An Alternative History of "Pop" Music: Part 2, 1982 -

[Brundle-Fly]

D'Oh! Yes. Was that the only record he released in 1982?

According to Discogs, yes.

[Johnny Yesno]

According to Discogs, yes.

Thought so. He seems to have done that one single and disappeared for years before returning years later to put out a load of really excellent stuff.

Weird.

[jamiefairlie]

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQUke-HSjQ4

Years ago, Robert Smith from the Cure cited Beefheart as an influence but for years I just couldn't see the connection. However, I have since come to realise that tracks like the one I posted above do have this music in their DNA.

Hmmm, interesting point. The problem for me with Beefheart and his ilk (I'd put Birthday party in there too) is that i just don't like blues as a musical form and anything built on that, no matter how wild, i just find offputting.

[daf]

Bardo - Talking Out Of Line



Released in June 1982 - did not chart

Sally Ann Triplett first represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 as the lead female vocals of the six-piece band Prima Donna. Other band members included Danny Finn from The New Seekers and Lance Aston, brother of Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston. Prima Donna finished a moderately successful third with their pop-ballad "Love Enough for Two"; however the song was a flop in the charts, and the group disbanded after their second single. In between her two Eurovision appearances, she was a regular in the BBC television programme Crackerjack! [CRACKERJACK!!]

 

Two years later, she again represented United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982, this time with Stephen Fischer as part of the duo Bardo. Their song, "One Step Further", was a frantic pop number with a complex dance routine. The vigorous choreography noticeably affected the vocals, and not helped by no backing track and a live orchestra, the song finished seventh. The song, however, proved to be a success in the UK Singles Chart when it reached No. 2.

Signed to Epic Records, plans were in place to continue Bardo's career, but subsequent singles, "Talking Out of Line", and "Hang On to Your Heart" flopped. An album was planned but shelved due to the low sales of the singles.



Triplett and Fischer had by this time become romantically linked and continued to stay together after the dissolution of Bardo [ahh, bless!]. Triplett has since become a successful theatre actress and performer, most notably in the musicals Anything Goes and Guys and Dolls. Fischer also continues to perform in the music business, mainly on stage and has performed as a pianist and vocalist with the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

[Johnny Yesno]

Hmmm, interesting point. The problem for me with Beefheart and his ilk (I'd put Birthday party in there too) is that i just don't like blues as a musical form and anything built on that, no matter how wild, i just find offputting.

It's all built on the blues, daddy-o! :-)

Admittedly, in the case of the Cure/Beefheart comparison, it's mostly the lyrical content I'm thinking of. I would like to hear something like Golden Birdies sung to the tune of A Short Term Effect, ISIHAC style, to see how convincing/amusing that would be.

[Better Midlands]

Q - The Voice Of Q

Although the eerie splendour of 'The Voice Of Q' was huge on a specialist level, it failed to make any impression on its UK release, and was destined to remain a cult cut. Inspired by that year's movie blockbuster 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial', and co-written and produced by Michael Forte and Bruce Weeden at Philadelphia's Alpha International recording studio, Q was an organic one-off project – something recorded for fun, rather than with any intent of commercial success. Michael Forte, in a recent interview about the re-issue for Off The Record, would recall; 'In all honesty, we saw it as a novelty record...My world was not nightclubs or DJs and I was never involved in promotion and marketing so I couldn't tell you who was playing it'.

It doesn't seem that many US DJs latched onto the track, its failure to appear on the Billboard Dance chart emphasising this lack of interest in its home country – its main support very much on the UK underground. It's since been mistakenly described as Italo Disco, but on its original release 'The Voice Of Q' was very much regarded as Electro-Funk, with Legend providing the perfect environment for this and other esoteric electronic dance releases.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Alibi - The Fun Boy Three. Released on Chrysalis in 1982.





One of my favourire FB£ tracks and B sides ever!

Fun Boy Three were well-known faces in the 2-Tone Movement as they all were prominent members of The Specials. When "Ghost Town" reached UK#1 on July 11, 1981, The Specials had split - FB3 singers Terry Hall, Neville Staples and Lynval Golding had left as the with their first single already recorded with Dave Jordan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zBhQsNly4M

[daf]

Star Turn ‎– Ding Dong Ding Dong (A Song For Europe)



Flip-side of the single Starturn For Europe released in March 1982 - did not chart

Star Turn were formed by Steve O'Donnell, Colin Horton Jennings and J. Vincent Edwards. They have recorded a number of singles since 1981, two of which appeared in the UK Singles Chart, and released two albums.

