80s Arena  ::

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Steve Strange - Etcetera...

Etcetera the short-lived magazine from D C Thomson. The first interview I ever wrote for it was with the outrageous cross-dressing film/disco star, Divine. It was an odd choice, really. D C Thomson was not a company that was known for welcoming the outrageous. To give you an example of just how un-outrageous they were, they used to have an in-house rule that forbade the use of the word ‘pregnant’ in their magazines (being too vulgar), and favouring the word ‘expecting’. My interview with Divine was all about how he kept getting felt up strange men in bars... !

After the first two or three issues, Etcetera cut anything that smacked of the outrageous and went instead for features on cooking and knitting. Meanwhile, the competing title, Mizz went on to sell by the truckload.

Anyway, the page above comes from issue 2 of Etcetera - at a time when men in makeup were still considered fitting for their readers to see. This provides me with a flimsy excuse for linking to this fab video of Visage’s The Damned Don’t Cry...

+ 5 - 1 | § ¶Face To Face - Keeping The '80s Alive

We’ve featured a few 80s tribute bands here in the Arena - and now here’s another fine example

Face To Face is German band that specialises in the electro-edge of the ‘80s scene: The Human League, Ultravox, A Flock Of Seagulls, OMD, Visage etc. Unlike some ‘80s retro-bands, they don’t ham it up. This a serious and exciting recreation of the music. Visit their web site and listen to some of their music (by the way, if German isn’t your native language, you may want to click the little Union Jack just under the Face To Face logo to put the site into English).

This is good stuff. Good to see you keeping the spirit of the ‘80s alive and throbbing, chaps!

Face To Face web site: www.facetoface-online.de

Also on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/facetofaceonline

And here’s a taster video on YouTube...

+ 3 - 4 | § ¶Simply Red To Split

News in from the BBC...

Simply Red are to split up in 2009, a quarter of a century after they formed, lead singer Mick Hucknall has revealed.

The 47-year-old said Stay, released last March, would be the group's final studio album, and they would disband after their tour in two years' time.

"I've kind of decided that the 25 years is going to be enough," Hucknall told the Gold radio network.

The star said he wanted to concentrate more on his solo career, having just completed an album of his own.

Read the full story on the BBC Site

+ 2 - 5 | § ¶Cover Versions: #4 I Feel Love

In my humble opinion, it is the greatest disco record ever made (and believe me, I’ve listened to a lot of disco records over the years!). Produced by the very wonderful Giorgio Moroder and sung the ultimate disco, diva, Donna Summer, 1977’s I Feel Love took the hard-core electro-rhythms which had hitherto been associated with Kraftwerk and put them onto the dance floor. Before this record, disco hits were predominantly acoustic, often involving huge string sections of orchestras...

David Bowie recalls his first encounter with this track...

“One day in Berlin ... Eno came running in and said, 'I have heard the sound of the future.' … he puts on 'I Feel Love', by Donna Summer … He said, 'This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.' Which was more or less right.”

According to Wikipedia, I Feel love is one of the most covered disco songs ever. Everyone from Blondie to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers has had a go at it. But maybe the best cover (imho) was Bronski Beat and Marc Almond’s 1985 version (not quite as good as the original, it’s true - but pretty darn’ good even so...

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Cover Versions: #3 Rock'n'Roll (Parts one and two)

Though the glitter may have tarnished in recent years, it is a simple fact that Gary Glitter was one of the biggest stars of the ‘70s and his hits have been covered by a huge range of other bands (including, bizarrely, The Spice Girls). For example, Rock'n'Roll (Parts One or Two) was covered by The Human League in 1980...

And it provided part of the theme for the Time Lord’s 1988 hit, Doctorin’ The Tardis.

Here’s the original (Part Two)...

+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Cover Versions: #2 Mama Weer All Crazee Now

I hadn’t realised until recently the extent of the musical debt that Quiet Riot owe to Slade. In my last blog entry, I posted Quiet Riot’s version of Slade’s wonderful Cum On Feel The Noize. In fact, Quiet Riot followed up the success of that single with another Slade anthem, Mama Weer All Crazee Now. I’ve just watched the Quiet Riot video and I have to say it’s a decent cover version - in fact, it’s very like the Slade original apart from a few sound effects, some extra guitar-solo stuff - and (in my opinion) a total lack of the sheer raw energy of the Slade original. Here’s Quiet Riot from 1984...



And here is the definitive Slade version from 1972...



C’mon. How can anyone think the Quiet Riot version is better...? Slade are just soooooo darn’ rockin’!

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Cover Versions: #1 Cum On Feel The Noize

In the 1983, the American band, Quiet Riot, had a big hit with a song called Cum On Feel The Noize. A whole decade before that, in 1973, the same song was a UK Number One hit (one of many number ones) for the British band, Slade. I know that there are those people who prefer the Quiet Riot version - suffice to say, I am not among their number.

As far as I am concerned, Slade are one of the all-time great rock bands. Not just good, not just very good but Great with a capital ‘G’. The classic line-up was the one that had that incredible string of hits in the ‘70s: Noddy Holder, Jim Lea. Dave Hill and Don Powell. The band has been through a number of ‘versions’ since then but two of the original members (Dave Hill and Don Powell) are still touring (their web site is: http://www.amazingslade.net/, their MySpace site is http://www.myspace.com/thesladeband).

