368 Hello The Cure - A Forest

Chart  entered : 12  April  1980

Chart  peak : 31

Number  of  hits : 31

These  guys  are  the  runners-up  to  a  certain  Irish  quartet  in  terms  of  the  most  successful  group  from  the  post-punk  era  though  they  struggle  for  recognition  in  certain  quarters. Simon  Reynolds  gave  them  just  a  couple  of  lines  in  Rip  It  Up.

The   Cure  started  coming  together  at  a  middle  school  in  Crawley  in  1973  when  Robert  Smith, Laurence  Tolhurst  and  Michael  Dempsey  first  played  with  others  in  a  band  called  The  Obelisk.  This  gradually  mutated  into  Malice  and  then  Easy  Cure  in  January  1977  by  which  time  the  trio  were  accompanied  by  an  extra  guitarist  Porl  Thompson.  Later  that  year  they  won  a  talent  contest  organised  by  Hansa  Records  and  a  record  contract  but  after  initial  sessions in  the  early  part  of  1978  it  became  apparent  that  band  and  record  company  had  very  different  visions  of  their  future. The  contract  was  quickly  dissolved  and  Porl  was  dropped  from  the  band.The  remaining  trio  then  recorded  a  demo  which  impressed  Polydor's   A & R  man  Chris  Parry  who  signed  them  to  his  new  Fiction  label.

The  Cure's  pre-chart  material  outscores  anyone  else  we've  covered  so  far. Impatient  to  get  some  product  out  while  Parry  negotiated  a  distribution  deal  with  Polydor  they  put  their  debut  single  out  on  the  Small  Wonder  label  in  August  1978. Then  and  now  "Killing  An  Arab"'s  title  is  a  controversy  magnet  and  an  airplay  no-no  but  it's  a  classic  single. The  lyrics  are  inspired  by  the  key  incident  in  Camus's  L'Etranger  and  have  no  racist  connotations. The   song  is  tightly  wound  with  the  guitars  playing  Oriental  melodies  around  a  pulsing  bassline  and  crisp  clipped  drumming  with  telling  use  of  the  symbols. The  sound  is  harsh  and  dry  with  Robert  sounding  enervated  and  in  need  of  a  drink. It  got  onto  a  punk  compilation  20  of  Another  Kind   with  Smash  Hits  commenting  that  "only  The  Cure  offer  something  new  and  interesting". When  Parry  got  the  deal  finalised  the  single  was  reissued with  a  defensive  explanation  attached  by  Fiction  at  the  beginning  of  1979.

Next  came  their  debut  album  "Three  Imaginary  Boys"  in  May  1979  which  is  a  frustratingly  uneven  album  due  to  Parry  having  the  final  say  in  song  selection. Therefore  you  have  on  the  one  hand  ,brilliantly  dark  little  pop  songs  like  "Accuracy", "10.15  Saturday  Night"  and  the  terrifying  "Subway  Song"  and  spiky  relationship  songs  like  "Object"  and  "It  Isn't  You"  that  give  Pete  Shelley  a  run  for  his  money. These  rub  shoulders  with  the  tuneless  punk  whine  of  "So  What ?", a  soundcheck  cover  of  Hendrix's  "Foxy  Lady" with  Dempsey  on  lead  vocals  and  the  irredeemably  stupid  "Meathook". The  band  were  pretty  disgusted  by  the  final  product  and   before  its  release  overseas  the  chaff  was  removed  and  replaced  with  the  next  two  singles. Retitled  as  "Boys  Don't  Cry" it  became  generally  available  in  the  UK.

"Boys  Don't  Cry"  was  their  second  single in  June  1979  with  a  lyric  along  similar  lines  to  Tears  Of  A  Clown . Robert   contributes  a   melancholic  guitar  line  and  his  petulant  voice  is  perfect  for  the  subject  matter. Laurence's  upfront  drums  give  the  song  punch  particularly  on   the  chorus. It's  another  classic. In  1986  it  was  re-recorded   to  promote  the  "Standing  On  The  Beach" compilation  and  made  number  22  in  the  charts. Though  long  gone  from  the  line  up  Dempsey  was  generously  invited  back  to  appear  in  the  video. Rather  sadly  it  was  one  of  the  best  singles  of  the  year.

In  the  summer  the  Cure   took  up  the  offer  of  supporting  Siouxsie  and  the  Banshees  on  a  UK  tour. In  September the  Banshees  lost  their  guitarist  and  drummer  and  Robert  volunteered  his  services  for  the  former  role  to  allow  the  tour  to  continue. Robert  has  said  that  playing  with  the  Banshees  was  a  musical  epiphany  and  changed  his  approach  to  The  Cure, prompting  a  move  away  from  spiky  New  Wave  pop  to  something  darker  and  more  atmospheric.

Still  there  was  a  last  hurrah  for  the  old  sound  with  their  third  single,  the  very  timely  "Jumping  Someone  Else's  Train"  released  as  the  Mod  Revival  got  in  full  swing  that  October.  Appropriately  Dempsey's  bassline  sounds  like  a  runaway  train  with  Robert  having   to  speed  up  his  delivery  of  the  witheringly  cynical  lyric  about  bandwagon-jumpers  - "if  you  pick  up  on  it  quick, you  can  say  you  were  there". His  descending  guitar  riff  completes  another  outstanding  single. Siouxsie  did  some  backing  vocals  on  the  B-side  "I'm  Cold".

Robert  then  presented  the  band  with  some  songs  he  had  written  for  the  next  album. Dempsey  didn't  like  them  so  Robert  started  thinking  about  replacing  him. He  turned  towards  another  Surrey  musician   Simon  Gallup . He  was  playing  in  The  Magazine  Spies  who  had  recently  evolved  from  a  punk  band  called  Lockjaw  in  which  he  played  under  the  nom  de  plume  Andy  Septic. Lockjaw  put  out  a  couple  of  singles  on  Raw  records  in  1977-78,  "Radio  Call  Sign"  which  consists  of  little  more  than  shouting  the  title  and  the  more  controlled  "Journalist  Jive"  which  sounds  like  The  Cockney  Rejects.

Robert's  way  of  checking  him  out  was  to  invite  the  whole  band  to  take  part  in  recording  a  novelty  single  under  the  name  Cult  Hero. Robert  had  written  the  song  "I'm  A  Cult  Hero"  about  local  postman Frank  Bell  who  would  be  the  vocalist  on  the  track. Dempsey  himself  was  on  the  session  playing  keyboards. It's  a  bizarre  item  which, after  an  extended  intro , sounds  like  a  Southern  John  Cooper  Clarke  jamming  with  The  Selecter,  but  it  seemed  to  do  the  job.  Simon  was  drafted  into  The  Cure  to  replace  Dempsey. He  brought  Magazine  Spies'   keyboard  player  Matthieu  Hartley   along  with  him. That  wasn't  quite  the  end  of  Cult  Hero; The  Cure  would  sometimes  let  off  steam  by  playing unannounced  gigs  under  that  name  where  they  would  cover  a    whole  Top  10   from  the  past. I'd  have  given  anything  to  have  been  at  one  of  those. Dempsey's  departure  seems  to  have  been fairly  amicable.   He  started working  with  The  Associates   who  supported  The  Cure  on  their  next  tour. 

