+ 3 - 2 | § ¶The Weather Girls Raise A Storm...
1982, The Weather Girls. It’s Raining Men. Ah, memories, memories...It was one night at a gay club called Boltz somewhere in the remote reaches of North London that I first saw this video. It was projected onto a screen suspended at one end of the dancefloor. And people actually stopped dancing to watch it!
Tacky it may be, but, heck, I still love it. Moreover, The Weather Girls had wonderful, powerful, voices. Not the sort of voices that you traditionally expect to be belting out disco stormers. Before they became The Weather Girls, they were known as Two Tons of Fun and they sang backing vocals for the late lamented Sylvester.
And speaking of Sylvester (ok, so this one isn’t from the ‘80s, but what the heck, I’m having too much fun not to include it), here is Sylvester’s totally fabulous You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).
Reminds me of Charlie’s Club in Leeds. No, don’t ask...
+ 4 - 2 | § ¶Life On Mars -> Ashes To Ashes
It's the best British TV show in years. The filming is now underway for the follow-up series to Life On Mars (entitled Ashes To Ashes), which moves out of the '70s and into the early '80s. I'm already counting down the days until this hits our TV screens (next year, I believe - thank goodness I've managed to buy the DVDs of The Complete Sweeney to keep me going until then
). In the meantime, here's a very entertaining interview by Paul O'Grady of Life On Mars/Ashes To Ashes star, Philp Glenister....+ 3 - 3 | § ¶Boy George and David Bowie - again
I hadn't realised how obsessed B George was with David B. Yet more on YouTube...+ 5 - 1 | § ¶Boy George Sings David Bowie
My YouTube discoveries of the day...First, a grainy (and poor audio) but nonetheless fascinating video of Boy George in full 'Aladdin Sane' makeup singing a Bowie version of 'Sorrow' on a celebrity TV 'Stars In Their Eyes'...
Better audio on this recording of Sufragette City...
+ 2 - 4 | § ¶Prince Slaughters Springsteen
Metaphorically speaking, that is...In a survey carried out for the Retrofest ‘80s pop festival, over 400 music and pop journalists and “industry experts” voted on the best and worst acts of the ‘80s. here are the results...
Top five songs (as voted by women - well, don’t blame me for the rampant sexism - I didn’t do this survey!):
- Purple Rain - Prince
- Don't You Want Me - Human League
- Especially for You - Kylie and Jason
- The Power of Love - Huey Lewis and the News
- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Top five songs (as voted by men):
- Take on Me - A-Ha
- Panic/Girlfriend in a Coma - The Smiths
- Orange Crush - REM
- It's My Life - Talk Talk
- Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
Agadoo topped the worst song question, closely followed by Jive Bunny and then Word Up by Cameo. Thriller was voted the best album with Born in the USA being voted the worst - but it was also number four in the Best Album category.
No mention of the great classics by Divine, Adam Ant, Duran Duran and Renee and Renato then? I should point out, that one top ‘80s pop journalist (namely me!) was not consulted on this list. If I had been, the results may have turned out somewhat differently...
+ 3 - 3 | § ¶Is John Travolta The New Divine?
When I first heard that John Travolta was going to play the Divine role in a remake of the John Waters’ 1988 film, Hairspray, I thought it was a spoof. Now we know it wasn’t...First thoughts:
1) Travolta looks better in a fat suit and clinging frock than I’d ever have expected.
2) But not as good as Divine (who didn’t need the fat suit anyway, being naturally well endowed in that respect)
3) Judging by the trailer, the new version of Hairspray is almost identical to the original. So what, frankly, is the point?
Anyway, judge for yourself...
The 2007 (Travolta) trailer...
And the 1988 (Divine) original...
+ 4 - 2 | § ¶Sweet Hard-rocking '80s
Being a bit of a technology idiot I hadn't realised I could embed videos from YouTube right here into this blog. Like this one, for example, of the very wonderful Paul Mario Day, singing with a 1986 incarnation of '70s supergroup, Sweet...I mentioned that video in an earlier blog entry. I must admit that, having rediscovered Sweet rather late in life (for years, I unfairly dimissed them as just a 'teenybop band'), I am generally biased towards the 'classic lineup' fronted by singer, Brian Connolly. However, Paul Mario Day does a great job of reinvigorating the music and making it sound as though it had been written for his voice rather than just doing a 'tribute' version that mimics the original.
I have to say that I had never even heard of Paul Mario Day until quite recently. Now, thanks to YouTube I am becoming something of a fan. Here are a few more vids of Mr Day. First, with a band called Wildfire (this one, I confess is a bit too Spinal Tap-ish for my tastes
)...And now a couple more with Sweet from the mid '80s...
I have to admit this wasn't the music I was listening to back in the '80s. Thanks to YouTube I now have the chance to catch up on some good stuff that I missed out on...
+ 2 - 5 | § ¶The Biggest 80s Line-up since Live Aid!
...that's what they are claiming for Retrofest. This is the all-80s festival running on the 1st and 2nd of September at Culzean Castle in Scotland. I have to say the lineup looks impressive. These are the acts who'll be performing....- The Human League
- Bananarama
- ABC
- Tony Hadley
- Howard Jones
- Imagination (with Leee John)
- Go West
- The Blockheads
- Kajagoogoo
- Belinda Carlisle
- Hue and Cry
- Kim Wilde
- Curiosity Killed The Cat
- Nick Heyward
- Hazel O'Connor
- Kid Creole & the Coconuts
- The Silencers
- The Beat
- Cutting Crew
- Four Good Men (ex - Simple Minds/H20)
The site opens at 10.00am both days
First act onstage Sat approx 1.00
Last act offstage Sat approx 10.15pm
First Act onstage Sun approx 12.00 Midday
Last act offstage Sun approx 10.30pm
I only wish I could be there. Alas, I have other comitments.
More on: http://www.retrofest.co.uk/
