1989 and the era now known as "the second summer of love" was in full swing. Acid House music had infiltrated the clubs, the charts, and the culture. Unlicensed raves were taking place in abandoned warehouses and industrial sites, before being driven into the countryside by police raids. Fuelled by not only the music but vast quantities of MDMA (or Ecstacy as it became more commonly known), people of all backgrounds would gather to dance all night long in a euphoric explosion of love, peace and electronic beats. The influence of this new youth cult spread was far and wide, spreading through fashion, literature, art, films, and becoming a key part of the baggy/Madchester scene that would come soon after. Attitudes and lifestyles changed the way nightclubs were run in the UK, and the Balearic island of Ibiza became a hotspot for thousands of young people looking for a hedonistic holiday.
Not that any of this impacted of the life of a shy 12 year old sat in his bedroom in a small declining former mining town in the East Midlands, whose spare time was spent listening to and obsessing over music. The tie-dye baggy fashions of the rave explosion passed me by, and whilst i thrilled to the dance sounds increasingly hitting the Top 40 i was far too young to "get it", in addition to being overwhelmingly uncool. 1989 was an important year for me in one aspect though: i had my own income for the first time. My parents decided to give me weekly pocket money at the beginning of the year, and i would later have a paper round. All this meant that i could at last start buying my own records, and i wasted no time in heading to the local record shop to spend it on 7"s. I remember it like it was yesterday: heading to Frank Sissons in the high street with a mate, perusing the Top 75 pinned to the wall that they cut out from the weekly music retailer paper Music Weekly, before marching to the small counter to hand over my £2. Whilst the short-skirted young woman behind the counter went to retrieve my selection from the shelving - and in the process managing to give us a flash of underwear, no doubt causing a couple of young pre-teens to turn beetroot faced - i looked at the wall adorned with posters, advertisements for albums and singles by acts i only had a passing knowledge of, awestruck by the possiblities of owning them myself one day, wondering what they sounded like.
When the assistant handed over my purchase i felt a surge of excitement and pride, as if the act of buying a record without my parents being there meant that i suddenly become more grown up. Once my mate had bought his choice we wasted no time in heading back to his house to hear the music. The first record i bought myself, the real beginning to my collection, went on the turntable and as the needle made that familiar bump i've no doubt a huge smile would have spread across my face.
ROBERT HOWARD & KYM MAZELLE - WAIT!
A collaboration between Robert Howard - aka Dr Robert, lead singer of politically inclined sophisti-pop band The Blow Monkeys - and American R&B/soul/house vocalist Kym Mazelle, it blended pop nous with house beats and funky piano breakdowns, reaching No.7 in January 1989. It's still a favourite of mine, although i no longer have the vinyl. I was less interested in the remix on the b-side at the time, or in the music of either Howard or Mazelle outside of this song, although i have discovered the music of The Blow Monkeys since.
Although i spent much of 1988 - my 12th year - crushing on Tiffany it didn't distract my attention from the rest of the hit parade. The House music craze continued its assault on the Top 40, with huge hits and chart toppers from Coldcut, Yazz, Bomb The Bass, Inner City, Simon Harris, and S-Express, the latter of whom had a number 1 at the end of April with the timeless Theme From S-Express. That track, along with Beat Dis, Good Life, Doctorin' The House, The Only Way Is Up, and Bass (How Low Can You Go) regularly turn up on "old skool" or "dance classics" compilations to this day.
One of the years' biggest hits would come from a less likely source. Variously described as "art terrorists" and "situationist pranksters", former band manager and A&R man Bill Drummond and musician Jimmy Cauty had decided to collaborate at the beginning of 1987, calling themselves The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu (or The JAMMS for short), self-releasing three singles and an album of unauthorized samples from - among others -The Beatles, ABBA, Whitney Houston, gaining them notoriety in the music press and attracting the attention of copyright lawyers. After being forced to withdraw their first album, they set about trying to create a guaranteed number 1 hit. Mashing together the Doctor Who theme tune, Blockbuster and Rock And Roll (Part Two) by seventies glam rock stars Sweet and Gary Glitter, they then renamed themselves The Timelords. Claiming that the record was actually by Cautys' 1968 Ford Galaxie american police car - Ford Timelord - they released it upon an unsuspecting world. The critics hated it, but the record buying public spoke with their pockets and by that summer it was everywhere, including the top spot in the singles chart. It is a gloriously dumb pop record, but Drummond and Cauty succeeded in their plan. They even released a book: The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way), detailing how to have a hit with no money or talent. Given the number of self-produced and self-released novelty hits over the last thirty years, i'd say the books influence was far and wide!
