Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
On this date in 1981, ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ featured a promo clip of THE SPECIALS performing ENJOY YOURSELF (January 17th 1981)
Taken from a Specials’ 1980 Tokyo concert (one of four Tokyo concerts completed that tour), the band perform in front of a crowd with little idea how they will react. Starting off slowly and sedately at a gig that began at 6.30 p.m. (the time Japanese gigs would typically start), audience response builds slowly but by the finale the crowd have assembled at the front and begun to party. More waving and bopping than skankin’ but they’ve enjoyed themselves and the gig finishes at a very polite 9 p.m.
Not because they didn't do great songs. They did. "Gangsters", "Too much too young", "Ghost Town", "Free Nelson Mandela".
Because they could have been great. They should have been great. Mentioned in the same breath as the all-time greats. But, for whatever reason, it did not quite happen.
I think The Specials disbanded 12-18 months too soon,he obviously wanted to go in a slightly different direction though Fun Boy Three wasn't that far away from The Specials. In my opinion Terry Hall's song writing/lyrics can hold their own against any in musical history.
Disbanded too soon? Undoubtedly. But the fact that Jerry Dammers never came back was the worst part.
Terry Hall? Good. But not great like Hall and Dammers together were. For me, anyway.
Yea I should've included Dammers but also Staple as a group of writers. Though Hall also wrote a few other people/group hit songs. It always amazes me that songs I thought were original in the 70's/80's era were in fact cover versions of old time songs.
This week in 1980, RAMONES released the single, BABY, I LOVE YOU, (January 1980).
Fifth studio album, End Of The Century, the outcome of a fraught session with the notorious Phil Spector, yielded a hit, a cover of The Ronettes’ BABY, I LOVE YOU, which Spector intended as an overture to Joey.
Joey, however, felt blood was thicker than water and spurned Spector's careerist offers, apparently souring the relationships involved.
"I'll tell ya one thing, releasing 'Baby I Love You' (from the Spector album) as a single in England lost us a lot of fans,” said Johnny Ramone in 1985.
“An' I don't blame 'em; if I'd been a fan an' I heard that record on the radio I'd be really pisse d off with the Ramones because that isn't what the Ramones are about.
"I know what the Ramones are about. The Ramones should be punk and tough, not a comedyband or nuthin'.
"I don't wanna water down our image either. I guess I lost interest after a coupla albums but it was inevitable. I knew what the group oughta be doin' but we weren't doin' it."
With a rare and welcome streak of honesty, Johnny Ramone accepted that for him the Ramones had peaked.
BABY, I LOVE YOU reached number eight in the UK Singles Chart in 1980.
Now this is a proper lyricist one of the all time greats.
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
NEW DISCOVERIES FROM THE TV ARCHIVES:
A great copy of IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS performing BILLERICAY DICKIE and WHAT A WASTE on Revolver in 1978, hosted as per usual by the inimitable Peter Cook.
The menacing 5 MINUTES, sung by bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel, told the tale of a rape that occurred at a shared flat in London he lived in during 1977. The lyrics, which are sung both in English and French, convey Burnell's frustrations over finding the five men who committed the attack.
"I was sharing a flat with Wilko Johnson, who was a guitarist for the band Dr. Feelgood," recalled JJ.
"They had really peaked, they had got to #1 the year before. I was sharing a flat with him and a girl who worked for the Sex Pistols. That flat was an amazing thing. It was 1977, so all kinds of people would walk through. Lemmy from Motörhead was a good friend of Wilko's and various people, members of the Clash and Sex Pistols."
"And while I was away gigging one night, the girl, she got raped. Which more or less constituted the end of our stay there, because the apartment was tainted."
The '5 minutes' reference describes the close proximity between ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’ areas in a city, specifically ‘five minutes’ from upmarket Hamstead to a ‘heavy neighbourhood’.
"I just thought that there was a juxtaposition there between the comfort of all these gated protected communities with cameras and electronic entrances and our situation on the fifth floor of an old apartment building, where people could just come in and rape someone."
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
On this date in 1981, ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ featured a promo clip of THE SPECIALS performing ENJOY YOURSELF (January 17th 1981)
Taken from a Specials’ 1980 Tokyo concert (one of four Tokyo concerts completed that tour), the band perform in front of a crowd with little idea how they will react. Starting off slowly and sedately at a gig that began at 6.30 p.m. (the time Japanese gigs would typically start), audience response builds slowly but by the finale the crowd have assembled at the front and begun to party. More waving and bopping than skankin’ but they’ve enjoyed themselves and the gig finishes at a very polite 9 p.m.
Not because they didn't do great songs. They did. "Gangsters", "Too much too young", "Ghost Town", "Free Nelson Mandela".
Because they could have been great. They should have been great. Mentioned in the same breath as the all-time greats. But, for whatever reason, it did not quite happen.
I think The Specials disbanded 12-18 months too soon,he obviously wanted to go in a slightly different direction though Fun Boy Three wasn't that far away from The Specials. In my opinion Terry Hall's song writing/lyrics can hold their own against any in musical history.
