80s Picture Discs – Divine Decadence

One of the joys of being a pop journalist in the early '80s was being given promotional items by record companies. Often these were rather boring singles or albums. The ones that were really fun, though, were the picture disks. My favourite picture disk of all was this one to promote Divine’s Walk Like A Man.

Supposedly in the shape of men’s underpants, this featured Divine trying to rip the trunks off a hunky young man (according to the credits on the disc, Divine’s ‘playmate’ was Scott McCray). Anyway, this is one of my most treasured items of early '80s pop junk.

And here’s the song it was promoting…

80s Bands From Australia

A discussion on Facebook recently got me thinking about all those bands that made it big in Australia in the 70s and 80s but never seemed to make much of an impression elsewhere – anyway, not hgere in the UK. A few did have success. INXS, Men At Work Midnight Oil and (of course!) AC/DC sold a few records!

But what about Cold Chisel? Or Mi-Sex? If you don’t know them, go to YouTube and look them up. Here’s a quick blast from Mi-Sex to whet your appetite…

Three 80s Rewind Festivals 2020

Rewind The 80s Music Festival will have three events in Perth, Macclesfield and Henley-on-Thames this summer.

DJs: at Rewind Scotland and Rewind North include Pat Sharp on Friday, Gary Davies on Saturday and Bruno Brooks on Sunday. Pat Sharp will headline the tent on Friday at Rewind South. Mark Goodier will be there on Saturday and Gary Davies on Sunday.

All three festivals will close on Saturday with Jimmy Somerville’s Big Band-Tastic Boogie – a show especially created for the festivals – and Wet Wet Wet on the Sunday.  The festival will also see performances by Billy Ocean, Bananarama, Trevor Horn Band, Nick Heyward, Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals, Hue And Cry, Grandmaster Flash, The Christians, Pete Wylie – The Mighty Wah! and John Parr.

Rewind Scotland, Scone Palace, Perth 17th-19th July 2020
Rewind North, Capesthorne Hall, Macclesfield 31st July-2nd August 2020
Rewind South, Temple Island Meadows, Henley-on-Thames 14th-26th August 2020

More info: http://www.rewindfestival.com/

How to Pronounce Depeche Mode (-esh or -ey?)

This little video I uploaded a few years ago keeps getting lots of views and lots of comments. It contains an audio clip from an interview I did with Depeche Mode lead singer Dave Gahan, many, many years ago, in which he gives the lowdown on how to pronounce the band name.

This YouTube comments say it all: "Finally. Closure to one of life's biggest mysteries!"

You're welcome.

Time Travel Back To The 1980s

Fancy going back to 1986? What would it be like if you did that? Keith A Pearson tries to answer that question in his best-selling book, The '86 Fix. Keith has written a whole bunch of novels. If this sounds like the sort of thing you might enjoy, why not hop over to the Dark Neon site and read the interview I did with Keith just this week...

Gloria by Laura Branigan was a hit this week in 1983

Great song. Great singer. 1983 was a really fun year for me. This brings back so many memories!

Bucks Fizz Workout From 1983

This week in 1983 I went to a gym in Covent Garden to do a photo feature on Jay Aston from Buck's Fizz. I only mention that because it gives me an excuse to show you one of the photos I took!

Rewind Festival - Three 80s Music Concerts this summer

Rewind The 80s Music Festival, promises three UK festivals for summer 2020. Tickets for all festivals go on sale at 10am on Thursday 30th January 2020 via the official festival website www.rewindfestival.com.

Rewind Scotland will celebrate its 10-year-anniversary at Scone Palace in Perth from Friday 17th – Sunday 19th July 2020. On Friday 31st July 2020, Rewind North returns to Capesthorne Hall in Macclesfield and concludes on Sunday 2nd August 2020. Rewind South will round up the 80s summer celebrating everything 80s at Temples Island Meadows in Henley-on-Thames from Friday 14th – 16th August 2020.

All three festivals will close on Saturday with Jimmy Somerville’s Big Band-Tastic Boogie – a show especially created for the festivals – and Wet Wet Wet on the Sunday.  The festival will also see performances by Billy Ocean, Bananarama, Trevor Horn Band, Nick Heyward, Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals, Hue And Cry, Grandmaster Flash, The Christians, Pete Wylie – The Mighty Wah! and John Parr.

I wonder if Roland Gift will be singing this?