Over the next few years Drummond and Cauty would continue their assault on the charts under the KLF brand, culminating in a notorious performance at the BRITS awards. But that is a tale for another time.....
One of the typical features of growing up is the adolescent crush, usually aimed at a distant figure - a pin up from the world of music or acting, who the crushee (is that a word?) will likely never meet but will fantasise about for hours whilst actually being, in their everyday life, unbelievably shy and awkward in dealings with the opposite sex. Their bedroom wall will often be plastered with posters of their crush, and they will obsessively listen to, watch or read everything they produce, every utterance that springs forth from their mouths. I was no different: a skinny, shy youngster whose lack of confidence meant that my spare time was spent locked in my room immersed in listening to and reading about music. And at the dawn of 1988, pop music gave me my first crush. Watching Top Of The Pops on Thursday 14th January (no, my memory isn't THAT good: i googled it), that weeks highest new entry was a red-haired 16 year old girl from California, performing live from the U.S version of the show. As i watched her sing "I Think We're Alone Now" - a cover of an old rock'n'roll hit - i became transfixed by this fresh faced teenage beauty, and before long i was in love. Or whatever that means to an 11 year old anyway! She could actually sing too - when the song hit No.1 over here two weeks later, she would perform live on our TOTP . She spent three weeks at the top, during which time i would tape the song from the radio - my requests for my parents to buy me the single were probably met with a reply of "no, you've just had Christmas" - so until i had Now 12 for my 12th birthday in August i had to make do.
I recall having a HUGE poster - one of those big fold-outs that you regularly got with Smash Hits magazine - on my bedroom wall, and i would obsessively read any interviews or articles on her, and tape any tv appearances. Her two follow up singles - the ballad "Could've Been" and a cover of The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There" (with the gender changed to Him) were both Top 10 hits, and her self-titled debut did well. But young pop fans are fickle, and by the end of the year her star had already begun to fade. A fourth single from the album flopped, and after one more Top 20 hit - "Radio Romance" from her follow up album Hold An Old Friends Hand - Tiffany Darwish disappeared from the charts, and the hearts and minds of pop fans. Until she got her kit off for Playboy years later, and the nostalgia market turned its attention to the late 80's, that is. The image of her in my mind is fixed as it was then: the flowing red hair, the down to earth look of denim jackets and sweaters, that look at the camera that was half coy, half mischievous. I don't want to sound like a perv, but at that age i imagined that she could teach me a few things. Even if wasn't sure what those things were. However naff her music may seem now, it was important to me at that age, and "I Think We're Alone Now" always transports me back in time whenever i hear it.
P.S.: I recently found the 7" single in one of my favourite used record shops - 33 Records in Nottinghams West End Arcade -, which cheered me up considerably!
One of the reasons i started this blog was not to just wax lyrical about old 45's from my youth, but to highlight some of the labels and acts who are keeping the once mighty format going in the age of the download. The 7" single fell quickly out of favour in the nineties, replaced by the cd single in its cheap and easily broken plastic case, often covered in stickers whose residue was hard to shift. Although it could hold more music and was easier to store, it always lacked the magic of the vinyl 7", and it was later replaced by the downloadable file, rendering the idea of a physical single largely obsolete. Thanks to changes in official chart rules the idea of a "single" itself is in danger, now that any song purchased or streamed online is eligible for chart entry. The revival of both interest and sales of the vinyl lp hasn't led to a similar revival for the 7" single, but it has never fully disappeared: enthusiasts have kept it going, albeit on a much smaller scale than in its heyday. Small independent labels have continued to release limited quantities, usually available by mail order only, and both high profile and underground artists have championed the format. Stores like Rough Trade and local independents occasionally stock them, although they aren't cheap these days usually costing upwards of a fiver. The popularity of Record Store Day has resulted in special limited edition releases, costing an arm and a leg but treasured by those who are lucky enough to get them. It's only recently that i've begun to buy new 7"s by current Mod bands whose popularity is limited to the Mod scene, something i've slowly found myself getting into these last few years. Detour Records and Heavy Soul Records are the two i've been looking at and started buying from, but there is also Well Suspect which originally had a limited run in the early 80's, having been started by the legendary Mod scene stalwart and Acid Jazz label owner Eddie Piller, and has now been resurrected by one of his former signings, Richard Searle of Corduroy. I've been discovering some of the artists on these labels through social media and friends, such as Birminghams' The Deep Six, who contain former members of 80's Mod scene bands Makin'Time and The Threads amongst their ranks. I've recently purchased their album on cd, plus two 7"s - It's Happening and Like Emily - which showcase their sixties-influenced music. Another new band who have popped up on my radar are Nottinghams' very own Subculture, a band very influenced by The Jam (no bad thing) who have put out one 7" on Heavy Soul this year, with another following in a few weeks.
