An Alternative History of "Pop" Music

[Better Midlands]

Another 1982 proto house/techno track on the b-side here

Eddy Grant - Time Warp (b-side of Electric Avenue US release)

[Astronaut Omens]

Ja Ja Ja - Katz Rap




Supposedly "the first rap song by a female on record in Europe" according to wikipedia. Ja Ja Ja was a German band, although appareNtly the singer Julie Jigsaw was from Texas pretending it large to be down with Der Plan.

Great song, never sounded like hip hop to me, but that's what they wrote on the internet, dad -
CITATION NEEDED LADS

Katz Rap (Paula Abdul not included)

Underneath the video you linked to there is a comment by Julie Jigsaw herself that the video is mistitled- the tune in that video is in fact the band's theme song "Ja Ja Ja!" and the tune below is the actual Katz Rap, and she does indeed do a bit of rapping in it.

Ja Ja Ja!-Katz Rap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwRW26pG1sE

[Astronaut Omens]

Speaking of Europe and rap...
Suzy Andrews- Der Kommissar (Don't Turn Around)

No information available but it seems to me Suzy was a US singer who hit on the idea of making an English language album full of translations of massive Euro- hits, in this case 1981's Austrian No.1 hit for Falco, later famous for his novelty song "Rock Me Amedeus". Don't think she had a hit with it, but I like the way she keeps in a few German phrases as a gimmick, especially "Alles is klar, Herr Kommissar!"

[Gregory Torso]

Underneath the video you linked to there is a comment by Julie Jigsaw herself that the video is mistitled- the tune in that video is in fact the band's theme song "Ja Ja Ja!" and the tune below is the actual Katz Rap, and she does indeed do a bit of rapping in it.

Ja Ja Ja!-Katz Rap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwRW26pG1sE

Well that explains a lot. Sorry my brains all over all the place these days. I should really check the videos before I post, ha.

That was the song I meant to post though (the one that is apparently just called Ja Ja Ja)

[Astronaut Omens]

Speaking of Europe and rap...
Suzy Andrews- Der Kommissar (Don't Turn Around)

No information available but it seems to me Suzy was a US singer who hit on the idea of making an English language album full of translations of massive Euro- hits, in this case 1981's Austrian No.1 hit for Falco, later famous for his novelty song "Rock Me Amedeus". Don't think she had a hit with it, but I like the way she keeps in a few German phrases as a gimmick, especially "Alles is klar, Herr Kommissar!"

Aargh missed out the link on that one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efFA7hDspFg

[Astronaut Omens]

Nâ Hawa Doumbia - Danaya



wassoulou singer from Mali with a tremendous voice

Fantastic!

[Phil_A]

Prefab Sprout - Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)



The prototype Sprouts three piece line-up self-released this as their first single two years before their debut album "Swoon".

The song was recorded on 25 February 1982 by a three-piece line-up of Prefab Sprout; Paddy McAloon provides vocals and guitar, Martin McAloon plays bass and Michael Salmon provides drums and percussion.[2] McAloon has described this early lineup as sounding like a mix of the Clash and Steely Dan.[3] Wendy Smith joined the band later in 1982. The song utilises simplistic instrumentation – acoustic guitar, bass, drums, harmonica and vibraphone – but the structure is complex, ignoring the conventional verse-chorus pattern. According to Adrian Thrills of NME, "the meandering melody line takes more than a cursory listen before it connects".[4] Despite the song garnering comparisons to Scottish jangle pop bands Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, McAloon was influenced by the Beatles. McAloon would comment "For me, it's very close to "Love Me Do", very pure, spontaneous."

[Astronaut Omens]

Fearless Four- Rockin' It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOHvOhADAic


This Kraftwerk sampling electro hip-hop tune is a definitive step away from hip-hop's disco-rap origins towards what it became.
I heard it after trying to track down all the samples featured in De La Soul's head-spinning "Cool Breeze on the Rocks" collage.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Neil Young - Transformer Man



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqdx6dCQLug

Young's unlikely detour into vocoderised electronica didn't go down well with his new label boss, David Geffen, but what the hell does that uptight breadhead know? This is such a beautiful piece of melancholy futurism, and the story behind the whole project is rather moving.

