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What were the cool kids listening to in 1987?

Started by lazyhour, January 14, 2019, 04:21:27 PM

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Funcrusher

Not something that ever computed with me at all, but yeah goth would have been big at that point. Fields of the Neff and the like.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: DrGreggles on January 14, 2019, 06:27:22 PM
I think I was listening to Wet Wet Wet and Erasure + general chart music.
I could say the same, but then I was only six and only listened to whatever tapes my dad put on in the car. I grew up in a town that was traditionally a heavy metal kind of place (Black Sabbath played a lot of their early gigs round those parts) so I imagine the "cool" kids listening to, umm, I dunno - the Cult?

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

In 1987, I bought that year's albums by Big Black, A C Temple, Butthole Surfers, The Go- Betweens, The Smiths, The Wedding Present ( who were actually being touted as the next Smiths, I seem to remember; their debut album remains a classic, to be fair ), Sonic Youth, The JAMMS, The Pastels ( debut album ) Wendy and Lisa ( female Raw Sex duo endorsed by Prince ), Happy Mondays ( Also debut album, sort of reminded me of a happy version of The Fall ) and Mel and Kim ( Yes, really ). No album by The Fall that year, although I did tape their Peel session of that year off the radio. Was also really into Rote Kapelle that year I seem to remember (whose music stands the test of time, I like to think ), along with Jackdaw With Crowbar, Dog Faced Hermans and I, Ludicrous. Yes, I cut a pretty cool figure music wise in those days, I like to think. Also, looking back, I spent a shitload of money on music. Gosh.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: kngen on January 14, 2019, 06:34:37 PM
Personally, at the tender age of 14/15 I was listening to Bad Brains (and still trying to get my head round I Against I) The Stupids, Slayer, Metallica, The The, Husker Du, all of whom had released their finest works in the previous year, but it took a little while for them to percolate and find me in my dank little corner of west Scotland.

I'd been a fan of hip-hop for a few years by then, so was well up to speed with the likes of Eric B & Rakim, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys (bought License to Ill on import, so was very much the 'cool kid' among my peers for the seven or so weeks before it got a UK release and the country went insane), Run-DMC and was dipping my toes into stuff like Schoolly D, KRS-One/BDP, Mantronix, Public Enemy and Ultramagnetic MCs. Peel was introducing me to stuff like Scratch Acid, Big Black and other weird, noisy stuff that seemed hugely fascinating to me.

Oh, and I managed to get my hand on a copy of 1987: What the Fuck is Going On by The JAMS, because the record shop owner, who was supposed to be returning all his copies was so tickled by the thought of a cherubic young lad like myself being so determined to buy it before it disappeared from circulation. Didn't think it was much cop, but the idea impressed me enough to follow what those chaps were doing for years afterwards.

The prevailing trends of the time, to me, seemed to be:

Thrash metal/crossover: you could buy Metallica albums and Anthrax singles in Woolworths. Seemed as bizarre to me then as it does to me now.

The weird rise of Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror (and the Stupids and Heresy to a lesser extent): thanks to Peel, they were on the cover of music weeklies, and the subject of bemused articles in 'quality publications' like Q and the Sunday supplements and pieces on Radio 4. Years later, I'd meet music journos who, on hearing that I spent most of my adolescence/20s collecting hardcore records, would say 'Oh, I bought Scum on the strength of John Peel raving about it.' It really seemed to be an 'all bets are off' time for new music, and the people seeking it out.


You always think that your time was the most exciting time, but - as indie, hip-hop and dance music (the illicit thrills of Acid House the following year notwithstanding) became more codified the closer we got to the 90s, this period really does seem like a moment where the collective music industry went 'Fuck knows!' and all manner of craziness was pushed to the fore. Skinny Puppy on the cover of Melody Maker; Sounds giving away free singles with Celtic Frost and Kreator on them; NME pushing the likes of genuinely scary bastards like Just-Ice. Wild times!

This is an excellent post, and has brought the memories flooding back to me. Ah, The Stupids, they were great ! Does anyone remember Bad Dress Sense ?

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 14, 2019, 07:18:24 PM
The Wedding Present ( who were actually being touted as the next Smiths, I seem to remember; their debut album remains a classic, to be fair ),
I gather Tony Wilson was convinced the "new Smiths" was going to be the Railway Children, whose debut album came out in 1987. Maybe he felt less so after they fucked off and signed to Virgin.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

#35
" Ecstasy " by the transient My Bloody Valentine was also one of my favourite recordings of that year, I seem to remember, released towards year's end. Bought it the same day I went seeing the double bill of " Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door / Didn't You Kill My Brother ? " at the local cinema.

Pingers

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 14, 2019, 07:22:15 PM
This is an excellent post, and has brought the memories flooding back to me. Ah, The Stupids, they were great ! Does anyone remember Bad Dress Sense ?

I have Goodbye, It Was Fun, which is a good album IIRC. Will have to give it a run out.

kngen

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 14, 2019, 07:22:15 PM
Does anyone remember Bad Dress Sense ?

Haven't listened to them in years, but I think I remember them being the best of Ed Shred's many post-Stupids projects.

