The Finn brothers have been touring Australia. So I’m currently listening to Split Enz’ excellent Moving Pictures (now playing – ‘Poor Boy’…). Being a teenager of the 80s, (and one whose lp collection succumbed to a flood under a Queenslander), my first listen for yonks is working a bit like Proust’s madelaine did – it’s bringing back a flood of memories, and taking me back to my fourteen year old self…
If anyone wants to go down this nostalgic music route, here’s a helpful link to stimulate some memories – a list of the top 10 Australian singles of 82…
Apart from ‘Leaky Boat’ and ‘Land Down Under’, those were all pretty bad, I’m afraid to say. ‘I’ve been to Paradise’ is by any objective standard the worst song of all time. I seem to remember hearing ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ a lot that year too, but it’s not on the list.
Eye of the Tiger was my favourite song when I was 12. Tainted Love isn’t bad and Key Largo is top quality cheese.
True story, Mark. I immigrated to Australia in 1980, and probably the first memory I have of Australian TV was turning on Countdown by accident. There were Split Enz in their full glory, playing “I Got You”. That is always stuck in my mind.
Not too bad. At least there is two that stand the test of time:
COME ON EILEEN Dexy’s Midnight Runners
SIX MONTHS IN A LEAKY BOAT Split Enz
I might be showing my age (or something about my music tastes) but I can’t remember *a single one* of those tracks.
Cool, Peter – was that in their brightly coloured suits phase?
Francis – I agree re – Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
Amanda, I’m also fond of ‘Tainted Love’ but I would strongly advise anyone considering purchasing ‘The Best of Soft Cell’ not to do it – that one song was their best!
mark – Dexys at one stage was the great white hope for celtic rock [whatever that is] fatally flawed but nonetheless magnificent at their best.
1982:
“Business-wise, record companies continued to suffer — and they blamed the blank tape. The Record Industry Association of America estimated that nearly 500 million albums were taped by consumers who borrowed the platters from friends. And the British Phonographic Industry indicated that album sales were down 21%; once again home taping was fingered as the culprit.”
Random five faves (google is a great aid to memory, but I’m pretty sure I had each and every one of these in ’82, but some on Maxell peer-to-peer cassette)… Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’, Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force ‘Planet Rock’, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five ‘The Message’, Gregory Isaac ‘Night Nurse’, Kraftwerk ‘The Model/Computer Love’…
oh yeah, and Stevie Wonder’s gatefold double LP ‘Musiquarium’
“Eye Of The Tiger” and “Our Lips Are Sealed” appear on virtually every “80’s classics” album ever released…don’t know how you guys can say they were bad – and I was a 90’s kid!
No doubt “The Message” was the most important record to come out of 1982.
“Our Lips Are Sealed” did have a certain attractive lite trashyness appeal.
So much great stuff happening in 82 and none of it on the charts. As it always was as it will always be, I guess.
1982 New Order released Temptation. I got a copy on a 12inch EP, the graphic work was immaculate as it always was from New Order. So fantastic that I had a huge poster version of it in my room for years and years.
Sigh.
Mark: they were wearing reddish shirts slighly muted by the blue backglow. Bright? Yeah.
Survivor brings back memories. In 1983, my family went back to my mum’s home town of Low, Quebec for a visit. I remember these two local boys (about the same age) trying to chat up my sister and a mutual female cousin. They had the red berets from “Eye of the Tiger”, and generally walked around with a portable stereo playing “Survivor”. The girls found them weird, and laughed at their music behind their backs.
James: I can relate. I really wish that someone elder had slipped me some Joy Division before Ian Curtis hung himself. (God help me, I was only 9.) They’re still one of my favourite bands, but I only became a fan 9 years later – when I started hearing it. The same can be said of a lot of the Goth music of the early 80s. You learn about it later, it’s great, but you get the feeling you missed out on some scene.
The big music breakout year for me was 1979. My family only played classical at home. Then we moved to Saudi Arabia, where disco was popular among the expat community. Instant learning curve. “Aah, aah, aah, aah, Staying Aliiiiiiiveeeeeee!” When we finally made the move to Australia, we stopped over in Bahrain, where another song playing on the loudspeakers got stuck in my mind: “Don’t stop until you get enough.” If I had to choose a Michael Jackson song, it would be that one – bouncy and innocent – unlike the bleached ruined monstrosity of a man we have today. Ahh, nostalgia…
Peter, someone with a longer memory for Countdown than I might be able to help out – the first very punkish INXS single had the two brothers dressed in red and blue suits respectively – I think???? The disco memories reminded me of driving past Tallebudgera Creek down the Gold Coast the other week and having a horror flash back to grade 5 school camp in 1977 when a white suited male teacher led us all in dancing to “Saturday Night Fever”! Maybe an argument against male role models in primary schools? He spent all his time anyway sneaking into our class room to chat up our very cute (female) teacher…
nardo, ah that poor old record industry. Home cassettes one decade, Napster the next… agree with you and Francis also about Grand Master Flash – I bought the single and played it over and over… which takes me back to the first single I ever bought – Suzi Quatro’s “Devil Gate Drive” when I was in primary school.
