Redartz: Greetings, fellow time travelers! Today (is that a relative term, all things considered?), we board our Metro bound for the late Bronze age; specifically Thursday, February 2, 1984. Ronald Reagan is in the White House, Yuri Andropov is in the Kremlin, Margaret Thatcher is in 10 Downing Street; Michael Jackson is everywhere. The rest of us are living somewhat less public lives. And what entertainments are grabbing our attention today?
Well, to begin with, the top hit in the US is getting a lot of notice for the group and singer responsible; the press can't seem to say enough about Boy George's androgynous appearance:
Top Hit on the US Billboard Hot 100: Culture Club, "Karma Chameleon"
And rounding out the top five:
2. Yes- "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
3. The Romantics- "Talking in Your Sleep"
4. Kool and the Gang- "Joanna"
5. Matthew Wilder- "Break My Stride"
Tops in UK- Frankie Goes to Hollywood- "Relax"
I am impressed that among the current week's top 40 (noted thanks to my regular listening to Casey Kasem and "American Top 40" on the radio), ten songs are representing the "New Wave" in pop music. All of us at art school are pleased. In particular, I'm excited about a unique new female singer by the name of Cyndi Lauper. Her debut song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is rising up the charts...
It's a busy day at school and work, but we take a moment to check tonight's tv listings:
US television schedule:
ABC: Automan, Masquerade, 20/20
CBS: Magnum P.I., Simon and Simon, Knot's Landing
NBC: Gimme a Break!, Family Ties, Cheers, Buffalo Bill, Hill Street Blues
BBC1: Top of the Pops, The Living Planet, Diana, Question Time
BBC2: Open Space- Falkland Sound to Plymouth Sound, Out of Court, The Hello Goodbye Man, Forty Minutes, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
I'm not watching as much tv lately as I used to, but still always catch "Hill Street Blues", and occasionally "Magnum". This show "Cheers" seems to be pulling a lot of viewers..
Today being Thursday, it's time for a trip to the local comic shop! Our lcs gets books in on Thursday, so we want to be there to see what's new...
And there is a lot of new out there these days! Marvel has this "Secret Wars" starting up, promising many changes in the Marvel Universe. Not the least of which- check out Spider-Man's new costume debut today. Also, I'm loving John Byrne on the Fantastic Four; looks like She Hulk is replacing Ben Grimm!? Also, I'm picking up more independent comics now. "American Flagg" is a wild ride, Howard Chaykin has a winner here.
Ok, looks like it's time to re-board our Metro. Check your Ray-Ban's with the driver, and reserve your ticket for the next Retro Metro!
26 comments:
2nd February 1984. Good times. Three months shy of turning 14. Part time job. Disposable income. The Smiths at Number One in the UK Independent charts with 'What Difference Does It Make.' And peak experience comics. It was at this time that I first visited a comic shop - 'Comic Showcase' in the West End of London - and picked up the first of many back issues - Avengers #26. An age of discovery.
Oh, and 'Cheers' on TV. That show made Friday nights even better in Thatcher's Britain.
Thanks for the ride!
Yes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax" was the UK #1 but the BBC refused to play it because the song was about...gay sex. But nobody even noticed until a certain DJ called Mike Reid took offense and whipped the record off the turntable. Anyway, the ban made no difference and Relax was #1 for 5 weeks and then in the summer it returned to #2 behind Frankie's next hit "Two Tribes". But the BBC has long abandoned its' policy of banning records (even Paul McCartney had a record banned - Give Ireland Back To The Irish) and nowadays Relax is played on the radio with no controversy. But in 2013 when Margaret Thatcher died there was a campaign to get "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead" to #1 - it peaked at #2 but the BBC refused to play it on the Sunday Top 40 show. Instead they read out a statement explaining who Margaret Thatcher was and why she was a controversial Prime Minister lol. Sorry, I got a bit distracted there - as for comics, I stopped reading comics in 1983 (and returned in 2007, yay !) so February 1984 was at the beginning of my long wilderness years.
Wow! You gents crank out the memories! I'm an 80s new wave guy and thankfully so is my wife because my kids (now old teens)hate the 80s as do their friends, lol. G I Literally Never watched American TV from 1979 to 1989 due to college, flight school, and 4 years in Germany... the lost decade! What did I miss? Got to run.. Baltimora's Tarzan Boy is calling!!!