"A  Forest"  was  the  first  single  released  by  the  new  line-up. It  marked  a  big  step  forward  in  the  lyrical  vagueness, the  swirling  musical  textures  which  refuse  to  resolve  anything  and  Mike  Hedges's  production  effects. Laurence  and  Matthieu  keep  things  simple  while  Robert  and  Simon  interlock  in  a  way  that  makes  it  difficult  trained  ear  to  follow  who's  doing  what. Like  OMD  The  Cure  here  use  instrumental  choruses  which   demonstrate  a  range  of  phasing  and  flanging  effects  particularly  on  the  guitar. The  song  concerns  a  man  running  into  a  forest  looking  for  a  girl  who  suddenly  realises she  doesn't  exist  and  he's  now  got  himself  lost. Whether  this  is  a  simple  account  of  a  fairly  common  dream  or  some  sort  of  existential  metaphor  the  music  is  full  of  foreboding  suggesting  he'll  never  come  out  or  discover  something  nasty. The  band's  morose  performance  on  Top  of  the  Pops  didn't  move  it  much  higher  but  it  was  a  good  start  to  their  chart  career  and  helped  the  album "Seventeen  Seconds"  ( from  which  it  was  the  only  single )  to  number  20  in  the  LP  charts.

367 Hello Sheena Easton - Modern Girl

Chart  entered  : 5  April  1980

Chart  peak  : 56   ( 8  on  re-release  later  in  the  year  )

Number  of  hits :  15  

The  proto-Leona  Lewis  doesn't  seem  like  the  nicest  person  to  feature  here  but  you  can  admire  her  for  a  steely  determination  to  forge  a  durable  career  beyond  the  15  minutes  of  fame  that  was  expected.  

Sheena  was  born  in  Belshill  in  1959, the  youngest  in  a  large  family. She  was  inspired  to start  singing  by  Barbra  Streisand  in  The  Way  We  Were. She  won a  scholarship  to  the  Royal  Scottish  Academy  of  Music  and  Drama  where  she  trained  as  a  speech  and  drama teacher  in  the  late  seventies  while  singing  in  a  supper  club  band  called  "Something  Else"  in  the  evenings. She  picked  up  the  surname  Easton  from  a  very  brief  marriage  in  1979.

One  of  her  tutors  at  the  Academy  suggested  she  audition  for  Esther  Rantzen's  The  Big  Time , a  series  which  followed  unknowns  in  various  fields  as  they  strove  to  launch  a  career.   After  she  was  selected,  the  producers  of  the  show  arranged  another  audition  for  EMI  executives  and  they  awarded  her  a  year's  contract. Sheena  was  paraded  in  front  of  Dusty  Springfield  and  Lulu  whose  manager  was  somewhat  doubtful  about  her  prospects.

"Modern  Girl"  was  the  first  song  selected  for  her, written  by  Bugatti  and  Musker  the  songwriting  duo  who'd  written  hits  for  The  Three  Degrees  and  Paul  Nicholas. Christopher Neil  who'd  produced  the  early  Dollar  hits  was  behind  the  mixing  desk. It's  a  third  person  narrative  about  an  eighties  Bridget  Jones  who  goes  to  work  and  has  semi-casual  sexual  relationships  set  to  a  rather  bargain  basement  synth  pop  arrangement. The  naff  air  is  compounded  by  the  line  "She  eats  a  tangerine/ Flicks  through  a  magazine". Food  rhymes  are  always  a  no-no  as  ABC  and  Des'ree  were  later  to reinforce.What  it  does  have  going  for  it  is  an  earworm  melody  and  Sheena's  pleasantly  mellifluous  Scots  voice.

The  single  was  released  before  the  programme  aired  and  got  to  be  Simon  Bates's  Record  of  the  Week  despite a  Tony  Hatch-style  dismissal  by  Roundtable  producer  Mike  Hawkes  : "That's  really  quite  uninteresting. I'd  say  that's  an  extremely  tedious  record ..There's  nothing  there  to  like. You've  got  a  sort  of  fairly  average  singer  here  selling  a  fairly  average  sort  of  song. It's  of  no  interest  to  me  whatsoever". A  very  modest  showing  in  the  charts  seemed  to  prove  him  right  but  when  the  programme  actually  aired  in  the  summer  her  follow-up  "9  To  5"  took  off  in  a  big  way  and  "Modern  Girl"  quickly  followed  it  into the  charts  making  Sheena  the  first  woman  since  Ruby  Murray  to  have  two  singles  in  the  Top  10.

It  was  a  vindication  and  Sheena  is  the  outstanding  success  story  from  all  the  individuals  featured  on  the  programme  ( whither  wrestler  Rip  Rawlinson  ? )   but  in  the  UK  at  least  Sheena  was  never  quite  able  to  escape  these  "inauthentic"  origins.  

366 Hello Saxon - Wheels of Steel

Chart  entered  : 22  March  1980

Chart  peak :  20

Number  of  hits  : 15

I  always  felt  a  bit  sorry  for  this  lot. They  were  the  early  pace-setters  of  the  New  Wave  of  British  Heavy  Metal  and  certainly  had  the  best  songs  - Def  Leppard  and  Iron  Maiden  have  yet  to  write  a  song  as  good  as  "747 ( Strangers  in  the  Night  )" - but  had  to  settle  for  a  distant  bronze  medal.

Saxon  started  out  as  Son  of  a  Bitch"  in  South   Yorkshire  in  1976.  Singer  Peter  "Biff "  Byford, a  binman  by  day  and  guitarists  Graham  Oliver  and  Paul  Quinn  had  all    been  in  a  band  called  Coast  prior  to  that. The  rhythm  section  were  both  from  Sheffield. Drummer  Peter  Gill   had  briefly  been  in  The  Glitter  Band  in  1973  before  they  made  any  records  in  their  own  right.  Bassist  Steve "Dobby" Dawson  had  no  previous  form.

The  band  soon  changed  their  name  to  Saxon , made  an  impression  locally  and  started  getting  support  slots  with  the  likes  of  Motorhead. In  1979  they  became  one  of  the  first  signings  to  the  Carrere  UK  label. Their  eponymous  debut  album  was  released  in  May  that  year. It's  mainly  a  run  of  the  mill  metal  album  influenced  by  Judas  Priest  and  Led  Zep   although  the  odd  proggy  section  and  "Still  Fit  To  Boogie"'s  Sweet  harmonies  hint  at  other  influences. There  were  two  singles  "Big  Teaser "  ( not , I  suspect,  the  original  title )   which  celebrates  laddish  lairiness   and  "Backs  To  The  Wall" a  blustery  , unfocussed  shout  of  defiance. Both  are  routine  headbangers  of  little  interest.

"Wheels  of  Steel"  was  their  third  single,  trailing  an  album  of  the  same  name. AC/DC  appear  to  be  the  main  inspiration  now  with  the  song  hung  on  a  monumental  riff   and  Biff  doing  a  convincing  impersonation  of  Bon  Scott's  vocal  style. The  lyrics  declare  him  to  be  an   anti-social  driver   though  they  seem  a  little  confused  about  which  country  he's  cruising  in  as  the  car's  a  "68  Chevy"  and  he's  getting  harassed  by  the  "motorway  pigs". After  two  minutes  he  shuts  up  and  a  long  if  not  particularly  interesting   guitar  solo   kicks  in  after  which  the  record  runs  out  of  ideas,  lamely  repeating  the  riff  and  title  to  get  up  to  the  four  minute  mark. It  got  them  on  Top  of  the  Pops  and  gave  them  a  head  start  over  their  rivals  but  doesn't  sound  very  impressive  today.

365 Hello UB40 - King / Food For Thought

Chart  entered :  8  March  1980

Chart  peak : 4

Number  of  hits : 49

Yet  another  band  that  Two  Tone  were  courting  although  UB40's   drive  to  be  an  authentic  reggae  band  and  lack  of  interest  in  fashion  mean  they  can't  really  be  counted  as  part  of  the  mod / ska  scene. I've  no  doubt  it  did  give  them  a  bit  of  a  boost  though.