The electronic sound of Neil Young's Trans album baffled many fans upon its initial release - a Sennheiser vocoder VSM201 features prominently in six of the nine tracks.

From late 1980 to mid-1982, Young spent much of his waking hours carrying out a therapy program for his young son, Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy and unable to speak. Young disclosed to almost no one at the time that he was doing this, nor that the repetitive nature of the songs on both the previous album, Re·ac·tor, and this one related to the exercises he was performing with Ben.

Young's new direction was influenced by the electronic experiments of the German band Kraftwerk, but more importantly he felt that distorting his voice reflected his attempts to communicate with his son. "At that time he was simply trying to find a way to talk, to communicate with other people. That's what Trans is all about. And that's why, on that record, you know I'm saying something but you can't understand what it is. Well, that's exactly the same feeling I was getting from my son."

Trans, along with Young's next Geffen release Everybody's Rockin', formed the basis of a 1983 lawsuit filed against Young by Geffen on the grounds that he had produced deliberately uncommercial and unrepresentative work. Young responded with a countersuit. Both suits were dropped within a matter of months, and David Geffen wound up personally apologizing to Young.

[Phil_A]

Yasuaki Shimizu - Suiren



If you've gone down the rabbit hole of Japanese experimental music on youtube you'll have doubtless seen this album cover appearing in the sidebar more than once. It seems popularity among youtube listeners might've led to the album getting it's first ever non-Japanese release in 2017, just as well as it's really good it turns out.

Yasuaki Shimizu, the Japanese saxophonist and band leader, has made dozens of albums, which, since the late '70s, have spanned silky smooth jazz, rock, electro pop and Bach cello suites. If you've heard only one, it's highly likely to be Utakata No Hibi, a wondrous Fourth World excursion credited to Mariah. Its reissue two years ago has led to an increased interest in his work outside of Japan. Earlier this year, Crammed Discs rereleased Music For Commercials, Shimizu's whirlwind 1987 LP.

Utakata No Hibi's closest cousin is 1982's Kakashi, which has been reissued by Palto Flats and WRWTFWW. It was a testing ground for the fusion of saxophone, electronics and pop arrangements that, in Utakata No Hibi, would reach its sumptuous peak a year later. But Kakashi has sweet moments of its own, and its own sensibility. "Suiren"'s jaunty jazz pop layers, bubbling up in intensity, spill over into the title track, which is filled with martial snares and percolating marimba lines. Shimizu touches on ska, dub and jazz but ultimately creates his own trajectory. "Semi Tori No Hi" surfaced on the crucial Better Days compilation last year, and it remains a standout here, alternating between placid new age vibes—shimmering chimes, strummed harps—and soulful horn bursts. The mellow part of Shimizu's sound carries on into "Kono Yoni Yomeri (Sono 2)," where his clarinet plays solemnly as crickets chirp.

The second half of the album is more adventurous. Shimizu's horn on "Yume Dewa" recalls early Lounge Lizards. The album's longest track, "Umi No Ue Kara," is also its most intriguing. The dubbed-out drums, marimbas and muttered vocals evoke a mellow mood, with Shimizu's horn languidly weaving through these elements. He integrates these sounds and moods in a way that makes the track—and the album as a whole—seem wholly of its own moment. Shimizu's work might've fallen into distinct categories over the years, but Kakashi is in a class of its own.

[Brundle-Fly]

Halt Mich Fest, Ich Werd Verrück - Trio Released on Mercury in 1982.





Title translation: Hold Me Tight, I'm Going Crazy. The ultimate one-hit-wonder band, but what a massive long-lasting international hit. I was sad to read that only the frontman, Stephen Remmler has lived to tell the tale. And spend the royalties.