Not to bug our gents overseas but did you ever listen to Heaven 17 and Human League? I really dug H17 especially Penthouse and Pavement and also Luxury Gap. Brits ruled new wave to be sure! Rolling Stone called it the second British Invasion!
I was a fan of Magnum, Cheers, Hill Street Blues. Knot's Landing was the only nighttime soap I watched-- liked Donna Mills and William Devane.
Looking at the Top 40, I wasn't a big fan of the hits at this time. Liked 99 Luftballons, and Middle of the Road by the Pretenders. I remember hearing the Violent Femmes around this time and thinking they were fresh and exciting.
I had that Batman special by Michael Golden, and liked his art at the time. Hercules, Teen Titans, American Flagg-- yes! Secret Wars-- what a disappointment. Also liked Alpha Flight, Jon Sable and Dreadstar. Don Newton on Batman and Gene Colan on Detective were quite good.
Aaahh, the 80s! 1984 was the year I turned 20, but that would come later. Second year in college, living off campus. Most of my TV viewing would be done on campus in the community rooms.
I remember walking all over campus with my "Walkman" on. It was the model that automatically reversed the tape head so you didn't have to take the cassette out, flip it over and put it back in!!!!
Big fan of the Romantics!!! Zipped over the Portales NM with a friend to catch them and Wang Chung at Eastern New Mexico State University. Really a good concert!!!
I have comics from that era, so I know I was still buying them, I just don't know where!!! Why did I never write things down!?!
(They say we're young and we don't know
We won't find out until we grow
Well I don't know if all that's true
'Cause you got me, and baby I got you
Babe
I got you babe
I got you babe
They say our love won't pay the rent
Before it's earned, our money's all been spent
I guess that's so, we don't have a plot
But at least I'm sure of all the things we got
Babe
I got you babe
I got you babe
I got flowers in the spring
I got you to wear my ring
And when I'm sad, you're a clown
And if I get scared, you're always around
Don't let them say your hair's too long
'Cause I don't care, with you I can't go wrong
Then put your little hand in mine
There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb
Babe
I got you babe
I got you babe).
PS: will robots know it's an early spring?
Bug away! I enjoyed Human League and really liked 'Love and Dancing' the full remix of the Dare LP. In 1984, though, I was just waking up to American bands like The Cramps and Dead Kennedys.
I'm curious about the second British invasion - it was a real thing then. Was it seen as subversive or simply pop music?
My high school band did play 2 Romantics songs-- Talking In Your Sleep and What I Like About You.
Colin Jones- I recall the controversy over " Relax"; there was talk over here about it too. It still got plenty of airplay, especially on MTV.
Charlie- perhaps in time your kids will appreciate the fine tunes of the 80'S. My boys hated it too, but came to love it. Especially my youngest!
Prowl- great show indeed!
Colin Bray- love your mention of " Love and Dancing"! That was some excellent Electronica, I played it to death. Actually have that on my phone yet today.
As for the second British Invasion- yes, it was definitely a "thing". I recall a Newsweek magazine cover story about it, focusing on all the new music and fashion. There were elements in the US that hated it, but more that loved it. I was loving it- too young to recall the original " British Invasion", so we got one to enjoy in the 80'S. Say, aren't we about due for another one?
Charlie, speaking personally, I didn't just listen to the Human League and Heaven 17, I come from the same city as them. I knew a girl who knew Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall and was outraged when they were invited to join the Human League instead of her. Admittedly, most of her anecdotes about them seemed to involve her resentfully flicking peanuts at them in a local club, so that might explain why she wasn't invited.
My maths teacher was the father of ABC's guitarist/keyboardist and I also went to school with his brother.
To be a teenager in Sheffield at that time left one feeling well and truly at the centre of the Pop Music universe.
Thanks Redartz, a real eye opener. Wouldn't it be great if it happened again. However, the most interesting British music used to come from working class art students with time on their hands. I fear that well has dried up in these pragmatic, pressured times. I hope I'm wrong.
And man, I didn't expect anyone else to have Love and Dancing on their phone!