UB40  came  together  in  a  racially  mixed  area  of  Birmingham  in  summer  1978. Its  eight  similarly  aged  members  were  either  unemployed  or  in  dead  end  jobs  at  the  time. Some  of  the  band  had  been  at  school  together; others  were  drawn  in  via  girlfriends  and  work  colleagues. Saxophonist  Brian  Travers  and  bassist  Earl  Falconer  were  flatmates  who  discovered  that  the  building  had  a  cellar  which  could  be  used   as  a  rehearsal  space. The  friends  were  united  by  a  love  of  reggae  and  political  discussion. They  claim  not  to  have  been  proficient  musicians  at  first  but  their  front men,  Ali  and  Robin  Campbell,  who  both  played  guitar  and sang,  came  from  a  musical  family  background. Neither  seemed  particularly  keen  to  acknowledge  that  their  father  Ian  had  enjoyed  a  minor  hit  in  1965  with  his  version  of  The  Times  They Are-A-Changin'.  The  other  members  were  Jim  Brown  ( drums ), Michael  Virtue  ( keyboards ), Terence "Astro" Wilson  ( trumpet / toasting )  and  Norman  Hassan ( trombone / percussion ).

Their  first  gig  was  in  Februrary  1979  in  Birmingham. Word  quickly  spread. By  the  autumn  they  were  playing  gigs  in  London  and  in  December  they  recorded  a  session  for  John  Peel  which  featured  both  these  two  tracks. One  of  their  London  concerts  was  caught  by  Chrissie  Hynde  and  she  invited  them  to  support  The  Pretenders  on  their  UK  tour  at  the  beginning  of  1980. Major  labels  were  now  interested  in  the  band   but  they  preferred  to  go  with  Graduate  Records  , a  local  independent  run  by  a  Dudley  record  shop  owner  David  Virr  apparently  since  1969  though  the  first  single  on  the  label  wasn't  released  until  1979.

UB40  ( named  after  an  unemployment  benefit  form  )  have  become  a  byword  for  musical  disappointment  and  are  currently  mired  in  an  acrimonious  legal  dispute  so  it's  timely  to  revisit  how  good  they  once  were. "King" , which  wasn't  played  on  the  radio,  is  a  spacey , mellow  lament  for  Martin  Luther  King  and  the  death  of  sixties  idealism  with  long  instrumental  passages  for  the  horns  and  Mickey's  little  keyboard  flourishes. "Food  For  Thought"  is  a  snappier  skank  announced  by  blaring  horns   including  Brian's  sax  which  then  hangs  around  as  a  nagging  reminder  on  a  song  questioning  the  validity  of  Christian  missionary  work  in  countries  ravaged  by  famine. Ali's  Jamaican-inflected  nasal  vocal  tone   cuts  through  like  a  cheesewire  on  the  bleak  lyrics. This  was  a   politically  charged  time  when  bands  could  score  big  hits  with  songs  that  challenged  and  provoked.

It  was  the  first  single  on  a  truly  independent  label  to  make  the  Top  5  and  got  to  number  one  in  New  Zealand. UB40's  policy  of  putting  out  double  A-sided  singles  to  give  more  VFM  would  eventually  cost  them  but  this  is  one  of  the  best  debut  singles  of  all  time.  

364 Hello Bad Manners - Ne-Ne Na-Na Na-Na Nu-Nu

Chart  entered  :  1  March  1980

Chart  peak  :  28

Number  of  hits  : 12

Bad  Manners  are  the  last  band  from  the  mod/ska  revival  to  qualify  here  and  by  this  time  the  movement  had  a  half-hearted  ( and  that's  overstating  it  somewhat )  adherent  in   yours  truly.

This  came  about  because  from  around  November  1979  my  best  friend  Steve  got  into  it  in  a  big  way. This  didn't  seem  to  be  a  problem at  first -  I  couldn't  have  cared  less  what  music  he  liked  or  what  clothes  he  wore  -  but  from   that  Christmas  onwards  our  relationship  rapidly  deteriorated. His   interest  in  most  of  the  activities  we'd  enjoyed  together  evaporated  , he  started  cadging  money  and  lying  to  me  and  eventually  became  derisive. I  decided  one  Sunday  afternoon  to  become  a  mod  in  the  hope  that  this  would  shore  things  up. It  didn't  amount  to  much  more  than  wearing  a  tie  and  buying  a  pair  of  two-tone  trousers. I  already  liked  Two-Tone  and  The  Jam ; that  didn't  have  to  be  faked. Steve  expressed  approval  but  it  didn't  change  anything.

What  took  me  so  long  to  realise  was  that  it  wasn't  being  a  mod  that  was  important  to  him,  that  was  just  an  avenue  to  being  cool  and , whatever  I  might  be  wearing  at  the  time  , an  association  with  me  was  never  going  to  help  him  achieve  that. Looking  back  I  think  I  should  credit  him  with  some  qualms  ; the  process  of  dropping  me  took  around  six  months   after  all, but  I  can  honestly  say  that  of  all  the  break-ups  I've  experienced ,  that's  the  one  where  I  was  completely  blameless,  there  was  nothing  else  I  could  have  done  to  save  it.

Towards  the  end  of  April  we  finally  fell  out. I  took  him  to  task  over  flouting  the  "rules"  of  a  little  club  we  and  another  lad  had  going  and  it  was  clearly  the  excuse  he'd  been  waiting  for  to  call  me  a  "boring  square"  and  make  his  exit. When  his  grandmother  ( a  lovely  lady  )  died  a  few  weeks  later  there  was  a  reconciliation  of  sorts  but  nothing  beyond  a  superficial  cordiality  on  either  side. I  don't  think  he  achieved  his  ambition ; to  our  peers  at  school  he  was  a  figure  of  derision, a  bandwagon-jumper ,  and  his  little  gang  had  to  be  formed  from  younger, more  easily  impressed  kids. He  left  school  at  16  and   got  married  early  but  it  didn't  work  out. I  used  to  see  him  in  the  pub  sometimes  in  the  nineties  and  we'd  chat  affably  enough. How  much  of  all  the  above  he'd  recall  I couldn't  say.

With   Steve  gone  my  mod  phase  died  on  the  vine. When  myself  and  two  other  friends   were  press-ganged  into  helping  some  guy  get  his  Vespa  back  on  to  the  path  at  Loughrigg  Terrace  ( where  neither  he  nor  the  other  parka-clad  hordes  should  have  been  )  at  the  end  of  June  that  year  my  identification  with  them  ceased  for  good.

Anyway  back  to  Bad  Manners. They  were  formed  in  1976  at  a  London  comprehensive  called  Woodberry  Down. The  six  members  were  the  larger-than-life  Doug  Trendle   who  took  the  stage  name  "Buster  Bloodvessel"  from  the  Ivor  Cutler  character  in  Magical  Mystery  Tour , Alan  Sayag  aka  Winston  Bazoomies  ( harmonica ) , Paul  Hyman  ( trumpet ) Louis  "Alphonso "  Cook  ( guitar ), Dave  Farren  ( bass )  and  Brian  Tuitt  ( drums ).  They  had  no  name  at  first  then  became  Stand  Back.  As  the  band  left  school  and  played  gigs  in  the  outside  world  they  acquired  three  more  musicians, keyboard  player  Martin  Stewart  and  saxophonists  Andrew  Marson  and  Chris  Kane  , the  latter  the  only  member  who  could  actually  read  music.

