+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Electric Dreams - Clubbing 80s-style
Here on the ‘80s Empire the 1980s is the decade that never ends. I’m glad to see that we are not alone. Electric Dreams is a London Nightclub dedicated to living the ‘80s nightlife to the full. It describes itself as“A London nightclub for eighties new wave and synthpop. Bringing over 11 years of eighties new wave, goth, industrial and electronica to London...”
- which sounds pretty good to me. Apart from the fact that i no longer live in London so probably won’t have the chance to go there
For those of you who do have the chance, the next Electric Dreams nights are:
- Friday 14th March 2008
- Friday 11th April 2008
- Friday 9th May 2008
- and every second Friday in the month thereafter...
http://www.electricdreamsclub.com/
And here is the song that gave the club its name...
+ 0 - 0 | § ¶John Foxx - Europe After The Rain
No reason for posting this other than it’s a great song. Foxx was the original Ultravox singer. In the early ‘80s he went solo and recorded a groundbreaking hard-electro album, Metamatic. This song comes from 1981’s more acoustic, melodic alum, The Garden.Foxx still records and performs regularly and has his own web site here:
http://www.metamatic.com/
His MySpace site is here:
http://www.myspace.com/foxxmetamatic
Great stuff!
+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Visage, Steve Strange, The Blitz, Ashes To Ashes
In my last blog entry, I posted a video which includes a recreation of The Blitz Club from the TV series Ashes To Ashes. That clip didn’t include the original soundtrack of Steve Strange singing the Visage hit, Fade To Grey, however. Some nice person has now posted a better Blitz clip - complete with Steve Strange. As I’ve said Ashes To Ashes does a pretty good job of recreating The Blitz in all its sardine-packed splendour. I don’t remember the toilets being quite that clean though. And did Visage really ever perform Fade To Grey there? I rather doubt it. But if anyone has information to the contrary, please let me know...+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Ashes To Ashes Gets Blitzed
This week’s Ashes To Ashes (the BBC’s time-travelling ‘80s detective drama) ventures into The Blitz Club - the squalid little club which was once at the heart of the whole New Romantic thing. The recreation of The Blitz on the show wasn’t bad - it managed to convey the grimy, sweaty claustrophobia of the place. The show got one thing very wrong though - the rich geezer in the white jacket would never have been let into the place. The dress code was stricter than Lady’s Day at Ascot - and middle-aged men in white jackets were definitely not on Steve Strange’s list of desirable clientele.Anyway, for those of you who missed it, here are almost 8 minutes from this week’s show (the Blitz segment comes about 5 minutes in - though, for some reason, minus the ‘Fade To Grey’ soundtrack - yup, that really is Steve Strange singing on the stage there)...
And, for the sake of comparison, here’s a glimpse of the original ‘80s Blitz...
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Hot and Sweaty 80s' Hits
Miquel Brown’s So Many Men, So Little Time (see last blog post) got me thinking of other videos featuring hot and sweaty body builders. The best known is probably Olivia Newton John’s Physical....My personal favourite though, is Dead or Alive’s That's The Way (I Like It). Enjoy...
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶So Many Men, So Little Time
Blogging the video of Evelyn Thomas’s High Energy Recently has got me in am ‘80s disco mood. So no apologies for posting this gratuitous video of Miquel Brown’s very wonderful So Many Men, So Little Time (from 1983)...+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Madame Sin Goes Free!
On this day in 1987, Cynthia Payne was acquitted of nine charges of controlling prostitutes at her home in south west London. Thanks to the BBC for reminding me of that.The courtroom burst into applause after decision of the jury - of eight men and four women - was announced after just over five hours of deliberation.
Mrs Payne, 53, said: "This is a victory for common sense. But I have to admit all this has put me off having parties for a bit."
Mrs Payne first hit the headlines in 1978 when police raided her home to find a sex party in full swing, attended by middle-aged and elderly men exchanging luncheon vouchers for sexual entertainment.
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶New, Free 80s Magazine!
Back in the 80s, when I was writing for pop magazines, the idea of a magazine that you could read on a computer would have seemed like pure science fiction. Magazines back then were designed, quite literally by ‘cutting and pasting’ (the text would be printed on paper that was then cut up and pasted alongside any pictures on a big bit of board that was sent off to the printers who did some secret magic with big noisy machines and coloured inks to turn the whole lot into glossy paper pages - ah, how quaint and old-fashioned it all sounds now...)Anyway, by the miracles of modern science, the latest 80s mag, Retrorama, is completely paper free. It is published as a PDF which can be delivered to your inbox by subscribing at: www.retromag.blogspot.com
The first issue, due out this month, promises...
The new Knight Rider - Has someone finally out-cheesed the Hoff? Game Over - Why we loved Space Invaders so much. Grange Hill - The gates have finally closed forever, but how will we remember this iconic show? Plus Back to the Future, Space Hoppers, Wispa bars, Moonwalking and much much more.
Meanwhile, à propos of nothing (other than the fact that I like it!) here is a fab video of one of the best disco hits of the 1980s, Evelyn Thomas’s wonderful High Energy. Dig those groovy high notes!
+ 1 - 0 | § ¶Tony Hadley - DJ
Did you know that Tony Hadley is now a DJ? Yup, the ex - Spandau Ballet singer now presents his own show on Virgin Radio every Friday and Saturday at 6pm. Tony says:“In Spandau Ballet we were at the forefront of the 80s music scene, a time known for cutting edge style, which continues to have a cult following today. I'll be recreating that with a mix of classic 80s music and my own personal favourites every Friday night.”
Visit Tony Hadley's Party Classics on the Virgin radio site and you can also listen live online.
In the meantime, here’s a video of Spandau Ballet’s Paint Me Down (if you’re easily shocked - be warned, this has lots of naked Spandau flesh):
+ 0 - 1 | § ¶Ashes To Ashes Preview
Every Thursday on BBC starting at 9 o’clock on BBC 1. The series moves out of the ‘70s and slap bang into 1981. Lots of men with perms, lots of Adam Ant and New Romantic Music. Even a visit to the Blitz Club.... ah, I’m feeling nostalgic already.Anyhow, to whet your appetite the Beeb has a put a short ‘behind the scenes’ documentary online. Grab a look HERE.
+ 2 - 0 | § ¶Classix Nouveaux - Thank God For YouTube!
Sal Solo was one of the most criminally under-appreciated singers from the ‘New Romantic’ period of the early ‘80s. His band, Classix Nouveaux, came up with some marvellous songs and Sal was just such a great front man. So why weren’t they more successful?Looking at their videos now on YouTube (I’m pleased to see that there are plenty of them there!) it’s easy to suppose that Classix Nouveaux must have been huge in the ‘80s. Sadly, as I’ve pointed out before that isn’t the case.
Strange. To this day, I can’t really figure it out. Anyhow, here’ a great Classix vid to enjoy...