In the fictional Whitley Bay social club, Hampton Cummings (played by Jennings) performs as "Star Turn", a club singer, introduced by Geordie concert chairman Albert Charlton (played by Edwards) who frequently interrupts with announcements and who sometimes joins in the performance, by playing the spoons or providing a spoken word accompaniment. Star Turn's debut single, "STAR TURN ON 45 pints", a parody of the Stars on 45 medley singles, was released in September 1981.

 

J. Vincent Edwards, who had previously appeared in the London performance of Hair, had a brief career as a solo singer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and then moved into songwriting and production, including co-writing "Right Back Where We Started From" for Maxine Nightingale. Edwards' experiences of performing at affiliated working men's clubs in North East England, early in his career, was part of the inspiration for Star Turn. Colin Horton Jennings had sung and performed with the groups The Greatest Show on Earth and Taggett, and composed songs for The Hollies, Cilla Black and the Salsoul Orchestra.



Their biggest commercial success occurred in 1988 when "Pump Up the Bitter" climbed to No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart. It parodied sample-laden tracks of the era, such as Bomb The Bass's "Beat Dis" and M/A/R/R/S's "Pump Up the Volume", which had been a No. 1 hit single in the UK the previous year. Further singles featured medleys on the theme of Christmas (Acid House) parties, Britpop, and The Royal Wedding.

[Oz Oz Alice]

Vanity 6 - Make Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HQrVGU7Ybg

This, the B side to Prince proteges Vanity 6 (i.e. he wrote this, played everything and had to be restrained from just singing it himself as well) single He's So Dull is a wonderful 2 and a half minutes of minimal electro sleaze. Prince's own demo version of this is remarkable but the blank voiced delivery here is pretty much perfect. Borders on being Warm Leatherette.

[sirhenry]

In view of the Frank Zappa hatethread further down the subforum, we couldn't leave this one out; a track so offensive that it caused Zappa and Warner Bros. to part company. A track that should have been on two earlier albums but was removed[nb]and when you take an eleven minute track off an album and don't replace it with anything it's really bleeding obvious![/nb]. A track I really like because it has history. I bring you 

Punky's Whips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWNCSNFoUSY

The first time I heard this was at one of the Hammersmith Odeon gigs that were recorded for Sheik Yerbouti. I had never seen musicianship at that level before and it just blew me away! And being a fan of bizarre, trashy bands, I suspect I was one of the few in the audience who knew of Angel and Punky Meadows.

The day after the gig, my Russian teacher asked why I was so tired and when I explained that I'd been to a brilliant Zappa gig she almost gave me a detention - for not letting her know and inviting her along. So when they added some dates at the end of the tour we went and saw him again. She was not amused that the entire gig (except the encores) consisted of 60's Surf hit covers. And on the way back I had my first near-death experience.

During the tour Zappa's drummer Terry Bozzio was fascinated by a photograph of Punky Meadows. This became a running gag in the group and Zappa composed this song about the topic. As Bozzio married Dale Consalvi in 1979, we can probably rule out any real attraction for Punky Meadows.

Regardless of Mr. Bozzio's sexuality, it is doubtful if Punky Meadows saw the joke; Warner Brothers certainly didn't, fearing a lawsuit it was edited it out of the Live in New York album at the last minute, without Zappa's knowledge. Best not to mention the outright profanity. Among best known results of the unauthorised action were end of 9 years of FZ-WB collaboration and Lather 4LP controversy.

There's an anecdote about Punky Meadows in a 1981 book called "Rock Bottom: the Book of Pop Atrocities": Punky is quoted as saying, "I wish I had a cunt transplant on my guitar, so I can fuck it while I'm playing."

[jamiefairlie]

Alright, welcome to 1983!

this mortal coil - song to the siren

https://youtu.be/HFWKJ2FUiAQ



This Mortal Coil were a collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were technically the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of supporting artists, many of whom were signed to, or otherwise associated with, 4AD. About half of the songs released were cover versions, often of 1960s and 1970s psychedelic and folk acts.

"Song to the Siren" is a song written by Tim Buckley and his writing partner Larry Beckett and was released by Buckley on his 1970 album Starsailor. This cover is performed by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins.

It reached number 4 in 1983's Festive Fifty and number 10 in the 2000 all-time Fifty.

[jobotic]

Jimmy Spicer - Money (Dollar Bill Y'all)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMwDdEGrt8E



http://hiphop101a.blogspot.com/2016/01/godfather-of-storytelling-adventures-of.html

First heard this sampled by De La Soul on Bitties In The BK Lounge. What a tune.

[jamiefairlie]

New Order - Leave Me Alone

https://youtu.be/2zpYieracgw



The first song from Power, Corruption & lies to be written, making its live debut in Bristol in February 1982. Probably my favourite from the album, it has the same crystalline chiming guitar sound as Ceremony and it's easy to imagine Ian Curtis singing it.

