Break Down Those Walls

From Lost Waves Wiki

ⓘ This lostwave is classified as solved.

Break Down Those Walls
Genre New Wave, Funk
Length 4:54
Year 1984
Status Solved
Original poster NY80sTapes
Search duration July 2023 - May 2024
File:BreakDownThoseWalls.mp3

Break Down Those Walls (formerly known as "Uptown People") is a solved lostwave by new-wave band Dolce Vita that was released in 1984 on their self titled EP, and was posted on WatZatSong by user NY80sTapes.

Background[edit | edit source]

On July 2nd, 2023, user NY80sTapes uploaded the song to WatZatSong, noting that it sounded like something ABP (a Scottish funk-rock band[1]) would make.[2] Between 1980 and 1986, he recorded the song at a radio station in New York or New Jersey, possibly from WFMU, WFDU, WNYU, or a college station in the area.[2][3]

The search gained traction in December 2023, when it was first posted to r/lostwave by user cynicalcleaning.[4] In early January, WatZatSong users zman90 and PTV's Tapes contacted WFMU and WFDU respectively, but representatives from the stations did not know the song.[5]

On May 20th, 2024, the OP returned to the WatZatSong thread and stated that he believed the song was from 1984 based on the other songs recorded on the same tape.[6]

Discovery[edit | edit source]

On May 29th, 2024, Reddit user TriPork revealed that they had discovered the song while searching "post punk albums 1984 site:youtube.com intext:1984" on Google.[7] They found a video that was uploaded by the channel Obscure Alternatives, and the song was identified as "Break Down Those Walls" from new-wave band Dolce Vita's self-titled album.[8]

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

Personnel[edit | edit source]

David Quinn – lead vocals, keyboards

Tommaso Commonara – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals

Lorenzo Gilioli – bass

Julius – drums, percussion

References[edit | edit source]