There are many independent labels out there, releasing all manner of genres by artists whose music is unlikely to trouble the mainstream singles charts, but whose releases are snapped up by dedicated fans. With the price of a 7" single being four times as much as its online counterpart these releases are mostly limited to a few thousand and contain something unique in order to make it worth parting your hard earned cash for - songs unavailable elsewhere (or one-off versions of already existing material), split singles with different artists on each side, exclusive artwork, postcards etc. This isn't a million miles away from the eighties, when record labels would release multiple versions of a single to increase its chart success - coloured vinyl, picture discs, poster bags, different remixes, double groove, double pack , badges - although on a much larger scale than today. As i voyage into the world of the 45 i will write about these in more detail.
1987. The year i turned 11, started secondary school, and started becoming more aware of the world around me. It was also the year that my passion for music went into overdrive. Having my own radio, inheriting my Dads record player, and reading Smash Hits magazine all opened up my musical knowledge, and though i would continue to appreciate the older records in my parents collection it was no longer enough: i wanted my own collection, i needed to know and hear what was happening in the Top 40. As i didn't yet have pocket money or any means of earning my own - that would be a couple of years away - my options were limited to taping the charts on a Sunday night or receiving records as gifts. So i spent my Sunday evenings as most young people did across the country: sat intently in front of the radio, blank C60's and C90's at my side, finger hovered over the pause button in a largely unsuccessful attempt to stop it before the DJ started chatting over the end of the song (damn you, Bruno Brookes). My interest in the lower half of the Top 40 was minimal, so the indie bands and burgeoning rap, hip hop or dance genres that skulked there didn't really impinge on my consciousness until years later. It was all about the Top 20. If you weren't there, you were nowhere. Those lucky enough to chart that high would be on Top Of The Pops, they would be in Smash Hits, they would be the talk of the schoolyard. My tastes were unashamedly POP, but the odd record from other genres would creep in: i remember seeing The Smiths performing "Sheila Take A Bow" on TOTP and hearing "Girlfriend In A Coma" on the Top 40 countdown, and though i knew nothing of them or their status as gods of Indie music those songs stuck in my mind for years until i was old enough to fully appreciate them and discover their music for myself. They intrigued me enough to pay attention to the early solo career of frontman Morrissey when the band split later that year. That year also saw hard hitting Rap and Hip Hop from Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Eric B & Rakim and LL Cool J making headway into the UK charts, and the first major hits from the House music scene, and i'd like to be able to claim that i liked all these songs at the ages of 10 and 11..... but that would be bollocks. I was aware of those records back then, but they didn't become part of my musical vocabulary for quite a few years. As i said, POP music was very much the order of the day, and it was largely based around the electronic and synthetic: drum machines, sequencers, synthesisers, plastic and disposable rather than "real" music made by "real" musicians. And there's nothing wrong with that, certainly when you're young.
1987 saw the growing success of hit-making production trio Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who wrote, played and produced several No.1's for Mel & Kim, Rick Astley, and Kylie Minogue. Their production line pop was just an updated version of Motown: all the songs written, recorded and produced in-house, written to order, with their own distinctive sound, and all done independently of the major record companies. They had their own publishing, their own label - PWL - and because they used independent distribution their singles also appeared on the Independent Chart, causing much uproar from the alternative and indie world. Two fingers to the taste makers!
The artists of the S/A/W stable were no mere identical puppets though: you had Mel & Kims' stylish and choreographed streetwise image, Kylie's girl next door look, and the shy and slightly awkwardness of northern lad Rick Astley (if you couldn't dance, then Ricks "moves" were what you copied at school discos: i should know), they all had some input into their songs and image.
