Boy George Snogs Jon Moss (Flexipop!)

A couple of posts ago I happened to mention an old issue of Flexipop! (a fab mag for which I used to write) from the early '80s that featured a picture of Boy George snogging Jon Moss. Fortunately, this is one of the issues in my antique Flexipop! collection. And here it is...

The chap on the left, by the way, is a typical Flexipop! reader ;-)

Kid Creole Back In Action

"It is so good to be here in London, England, where our overseas fame all started. To come back as a cult figure for a new generation is…” His pencil-thin moustache quivers. “Flattering. Especially when I was looking at my retirement."

Short interview with Kid Creole (August Darnell) in today's Daily Telegraph.

Strange interview with Boy George

Almost in the good old Flexipop! style. I think Flexipop! was the first magazine to have a photo of Boy George and Jon Moss kissing (remember this was almost 30 years ago - things were different then). It would be fun to do another Boy George interview some time. If you are reading this, George, I'm available! :-) In the meantime, this interview will have to do instead...

Buck's Fizz Double-take

There is, to my mind, a rather gruesome video being plugged by British political bloggers 'of a certain age' at the moment, which shows a range of politicians and assorted hangers-on desperately trying to mime to the Buck's Fizz classic, Making Your Mind Up. If you have a strong stomach, here it is...



The excuse for the embarrassing spectacle appears to be that the song was a hit at just this time in 1981 and now there is a general Election coming up so (are you getting the drift?) it's take for making your mind up! (groan)

Anyway, here to lift your spirits is the fabulous original:

Kids In America - was it so long ago?

Hard to think how long ago this was! This week in 1981, Kim Wilde had a Number Two hit in the UK with Kids In America - which is as good an excuse as any for playing this video!



But why didn't she make Number One? Well, she was kept off first by Shaking Stevens (This Ole House) and then by Bucks Fizz (Making Your Mind Up). Heck, there was so many good pop songs back in those days!

Gene Hunt for Prime Minister?

This must be the weirdest election poster ever! Britain’s ruling Labour party is launching its election campaign this week with a poster that depicts the opposition leader, David Cameron, playing the part of Gene Hunt - the star of 80s detective series, Ashes To Ashes.

Cameron is seen sitting on the bonnet of a red Audi Quattro, the iconic car that Hunt drives in the TV series. The slogan says: “Don’t let him take Britain back to the 80s”.

This poster is wrong in so many ways I hardly know where to start. For one thing, a lot of us have very fond memories of the ‘80s; compared to the grim recession-hit Britain of 2010, the prospect of bringing back the style, the music and the sheer fun of the ‘80s doesn’t seem all that bad. For another thing, Gene Hunt is one of the most popular characters on TV. He’s tough, funny and (so I’m told) sexy (?) - at any rate, compared with the dull and gloomy image presented by the Labour leader, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, being portrayed as “just like Gene Hunt” is an astonishingly positive image.

Which idiot at the Labour Party gave the go ahead to this poster? Truly amazingly stupid...

Ashes To Ashes (Finally)

At last the another season of the ‘80s time-travelling detective series, Ashes To Ashes, starts on UK TV station, BBC 1 tonight. Once again we’ll have the fab fashions, a decent sound-track of ‘80s music and the ever-wonderful cop-you-love-to-hate, Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), screeching through the mean streets in his turbo-charged Audi Quattro.

For more info see the Radio Times.