[Johnny Yesno]

Big Black - Cables



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4VQPo_gQF4

From, their second ep Bulldozer. Unusually, it features drums played by Pat Byrne from Urge Overkill rather than drum machine. While I prefer the live drums to the drum machine on Bulldozer, I think the production on later releases suits the precision of the drum machine far more and sets Big Black apart from other post hardcore acts.

[jobotic]

That and Albini's guitar sounds! Cables!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Pulp - Blue Girls



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbEqwgD8MWk

In which the 19-year-old Jarvis Branson Cocker pays tribute to one of his idols, Scott Walker. This is from Pulp's debut album, It. Eighteen years later, Walker produced their, to date, final album.

[Oz Oz Alice]

Soft Cell - Soul Inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ERzuIWh7M

My favourite Soft Cell single, released September 1983 trailing This Last Night In Sodom which would come out a month after they announced they were splitting. This song has a great personal resonance for me, as do Soft Cell in general.

Growing up and knowing that whatever I was I wasn't straight, also being a bit of a lonely kid with access to an internet connection I had access to queer role models that weren't in my immediate surroundings of either outright homophobia or "it's alright if you're gay as long as you don't act like it"; being a NIN fan as a result of the homoerotic imagery led me through NIN's cover of Memorabilia to Soft Cell, and through to Coil and then entire seas of possibility were open to me. Of course just as unhealthy as internalised homophobia is conjuring up these queer fantasias and places that never existed but if I listen to this again it brings back all my first same sex experiences and disappointments.

Marc Almond still isn't taken as seriously as he should be as a songwriter, whether its because he's such an old queen or whether its because he first got big with a cover version I dunno. The fact he seems to have spent the last few decades pissing away his rare gift can't help either. I dunno - I'm just trying to hold on to the Soul Inside.

[Oz Oz Alice]

Mr Flagio - Take a Chance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDV_dBYp4h0

Take a Chance by Mr Flagio is one of the great Italo records. Of course I'll say that about a lot of Italo in this thread as it is without a doubt my favourite style of music, but it's got everything I need: repetitive drum machine rhythms with live sounding percussion accents; squelchy Vocoder voices with passionate untreated vocals; scratchy rhythm guitar and cascading blocks of string synth. The live and the programmed, the acoustic and the electronic. All meshed together into a song that makes me dance like a loon.



Mr Flagio were Flavio Vidulich and Giorgio Bacco. As with many Italo producers there's only really the two tracks by them, this and a single they did the year after: but when you've made Take A Chance why risk ruining it by following it up with something lesser which would be pretty much anything.

Personal connection to this record: I put this as the first track on a mix for someone I was interested in. I would like to think there are other factors to the fact that I was (briefly) successful, but really it's probably all down to this record.

[Gregory Torso]

Butthole Surfers - The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave



This is where it all starts for me. Not actually in this year of 1983, when I was but a rusk-softening, mewling tadpole child, but later, early 90s, when an older boy in another village circulated a tape with Brown Reason To Live on one side and Rembrandt Pussy Horse on the other. Obviously the Butthole Surfers weren't the first to take punk and make it seriously weird, but I didn't hear Flipper or the Electric Eels or whatever for years. I'd already started getting interested in music that was different to whatever Bruno Brookes was bleating on about on the charts, and this was the doorway. And what a world it opened up into.

The screaming feedback, chaotic bursts of drums and noise, Gibby screaming: "THERE'S A TIME TO SHIT, AND A TIME FOR GOD. THE LAST SHIT I TOOK WAS PRETTY FUCKING ODD", finally breaking down and sobbing "shut up... shut up..."  --- it blew my tiny teenage mind. This was unapologetic NOISE. Noise like my parents always said the music I liked was (or anything that wasn't Enya or Paul Young), actual noise. And I loved it. And I still do.

At the end of secondary school, me and my best friend (who had originally procured the tape) managed to convince the school to let our band play for 10 minutes in support of some REM covers band who were playing in the school hall during lunch time. We covered "Bar-B-Q Pope" from this record, as well as Mudhoney's "You Got It" and another song I can't remember, with our friend ending our "set" with the monologue from "Suicide" (I've got a stiff upper lip because I'm half dead, the walls of my life are crumbling around me, I'm running and I can't hide, and I might try fucking suicide). We all got expelled because if this, but we weren't staying on for sixth form anyway, so the joke's on you Mr. Marshall (who wore a Clash t-shirt but turned out to be completely un-punk as he couldn't handle a few swear words from a bunch of greasy teenagers making ART)

The 1983-87 run the Buttholes had from Brown To Reason To Live up to Locust Abortion Technician is exemplary. Unfortunately, they seemed to go to shit quite quickly after that once MTV and drum programming and Hollywood got hold of them, although there are still sparks in the later material. They released one of the best Christmas singles, too.

