1987 - WHEN I LOOK BACK UPON MY LIFE...

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

A LIFE AT 45RPM

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.