Disbanded too soon? Undoubtedly. But the fact that Jerry Dammers never came back was the worst part.
Terry Hall? Good. But not great like Hall and Dammers together were. For me, anyway.
Yea I should've included Dammers but also Staple as a group of writers. Though Hall also wrote a few other people/group hit songs. It always amazes me that songs I thought were original in the 70's/80's era were in fact cover versions of old time songs.
He played boogie woogie piano on a record which became a minor hit record for Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. The money helped the lead singer become Jayne County. He/she never quite made the big time.
Jools was so excited about his first hit, he played the record to his mum, aunt and uncle. Without listening to it first.
I'm not going to put the record on here, as it would make Ivor Biggun blush. 2 word title. The 2nd one is Off.
But imagine his face when he played it to his mum...
He played boogie woogie piano on a record which became a minor hit record for Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. The money helped the lead singer become Jayne County. He/she never quite made the big time.
Jools was so excited about his first hit, he played the record to his mum, aunt and uncle. Without listening to it first.
I'm not going to put the record on here, as it would make Ivor Biggun blush. 2 word title. The 2nd one is Off.
But imagine his face when he played it to his mum...
Will try to find that one out, Squeeze are one of my best bands for lyrics,they remind me of The Kinks for the story telling of their songs.
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
This date in 1983 saw the release of the single THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT by THE JAM, (January 30th, 1983).
Coupled with a live version of ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’, this was the first official UK issue for this single, one that had charted previously as a German import in Feb '81 (#21 in UK Charts).
This issue was part of an early 1983 reissue of The Jam's back catalogue of 7" singles, most re-entering the chart under their original cat. nos. except for this one, which was finally given its own UK cat. no.
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
This date in 1983 saw the release of the single THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT by THE JAM, (January 30th, 1983).
Coupled with a live version of ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’, this was the first official UK issue for this single, one that had charted previously as a German import in Feb '81 (#21 in UK Charts).
This issue was part of an early 1983 reissue of The Jam's back catalogue of 7" singles, most re-entering the chart under their original cat. nos. except for this one, which was finally given its own UK cat. no.
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
On this date in 1981, DURAN DURAN released their debut single, PLANET EARTH (Jan 30th 1981)
PLANET EARTH was Duran Duran's first single, a song influenced as much by Teutonic techno as it was by New York disco. With synths whining and droning in the background against steady bass lines and percussion beat, this was immaculate dance-pop that celebrated the zest and vitality of youth.
So underground were they at this stage that even John Peel played it, but soon it was making its way up the British charts, peaking at number 12.
Yet, just a couple of years later, as Duran lives turned to glamorous, larger than life celebrities whose music became the anthems of champagne-guzzling yuppies, some of us had begun to lose interest.
On this date in 1980, PETER GABRIEL released the single GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS.
Taken from his 1980 self-titled solo album, GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS became Gabriel's first British Top 10 hit peaking at #4 in the UK singles chart. With backing vocals from Kate Bush, the song is responsibe for one of music’s most famous mondegreens: the lyric repeated at the beginning and end is "Jeux Sans Frontieres" (‘Games Without Frontiers’) frequently misheard as "She's So Popular." Conflating war and international diplomatic relations with the playground games of children, Gabriel got the idea for the title from a 1970s European game show of the same name where contestants dressed up in strange costumes to compete for prizes. A version of the show came out in England called "It's a knockout," giving him that lyric. "It seemed to have several layers to it," said Gabriel in 1980. "I just began playing in a somewhat light-hearted fashion – 'Hans and Lottie…' – so it looked on the surface as just kids. The names themselves are meaningless, but they do have certain associations with them. So it's almost like a little kids' activity room. Underneath that, you have the TV programme [and the] sort of nationalism, territorialism, competitiveness that underlies all that assembly of jolly people."
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
On this date in 1983, BIG COUNTRY released the single FIELDS OF FIRE, (February 18th, 1983).
The rousing FIELDS OF FIRE with its ‘Guns of Navarone’ inspired riff was a “selection of images,” said Stuart Adamson in 1983, “thoughts on a train journey.”
“We're not a message band though. We're happy if people want to use it as dance music, or background music or just something they can identify with."
The song peaked at #10 in the UK singles chart and would go on to ‘introduce’ the band to the U.S.
Saw them in 86 at their height , fantastic Stuart Adamson topped himself i think it was over a woman (depressed ) i read at the time i could be wrong i think he was 42
Comments
Fifth studio album, End Of The Century, the outcome of a fraught session with the notorious Phil Spector, yielded a hit, a cover of The Ronettes’ BABY, I LOVE YOU, which Spector intended as an overture to Joey.
Joey, however, felt blood was thicker than water and spurned Spector's careerist offers, apparently souring the relationships involved.
"I'll tell ya one thing, releasing 'Baby I Love You' (from the Spector album) as a single in England lost us a lot of fans,” said Johnny Ramone in 1985.
“An' I don't blame 'em; if I'd been a fan an' I heard that record on the radio I'd be really pisse d off with the Ramones because that isn't what the Ramones are about.
