Lopez Blogs

I've had this post kicking around since the beginning of this year so I thought it was about time it was published.

30 years seems a long time, a lifetime ago, yet it feels just like yesterday. And my mind wandered back to one Saturday afternoon in January 1981, where none other than BBC Radio One was to be responsible for sowing the seeds of my own musical revolution which was to last for the best part of the following 30 years....

Saturdays back then, as indeed now, meant retail therapy. But on that Saturday I was stuck in the house with a heavy winter cold, curled up on the sofa and feeling sorry for myself. So I switched on the radio, and flicked through the channels. I can't remember the name of the DJ - but a song was played on the radio which was to turn my life upside down.

With unparalleled excitement and urgency, brass raged from the radio and a voice proclaimed "Bless my cotton socks, I'm in the news!" In those three minutes, my Saturday afternoon misery vanished. The song was "Reward" by a band called The Teardrop Explodes.



I wanted to know more about this band, and to discover more of this music. The DJ mentioned something about a night-time Radio 1 show, and so I began to explore this other world beyond daytime/drivetime radio. Richard Skinner's Evening Session, and the John Peel show, opened up a whole new undiscovered world of music which I devoured with enthusiasm. Every Radio 1 session was eagerly anticipated, and the joy of discovering another new band to add to my collection....well it was just undescribable. I began buying New Musical Express, Sounds and Record Mirror, hoping to discover more information about all the new bands which excited me.

But whilst all that was going on, my pop heart was still beating. All through my life I haven't been able to understand musical snobbery. Why can't you like two kinds of music at once? I grew up in a house where all kinds of music were acceptable, and as time went on I was able to love punk and disco and cheesy pop equally. By the end of 1980, the charts were not such an exciting place for me: the ska boom had faded and disco was on its last legs. At that time, my heart and my record player belonged to one man and his band: Adam and the Ants. Laugh if you must, but "Kings of the Wild Frontier" still remains an underrated gem, however everything he did after that just had me cringing with disappointment and we went our separate ways.

Magazines like The Face began to hail the New Romantic movement, which I initially resented and couldn't relate to, but the music made a lot more sense: Spandau Ballet, Ultravox, Visage and the new poster boys on this teenage girl's bedroom wall - Duran Duran.

Ironically, last Sunday night I watched Duran Duran perform on an ITV 'One Night Only' special and was amazed to see that despite the passing of the years (and the shocking deterioration in John Taylor's looks) they can still cut it. My interest in the band began to wane from "Rio" onwards and by the time of "Wild Boys" I hated them. They came to represent everything I hated about the 1980s, which was personally a very dark decade for me. If you can remember the 80s fondly then (a) you either weren't there, or (b) you were a yuppie. Duran Duran managed to work their way back into my affections in the 1990s and last Sunday night's TV appearance proved that they are still relevant.

But back to 1981 and beyond. John Peel's Festive 50 became an annual highlight. In 1981 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/festive50s/1980s/1981/ the chart clearly hadn't let go of the punk hits which had inspired this musical revolution, but for me the real excitement was all about what happened after punk. In 1981, New Order took its first steps, rising from the ashes of Joy Division, and producing music which was way beyond its time. New Order was to become my all-time favourite band in subsequent years.

1981 changed everything for me. My interest in what I suppose you would call 'indie' or 'alternative' music developed from that year and resulted in my discovering music which never in a million years would make the top 40, but which enriched my musical experience in a way which I still fondly remember.

After a brief stop-off at 1993 we return to 1983 for a rare, forgotten treat.

My first encounter with Liverpool band The Lotus Eaters was, to say the least, unremarkable. I was unimpressed with their debut hit, "The First Picture of You" which was rather wet and wimpy, to these ears anyway. But the follow-up, "You Don't Need Someone New" completely changed my mind: bright and breezy acoustic pop, with an edge which was missing from their debut. It wasn't a hit single, but back then, that didn't matter as long as it was played on night-time Radio 1...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKwuo19Tk6w

We fast-forward 10 years to 1993 - a rather special year for me for a number of reasons...anyway here is a cracking rap song by Bristol/Irish rap collective Marxman, who as the name suggests were a very political musical project.

Behind the very catchy groove of "All About Eve" were some very direct lyrics about domestic abuse. The song made it to no.28 in the UK singles chart: back in the day when music with a meaning could actually make it into the charts....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86eXIHymHg

Yes, it's back...!

I decided to rest Retro Saturday for a while but recently realised that there's some life left in it yet :))

So let's kick off with some classic 1983 Italo-Disco from top Italian funky drummer Tullio de Piscopo....believe it or not, this actually got some airplay on British radio back in those days before anything in a foreign language was a no-no.

Still fresh and rather wonderful. With lots of big hair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhIXU4IXLWg

"I can make more than you steal in a day"

From 1990, truly the golden era of indie-dance-pop which for a long long time was my natural musical habitat :) Got a bit of airplay on night-time Radio 1, and this came from the archives of the late and much-lamented Chart Show which played a lot of music which I really liked at that time - Stone Roses, House of Love, Inspiral Carpets, World of Twist, Ride (the list is endless).

I've been looking for this one for a while, so I'm glad that I finally found it. Enjoy the jazzy-indie-funk vibe of "Solid Gold" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMCN6QHxrs

Another one of those great lost songs from the 1980s!

