
• Route 66
  by Depeche Mode, on the Earth Girls Are Easy, Soundtrack and various other compilations. it's a highway that runs through Illinois, Missouri ,Kansas Oklahoma Texas New Mexico Arizona and California
  
  
• Sausalito
  Geographically, it's in California. Lyrically, it's in "Saualito Summernight" by Diesel.
  
  
• Sloane Square
  A square in the glitzy area of London as featured in Morrissey's 'Hairdresser On Fire' from Viva Hate (1988): 'Hairdresser on fire/All around Sloane Square'
  
  
• Sunset Grill
  On Sunset Boulevard in L.A. It's in "Sunset Grill" by Don Henley.
  
  
• Surfer's Paradise
  Surfer's Paradise is on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. It is mentioned in 'The Boys Light Up' by Australian Crawl.
  
  
• Toorak Road
  Toorak Road is in Toorak, a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. It is mentioned in the song 'Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama', by Australian Crawl.
  
  
• US 441
  American Girl, by Tom Petty Lyric: Out on 441 Like waves crashing on the beach. Geography: In Gainesville, Florida, near where Tom Petty grew up
  
  
• Vienna
  Capital of Austria in Ultravox's hit "Vienna", taken from the album of the same name.
  
  
• Vilnius, Lithuania
  "...from Lake Geneva to the Finland station...", Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls". Lake Geneva is, very obviously, in Switzerland. Finland Train Station exists until this very day in St.Petersburg, Russia.
  
  

Please e-mail me if you have anything to add to this list - webmaster@80sretromusic.com