The  band  had  a  wide  variety  of  musical  influences  from  twenties  jazz,  and  TV  theme  music  to  the  Bonzo   Dog   Doo  Dah  Band  as  well  as  the  obvious  reggae  and  ska  giants. Doug's  crazed  stage  behaviour  and  size  soon  got  them  noticed  as  they  toured  the  pubs  and  clubs  of  London. There  was  a  large  dose  of  broad  humour  in  their  act  which  may  not  have  served  them  well  in  the  long  term. Two  Tone  were  interested  in  them  but  they  decided  to  go  with  Magnet  instead.

I  remember  reading  an  early  interview  in  Sounds   where  Doug / Buster  boasted  about  eating  28  Big  Macs  in  one  go.  At  the  time  McDonalds  hadn't  penetrated  the  UK  as  far  as  the  North  West  where  Wimpy  still  ruled  so  I  thought  he  was  referring  to  a  Mackintosh's  toffee  bar  and  was  both  unimpressed  and  concerned  for  his  teeth.

"Ne-Ne  Na-Na  Na-Na  Nu-Nu"  was  a  cover  of   an  old  rock  and  roll  tune  by  Dickie  Doo  and  the  Don'ts  in  1958  which  apparently  influenced  Robin  Williams's  Mork  character.  Where  Dickie  did  the  sparse  vocal  interjections  as  a  comic  child,  Buster's  delivery  is  cribbed  from  Dave  and  Ansell  Collins  and  he's  on  the  record  a  lot  more.  Bad  Manners  play  it  much   faster  turning  it  into  a  sax  romp   bringing  inevitable   comparisons  to   Madness. Of  course  playing  a  two  minute  tune  faster  means  you  have  to  add  some  new  ideas  and  they  pad  it  out  with  Martin's   unexpected  cheesy  synth  break, probably  the  only  one  on  any  ska  record   and  then  a  passage  where  the  saxes  start  playing  The  Laughing  Policeman.  It's  a  good  party  record  which  I  enjoyed  at  the  time  but  seems  pretty  ephemeral  now.

363 Hello Iron Maiden - Running Free

Chart  entered :  23  February  1980

Chart  peak : 34

Number  of  hits : 32  ( a  live  version  featuring  a  60%  different  line  up  reached  19  in  1985 )

The  stats  are  impressive  but  if  you  asked  me  which  band  had  been  the  most  consistently  awful  for  the  greatest  number  of  years  I'd  probably  nominate  this  lot.

Iron  Maiden  were  founded  on  Christmas  Day  1975  by  bass player  Steve  Harris . Born  in  Essex  in  1956  Steve  was  a  handy  footballer  in  his  youth  and  apparently  interested  West  Ham  United  but  decided  to  pursue  a  career  in  music  instead.  He  bought  a  bass  in  1971  and  taught  himself  to  play. He  joined  local  bands  including  Smiler  in  February  1974. He  started  writing  material  for  them  but  when  it  was  rejected  as  too  complicated  he  decided  to  form  his  own  band. Steve  himself  was  the  only  member  from  the  original  line  up  who  got  to  the  point  of  making  a  record.

In  1976  the  original  singer  Paul  Day  was  replaced  by  Dennis  Willcock  who  brought  in  his  guitarist  friend  Dave  Murray. Dave was  born  in  1956   in  London. His  family  were  impoverished  and  he  joined  a  skinhead  gang  in  his  early  teens  until  turned  on  to  rock  music  by  hearing  Voodoo  Chile. He  formed  his  first  band  Stone  Free , named  after  a  Hendrix  B-side  in  1973  with  his  friend  Adrian  Smith  who  would  join  Iron  Maiden  himself  in  due  course. They  didn't  last  long  and  Dave  started  answering  ads  in  Melody  Maker.

Dave's  arrival  caused  the  other  two  guitarists  to  quit then  a  few  months  later  he  himself  had  to  leave  after  falling  out  with  Willcock. He  joined  Adrian's  band  Urchin  and  played  on  their  second  and  final  single  "She's  A  Roller"  in  April  1978.  It's  a  reasonable  piece  of  pop  metal  let  down  by  Adrian's  rather  weedy  vocal. Shortly  afterwards  Willcock  quit  Iron  Maiden  and  Dave  was  immediately  reinstated.  The  band  now  needed  a  new  singer  and  drummer  Doug  Sampson  suggested  they  try  out  a  friend  of  his,  Paul  Di'Annio.

Paul  was  born  Paul  Andrews  in  Chingford  , 1959. He  adopted  the  Di'Annio  stage  name  to  claim  Italian  descent. He  had  sung  in  various  local  rock  bands  but  his  snarly  singing  voice  was  more  suited  to  punk  than  metal. He  joined  the  band  in  November  1978. On  New  Year's  Eve  they  recorded  four  songs  in  a  Cambridge  studio  for  use  as  a  demo  tape.  They  presented  it  to  DJ  Neal  Kay  who  ran  a  heavy  metal  club  in  London  called  the  Bandwagon  Soundhouse   and   contributed  to  Sounds  magazine. He  loved  it . So  did  Rod  Smallwood  who  became  their  manager  and  was  soon  talking  to  EMI  about  signing  the  band.

They  decided  to  release  the  tape  as  an  EP  on  their  own  Rock  Hard  label, dropping  one  song  where  they  felt  the  sound  quality  wasn't  up  to  scratch. "The  Soundhouse  Tapes"  showcased  their  punk / metal  meld  of  sound  on  three  misanthropic  songs  - "Prowler"'s  celebration  of  rape  is  particularly  objectionable - played  with  frantic  energy. It  quickly  sold  out   its  5,000  copies  mainly  by  mail  order. The  band  decided  to  leave  it  there  , rewarding  their  first  fans   with  a  collectible  item  now  worth  a  three  figure  sum.  

 Feeling  they  needed  a  second  guitarist  they  approached  Adrian  but  he  decided  to  stay  with  Urchin  for  the  time  being. They  then  turned  to  Dennis  Stratton  ( born  1956 )  who  had  briefly  been  on  the  books  of  West  Ham . He  was  playing  with  Remus  Down  Boulevard  who  had  supported  Status  Quo  but  never  got  a  deal. He  joined  in  October  1979. Just  weeks  later  Sampson  quit  for  the  good  of  his  health  and  was  quickly  replaced  by  Clive  Burr  (born  1957 ) .  Burr  was  a  friend  of  Dennis's  and  had  been  in  NWOBHM  rivals  Samson .

In  December  1979  they  signed  a  major  deal  with  EMI  and  "Running  Free"  became  their  first  single. It  was  written  by  Steve  and  Paul  with  the  latter  writing  the  teen  rebel  lyrics  which  he  snarls  out  like  The  Saints'  Chris  Bailey. Clive  provides  the  introductory  drum  roll  before  Steve  comes  in. Now  I've  no  doubt  Steve  is  a  highly  proficient  player  but  I  hate  that  completely  dry  thudding  tone  he  favours  and  as  it's  omnipresent  on  most  of  their  songs  that's  one  of  the  barriers  to  my  appreciating  their  work. Otherwise  it's  a  reasonably  enjoyable  metal  single  with  Dennis  a  particularly  good  backing  vocalist  with  a  high  tone  that  complements  Paul  well  . There's  not  much  of  a  tune  ( another  perennial  IM weakness )  which  probably  prevented  it  climbing  higher.  Despite  featuring  three  long  gone  members  it  remains  a  band  favourite  that  they  still  perform.