There was also a socially and politically conscious streak to Pop music that year, being in the midst of Thatchers Britain. Mass unemployment, the hangover from the miners strike, the rise of the Yuppie (unashamed greed, basically), rampant corporatism, and the failure of the oppostion to provide any viable alternative to the voting public inspired the gritty modern soul of The Christians and the wordy sophisti-pop of Hue & Cry, whilst also inspiring a sense that looking good and enjoying yourself would help you forget how crap things were, hence the rise of the House music scene and clubbing.
Even synthpoppers Erasure got in on the act with "The Circus", their Top 10 lament for the working man, the loss of industry and identity crisis that went with it.
Dance music also made its first big impact in 1987 with two huge and unexpected chart toppers: Steve "Silk" Hurleys' "Jack Your Body", which hit No.1 at the beginning of the year despite no promotion and only being available on 12": and the musical collage "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S in September, being made entirely of samples from other records stitched together by alternative acts AR Kane and Colourbox with assistance from DJs CJ Mackintosh and Dave Dorrell.
Looking back at this creatively mixed bag of music styles, one thing stands out: whatever you were into, whatever age you were, it was a year of great singles. Pop, Rock, Indie, Dance, Hip-Hop, Rap, Soul etc, all represented and all saying something to someone. And the humble 7", the 45 at the heart of it all, was still selling in massive quantities. In amongst taping large quantities of these hits from the radio, my own 7" collection took its first steps, on my 11th birthday that August. I was given two singles: the towering gothic synthpop that was Pet Shop Boys' "It's A Sin" - a huge No.1 that Summer - and the song it deposed from the top spot, the annoyingly catchy novelty song "Star Trekkin", by The Firm. The latter song has just been playing as a track on the Hits Album 6 compliation i have on vinyl, and i can see why said record didn't stay in my collection for long, whilst "It's A Sin" is still one of my favourite songs.
I was a huge fan of this and the 3 other singles Neil and Chris put out that year - the Dusty Springfield collaboration "What Have I Done To Deserve This?", "Rent" and that years all-important Christmas No.1, "Always On My Mind", a cover of the Elvis Presley hit. In my young foolishness i backed another horse for the festive chart crown though, and instead of badgering my Mum into buying me the arguably (in hindsight) better record, i asked for another: Rick Astleys' cover of the Nat "King" Cole standard "When I Fall In Love", backed with a double A-side of "My Arms Keep Missing You" from his debut LP. For a while it looked like Rick might just grab the Christmas top slot, until the original version was re-released by EMI in an attempt to divert sales so that their act - Pet Shop Boys - would come out on top. And it worked. Listening back to both songs now, Ricks isn't that bad - let's be honest, the guy has a great voice - but it's not one of his most fondly remembered songs. In the event it didn't even make the runners up spot - That went to an even more superior record, the seasonal classic that is "Fairytale Of New York", by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, a song that wasn't even on my radar at the time.
Some of my favourite singles from that year are now in my current vinyl collection, which i began again back in 2015 after acquiring a record player for the first time in over 15 years. I often go crate digging in charity shops and second hand record shops, and have dug up the odd gem from my past.
For what it's worth, here is my personal Top 40 (in no particular order) from 1987, some of which i was a fan of at the time and some that i discovered and came to love later.
Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin
Hue & Cry - Labour Of Love
The Christians - Forgotten Town
The Smiths - Sheila Take A Bow
A-ha - Manhattan Skyline
Duran Duran - Skin Trade
The Damned - Alone Again Or
The Wedding Present - My Favourite Dress
Mental As Anything - Live It Up
Mel & Kim - Respectable
ABC - When Smokey Sings
New Order - True Faith
Squeeze - Hourglass
Rick Astley - Whenever You Need Somebody
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up The Volume
Erasure - The Circus
Pet Shop Boys - Rent
Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full
Housemartins - Build
Proclaimers - Letter From America
Climie Fisher - Rise To The Occasion (Hip Hop Mix)
Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind
Curiosity Killed The Cat - Down To Earth
Jesus & Mary Chain - April Skies
The Christians - Hooverville
A-ha - The Living Daylights
Bananarama - Love In The First Degree
Prince - Sign O' The Times
The Smiths - Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Black - Sweetest Smile
The Smiths - Girlfriend In A Coma
Marillion - Sugar Mice
Pet Shop Boys ft Dusty Springfield - What Have I Done To Deserve This?