Now here’s a funny thing. I have never met Slade. I have, however, met and interviewed a whole heap of big-name pop stars - Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Adam Ant, Judas Priest, Mick Jagger, Spandau Ballet, Toyah, Kim Wilde etc. Suffice to say, I am not prone to coming over all goggle-eyed and star-struck when meeting pop stars. But, I think I just might go all simpery and silly if I were ever to meet the Slade chaps. Because, in my book, they are, quite simply, The Best of The Best.

Not only did they record an absolutely storming version of Cum On Feel The Noize but, more important, they also wrote the song (Jim Lea and Noddy Holder). It seems odd that the song was given a Heavy Metal makeover by Quiet Riot. Slade were always heavy and always loud but they were never ‘Heavy Metal’. They were just, well, Slade. Not part of a category. Just unique.

Make up your own mind. First Quiet Riot...


Then the Slade original...

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶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....

+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Cyndi Lauper On The Campaign Trail

Or, anyway, Cyndi Lauper fans are campaigning. What for? Well, for more Cyndi Lauper, of course!

The Cyndi Lauper Re-Issue Campaign is an effort to have the first three recordings that Cyndi Lauper released on the Portrait & Epic labels re-issued in CD format with extra tracks.

According to the campaign-leader, Josh Durr, “Many fans feel that this period was the peak of Lauper's career and abilities. In addition to re-issuing Cyndi Lauper's CDs, we are campaigning for the release of a DVD Collection containing all her videos including videos that have never been released before on any format.”

More over on the Cyndi Lauper UK site: http://www.cyndilauperuk.com/ReissuesPage.html

Meanwhile, here is one of my personal Cyndi Lauper tracks, from 1989, I Drove All Night...

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶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...

+ 0 - 3 | § ¶One Hit Wonders: #3 Jimmy The Hoover

Jimmy The Hoover was a group that were notable for two things: 1) their hit, ‘Tantalise’ and 2) their hunky singer, Derek Dunbar.

The girls’ magazines were wild on Derek Dunbar. With his chiselled good looks and mane of floppy hair, he was the perfect pinup. So I was eager to go and do a photo-session with him, in the certain knowledge that I’d be able to sell pictures to all the teen-zines.

Alas, it was not so. As he walked in through the door to meet me, my heart sank.

“What do you think of it?” he said, “It’s my new image.”

The new image was a Mohican haircut. The lustrous hair had been shaved to the scalp leaving just a ridge of fur down the middle. I took the photos but none of the magazines wanted them. And the pop buying public didn’t want the group either. I can’t be absolutely sure that it was Dunbar’s Mohican that killed his career - but I don’t think it helped.

I can’t find a video of Tantalise so you’ll have to do with this audio version on YouTube.

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶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...

+ 0 - 4 | § ¶One Hit Wonders: #1 Aneka

Ah, there were some wonderful one-hit wonders in the '80s. So wonderful, in fact, that I've decided to do a series of blog-entries on them. Staring with the glorious Aneka who hit the top spot in the UK charts in 1981 with the oriental ditty, Japanese Boy. Watch the video and marvel at how authentically Japanese Aneka is. You will, I am sure, find it almost impossible to believe that she is not Japanese born-and-bred. But such is the astonishing truth. For Aneka is otherwise known as Mary Sandeman. She is Scottish and generally warbles Scots folk songs. Unbelieveable but true!!!

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Modern Romance Do It With Style!

In spite of the name, in spite of the tailored suits and the Latin-style music, Modern Romance never were a part of the whole ‘New Romantic’ thing. I’m not quite sure why not but, while they had hit after hit and were always on Top Of The Pops, they were never deemed to be quite ‘cool’ enough by the Blitz-kid set.

Modern Romance was, as it turns out, the first group I ever interviewed for Flexipop! I remember being somewhat struck by their suits. David Jaymes was wearing a suit in somewhat Day-Glo tint of powder blue. Some of the other were wearing pink. I asked David for his definition of style. Here’s a little snippet from that interview...

"It's how you carry it off. It's the way that you walk. It's the way you do everything. It's the way I'm gesticulating now with my cigarette," he says, gesticulating stylishly with his cigarette.

"Whatever Spandau Ballet haven't got - that's what it is!" Geoffrey adds in his rather more forthright manner.

"Although, wearing pink suits can cause problems," David admits.

And here’s a camp little clip of the rather wonderfully named song, Ay-ay-ay-ay Moosey...

+ 5 - 0 | § ¶Buster Bloodvessel In Baked Beans!

A Facebook friend, Lord Freddie Valentine, recently reminded me of a Flexipop! cover which, apparently, he saw in his youth and has traumatised him ever since. Yes, I am, of course, talking about the fabulously tasteful (mouth-watering even?) picture of Buster Bloodvessel covered in baked beans.

But perhaps there are those among you who are either too young or of too delicate a constitution to have seen the original (Smash Hits readers, pah!). For your benefit, therefore, I have unearthed my treasured copy of that historic Flexipop! and scanned the cover which I reproduce below for you delectation.

I think it is fair to say that they just don’t make magazines like Flexipop! any more...