[jobotic]

Brilliant post! Love the band story.

Agree too, it was the Butthole Surfers that made all the difference to me to. Psychic, Powerless, Another Man's Sac was the first one I ever heard, so it's still maybe my number one. I remember playing a tape of Lady Sniff to my classmates for vicarious laughs, although its by no means the best song on there (Cherub). The way Concubine seems to start like it has a faulty starter motor..just brilliant.

Agree with you about their output, although Hairway to Steven had its moments. What's the Christmas single?

[Gregory Torso]

What's the Christmas single?

Good King Wenceslaus. Gibby is off his face absolutely piss drunk slurring his way through it, it's hilarious.

[jobotic]

Will look that up, cheers!

Ever see them? I wish I had.

[Gregory Torso]

Never got a chance to see them - I think by the time I was old enough to go to gigs, they were long past their best. If you haven't seen it, check out the film "Blind Eye Sees All" which has a couple of their lives shows from their peak spliced together with a crazy rambling acid-fried interview with the band,

Also, the Butthole Surfers chapter in Michael Azerrad's "Our Band Could Be Your Life" is amazing.

[jobotic]

Same here, although weren't their more recent reformed gigs meant to be surprisingly good?

Cheers, will read that (I think I bought my Minutemen obsessed brother a copy. I expect they'll pop up in this thread soon).

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Mr Flagio - Take a Chance

Banger!

[Oz Oz Alice]

Charlie - Spacer Woman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nttQTxfXtVE&t=18s

Formed in 1983 as an experiment to break the mold of the classic disco dance sound, Charlie was the vehicle for musician and producer Maurizio Cavalieri who had found fame with Italian disco group Firefly. Cavalieri had been listening to the new crop of UK Synthpop and New Wave like Depeche Mode and Heaven 17 and wanted to create a more electronic, futuristic sound. He recruited his friend Giorgio Stefani to help write the song and compose lyrics. "Spacer Woman" was recorded in Vicenza, Italy and released by Cavalieri's own Mr. Disc Organization in 1983. The track features the signature Italo Linn Drum machine as well as the Roland TR-808 and a Yamaha DX7 for the arpeggiated synthesizer melody. "Spacer Woman" spans over seven-minutes and features the spaced-out vocals of Stefani's wife, who sings through a vocoder.

This is another real game changer when it comes to Italo: in a way it flashes forward to house and techno records like Where's Your Child by Bam Bam or Your Best Friend by Adonis in that there's something in the vocals that's just off and to me is more eerie and uncomfortable to listen to as any of the most depraved power electronics records, while at the same time the song makes me want to dance stupidly.

[Brundle-Fly]

A Big 10-8 Place (Part One) - Negativland  Released on Seeland in 1983.





I'm stretching the term 'pop' here for suggesting this 'cut-up' masterpiece for our chart, but it made such an impression on me when I heard it for the first time. As a young man, Negativland really expanded my listening tastes.  However, not great first date music as I learned to my cost.

The experimental-music and art collective known as Negativland (Richard Lyons, Mark Hosler, Peter Conheim) has been recording music/audio/collage works since 1980, producing a weekly 3 hour radio show ("Over The Edge") since 1981 until, hosting a World Wide Web site since 1995, and performing live on occasional tours throughout America and Europe. Negativland's particular musical practice incorporates found sounds and musical samples into their collage compositions.Their contemporary interest in collage (a hallmark of 20th Century art of all kinds) is prompted by the fact that art and commerce have now merged to a degree where corporate commerce now finances, grooms, directs, filters, manufactures and distributes almost everything we know of as "culture."

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

[Bobby Treetops]

Vanity 6 - Make Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HQrVGU7Ybg

This, the B side to Prince proteges Vanity 6 (i.e. he wrote this, played everything and had to be restrained from just singing it himself as well) single He's So Dull is a wonderful 2 and a half minutes of minimal electro sleaze. Prince's own demo version of this is remarkable but the blank voiced delivery here is pretty much perfect. Borders on being Warm Leatherette.

I was just about to post this but you got there first, great minds.

[Bobby Treetops]

B Beat Girls ‎– For The Same Man



Couldn't find a huge amount of information about this, apart from it was sampled on Samantha Fox's "I Wanna Have Some Fun" and was unsurprising popular in early 80s New York clubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W19TWXj6u2Y

[Brundle-Fly]

Fiery Jack - Toy Dolls Released on Volume in 1983





The perfect band if you were a teenage herbert in the early eighties. The number is an anti-paean to the old discontinued back ointment.  Not quite as poetic as Mark.E.Smith's 'Fiery Jack', it has to be said.

Toy Dolls are a punk band from Sunderland, UK, formed in October 1979.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwO7xsUWAh8