362 Hello Shakin Stevens - Hot Dog

Chart  entered  : 16  February  1980

Chart  peak : 24

Number  of  hits : 38

Shaky  is  the  stone  in  the  shoe  of  eighties  music. Whatever  generalisations  or  theories  you  might  come  up  with  about  the  decade's  pop  he  will  be  the  exception  to  your  rules. Nothing  about  this   chubby, ageing,  Elvis  impersonator  should  have  made  him  so  successful  in  the  decade  of   synths , dance   and  glamour.  His  big  breakthrough  came  at  the  height  of  the  New  Romantics'  chart  assault.  In  the  age  of   Morrissey , Fry, Cope , Gartside  etc  filling  the  pages  of  the  NME  with  their  eloquent  theories  of  pop,  Shaky  had  to  be  chaperoned  in  interviews  by  his  manger  Freya  "Two  Chairs " Miller,  lest  his  dangerous  combination  of  chippiness  and  child-like  ignorance  ( which  partly  explains  why  he  was  so  popular  with  pre-teens )  get  the  better  of  him  as  in  the  disastrous , much-repeated  TV encounter  with  a  young  Richard  Madeley  in  1980. He  was  nowhere  to  be  seen  at  Live  Aid  yet  ended  that  year  at  the  top  of  the  singles  chart  once  more.

Michael  Barratt  was  born  in  Cardiff  in  1948 . He  was  the  last  of  11  children  of  a  former  coal  miner  and  was  younger  than  some  of  his  neices  and  nephews. He  left  school  at  15  and  got  married  at  17  while  working  as  a  milkman. He  started  singing  and  playing  guitar  in  local  bands   while  still  at  school. By  the  mid  1960s  he  was  fronting  his  own  band  The  Denims   while  following  local  heroes  The  Backbeats  who'd  been  playing  rock  and  roll  since  the  late  fifties. In  1969  the  latter  group's  manager  Paul  "Legs"  Barrett  ( no  relation ) offered  to  take  him  on  if  he  ditched  his  current  band  and  came  up  with  an  exciting  new  name. "Shakin  Stevens"  was  apparently  the  nickname  of  a  childhood  friend.

Barrett  lost  no  time  in  merging  his  two  acts  and  the  Backbeats  quickly  morphed  into  Shaky's  new  backing  band  The  Sunsets  and  turned  professional. It  was  to  be  a  long  slog  to  the  top  for  him  with  numerous  false  dawns , starting  with  a  support  slot  on  a  Rolling  Stones  gig  in London  in  December  1969 . The  next  time  they  were  in  London  in  1970  their  wild  stage  act   caught  the  fancy  of  John  Peel  who  financed  a  session  with  a  view  to  them  signing  to  his  Dandelion  label.  The  band  were  not  very  happy  with  the  results  and  Peel  was  then  gazumped  by  Dave  Edmunds  who  knew  most  of  the  band  and  offered  to  record  them  at  Rockfield  and  get  them  a  deal  with  Parlophone.

Edmunds  produced  the  album  "A  Legend"  released  later  that  year   and  caused  some  tension  in  the  band  because  the  drummer  "Rockin' Louis"  had  been  The  Backbeats'  frontman  and  Edmunds, an  old  friend,   recorded  some  tracks  with  him  rather  than  Shaky  doing  the  lead  vocal. The  single  was  "Spirit  of  Woodstock" ,a  song  by  Ernie  Maresca  which  Barrett  somehow  gave  himself  a  co-writing  credit  for  in  which  the  hook  line  strangely  maintains  that  "The  spirit  of  Woodstock  remains  in  America  today"  which  isn't  too  surprising  as  the  festival  had  happened  less  than  a  year  earlier. Musically  it  sounds  exactly  like  one  of  Edmunds'  Rockpile  singles  at  the  other  end  of  the  decade  apart  from  Shaky's  already  recognisable  vocal. Whatever  else  you  think  of  him  Shaky  has  always  had   a  decent  voice.
Neither  the  single  nor  the  album  made  any  impression  despite  some  favourable  reviews  from  those  less  enamoured  with  prog  rock. It  would  be  a  repeating  pattern  over  the  next  few  years. Labels  would  sign  this  band  with  a  great  live  reputation  and  then  be  unable  to  shift  any  units of  their  recorded  product.

The  band's  association  with  Parlophone  ended  abruptly  and  unfairly. One  of  the  tracks  on  the  album  "I  Hear  You  Knocking"  was  re-recorded  by  Edmunds  himself. Parlophone  demurred  at  releasing  it  whereupon  Edmunds  took  it  to  MAM  records  and  enjoyed  a  global  smash. Parlophone  sued  for  breach  of  contract  and,  as  a  sideswipe,  removed  Shaky  and  his  band  from  the  roster. When  the  album  was  reissued  in  the  eighties  following  Shaky's  breakthrough  the  ex-Sunsets  eventually  got  round  to  sue-ing him  and  Edmunds  for  lack  of  royalties  though  there  can't  have  been  that  much  to  go  round  as  it  still  wasn't  a  hit.

The  band  were  still  much  in  demand  for  support  slots  and  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  American  ex-pat  producer  Donny  Marchand  who  got  them  a  contract  with  CBS. He  recorded  a  quick  LP  of  covers   ( including  "Sea  Cruise" and "I'm  Not  A  Juvenile  Delinquent" )  called  "I'm  No  J.D"   and  recommended  it  be  offered  at  a  discounted price. CBS  rejected  his  advice  and  it  duly  bombed. That  was  the  end  of  deal  number  two.

Marchand  then  pulled  out  another  rabbit  from  his  hat, a  chance  to  record  another  album, this  time  for  Polydor. They  recorded  this  one  "Rockin  and  Shakin"  plus  a  single, a  cover  of  Chuck  Berry's  "Sweet  Little  Rock  n  Roller"  in  a  single  day. Not  surprisingly  the  results  were  pretty  rough  and  despite  the  Rock  and  Roll  Revival  of  1972  being  in  full  swing , the  band  failed  to  take  advantage  of  it.

They  sent  most  of   1973  in  Holland  where  a  producer  Cyril  Van  Der  Hemel  promised  them  they  could  make  some  money  on  a  deal  with  his  Pink  Elephant  label  and  in  a  modest  fashion  lived  up  to  his  word. Their  fourth  album  "Shakin  Stevens  and  Sunsets"  was  recorded  over  there. On  the  single " Honey  Honey"  at  least  they  moved  towards  glam  rock  with  a  double  tracked  drum  pattern  straight  from  Gary  Glitter. The  records  were  released  in  the  UK  through  the  Emerald  label  but  did  nothing.

The  band  still  played  gigs  in  the  UK  where  in  1973  they  played  at  the  21st  birthday  bash  for  Kenneth  Tynan's  daughter  at  which, in  one  of  the  more  mind-boggling  cultural  liaisons, Shaky  received  a  sexual  proposition  from  Irish  novelist  Edna  O'Brien  (  as  featured  in  the  chorus  of  Dance  Stance ) . The  married  rocker  politely  declined  the  opportunity  to  become  half  of  the  seventies '  answer  to   Miller  and  Monroe. The  following  year  he  recorded  a  version  of  Ricky  Nelson's  "Lonesome  Town"  in  the  style  of  Glitter's  I  Love  You  Love  Me  Love  which  according  to  some  sources  made  the  Dutch  Top  20.

After  another  unsatisfactory  LP  "Manhattan  Melodrama"  where  the  producer  to  the  band's  horror  , overdubbed  synthesizers  on  to  the  songs they  changed  labels   to  the  tiny  Dynamite  label  and  released  a  back-to-basics  album  "C'mon  Memphis". At  more  or  less  the  same  time  they  released  a  one-off  single  in  the  UK  with  the  Mooncrest  label  , an  acceptable  version  of  Hank  Mizell's  "Jungle  Rock" .  It  flopped  then  the  band  watched  with  disbelief  as  Mizell's  original  went  to  number  3  in  the  UK  charts  just   a  few  weeks  later  in  May  1976.