Win was a Scottish band whom big things were expected from - but like many other bands, they failed to achieve the success they deserved despite a high level of local radio support and the song, "You've Got The Power" being featured in a TV commercial for McEwan's Lager. If you're in the mood for a relatively obscure 80s pop gem, find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqkePGfRFuE

The man who gave the world the Sex Pistols died this week. McLaren was an innovator with a unique and unpredictable personality: the world will probably never see his like again, more's the pity. After helping to kick-start the much-needed punk revolution, he then introduced the British public to early hip hop.

Many other bloggers have posted videos of the punk and hip-hop stuff, so I'll move on to yet another concept he was involved in, back in the early 90s - "The Ghosts of Oxford Street". I particularly loved a song called "Magic's Back", with vocals from Alison Limerick who was later to become a very popular dance diva. This song combined a sweeping classical feel with irresistible dance beats, and still sounds very fresh today. Do you believe in magic? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTw2ohPE2gQ

Rest in peace.

So while we're on the subject of long-forgotten 1980s Swedish pop, let's get to something completely wonderful - "Ifrån" by Adolphson & Falk. This is a fab slice of Swedish-language electro-pop which I still love as much today as I did all those years ago.

No video for this one but you may just love the song so much that it won't really matter....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wuwVi_QwnE

Something Swedish and obscure and rather funky in a late 70s/early 80s style....I remember Hansson De Wolfe United from back in the day, although I had forgotten about them again for a long long time. Recently my interest has been reawoken though. "En Tidig Morgon" is probably my favourite track of theirs but as I couldn't find it on YouTube I thought I'd throw in a bit of "Existens Maximum" instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMUEJh5PhdY&feature=related

Again, I'm going "against type" tonight but "Hazard" was always a pretty special song back in the day so I thought I'd have a wallow again tonight! Some very interesting, and different lyrics, I think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdmHHoI9beM

Awwww...bit of mid-90s slush to kick us off tonight :)))

I'm not really into this kind of swaying ballad but this one always reminds me of holidaying in Belgium, so for that fact alone it will always merit a mention on EuropeCrazy :)

And I always have a soft spot for men with 'big hair' :O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gre4DZuA6k4

Back to 1992, a year which I would be very happy to be stuck in with no escape (won't go into reasons why!!! :) ).....anyway the house-tastic "Movin'" by Marathon has been long overdue for the Retro Saturday treatment on EuropeCrazy so here it is, 18 years down the line.... still sounds very, very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcmdJw_qlcw

Back to the early 90s again - which was personally a very memorable time for me - here's a bit of Kym Sims (whatever happened to...?) who had a big hit with "Too Blind To See It" but I liked this one so much more - "Take My Advice" which had that distinctive early 90s house sound: "she got a smile on her face and a plan in her head" - good times, ooooh yes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb12KTcTIcU

Going through the Retro Saturday archive over the last 3 years it just struck me that I'd overlooked the wonderful Manics. At one point during the 1990s my life completely revolved around them, and seeing them live on their post-"Everything Must Go" tour was completely inspirational :) anyway here is "From Despair To Where" which I played today and asked myself why I hadn't played it more.....? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pcb0sOZTnQ

Anyone for a bit of "Where Love Lives", then????

Voila! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB_gkgRMaBc

An early 90s dance classic which we will never tire of reviving. "Tune" indeed.

Thought it was about time I resurrected the old Retro Saturday thing!

Kicking off with something I loved from around 1994: apparently Dionne Farris was originally part of the Arrested Development crew, but I didn't know anything about her till "I Know" which got a lot of radio airplay around that time and this remains one of the great-lost-hits of the mid 90s. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHsJe94TdhA

Went into a shop today and they were playing a Joe Jackson song so the lightbulb went on in my head and I thought: "Retro Saturday"!

It's just over 30 years since the singer-songwriter Joe Jackson had his first UK chart hit with the (still wonderful) new wave classic "Is She Really Going Out With Him". This was followed by "It's Different For Girls" which gave him his biggest chart hit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKr2n-9p7WM

My favourite Joe Jackson song is "Steppin' Out" from 1983 which is a true classic. (My definition of a true classic is a song which still sounds as fresh and wonderful today as it did back then). Jazzy and uptempo, with a distinctive piano hookline and a very memorable video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnbj0w8iOeM

From time to time I like to feature a lost Eurovision classic in my Retro Saturday selection.

Back in 1988, Ireland hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, thanks to Johnny Logan's second win the previous year. They chose the band Jump The Gun to defend their title with "Take Him Home". Looking back, it was a pretty ambitious choice of song, starting off as a piano ballad and then it turns into as near to a rock song as you could get in Eurovision back in those days. For me it's one of the most underrated entries in Eurovision which I can remember, but I've always liked it. I wonder what became of Jump The Gun?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeiLkzqNcXY&feature=PlayList&p=7CC94C8B9D7E70C1&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=62

As regular readers will know, a random thought will always lead to a Retro Saturday post.

And so it was this week that somewhere along the way I heard a clip of P.M. Dawn's "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" which of course was based around that memorable sample of Spandau Ballet's "True".

"Set Adrift..." reached no. 3 in the UK chart in 1991 and still sounds incredibly fresh today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AOVf9p9ht4

In 1992, which was for various reasons a pretty incredible and memorable year both for musical and personal reasons, I loved "Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine" (that lyric was already mentioned in "Set Adrift...") and was particularly partial to the CJ McIntosh club mix which someone has very kindly posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9pTU2i1k4g&feature=related

And now for something completely different. "Dat" by Pluto (Shervington) was a 1976 hit about the very unlikely subject matter of a Rastafarian trying to buy pork, something strictly against his faith. As a child growing up in the 1970s I didn't really understand what it was about then, but I thought it was very catchy anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqRYVp3hpKw