Now here's a year I remember quite well. I was almost twelve and heavy into comics. I had eclectic tastes: Spidey, DD, PM/IF, New Teen Titans, Outsiders, JLA, Batman, All-Star Squadron. I think I'd dropped Superman by that point. I never did get into the indie stuff (since I was buying off the rack), but I've been meaning to check out American Flagg. Maybe I'll add it when my blog reviews get to the early 80s.
As for music, I was into a lot of Top 40-type stuff back then: Men at Work, Styx, Rick Springfield, Police, plus I had a ton of those K-Tel compilation albums. A couple years later I turned into a headbanger and listened to Metal pretty much exclusively; there were a few precursors to that in '84 ... Van Halen, Scorpions, Ratt.
TV-wise, I guess I was an NBC guy for the most part, Cheers and Family Ties being two of my favourites, though I never got into Hill Street Blues for some reason. I was never a huge Knots Landing fan, but I agree with Garett on Donna Mills ... probably the best-looking woman on TV at the time, at least in my opinion (and still looks pretty damn good today in her 70s).
Forget Love and Dancing, this post is truly cool.
Sorry to hijack the thread but did you follow Cabaret Voltaire, Steve?
I didn't follow them as such, Colin but they got a lot of airplay on the radio, especially on my local radio stations, so their music was hard to avoid. They and the Comsat Angels were always tipped to be the next big Sheffield band but, sadly, they always proved to be more popular with the critics than with the record-buying public.
It is hard to pinpoint the exact year or time, but it seemed like most of what we listened to here in the mid-80s was from overseas. It started I think a bit earlier with The Beat, and The Jam, The Clash, PiL, but then Thomas Dolby, and Howard Jones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dexy's Midnight Runners, and Big Country, and Paul Young, and Ultravox, and the Smiths, Style Council, etc. It was everywhere. Radio, clubs, fashion. Seems like the whole decade but if I remember correctly probably at its height here around 82 to 86 for that invasion. MTV probably played a big role in that.
I was about 3 months away from graduating college. And, sorry, but I guess I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I never cared for most of the music that came out in the 80s, although I saw the Romantics just a few months ago at a local festival and enjoyed them a lot.
1984 was probably around the time that I remember first hearing the term "classic rock" being bandied about and I pretty much fell into that camp.
As to comics, I was past my serious collecting time. The exception was the X-Men which I turned one of my roommates onto so we still followed them pretty regularly.
Tom
Colin B and Colin J - I got a BIG question here from Chicago Land... I never heard of "Love and Dancing" from Human League and I figured I knew 99% of their stuff... SO I had to YOutube it and Google it and anyhow... When you say "Love and Dancing" are you referring to the song "I Want Your Love Action" which was a release in the USA? If so, I'm 100% down with you two on that song! I've listened to that thing over and over on some days... driving my wife, kids, friends, et al. nutz... wondering if I have some disability! (I did the same with "The Lebanon.") Problem is early Human League (and almost all of Heaven 17) had almost no airplay, at least in the midwest US.
Steve Does Comics... I never knew the connection was Sheffield and also ABC was from Sheffield. Learn something new everyday! Could one say the Sheffield was the new Liverpool (or "Mersey River Beat") for that 2nd British Invasion? I don't know where all those Brit bands came from in the late 70s / early 80s though I would guess London?
To be sure, though, part of the explosion was due to more wealth in society (which goes band to the insane borrowing spree started under President Reagan and Corporations in the late 70s.) So many early 60s bands talk about "how they got their first instrument," like it's a big deal. By the early 80s these new guys are equipped with synthesizers etc. costing $ thousands and the synthesizer allows for a fantastic amount of creativity. (Well, some of you guys are musicians so you can speak to this better than me! I just play the Uke and want to play like Jake someday!)
Anyhow, I hope COlins and Steve are still awake and can reply! O/wise I'll pose this again on Sunday!
Hi Charlie, still (just) awake - Love and Dancing was recorded under the name of Love Unlimited Orchestra but it was actually The Human League with producer Martin Rushent. The LP was a wholesale remix of Dare, super-unusual for the time. I think you will love it.
It's tricky to find on YouTube for rights reasons but you might be lucky. Alternatively (I guess) Spotify etc. should do the trick. It would be great to find out what you think of it.
Charlie, looking at a list of, "2nd British Invasion," acts on Wikipedia, most of the acts on it came from London and its surrounding towns. London was the heart of the New Romantic movement, although Duran Duran, arguably the biggest New Romantic act of them all, came from Birmingham.