Trio were a German minimalist pop trio from 1980 to 1985, they gained a worldwide reputation for their song 'Da Da Da' which was a hit in more than 30 countries. The group was Stephan Remmler (vocals), Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel (guitar) and Peter Behrens (drums). They released three albums and one live album (on cassette only, later re-released on CD).

I've left the groovy opening titles of this German pop programme at the beginning of the clip because they're too good not to be seen. And I've been missing this vibe from the thread for a while now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJaoKeIJ5jo&feature=emb_logo

[The Culture Bunker]

No information available but it seems to me Suzy was a US singer who hit on the idea of making an English language album full of translations of massive Euro- hits, in this case 1981's Austrian No.1 hit for Falco, later famous for his novelty song "Rock Me Amedeus". Don't think she had a hit with it, but I like the way she keeps in a few German phrases as a gimmick, especially "Alles is klar, Herr Kommissar!"

Fairly obscure UK prog band/New Wave ambulance chasers After the Fire either had the same idea or copied this version (not sure which came first) and had a massive hit in America with it.

[Gregory Torso]

Julie Jumper - Rhythm Radar




Kind of like a lo-fi, one-woman Devo? This is the only release by Julie Jumper, a mysterious lone 7" on Reckless Records. Lots of nice squidgy synths.

Rhythm Radar

[Gregory Torso]

Dangerous Birds - Smile On Your Face




Dangerous Birds were from Boston, Massachussets and featured Thalia Zedek on vocals and guitar, Lori Green on keyboards, guitar and vocals, Margery Meadow on bass and Karen Grickas on drums.

This was one of the first songs I ever looked for on soulseek, having heard John Peel play it at some point. Ah, the early 00s, when my mind was blown by being able to search for rare songs and then burn them onto my own CDs. Shoeboxes and crates full of the bloody things packed up in my dad's attic.

Thalia Zedek went on to be in Live Skull and Come (and in my mind, Come's "Eleven Eleven" is one of the finest albums of the 90s).

This was the B-side to their only single, a gloomy slightly Spanish-influenced number. It also turned up on the Sub Pop 100 comp a few years later. They had one other song on a compilation and then I think that was that. C'est la life.

weird kaleidoscope video

[daf]

Bad Banana – Dancing In San Francisco



Released in Germany in May 1982 - did not chart

'Banana moon' was shining, apparently . . those crazy Germans!

[daf]

Caroline – Propellerdisco



Released in December 1982 as the B-side of the single 'Propeller Flip' - did not chart

Carolien Blokkerus was born in Rotterdam in 1962. She released her first single "Joey Je Kunt 't Proberen" ['That chap Joey's a problem'] in November 1980, followed by "Jij Nam Mijn Hand" ['The name of my hand is Jij'] in 1981.

   

Her final single 'Want Achter Het Masker' ['Wanted : Another Hat Masker'] was released in 1985.

I wear a bow-tie now, bow-ties are cool.

[jamiefairlie]

The Blue Orchids - Dumb Magician

https://youtu.be/Gt9pESTJcYo



Formed in Manchester in 1979, when Martin Bramah decided to quit The Fall having recorded that band's debut album Live at the Witch Trials. This is taken from their debut album, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain).

[Phil_A]

The Ravishing Beauties - Futility(Peel Session)




The Ravishing Beauties were a short-lived trio consisting of Virginia Astley, Kate St John and Nicky Holland. They released no official recordings as a group did perform four tracks for the John Peel Show in 1982. Three of the featured songs would form the basis of Astley's first solo EP A Bao A Qu the same year with the fourth, Futility(based on the poem by Wilfred Owen) eventually appearing on her album "Promise Nothing" released in 1983.

[daf]

Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Man Out Of Time



Released as a single in July 1982 - reached #58 in the UK chart

"Man Out of Time", written by Elvis Costello with lyrics detailing a political scandal, features a lush arrangement that was a conscious departure from the aggressive style of Costello's previous work. He thought of the song's central lyric, "But will you still love a man out of time?", while on a tour bus in Sweden in 1982, writing the rest of the song in a Scottish hotel during the same tour.

