Legends of Eighties Pop
By Amanda Hallay
I am confining this to artists who were only legendary in the Eighties. It does not include acts that have hits in the Seventies (Blondie, David Bowie, The Police), nor does it include stars that shone on past the Eighties (and past their prime.) So sorry, Michael Jackson, U2, Phil Collins and Madonna - you've stayed with us too long to be included in this article. (And in the case of Phil Collins - you've just stayed with us too long.)
CULTURE CLUB
Boy George had 'The Look;’ make-up, dreds, hat-worn-on-back-of-his-head and lots of floppy layers turned girlie George O'Donnel into the Eighties fashion icon. Culture Club had lots of happy sounding hits (even their sad songs sounded merry), and Boy George holds the distinction of coming up with the phrase 'Gender Bender' (or at least he says he came up with it.)
Download Suggestions: Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?, Karma Chameleon.
DURAN DURAN
"Who are those guys with their jacket sleeves pulled up, the blow dried hair and all those scarves tied 'round their heads and thighs?’ It must be Duran Duran! Simon Le Bon (nicknamed 'Simon Le Bon-Bon' on account of his little weight problem) fronted this fashionable five-some from Birmingham, their grinding bass guitars and heavy synthesisers the quintessential ‘80s sound. Scarf, anyone?
Download Suggestions: Planet Earth, Girls on Film, Hungry Like the Wolf, Rio.
CYNDI LAUPER
‘Woke up in the middle of the night, my FA-ther says ‘when you gonna live your life right?’ We all know the song – and we all know that Cyndi Lauper just wanted to have fun. And with her rah-rah skirts, ‘Crazy Color’ hair and mental make-up, she certainly looked as if she was having some. Sadly, the public could never quite decide if Cyndi Lauper was a ‘diva’ or a ‘comedy act,’ her star fading fast on the tale of her one, massive hit. What a pity; Cyndi really was a lot of fun.
Download Suggestions: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
ADAM AND THE ANTS
My personal Eighties favourites, Adam and The Ants brought highway robbery, swashbuckling and various other forms of pirate skulduggery into the charts in 'the dodgy decade.' Tri-cornered hats notwithstanding, Adam and the Ants had a cooking rhythm section, and their 17th century 'take' on pop was truly refreshing and utterly original.
Download Suggestions:
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
‘Frankie Says Relax’ – so read the front of hundreds of T-shirts in Eighties England, the huge hit of Liverpool band Frankie Goes to Hollywood becoming something of a catchphrase to a generation in need of one! Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a strange mix; fronted by the camp and glamorous Holly Johnson (a boy), the rest of the band comprised of rough looking ‘scallies’ with the curly hair and tracksuits synonymous with Liverpool scum. All very strange. Frankie Goes to Hollywood had a couple of really great songs, and then disappeared. Holly, however, has continued recording, refusing to let the HIV which so ‘rudely interrupted his life’ in the early ‘90s get the better of him.
Download Suggestions: Relax, The Power of Love.
THE HUMAN LEAGUE
‘DON’T – don’t you WANT me?’ So sang Phil Oakey, lead singer of The Human League, a band we really did want in the Early ‘80s, their seminal album, Dare, the template for all synthesiser/drum machine acts to follow. The Human League had something for everyone; a sexy lead singer, a couple of girls with geometric hair cuts and a ‘rough lad’ on synth’, the band’s glamorous image belying the fact that they hailed from Birmingham and all used to work in a chip shop. ‘That much is true!’
Download Suggestions: Don’t You Want Me, The Sound of the Crowd – and any of the ‘Dare’ L.P. It really is quite good.
DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
Oh my GOD. How ‘80s can we get? Baggy dungarees and Doc Martins were absolutely de riguer chez Dexy, the ‘unisex’ nature of the band indisputable proof that Women’s Lib was starting to pay off. Dexy’s Midnight Runners only had one hit – but it was massive, the incomprehensible (and oft misheard/mis-sung) lyric a mystery as timeless as the Dead Sea Scrolls. We in pubs spent about three hours trying to decipher what this guy is saying, when Caitlyn had the genius idea of looking up the lyrics to Come on Eileen on the Internet! Yup! After twenty years of mystery – the code has been cracked! Oh, aren’t we ‘much too young and clever!’
Download Suggestion: Come On Eileen.
TEARS FOR FEARS
Oh, Jesus Christ, this band was shite! Two chubby guys with absolutely enormous teeth fronted this appalling band, their international hits (yes, I said ‘international,’ which means you’re all to blame) so horribly ‘Eighties’ that I’m forced to say they’re somewhat ‘quintessential;’ love ‘em or hate ‘em, these guys personified the very worst of ‘80s pop.
Download Suggestion: Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
NEW ORDER
New Order were once Joy Division, but their metamorphosis from depressing, suicide-advocating underground band into depressing, suicide-advocating popular band didn't make them any more cheerful. I think many of New Order did end up committing suicide, actually. All very…depressing, really.
Download Suggestion: I don’t have one; I was already depressed enough in the ‘80s without involving myself with New Order.
BOW WOW WOW
Impresario Malcolm McLaren (of Sex Pistol’s fame) welcomed in the ‘80s with his weird new band, Bow Wow Wow, fronted by fourteen year old ‘sex pot’ Anabella Lewin. Anabella had a Mowhawk hair-do, Vivienne Westwood wardrobe and a genuinely ‘nifty’ way with a song. Far from being ‘gimmicky,’ Bow Wow Wow was comprised of genuinely gifted and original musicians, their ‘country and western-meets-Apache-meets Baroque’ blend of native rythms and ‘Duane Eddy guitar’ as bizarre as it is compelling. I genuinely suggest you download – you won’t have heard anything like it!
Download Suggestions: Wild in the Country – C30,C60,C90,Go! – Louis Quatorze.
AH-HA
These three lads from Northern climes (weren’t they Finnish or something?) encouraged us to ‘take them on,’ their 1986 video still a favourite on MTV (it’s the one where the cartoon comes to life and Morten Harkett (or something) pulls the girl into the comic book with him) Proof that you don’t have to be English to know how to rock (but that it certainly helps), Ah-ha didn’t mean any harm, and we admire any band who have the confidence to wear red trousers on Top of the Pops and don’t seem to mind when people laugh at them.
Download Suggestions: Take On Me, The Sun Always Shines on T.V.
THE GO-GOS, THE BANGLES and BANANARAMA
I'm lumping all three together as I could never tell them apart. 'Girl Power' avant la lettre, these all-female groups offered up sugary pop in copious quantities, the 'gimmicky' nature of a 'girls only' band seemingly compensating for talent/charisma/ability to carry a tune.
Download Suggestions: Sorry. Can’t help you there. I was ‘cool’ in the Eighties and liked The Pretenders.
