In the early days in the sixth form we had plenty of time on our hands. Obviously, there is “No such thing as a free period. It is a self-study period” – copyright just about every teacher ever was repeated to us a lot. Of course we ignored it. We spent one entire morning withContinue reading “For Your Eyes Only”
Tag Archives: 80s
When you hid your pain and smiled in the rain
I think this will be the only song featuring Ian Gillan on vocals that will be on this list. People who know me and my taste for heavy metal and rock music may be surprised and assume that for some reason there will be no Deep Purple track on the list (Gillan fronted Deep PurpleContinue reading “When you hid your pain and smiled in the rain”
Follow the Leaders
Killing Joke never made it big, but I can bet Nirvana listened to them a lot. They had some amazing tracks like (Let’s Go to the) Fire Dances and their most famous, Love Like Blood. I was a conformist. I obey rules and would probably have been a totally conformist cog in society without theContinue reading “Follow the Leaders”
Can you hear them crying?
This is a serious one. I am not sure you could even release this today. The Specials were famous for Too Much Too Young and other ska-based tracks that were part of the 2 Tone movement. Then they released Ghost Town – a haunting view of inner-city desolation in the inner cities of 1981. TheContinue reading “Can you hear them crying?”
Have You Ever Had It Blue?
The mid 80s turned into a pretty barren period musically. After the regular injections of innovation from Punk, New Wave and New Romanticism mainstream popular music moved towards a fairly middle of the road approach. Do not even mention Jazz/Funk dance music – no one ever does because it is like muzak. The Style CouncilContinue reading “Have You Ever Had It Blue?”
There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis
Kirsty MacColl is now most famous as one half of the vocals on Fairytale of New York. She had a solo career too, at least she did until she died in 2000 in a powerboat accident. The circumstances of her death were murky. The powerboat should not have been in the area and was ownedContinue reading “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis”
I Wish For My World of Make Believe
It is really hard to pick a favourite Toyah track. I love Thunder in the Mountains and it would be easy to write about Toyah’s reinvention of herself as a cross between Boudicca and Mad Max. Toyah was the punk princess who had been in the movie Jubilee. Her music was more New Wave thanContinue reading “I Wish For My World of Make Believe”
The Alcohol Loves You While Turning You Blue
There’s no place like home, but where is home for someone who moves around? I didn’t want to move to Brightlingsea. I had finally got a group of friends in Royston who shared my interests in books, music and RPGs. Also I was at a school that really suited me (very disciplined, low disruption andContinue reading “The Alcohol Loves You While Turning You Blue”
In the Cruel Garden of Delights
They say that if you tell someone your favourite music they should be able to estimate your age, in most cases. This is the kind of track that marks me out as a teenager in the early 1980s. Bauhaus have not had one of those groups careers that has been marked out by endless reunionContinue reading “In the Cruel Garden of Delights”
“For theirs is a land with a wall around it; and mine is a faith in my fellow man”
The Bard of Barking. Billy Bragg is an amazing guy. I love his song A13 set to the music of Route 66, but it is a bit of a novelty from an artist who has said a lot of important things. He released a compilation of his early material called Back to Basics, the mostContinue reading ““For theirs is a land with a wall around it; and mine is a faith in my fellow man””
Five Miles Out 