The  eclipse  of  the   Sunsets  came  a  few  months  later. In  autumn  1976   Danny  Secunda  and  Mike  Shaw  of  Track  Records  caught  their  act  as  support  to  another  band  they  were  checking  out. Secunda  invited  them  to  a  session   and  decided  to  offer  a  contract  but  to  Shaky  only. Mike  Hurst  was  brought  in  to  produce  the  single  "Never"  for  release  in  March  1977. A  Buddy  Holly  pastiche  written  by  Terry  Fell  it  had  a  notably  softer  sound  than  any  Sunsets  recording.

Three  of  the  Sunsets  quit  immediately  but  they  were  replaced  and  the  band  continued  to  play  in  London  in  the  summer  of  1977  , one  of  their  gigs  attracting  a  keen  fan  by  the  name  of  John  Lydon.  In  September  he  released  a  bland  cover  of  Buddy  Knox's  "Somebody  Touched  Me"   as  his  second  solo  single.  It  reached  number  38  in  Australia. He  then  received  the  life-changing  offer  to  play  the  "middle  Elvis"  in  Jack  Good's  forthcoming  Elvis : The  Musical  which  had  just  been  given  an  enormous   fillip  by  the  man's  passing. It  was  agreed  that  Shaky  would  return  to  The  Sunsets  when  the  show  ended  but  that  was  two  years  later  than  anyone  anticipated  and  Shaky  had  better  offers  on  the table.

While  Shaky  rehearsed  Track  squeezed  out  the  album "Shakin  Stevens"  before  the  bailiffs  moved  in. The  single  "Justine",  a  cover  of  an  Adrian  Lloyd  song,  is  probably  the  closest  Shaky's  ever  got  to  the  true  spirit  of  rock  and  roll  , with  an  uncharacteristically  ragged  vocal  and  a  wild  Jerry  Lee  piano  break. With  Track  going  belly  up  early  in  1978  Muff  Winwood  moved  in  to  sign  him  up  to  Epic.

His  first  single  for  them  was  the  atypical  country  rock  cover  of  Roy  Head's  "Treat  Her  Right"  in  August  1978  which  Shaky  performs  in  a  semi-spoken  drawl. It's  an  odd  item  on  his  cv.  1979  saw  covers  of   "Endless  Sleep"  ( notable  for  a  lengthy  instrumental  break  arranged  by  Colin  Fletcher  )  and  "Spooky"  which  has  a  funk  bass  line.  With  Shaky  unable  to  effectively  promote  them  due  to  his  theatrical  commitments  they  failed  to  chart. It  was  around  this  time  that  I  first  heard  of  him  through  a  small  feature  in  one  of  my  sister's  Jackie  magazines  (  the  same  goes  for  another  act  we'll  be  discussing  soon ).

With  the  musical  finishing  its  run  by  the  end  of  1979  there  was  a  big  push  on  Shaky's  next  single .  Winwood  brought  in  Stuart  Colman, a  broadcaster  and  rock  and  roll  enthusiast  to  assemble  a  crack  band  for  his  next  recording  session.  Colman  was  the  bassist  in  the  band  though  the  next  few  records  still  bore  a  Mike Hurst  production  credit  he  was  doing  most  of  the  work  there  too.

"Hot  Dog"  was  a  cover  of  a  very  early  rockabilly  single  by  US  country  singer  Buck  Owens  then  trading  under  the  name  Corky  Jones. It  had  never  been  a  hit  before.  Shaky  does  his  best  Elvis  impersonation  on  this  tale  of  proletarian  love  and  sex but  the  best  bits  of  the  record  are  when  he's  not  singing  and  you  can  enjoy  the  guitar  work  of  Albert  Lee  and  pedal  steel  guitar  specialist  B J  Cole  on  the  extended  instrumental  break. The  tip-tap  rhythm  keeps  it  nice  and  brisk. It  didn't  float  my  boat  back   then  and  doesn't  really  now   but  compared  to  what  was  to  follow  it's  more  than  acceptable.
 

361 Hello Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Red Frame White Light

Chart  entered  : 9  February  1980

Chart  peak : 67

Number  of  hits : 29

When  the  decade  opened  I'd  probably  have  given  Squeeze  as  the  answer  to  "Who's  your  favourite  group ?"  but  by  the  end  of  1980  it  was  these  guys.

Andy  McCluskey  ( born  1959 )  and  Paul  Humphreys  ( born  1960 ) met  at  primary  school  in  the  village  of  Meols  on  the  Wirral. They  became  involved  in  music  as  teenagers  but  the  first  serious  band  was  called  Equinox  around  1975   in  which  Andy  sang  and  Paul  was  roadie. The  group  also  included  another  schoolfriend  Malcolm  Holmes  (  born  1960 ) on  drums.  Around  this  time  Kraftwerk  became  popular  and  both  Andy  and  Paul  became  big  fans  of  electronic  music. They  then  had  a  brief  spell  as  the  regrettably-named  Hitlerz  Underpantz  before  putting  together  the  more  serious-minded  The  Id  with  Malcolm  and  Andy's  girlfriend  Julia  amongst  the  other  members.

The  Id  built  up  something  of  a  reputation  in  Merseyside  and  got  a  song  on  a  compilation  LP  Street  To  Street.  A  number  of  their  songs  were  subsequently  re-worked  and  released  as  OMD  numbers. At  the  same  time  Andy  and  Paul  were  working  together  on  a  side  project  exploring  electronic  sounds  and  the  tension  this  caused  led  to  The  Id  splitting  in  August  1978. Andy  very  briefly  joined  another  Wirral  band,  Dalek  I  Love  You   before  hooking  up  with  Paul  again  as  Orchestral  Manoeuvres  in  the  Dark, a  name  chosen  with  the  intention  of  being  as  un-punk  as  possible.   

They  began  playing  gigs  as  a  duo  in  the  autumn  of  1978  with  a  4  track  tape  recorder  christened  "Winston"  providing  the  beats  and  other  backing  tracks. Their  first  gig  was  at  Liverpool's  legendary  "Eric's "  venue  supporting  Joy  Division. This  inspired  Andy  to  send  a  demo  of  a  song  called  "Electricity"  to  Tony  Wilson  and  apparently  prompted  by  his  wife  he  offered  them  a  one-off  deal  with  Factory.

"Electricity"  is  probably  the  best  known  Factory  release  not  involving  Joy  Division / New  Order  or  Happy  Mondays.  Inspired  by  Kraftwerk's  Radioactivity  , it's  a  typically  earnest  plea  about  the  wastage  of  fossil  fuels  with  the  guys  sharing  the  lead  vocal  and  showcased  their  structural  preference  for  a  melodic  instrumental  chorus  played  on  the  synth, in  this  case  sounding  like  a  xylophone. A  drum  machine  provides  the  rather  brutalist  beckbeat  but  Andy  plays  the  descending  bass  line  on  a  conventional  bass  line. Martin  Hannett  produced  a  version  but  the  band  were  successful  in  persuading  Factory  to  use  their  preferred  self-produced  version  instead. Peter  Saville  designed  the  sleeve. The  single  was  released  in  May  1979  ( as  FAC6 )  and  wasn't  a  hit  but  got  enough  attention  to  attract  a  lucrative  deal  from  Virgin  offshoot  Dindisc  in  September  1979. Upon  signing  the  band,  Dindisc  re-issued  the  single  but  used  the  Hannett  version. The  band  were  also  hired  as  support  act  for  Gary  Numan's  tour  that  autumn which  raised  their  profile.