BlodwynPig

Ozric Tentacles, Wooden Baby, Vain, Magic Mushroom Band

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Crabwalk on January 14, 2019, 04:29:56 PM
Hip-hop? Paid in Full and Yo! Bum Rush the Show both came out that year.

Roxanne Shante's - Have a Nice Day came out in '87 and all.

Absorb the anus burn

The Housemartins.
REM.
The Smiths.
Big Black.
JAMC.
The Wedding Present.

holyzombiejesus

I was buying all the Creation records I could get my hands on, along with whatever fanzines and accompanying flexis were getting me in to. Those and a load of Bam Caruso reissues. And Pristine Christine.

gib

Quote from: BlodwynPig on January 14, 2019, 07:46:20 PM
Ozric Tentacles, Wooden Baby, Vain, Magic Mushroom Band

Ozrics and MMB are the bands i saw live the most in 1987. A lot of the gigs were all nighters too, acid bliss. Were you there?

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Oh, yeah , " I Am A Wallet " by McCarthy, too. Indeed, " The Well Of Loneliness " remains one of the best perky-pop miserabilist tunes named after a novel by a lesbian author to this very day
Unless, of course, * you * know different. * Gives cheeky wink to camera *

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on January 14, 2019, 08:07:41 PM
I was buying all the Creation records I could get my hands on, along with whatever fanzines and accompanying flexis were getting me in to. Those and a load of Bam Caruso reissues. And Pristine Christine.

Did you go so far as to buy " Chernobyl Baby " by Baby Amphetamine? The iconoclasm on display on that single was truly shocking, and still resonates today. Who needs Bananarama ! :-O

My favourite singles from 1987 were Rainmakers, Let My People Go-Go, and Starship, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.  Were cool kids fans of those?  Some must have been. I really couldn't say.  I was never cool nor mixing with cool folks.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain



Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Nah, 1987, innit, mate. February, I think. Around teatime.

Brundle-Fly

1987 evokes for me Terence Trent D'Arby, Hue & Cry, Curiosity Killed The Cat and Black. I was heavily into Fishbone and The Residents at this point.

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 14, 2019, 08:34:33 PM
Nah, 1987, innit, mate. February, I think. Around teatime.

I remember it featured in an episode of Grange Hill around then, being played on the school's radio, while the kids blockaded classrooms and staged a sit-in.

Does anyone else remember a song called Satellite, from November-December of that year?  Now who did that?  I thought that was rather good.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: gib on January 14, 2019, 08:08:39 PM
Ozrics and MMB are the bands i saw live the most in 1987. A lot of the gigs were all nighters too, acid bliss. Were you there?

Was only 11, so it took another 4 years before I heard them and 1 further year before I saw them...just a tad too late for the bucolic festival scene.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on January 14, 2019, 09:03:00 PM
Does anyone else remember a song called Satellite, from November-December of that year?  Now who did that?  I thought that was rather good.
The Hooters?


Glebe

[tag]Rick Astley cautiously decides not to enter thread.[/tag]

gib

Quote from: BlodwynPig on January 14, 2019, 09:05:57 PM
Was only 11, so it took another 4 years before I heard them and 1 further year before I saw them...just a tad too late for the bucolic festival scene.

bucolic: relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.

Oh god no, this mostly happened under a church in deptford.

QuoteThe guy who ran the club who I will call " Kev" for legal reasons ( although his real name was Andy) was not a hippie at all .He was an ex-policeman and an entrepreneur who used his links with the local police to create a psychedelic club where you could get stoned all night and drink all night and know that you definitely would never get busted for either.

https://hippiecounterculture.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/encrypted-psychedelic-nights-at-the-deptford-crypt/


BlodwynPig

Quote from: gib on January 15, 2019, 12:16:59 AM
bucolic: relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.

Oh god no, this mostly happened under a church in deptford.

https://hippiecounterculture.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/encrypted-psychedelic-nights-at-the-deptford-crypt/

I have bootlegs of both Ozrics and Wooden Baby at Deptford Crypt in 1987, so you're probably looning about on the audio somewhere.


BlodwynPig

#58
Here is one of the Ozric tracks (jam), remarkably clean recording - sounds almost like you are in the room - strange atmospherics.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/thvi3fy7j4qwyxd/10_OT-1987-10-16d1-07.mp3?dl=0



Did you by any chance hear The Garbage Grinders? I've had no luck tracking down any information whatsoever about them. Their only recorded output being a single track on a Better Days compilation entitled "Aaarrgggh".

Proper 1987.

Edit: A Wooden Baby track from Deptford

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t0n61841j3n72vm/5%20-%20Wooden%20Baby%20Crypt%2012.5.89.mp3?dl=0

more punk, industrial, dance fusion.


maett

I was 17/18 and playing american football for a team in Windsor and used to get a lift there with an older bloke late 20s. (This is not a romance story) we used to alternate what got played on the car stereo. I'd plump for Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and The Smiths he'd always play Guns and Roses, Johnathan Richman and Dumpy's Rusty Nuts. I soon got my own car.