Sheffield mostly specialised in synthesiser bands like the aforementioned acts. It also produced the Thompson Twins in that period and, somewhat anomalously, Def Leppard.
Apart from giving us Duran Duran, the Coventry and Birmingham area specialised in Ska and Reggae acts like the Specials, the Beat and UB40. Dexys Midnight Runners were also from Birmingham and tended to get lumped in with the Ska and Reggae acts, even though they clearly weren't a Ska or Reggae act.
Liverpool produced Elvis Costello, A Flock of Seagulls and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Other acts came from places dotted all around the country. In Scotland, Big Country came from Dunfermline, Simple Minds came from Glasgow and Annie Lennox came from Aberdeen.
Meanwhile, Tears For Fears came from Bath, possibly the last place anyone ever expected a major act to come from.
Of course, all of these acts should have been totally eclipsed by Trevor Jones from Sheffield who was marketed as, "The most beautiful man in the world." Sadly his record company clearly felt that Trevor Jones wasn't a suitable name for a man touted as the most beautiful man in the world and they renamed him, "Howcher." On top of that, they claimed in his press releases that he was from Switzerland, presumably because Sheffield wasn't seen as a suitable place of origin for such an exotic creature. Sadly, all this subterfuge failed miserably, thanks to his records being terrible, and his recording career flopped disastrously. Some of us still remember him as a legend in the field of ludicrous hype though.
Thanks Colin B and Steve DC. I will rest easier tonight! Amazing such an explosion of talent / music in such a short period! I will give the Love and Dancing a listen while working tomorrow.
Hey - assuming you two are living in England, do you guys have any more shows on Netflix comparable to "Trouble in Paradise?" I could use some warm weather, not-too-serious, entertainment! Unfortunately I've now seen all 3 season on Netflix up to 2015. Kind of relaxing to do 20-25 minutes of viewing before hitting the hay.Cheers!
I don't watch much TV these days but, off the top of my head, I can't think of anything comparable. As you can imagine, British shows that feature warm, sunny weather are a rarity.
In terms of crime dramas that aren't overly tense, there's, "New Tricks," which is somewhat relaxed, mostly because the cast are too old to do anything exciting. It's set in England, so the weather in it isn't great.
There was a crime show in the 1980s, called, "Bergerac," which was set in the Channel Isles and therefore had nice weather but it doesn't seem to be on Netflix.
LOVE New Tricks! (Although I haven't gotten all the way through it yet. Three seasons left, I believe--)
Man, Feb of '84 was early in a tough and eventful year. I'd graduated that December ('83), and moved back home to try to work and save up some money with a vague plan to go to grad school. Worked three jobs until that fall (factory full time, McDonald's PT, and a local ice cream shop on weekends), had no social life at ALL, but found myself rediscovering my lapsed love for comics-- and it was a pretty good time to jump back in and start picking up things that I'd missed in recent years. That Secret Wars #1 cover is the eppy-TOME of "The Cover Made Me Buy This Book!"--- and I still do love that cover. Picked it up, in fact, at a 7-11 going from my McDonald's shift to my 2nd-shift factory job! It was the last/only copy they had. . .
HB
Steve Does Comics- thanks for your tales of Sheffield- huge fan of Human League, and ABC, and Thompson Twins. Man, you here the most interesting stories here! And thanks for all the UK music info. Amazing how so much talent came out there in such a short timespan. Looks like a "New Wave" post may be called for...
HB- wow, incredible you had any time to read a comic back then! How long were you away from comics? It was a good time for them, for music, for pop culture in general. Oh, and picking up comics on the way to work? I was doing the same in 84. Was driving a delivery truck out of Indianapolis ; found a comic shop on my delivery route in Cincinnati. Bought several of the above books there.
Someday I'd like to hear about the club scene in Sheffield. I've heard stories about the Limit. Bands like 999, The Selecter, the Meteors, the Q-Tips...Maybe we'll have to host some international concert and club reviews.
Sadly, I couldn't tell you much about the Sheffield club scene. I always used to avoid clubs like the plague. I know the Limit had sticky carpets but that's about all I could say about it.
I still remember Rick Mayall on The Young Ones poncing around and asking 'Anyone here like the Human League?' as if they were the most embarrassing thing to like at the time.
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