Elvis Costello : "A lot of songs are about the sort of disgust with your own self. There were a lot of things that I wasn't very happy with during that time. I wanted songs to blow up the world. I had mad ambitions. Not mad as in "ambition to be famous". I never wanted that. That just came as an accident of it all. But somehow you look at yourself and you're not happy with what you see. I didn't want to write a self-regarding song, so I cast it in the clothes of political intrigue and what was going on in the world at that time. There was a famous political scandal in England going on then. It all sort of got wrapped up in the song. Sometimes a song will have a personal meaning and a public meaning. "Man Out of Time" is one of those."

In an interview with The New York Times, Costello explained his attitude toward the English aristocracy . . .

Elvis Costello : "I do tend to think there's a lot of decadence and moral weakness among people in positions of power. Traditionally, the aristocracy in England has been decadent and immoral. There's always a lot of intrigue, government scandals, like the Profumo affair. None of my songs are literally about that or any other particular event, but some of them have that flavour. The more personal songs are either imaginary scenarios, observations of other people, or observations of myself. Most of the really vitriolic songs I've written have been observations of myself."

   

Costello initially drove the Attractions to perform the song aggressively, but this initial arrangement was edited into the opening and closing sections of the song by producer Geoff Emerick. The bulk of the song came from a one take performance that Costello later described as "among the best that the Attractions and I ever caught in a single take". Emerick's use of Fairchild valve compressors on the song resulted in what Costello described as "a sense of the music pushing back against some intolerable weight".

Elvis Costello : "Originally, it was a very uptempo, aggressive song. I had made this mistake several times. At the time of Imperial Bedroom, I came to terms with the fact that I was sacrificing the power of certain songs to this mad pursuit of tempo. Everything had to be delivered forcefully. I don't know whether it was just a natural process or, literally, cumulative exhaustion of what were very intense years. "Man Out of Time" is the one time I said, "No, stop. Let's play this at the right tempo." And we went for this bigger, more open sound. I think it's a really good record."

   

In addition to its release on the album 'IbMePdErRoIoAmL' in July 1982, "Man Out of Time" was released as a single, following the same album's "You Little Fool".

Elvis Costello : 'You Little Fool,' which is one of the brightest-sounding tracks until you listen to lyrics, was released purely because it had a hook. I kept saying, 'Well, "Man Out of Time" is what the album is about, that's the heart of the record. You can hear that, can't you?' Of course, in those days, the people who understood what you were saying at the record label, those people didn't have any power."

Couldn't find it on Youtube, but I was lucky enough to track down the 2 disc Edsel re-issue of this album a few years ago - which included the fast version of Man out of Time. It's great to hear it, but, as with Phil Spector's genius edit of the Beatles 'Dig it', the bits you hear on the album really are the best bits!

Another interstesting fact revealed via the bonus discs on the re-issues - (hearing a song develop from demo through alternative versions to the finished product) - is that Costello's main melody lines are bizzarely often the very last piece of the puzzle to be put in place. In this case, his original delivery for the fast version of Man out of Time is something like Bob Dylan having a crack at Tokyo Storm Warning while bursting for a piss!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fun fact : due to the mad typography, for YEARS I actually thought the album was called 'Ibmepderroioaml' [pronounced "Ib-Mep Derry-Oyoh Ahml"]

[jamiefairlie]

The Comsat Angels - What Else!?

https://youtu.be/-61eDk6UEJA



Taken from their third album, Fiction, released in August. Fiction was less gloomy than the Comsat's previous album, Sleep No More. Frontman Stephen Fellows said of the change: "I certainly didn't want to make another record as intense as Sleep No More — at least not immediately. Sleep No More was so dark that I felt it skewed things a bit — possibly even mentally for me. I just felt if we carried on in that direction it'd lead to madness or maybe even something worse".

[Brundle-Fly]

Big Take Over - Bad Brains   Released on Alternative Tentacles in 1982.