"I know what the Ramones are about. The Ramones should be punk and tough, not a comedyband or nuthin'.
"I don't wanna water down our image either. I guess I lost interest after a coupla albums but it was inevitable. I knew what the group oughta be doin' but we weren't doin' it."
With a rare and welcome streak of honesty, Johnny Ramone accepted that for him the Ramones had peaked.
BABY, I LOVE YOU reached number eight in the UK Singles Chart in 1980.
And always hated that song.
Decade 77-87 - a grown up disco: new wave, punk, postpunk, goth & indie.
NEW DISCOVERIES FROM THE TV ARCHIVES:
A great copy of IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS performing BILLERICAY DICKIE and WHAT A WASTE on Revolver in 1978, hosted as per usual by the inimitable Peter Cook.
The menacing 5 MINUTES, sung by bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel, told the tale of a rape that occurred at a shared flat in London he lived in during 1977. The lyrics, which are sung both in English and French, convey Burnell's frustrations over finding the five men who committed the attack.
"I was sharing a flat with Wilko Johnson, who was a guitarist for the band Dr. Feelgood," recalled JJ.
"They had really peaked, they had got to #1 the year before. I was sharing a flat with him and a girl who worked for the Sex Pistols. That flat was an amazing thing. It was 1977, so all kinds of people would walk through. Lemmy from Motörhead was a good friend of Wilko's and various people, members of the Clash and Sex Pistols."
"And while I was away gigging one night, the girl, she got raped. Which more or less constituted the end of our stay there, because the apartment was tainted."
The '5 minutes' reference describes the close proximity between ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’ areas in a city, specifically ‘five minutes’ from upmarket Hamstead to a ‘heavy neighbourhood’.
"I just thought that there was a juxtaposition there between the comfort of all these gated protected communities with cameras and electronic entrances and our situation on the fifth floor of an old apartment building, where people could just come in and rape someone."
He played boogie woogie piano on a record which became a minor hit record for Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. The money helped the lead singer become Jayne County. He/she never quite made the big time.
Jools was so excited about his first hit, he played the record to his mum, aunt and uncle. Without listening to it first.
I'm not going to put the record on here, as it would make Ivor Biggun blush. 2 word title. The 2nd one is Off.
But imagine his face when he played it to his mum...
This date in 1983 saw the release of the single THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT by THE JAM, (January 30th, 1983).
Coupled with a live version of ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’, this was the first official UK issue for this single, one that had charted previously as a German import in Feb '81 (#21 in UK Charts).
This issue was part of an early 1983 reissue of The Jam's back catalogue of 7" singles, most re-entering the chart under their original cat. nos. except for this one, which was finally given its own UK cat. no.
On this date in 1981, DURAN DURAN released their debut single, PLANET EARTH (Jan 30th 1981)
PLANET EARTH was Duran Duran's first single, a song influenced as much by Teutonic techno as it was by New York disco. With synths whining and droning in the background against steady bass lines and percussion beat, this was immaculate dance-pop that celebrated the zest and vitality of youth.
So underground were they at this stage that even John Peel played it, but soon it was making its way up the British charts, peaking at number 12.
Yet, just a couple of years later, as Duran lives turned to glamorous, larger than life celebrities whose music became the anthems of champagne-guzzling yuppies, some of us had begun to lose interest.
Taken from his 1980 self-titled solo album, GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS became Gabriel's first British Top 10 hit peaking at #4 in the UK singles chart.
With backing vocals from Kate Bush, the song is responsibe for one of music’s most famous mondegreens: the lyric repeated at the beginning and end is "Jeux Sans Frontieres" (‘Games Without Frontiers’) frequently misheard as "She's So Popular."
Conflating war and international diplomatic relations with the playground games of children, Gabriel got the idea for the title from a 1970s European game show of the same name where contestants dressed up in strange costumes to compete for prizes. A version of the show came out in England called "It's a knockout," giving him that lyric.
"It seemed to have several layers to it," said Gabriel in 1980.
"I just began playing in a somewhat light-hearted fashion – 'Hans and Lottie…' – so it looked on the surface as just kids. The names themselves are meaningless, but they do have certain associations with them. So it's almost like a little kids' activity room. Underneath that, you have the TV programme [and the] sort of nationalism, territorialism, competitiveness that underlies all that assembly of jolly people."
On this date in 1979, MARTHA & THE MUFFINS released the single ECHO BEACH.
On this date in 1983, BIG COUNTRY released the single FIELDS OF FIRE, (February 18th, 1983).
The rousing FIELDS OF FIRE with its ‘Guns of Navarone’ inspired riff was a “selection of images,” said Stuart Adamson in 1983, “thoughts on a train journey.”
“We're not a message band though. We're happy if people want to use it as dance music, or background music or just something they can identify with."
The song peaked at #10 in the UK singles chart and would go on to ‘introduce’ the band to the U.S.
One of my heroes and a song that's gonna be played at my funeral Porrahman of The Crossing album
Awesome band
Very much an 80s band
Stuart Adamson topped himself i think it was over a woman (depressed ) i read at the time i could be wrong i think he was 42