James, there was never a bad New Order release! One of Brisbane’s institutions – the Beat Nightclub in Ann St, the Valley – owned by a “colourful identity” as they say – during various changes of style (the bizarre juxtaposition of coffins and black candles with Brisbane Girls’ Grammar chicks in polo shirts and bobs, and later the ice bar in the Beat Downstairs) consistently continued to play “Blue Monday” on request at the Cockatoo Club upstairs for many years. I missed my planned 20th anniversary visit in 2003 because they actually went and renovated the place – how could they!
Bah humbug. ’82 was a boring year being between the release of “For Those About To Rock” and “Flick Of The Switch.” Of course ’82 did mark the release of Heaven’s “Twilight of Mischief” an album, like in the best tradition of Spinal Tap, filled a much needed void.
Now, now, Mark: you’ve really started a nostalgia overload. My sister (now 31) saw the Beat two years ago, and was not impressed. She preferred the old, cosy version in the early 90s. Back in her Uni days, a lot of her straight male friends loved heading to the place: it was a good place to scab free drinks from the jaded male clientele.
I’m not really happy with the makeover either. Oh, the Beat used to be great for getting the last hour out of your clubbing on a Friday or Saturday – and the age range was pretty wide: 20 to 40. But then the three new dancefloor made the average age jump down to 21. That made me felt old.
They’ve never done anything better than “Mental Notes”, and a lot of that was down to crazy Phil Judd (including the cover art). You still owe me twenty bucks- don’t leave town.
We’re getting on the drink with Tim Blair on Sat 4/12 at 1600 at the Brekky Creek- any Brisbane lefties want to turn up and be mocked?
Peter, or, having to buy beers for very statuesque trannies… I always wondered whether the short Italian guys in very open necked shirts with gold chains knew quite who they were going home with. They always looked chuffed though, so that’s good (“finally I found that six foot two chick with broad shoulders and a deep voice I’ve always been after”?)
An ex-girlfriend of mine who’s about 6 foot spent about half an hour trying to persuade (without offering the most obvious proof) a Pakistani guy in a purple suit that she was actually a woman. However, I think she got a few scotches gratis for her troubles, so that’s probably good too.
I always liked the fact that there was such a mix of ages, and sexualities, and generally a lot of odd people around. I’ve ventured back once to the new roadside bar, but haven’t been able to bring myself to see what they’ve done to upstairs.
PB, I haven’t forgotten. I was hoping Kerry’d drag it out in the courts, but alas… damn Demos. If anyone ever sees Howard Stringer in New York (where he went to edit a biker mag – John Birmingham knows who he is…) he owes me $100 for the 87 Oz election and a certain NCC operative owes me $50 for 90… but I promise I pay quicker!
Lucky the Blair-up is on Sat not Fri – as I’m off to an art opening tomorrow night – being a typical latte sipping leftie etc etc. What’s the occasion?
Knowing PB, Friday itself is enough of an occasion…
“Rock the Casbah” by the Clash and that was their 23rd best song.
The post-title refers to Hall and Oates “Man Eater” no?
No, no, no, anthony, Hall & Oates – aaarrrggghhh!
It’s the first song on ‘True Colours’.
The pub’s open, and I’m not at work- sounds like enough of an occasion to me.
Hi Peter
I was too late for Joy Division myself though was old enough to know better. They played Love Will Tears Us Apart on Countdown a fair bit after Ian died which made me aware. I was lucky enoughin the mid 80’s to see New Order live play something like a 20 minute medley of Ceremony into Temptation into Love Will Tear Us Apart – talk about meltdown. Wonderful band.
My favourite Split Enz song is “Abu Dhabi” (at last, bagpipes that really rocked) – but then again my musical highlight of 1982 was discovering Throbbing Gristle’s “Twenty Jazz Funk Greats.”
suzie quatro… first gig I went to (aged about nine)… picked up, too… by my mate’s parents
devil gate drive, ain’t heard it in years
Oddly it was War by U2 that sent me off the road and into and beyond the ditch, Joy Division, New Order, The Cure, Wire, Dexy’s Mk 1 etc etc. Left U2 behind quickly but thanks to them for the push..
I arrived in time to hear the Hunters & Collectors Mark II but alas was never aware of Mark 1 and never got to hear Talking To A Stranger and Run Run Run live.
Also in Oz, Models were great before they weren’t.