80s Arena  ::

+ 14 - 17 | § ¶Madness - The Next Generation

Interesting article about the newly resurrected Madness in today’s Times. They nutty boys are back in action performing, touring and preparing to record a brand new album in spite of the fact that they haven’t even got a record deal!

“A lot of boundaries seem to have broken,” says the Madness founder and keyboard player Mike Barson.

“Because the whole business is changing, it’s about how you utilise that energy. Prince giving away his album would have been incomprehensible a few years ago. But that’s just another way of doing it.”

Read it all on The Times Online

Meanwhile, just to remind you what a great band they are, Welcome To The House of Fun....

+ 21 - 12 | § ¶One Hit Wonders: #4 The Vapors

Of all the weird ideas I’ve come across, this has to be one of the weirdest. Apparently, Americans think that British people use the term ‘turning Japanese’ as a euphemism for masturbation! And thus is was that The Vapors’ 1980 hit, ‘Turning Japanese’ was seen by many as a homage to self-pleasure....

Anyway, that’s what they claim on this documentary.

Not sure, myself. Let me just have another look at that video.



So there - proof that Aneka wasn’t the only Japanese themed one-hit wonder in the ‘80s...

+ 19 - 15 | § ¶One Hit Wonders: #2 The Mobiles

Part two of my series on the one-hit wonders of the ‘80s is dedicated to The Mobiles who had a hit in 1982 with Drowning In Berlin. The band came from the cosy seaside towns of Eastbourne, Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea but they seemed to have an obsession with Germanic between-the-wars decadence (which is another way of saying they had obviously seen the film, Cabaret). Anyway, they released a few singles and (I believe) an album or two. But this is the song they will always be remembered for...