The  duo  spent  their  advance  on  building  their own  studio  above  a  shop  in  Liverpool , just  around  the  corner  from  Eric's. "Red  Frame  White  Light"  was  recorded  there  in  the  autumn  of  1979. It  celebrates  the  public  telephone  box  from  which  Andy  used  to  book  their  gigs  and  there's  something  wonderfully ironic  that  this  most  determinedly  futuristic  band  should  have  their  first  hit  celebrating  a  now  completely  obsolete  machine.

While  acknowledging  Numan's  friendliness  and  support  on  the  tour  Andy  said  they  were  not  great  fans  of  his  music. Nevertheless  there  are  traces  of  his  influence  in  the  minimalist  lyric  half  of  which  is  a  robotic  chant  of  the  title  and  the  brisk  switches  between  major  and  minor  key  sections  do  bear  some  similarity  to  Are  "Friends"  Electric .  Though  it   contains  two  of  their  catchy  keyboard  riffs  it's  not  their  best  song   as  it  doesn't  go  anywhere   and  tends  to  get  missed  off  their  compilations. It  ends  inconclusively  but  with  conceptual  correctness  on  a  mock  engaged  tone.

360 Hello Dexy's Midnight Runners - Dance Stance

Chart  entered : 19  January  1980

Chart  peak : 40

Number  of  hits : 10

We  now  come  to  another  very  colourful  character  though  he  never  achieved  the  same  world  standing  as  Prince; in  the  States,  Dexy's  remain  the  archetypal  one  hit  wonders.

Kevin  Rowland  was  born  in  Birmingham  in  1953  to  Irish  parents . He  was  something  of  a  juvenile  delinquent  before  his  brother  let  him  into  his  covers  band  New  Blood  if  he'd  learn  the  guitar .  He  also  trained  as  a  hairdersser. Kevin  left  around  1975  to  form  the  Roxy-influenced  Lucy  &  the  Lovers. With the  coming  of  punk  they  morphed  into  The  Killjoys  and  moved  to  London. With  two  girls  in  the  band, ( one  of  whom , bass  player  Gil  Weston  would  eventually  have  a  handful  of  hits  herself  in  Girlschool )  they  stood  out   visually  if  not  musically  and  in  the  autumn  of  1977  released  their  only  single  "Johnny  Won't  Get  To  Heaven"  a  noisy  tribute  to  Mr  Rotten. With  its  expletives  , yobby  vocals  and  basic  ( that's  putting  it  kindly ) instrumentation  I'd  have  guessed  The  Exploited  if  I'd  heard  it  blind. The  Killjoys  had  frequent  line  up  changes  due  to  Kevin's  dictatorial  tendencies . When  guitarist   Kevin  Archer   ( born  1958 ) joined  the  band  in  1978  he  had  to  change  his  name  to  Al  because  there  could  only  be  one  Kevin. The  band  broke  up   shortly  afterwards  when  Kevin  unilaterally  rejected  a  £20,000  advance  from  Bronze  because  they  only  wanted  singles.    

"Al"  was  the  only  member  who  wanted  to  stick  with  him  and  found a  new  band  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners. Kevin  had  had  enough  of  punk, was  listening  to  soul  and  named  the  band  as  a  tribute  to  the  all-night  dancers  at  Northern  Soul  venues  ( Dexy = the  drug  Dexedrine ). They  set  about  recruiting  new  members.   Al  brought  in  Pete  Williams,  the  bassist   from  his  previous  pub  band  The  Negatives.  Pete  Saunders  ( born  1960  )  the  keyboard  player  joined  through  an  ad  in  the  Birmingham  Evening  Mail. He  was  London-born  and  previously  played  in  a  band  called  Pub  Theatre. A  drummer  John  Jay  came  from  the same  source. The  brass  section  took  longer  to  recruit.  Geoff  Blythe  , one  of  the  saxophonists  had  been  in  Geno  Washington's  Ram  Jam  Band. The  other  , eighteen  year  old  Steve  Spooner   was  from  a  youth  wind  orchestra  .  Trumpeter  Geoff  Kent   came  from  the  BBC  Midlands  Orchestra  Trombonist  "Big "  Jim  Paterson   was  recruited  from  a  Melody  Maker  ad  in  October  1978.   This  was  the  line-up  that  played  the  first  gigs  as  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners  in  November.

In  July  1979  they  signed  a  management  deal  with  Bernie  Rhodes. He  supplied  them  with  a  new  drummer  Bobby  Ward  from   idiosyncratic  punkers  Subway  Sect  when  Jay  left. Bobby  had  played  on  the  singles  "Nobody's  Scared"  and  "Ambition"  but  was  a  victim  of  the  mass  sacking  by  singer  Vic  Goddard  which  scuppered  the  band.

Kent  left  soon  afterwards  and  Kevin  elected  not  to  replace  him. The  band  were  now  being  courted  by   2  Tone. Although  they  accepted  a  place  on  the  2  Tone  tour  in  the  autumn  alongside  The  Selecter  and  The  Specials  they  largely kept  to  themselves. Kevin  was  now very  wary  of  being  associated  with  any  sort  of   movement  and  decided  to  sign  for  Rhodes's  Oddball  label  instead.

"Dance  Stance"  was  originally   called "Burn  It  Down"  and  is  a  fierce  attack  on  anti-Irish  prejudice  with  the  chorus  a  chanted  list  of  great  Irish  writers. Kevin  later  admitted  he  hadn't  read  them  all  at  the  time.  Like  many  of  their  songs  it  drops  the  listener  into  a  conversation  with  Kevin  trying  to  persuade  some  bigot  of  his  point.

It's  my  favourite  Dexys  song  and  thirty-five  years  on  I'm  still  somewhat  baffled  that  the  British  public  preferred  its  follow-up  to  so  great  a  degree. It's  the  horns  that  make  it , one  moment  blaring  defiance  , the  next  buttressing  Kevin's  challenges  in  the  verses  , then  playing  an  ineffably  sad  melody  in  the  corking  middle  eight. Also  worthy  of  mention  are  Pete  W's  fat  bassline  which  gives  the  song  its  dynamics  and  Pete  S's  brooding  Hammond. Kevin  hasn't  quite  got  the  full  on  General  Johnson  impersonation  worked  out  yet but  its  coming  on.

Rhodes  persuaded  Kevin  that  EMI  who  bankrolled  Oddball  didn't  like  the  incendiary  title  and suggested  "Dance  Stance"  instead. Kevin  went  with  that  but  when  he  heard  the  finished  product  he  realised  that  Rhodes  had  interfered  with  the  sound  as  well  and  the  relationship  ended  there  and  then. The  track  was  re-recorded  and  the  original  title  restored  on  their  debut  LP.

359 Hello Prince - I Wanna Be Your Lover

Chart  entered  :  19  January  1980

Chart  peak :  41

Number  of  hits : 49

And  so  the  time  came. The  seventies  were  over. With  them left  a  sweetness, a gentleness. No  longer  could  modern  citizens  pretend to  be naive. We  were  now  jaded; the  world  was  spinning more  quickly.    ( Douglas  Coupland  Girlfriend  In  A  Coma ).

