Electronic music however was going from strength to strength. Gary Numan's second album came out towards the end of 1980 - I asked for this as a xmas present - the latest Gary numan became a regular pressie from my Aunt and Uncle, Ann and Alan.
I discovered the human League in 1980 too - Holiday '80 - they covered the Gary Glitter song Rock n Roll - I saw them on TOTP and they pressed all my buttons - this was the original line up. Then I read they'd split...thought it was all over for the League. Ah! How little I knew.
I was also listening to john Peel most nights - had perfected my taping from the radio technique - had a cassette-radio thing by now and made up tapes of my fave stuff with mostly chart stuff still, interspersed with increasing amounts of weird stuff that John Peel played.
A Bunch of Flids 1981
Not so politically correct, but we thought the name was an amusing parody of band names based largely on A Flock of Seagulls and when we asked for ideas for names - we had decided to form a band - this was one of the suggestions we got.
1981 - the year AFOS emerged though they'd formed two years earlier. I heard them on the David "Kid" Jensen programme on radio One and loved it - Modern Love Is automatic - on first hearing. The slow start - the build up and the production on it - great!
Then album tracks started to get played and I bought the album. Not a duff track on it. Eventually I ran got them into the charts and Wishing was their first big hit in the UK and broke them in the US. That's the last time I took any interest in them - and was unaware until researching this entry that they continued making albums into the 1990s. I thought they may have made one or two more at most. But that was what I was like then - onyl really interested in music I could with some justification call my own - wasn;t interested in what other people listened to.
In 1981 [3rd/4th year at SHS; aged 14] the pressure wasn't quite up to max to get good grades - though nearly with mocks coming up. For 3 years now I'd seen the bigger boys locked into class rooms - signs outside notifying all that such and such GCE O Level was being taken int hat room so shut the fuck up! It was getting worryingly close now.
We hung around in gangs - in the first year not so much. I guess I knew Stephen Grant already, and Andy Willis - though not well. Andy was in a different class to me - he'd hooked up with a group of lads - Colin, Bill, Carl, Paul, etc. - and I joined in with that lot, though I can;t remember how.
Early on though I tried to make friends in my own class - simon H and David W were quite early, chris Mann was very strage. David Gadd - knew him too from Salisbury Rd. Darren Beecroft, --- Morcambe, and Jon Wise, and stepehen Northey. Wasn;t into music much in the first year. Andrew Bush. He was really well off - or his parents were. His mum actually gave him his child benefit to spend as pocket money. We hung around together for quite a while - well into the second year when we were allowed to walk into the city centre. Arcadia - smelly rubbers. Records. Virgin, HMV, Boots, WH Smith, even Debenhams sold records in the basement and had an extensive bargain bin - bought Who's It's Hard, the one before that, and Numan's Living Ornaments 79 and 80 [released 1981] in there.
1981 my parents took me on holiday to Andorra with my aunt. Got the pics in a box and will post them asap.
I remember particularly having fantasies about chucking certain books into the sea from the ferry - the subjects I was about to drop - Geography, History, RE, English Lit, etc. But I didn;t though I did something with the books - burned or dumped in the bin.
Annoyed Simon and Dave going on about the holiday - it was just a week or so after we broke up from school for the summer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/29/newsid_2494000/2494949.stm <--- this went on while we were in Andorra
1981 - the year AFOS emerged though they'd formed two years earlier. I heard them on the David "Kid" Jensen programme on radio One and loved it - Modern Love Is automatic - on first hearing. The slow start - the build up and the production on it - great!
Then album tracks started to get played and I bought the album. Not a duff track on it. Eventually I ran got them into the charts and Wishing was their first big hit in the UK and broke them in the US. That's the last time I took any interest in them - and was unaware until researching this entry that they continued making albums into the 1990s. I thought they may have made one or two more at most. But that was what I was like then - onyl really interested in music I could with some justification call my own - wasn;t interested in what other people listened to.
In 1981 [3rd/4th year at SHS; aged 14] the pressure wasn't quite up to max to get good grades - though nearly with mocks coming up. For 3 years now I'd seen the bigger boys locked into class rooms - signs outside notifying all that such and such GCE O Level was being taken int hat room so shut the fuck up! It was getting worryingly close now.
We hung around in gangs - in the first year not so much. I guess I knew Stephen Grant already, and Andy Willis - though not well. Andy was in a different class to me - he'd hooked up with a group of lads - Colin, Bill, Carl, Paul, etc. - and I joined in with that lot, though I can;t remember how.
Early on though I tried to make friends in my own class - simon H and David W were quite early, chris Mann was very strage. David Gadd - knew him too from Salisbury Rd. Darren Beecroft, --- Morcambe, and Jon Wise, and stepehen Northey. Wasn;t into music much in the first year. Andrew Bush. He was really well off - or his parents were. His mum actually gave him his child benefit to spend as pocket money. We hung around together for quite a while - well into the second year when we were allowed to walk into the city centre. Arcadia - smelly rubbers. Records. Virgin, HMV, Boots, WH Smith, even Debenhams sold records in the basement and had an extensive bargain bin - bought Who's It's Hard, the one before that, and Numan's Living Ornaments 79 and 80 [released 1981] in there.
1981 my parents took me on holiday to Andorra with my aunt. Got the pics in a box and will post them asap.
I remember particularly having fantasies about chucking certain books into the sea from the ferry - the subjects I was about to drop - Geography, History, RE, English Lit, etc. But I didn;t though I did something with the books - burned or dumped in the bin.
Annoyed Simon and Dave going on about the holiday - it was just a week or so after we broke up from school for the summer.
1981 -
I came back from Andorra with a real need to buy records. the bug had bitten deep by now. None of the tapes I bought in Andorra played very well - some better than others. At that point I clearly liked Kraftwerk a lot and Bowie's Scary Monsters. Tried to buy SM(&SC) again hen i got back to school but the copy I bought from anohter kid looked like it had been scoured with a brillo pad. I don;t think I even tried to play it. I got my money back pretty much right away.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/29/newsid_2494000/2494949.stm <--- this went on while we were in Andorra
1980 - started becoming a bit of a Bowie fan for first time - a run of great singles. Loved Dexys. 13/05/1980
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Into 1980 mum bought me the first album by the Beat (from a shop called Arcadia) and the first two Blondie albums from her catalogue.I'm not even sure where I got money from - but occasionally I bought records...maybe the money was a gift.During 1980 I was torn between two tribes...that of Two tone - the Mods. Madness and the Specials had had hits in 79 - Bad Manners and Selecter too, and my favourite, the Beat....and on the other hand the new area of electronic music - Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, tubeway Army, OMD, Kraftwerk. I was torn for a while - caused problems among my friends - this was not a done thing - I should choose. in the end I chose electronic music as it looked like the ska revival was nearing it's end. Only three bands kept going with any credibility...then the Specials split in 1981, Madness became annoying and The Beat made a fairly crappy third album.Electronic music however was going from strength to strength. Gary Numan's second album came out towards the end of 1980 - I asked for this as a xmas present - the latest Gary numan became a regular pressie from my Aunt and Uncle, Ann and Alan.I discovered the human League in 1980 too - Holiday '80 - they covered the Gary Glitter song Rock n Roll - I saw them on TOTP and they pressed all my buttons - this was the original line up. Then I read they'd split...thought it was all over for the League. Ah! How little I knew.I was also listening to john Peel most nights - had perfected my taping from the radio technique - had a cassette-radio thing by now and made up tapes of my fave stuff with mostly chart stuff still, interspersed with increasing amounts of weird stuff that John Peel played.
No comments:
Post a Comment