The first band that made me reconsider my preconceived notions of what the hell the term 'black music' means anyway...

Bad Brains were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1977, initially as a jazz fusion ensemble called Mind Power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXaIG7j4crQ&feature=emb_logo

[jamiefairlie]

The Danse Society - Falling Apart 

https://youtu.be/4MTPvSTtv6w



Formed in Barnsley in 1980, they released their debut single later that year and this is from their debut (mini) album, Seduction.
They released one more album before pursuing an ill-conceived and unsuccessful sharp right turn into tacky pop music before splitting in 1986.

[daf]

Young Steve And The Afternoon Boys ‎– I'm Alright



Released in November 1982 - did not chart

Stephen Richard Wright was born in Greenwich, South London. He started broadcasting in 1976 at Thames Valley Radio 210 in Reading, Berkshire alongside Mike Read. In 1979 Wright got his big break at Radio Luxembourg, where he presented his own nightly show. In 1980, Wright joined BBC Radio 1 taking over a Saturday evening slot.

Wright moved to daytime radio with Steve Wright in the Afternoon in 1981. The show became known for its cast of telephone characters including : Mr Angry from Purley, Sid The Manager, Mr Mad, Gervais the hairdresser, Dave Double Decks - created and performed by Gavin McCoy, Peter Dickson, Richard Easter and Phil Cornwell. Wright went out of its way to be irreverent, including stories taken from the Weekly World News, and was helped on-air by 'The Afternoon Boys' who included Jonathan Ruffle, entertainment producer, playing the characters 'The Pervy' and co-creating 'Dr Fish Filleter'.

The success of the comedy characters led to a string of spinoff singles including 'Get Some Therapy' by Steve Wright And The Sisters Of Soul in Setember 1983, 'The Gay Cavalieros (The Story So Far...)' in November 1984, and 'I'll Be Back', released under the name Arnee and the Terminaters - which was a UK Top 5 hit in August 1991.

   

In later years the characters were replaced by a "zoo" format, with spoof guests and comedy sketches. A "posse" of producers and tedious arseholes radio staff joined in.

[jamiefairlie]

The Jam - The Great Depression

https://youtu.be/dJBrKpQjLfU



B-side to the "Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" single. Excellent quality right to the end.

[chveik]

P-Model - Heaven



I will always prefer Hirasawa's techno pop of the 90s but P-Model's post-punk phase was pretty great. not sure it's the best song on Perspective but they chose this one to be the single.

[chveik]

Loren Mazzacane & Kath Bloom - It's So Hard to Come Home



experimental guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors made two albums in 1982 with singer Kath Bloom. this is one of their most devastating songs

[chveik]

Divine - Shoot Your Shot



John Waters' muse Divine made a few hi-nrg records in the eighties and they're pretty fun. it was certified gold in the Netherlands so it's not completely alternative, but since quite a few famous bands have been mentionned in this thread, I hope you'll forgive me.

[Brundle-Fly]

Plastic Gangsters - The 4 Skins  Released on Secret in 1982.





Oi goes pop?

This was my 16-year-old anthem once upon a time because I was very much a plastic 'plastic gangster' back then. I used to love the nod to Dennis Waterman at the playout.

The 4 Skins were a London street punk Oi band from London.

Not a far-right band, before anybody gets on their high horses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Z-RqZhjs4&feature=emb_logo

[jamiefairlie]

Colin Newman - Not To

https://youtu.be/Hr9GL3vLY8Y



The flip side to his "We Means We Starts" single and the title track of his third album. One of my favourites this is.

[McChesney Duntz]

Mission of Burma - Trem Two.

https://youtu.be/MV8-vy2OKdY

Released 1982. Did not chart.

From the great avant-garage Boston combo's first full-length album, vs. So named because Roger Miller's tremolo guitar features heavily, for the second time (the first one, an instrumental simply called "Tremolo," would not be released until their posthumous 1985 live album The Horrible Truth About Burma - https://youtu.be/PdafkB-99oA.) Great band, great bunch of guys.