Coupland's  words  can  easily  be  dismissed  as  mere  nostalgia  for  his  childhood  ( he's  three  years  older  than  me )  but  for  what  its  worth  I  agree  with  him  and  the  eighties  would  be  a  difficult  decade  for  me.  On  the  other  hand  writing  about  it  will  be  easier  because  less  research  will  be  involved . I  was  buying  a  weekly  music  paper  for  most  of  it  and  Steve  Burdin  of  Northern  Pop  Quizzes  calls  me  "the  top  eighties  man  in  the  country".  I  suspect  that's  probably  not  true  but  it's  certainly  the  decade  where  I  was  most  engaged  with  music. That  doesn't  mean  I  think  it  was  the  best. 1980  was  another  fantastic  year  in  pop; 1989  by  contrast  was  absolutely  dire  and  when  I  came  round  to  listing  my  personal   Top  40  singles   that  year  I  was  really  struggling  to  fill  it.

I  won't  claim  to  be  a  massive  fan  of  this  guy  but  he  occasionally  puts  out  something  I  can  get  into  and  certainly  the  world  of   pop  would  be  a  greyer  place  without  his  presence.

Prince  Roger  Nelson  was  born  in  Minneapolis  in  1958. His  parents  were  both  jazz  musicians  and  split  up  when  he  was  10. He  mastered  the  piano  and  guitar  early  and  formed  a  band  at  school. In  1975  he  and  schoolfriend  Andre  Cymone  were  drafted  into  the  band  94  East  led  by  his  cousin's  husband  Pepe  Willie. The  band  never  got  a  deal  but  did  lay  down  some  tracks  which  were  first  released  in  the  mid-eighties.

In  1976  Prince  recorded  a  demo  tape  of  his  own  which  attracted  the  attention  of  a  Minneapolis  entrepreneur Owen  Husney. Husney  signed  him  to  a  management  contract  and  got  him  a  deal  with  Warner  Brothers. The  duo  then  left  for  California  to  record  his  debut  album  "For  You"  on  which  he  played  every  instrument. It  was  released  in  April  1978. Prince  is  famously  protective  of  his  back  catalogue  as  regards  YouTube  and  Spotify  so  I'm  only  familiar  with the  two  singles.  As  the  title  would  suggest  "Soft  And  Wet"  is  rather  saucy - "I  got  a  sugarcane  that  I  wanna  lose  in  you " for  example  - and  combines  his  influences  - Sly  and  the  Family  Stone, Parliament  and  Sylvester- with  a  robotic  electro-funk  years  ahead  of  its  time. There's  not  much  melody  in  it  but  it  still  reached  number  92  in  the  States. "Just  As  Long  As  We're  Together"  is  a  more  conventional  contemporary  disco  track    with  anodyne  lyrics  though  there's  a  lot  going  on  in  the  mix. It  wasn't  a  hit  and  nor  was  the  album.

Prince  was  anxious  to  press  on  with  his  next  record  and  "I  Wanna  Be  Your  Lover"  came  out  in  the  US  in  August  1979. It  was  a  big  hit  in  the  US  reaching  number  11  and  became  his  first  UK  release. Prince  originally  intended  it  go  to  disco  singer  Patrice  Rushenbut  changed  his  mind  and  recorded  it  himself.  It's  a  pop  funk  number  with  straightforward  lyrics  which  Prince  sings  in  a  Sylvester  falsetto. The  hook  is  a  naggingly  catchy  keyboard  riff  that  runs  right  through  the  song.  I  never  heard  it  at  the  time  but  it  holds  up  well  enough.

The  single  had  a  very  odd  chart  career  in  the UK.  After  seemingly  little  airplay  it  came  straight  in  at  number  44  , which  was  then  unusually  high  for  an  artist's  debut  single. It  then  crawled  up  to  41  ,then  down  to  51  and  disappeared. He  booked  some  shows  in  London  which  had  to  be  cancelled  due  to  poor  ticket  sales.  Not  long  after  this  there  was  a  big  expose  on  chart  hyping  and  it  makes  you  wonder  if  those   positions  were  artificially  achieved. He  wouldn't  have  another  hit  here  for  three  years.

358 Hello The Beat - Tears Of A Clown / Ranking Full Stop

Chart  entered  : 8  December  1979

Chart  peak : 6

Number  of  hits : 13

We  bid  adieu  to  the  seventies  with  another  debut  on  Two-Tone  and  a  cover  of  one  of  the  decade's  most  celebrated  chart-toppers.

The  Beat  actually  formed  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  in  1978  when  Dave  Wakeling ( born  1956 )  and  Andy  Cox  ( born  1956 )  two  exiled  Brummies,  found  themselves  working  together  fitting  solar  panels. On  returning  to  their  home  city  they  got  a  band  together  called  The  Beat. They  supported  a  band  called  The  Dum  Dum  Boys  whose  drummer , "Ranking"  Roger  Charlery  ( born 1961 ) dug  them  enough  to  start  following  them  around  and  getting  on  stage  to  "toast"  in  accompaniment. He  soon  asked  to  join  and  was  accepted. Around  the  same  time  they  acquired  a  new  bass  player  Dave  Steele  ( born  1960 )  who  was  working  as  a  nurse. When  the  band  needed  a  new  drummer  one  of  his  colleagues  put  them  on  to  Everett  Morton  ( born  1951 )  a  West  Indian  who  helped  them  master  reggae.

As  they  built  a  reputation  the  chance  to  make  a  record  with  Two-Tone  came  up .Jerry  Dammers  wanted  to  put  out  "Mirror  in  The  Bathroom", unsurprisingly  since  it's  by  far  their  best  song. However  the  band  balked  at  giving  Chrysalis  exclusive  rights  to  the  song  for  five  years  and    that's  why  they  settled  on  their  lively  cover  of  Smokey  Robinson's  "Tears  Of  A  Clown"  which  was  one  of  the  highlights  of  their  set. They  decided  they  needed  some  brass  to  fill  out  the  sound  and  Everett  suggested  a  Jamaican  sax  player  he  knew,   Lionel  "Saxa" Martin  ( born  1930 ) . Saxa  had  played  with  all  their  heroes,  Prince  Buster, Laurel  Aitken , Desmond  Dekker,  but  he  accepted  the  gig.  At  49  he  made  Andy  Summers  look  like  a  spring  chicken.

The  band  originally  started  playing  the  song  in  rehearsal  to  try  and  knit  their  disparate  influences , punk  ( Dave  S ) , reggae ( Everett ) and  pop  ( Dave  W )  into  a  coherent  sound  of  their  own.  It  was  then  used  to  fill  up  the  set  and  became  a  sort  of  unifying  anthem  that  both  punk  and  reggae  fans  appreciated. I  hadn't  heard  the  original  when  it  was  released  and  took  it  on  its  own  merits  as  an  exciting  pop  record  with  Andy's  jangly  guitars, Dave  S's  superfast  bass  and  the  expert  sax  fills  all  meshing  around  Everett's  rock  solid  drumming  to  great  effect. Dave's  distinctive, slightly  wooden  voice  copes  well  with  singing  Robinson's   opera-referencing  lyric  at  speed  and  Roger  chips  in  with  his  ad  libs  at  the  end.

Roger  got  more  action  on  the  flip  side  "Ranking  Full  Stop",  nominally  a  double  A-side  but  TV  and  radio  ignored  it  ( perhaps  for  fear  that  someone  with  a  Roy  Jenkins  speech  defect  might  have  to   introduce  it )  and  I  didn't  hear  it  until  I  bought  the  single.  Roger  wrote   the  lyric  which  is  really  just  an  exhortation  to  dance  and  he  does  the  lead  vocal  over  the  frenetic  ska-punk  backing  that  became  their  trademark. It  probably  works  better  live  or  in  a  club  than  on  my  turntable  but  it  still  sounds  like  fun.