Madonna - La Isla Bonita
Housemartins - Five Get Over Excited
Wax - Bridge To Your Heart
Blow Monkeys - It Doesn't Have To Be That Way
Pogues ft Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
I'm a music lover. In fact, passionate or obsessive might be a better description for how important music has been and still is to me. I have followed myriad musical artists with the same religious zeal that most men might follow a football team. It all began when i was very young, 4 or 5. My Dad had quite a large collection of 7" singles - with a few of my Mums mixed in - and whilst he was at work my Mum would often play them. Most of it was Glam Rock from the early seventies - Mud, Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Slade etc - an quite a few by Status Quo, plus a pick'n'mix of Pop hits, Motown, and a few more recent New Wave selections by Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Adam & The Ants, and the band who i would later become a huge fan of: Madness. There were a few albums too, mainly the K-Tel Various Artists compliations of the day bearing names like Disco Fever, Night Moves, and Power Hits. These cheap tv-advertised albums were the forerunner to the hugely successful NOW That's What I Call Music series, and my parents would often put them on if we had birthday parties. I lapped all this up from a young age, with no idea of who the performers of these songs were or any notion that this music was largely from before my birth: i just knew i liked it. Even as i grew up and became more aware of the charts and Top Of The Pops i would still listen to these songs from another era, often to much piss taking from my school mates. At junior school we would have a weekly assembly put on by Mr Hogg - much younger and cooler than the other teachers - where the kids would be invited to put on short plays, sing or play an instrument, or - joy of joys - bring in records to play. Always singles. I was well aware of the music currently in the charts: Madonna, A-ha, Duran Duran, etc. But i would often turn up with 7"s from my parents collection. The nostalgia market wasn't a thing yet, and the internet didn't exist, so the notion of all the music that's ever been made being available was nearly two decades away. The idea that younger people could appreciate music from bygone eras was laughable. But i didn't care, and when my parents bought a new Hi-Fi system for the living room in 1986 i was given my Dads 1970s turntable for my room, along with the collection of 45's. That Christmas i was also given a small radio/cassette recorder and a stack of blank cassettes, and Sunday night would be spent in my room recording the Top 40. So it was at the age of 10 - and less than a year away from turning 11 - that my love for music went up several notches. The radio opened up my ears to a world beyond the music i'd been enveloped in, and i would often sneak out of bed at night, plug my headphones in, and listen to whatever station i could get a decent reception on. Suddenly, listening to older records wasn't enough: i needed to begin my own collection. I would have to wait a few more months yet; until then. recording songs off the radio would have to suffice. Being able to do this in my bedroom meant that i could lose myself in the music without interruption. In those first few months of 1987, i would excitedly wait to hear my favourite songs of the moment, and back then my tastes were unashamedly POP. The new bands of the time are now mocked for being bland and soulless, but at the time the likes of Curiosity Killed The Cat, Wet Wet Wet, Living In A Box and Hue & Cry were part of a new wave of "Sophisti-pop" acts, blending soul, jazz and funk with pop nous, admittedly with the rough edges sanded off. Songs like CKTC's "Down To Earth" and "Misfit" are shiny, lightweight and disposable, and therefore perfectly aimed at kids and young teens. Out of the four acts i mentioned above, i can only listen seriously to Hue & Cry these days, but they were always a more grown up and literate proposition, more political and adult in their lyrics and sophisticated in their music. They were also less successful as a singles act, although the one hit they had in 87 - the funky and Thatcher-criticising "Labour Of Love" is still a classic pop song and remains one of my favourites.
BBC FOUR have been showing re-runs of Top Of The Pops for the last few years, starting from 1978 onwards and working their way through the years (whilst editing out now disgraced presenters and even missing entire episodes), and i have been avidly watching them. This has jogged the old memory and sparked a touch of nostalgia in me, even alerting me to music that slipped past me at the time. I've already got another music blog, but this one is going to be solely about the humble 45, the 7", the single. Singles are what shaped the tastes of most music fans for years, especially in the younger years as they are more affordable for those with pocket money or a newspaper round. The idea of the single has undergone significant changes in recent years, with physical releases almost dropping off the map in favour of downloaded files and streaming so that teenagers today don't even own the music they love in any tangible way. There are still limited 7" releases - almost exclusively independent acts and labels - but it is precarious. This blog is celebration of a format which, in spite of its disposable nature, has imprinted itself on the national consciousness. I will be writing about the singles that influenced my tastes, the records i bought and the ones i wished i had, vinyl lost and found, the changing nature of the format, and the valiant attempts of the few to keep this once essential part of the musical landscape alive. I hope anyone who reads this will enjoy and comment.
