1983: the year it all went wrong?

I listened to Radio Lux for most of 1983 and I loved the mainstream UK pop. I still see it as one of the best years ever for mainstream hitlist pop.

The UK Top 50 of 1983 Poll

Curiously, I spent most of 1983 listening to Radio Luxembourg too, and discovered a lot of great music through it which never got played on Radio One. What was that dreadful "What a wally!" record sung by that shrill girl? I can still hear it in my head to this day.

1983 was the year I stopped sitting around listening to the radio and actively bought records, inspired by hearing "Genetic Engineering" and "Doot-doot" played on the Futurist chart (Thursday nights, IIRC). But whilst the start of the year was good, by the autumn it was definitely in decline, and the likes of Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw coming into the scene was a final nail in the coffin, and around that time I discovered the Peel show and never looked back. But 1983 was a turnaround year musically for me and will always hold a place in my heart, for that spring was truly wonderful.

this is the year that I was born

also the year Bob Stanley was born I'd wager. either that or he's the most gullible journalist currently working. that Guardian article is a perfect storm of revisionist history.

bob stanley was 19 in 1983 -- about the age you grow out of blind fandom, maybe.

I can remember a time, shortly after Wham hit big in the UK, when chart pop seemed to lose it's weirdness and sense of otherness for a while, everyone seemed to be scared to appear uncool, I think? And things seemed less fun and less inventive and less thrilling in some way. Obviously it didn't stay like that but it seemed to be like that for a while.

I can't remembert if this was in '83 or not, but it was some time around then. I still hate Wham because of this (and because of george michael's horrible smarmy voice as well)

By definition anything on this list that was really good/odd wasn't played nearly as much as the obv. big hits:

http://www.spiritofradio.ca/Charts.asp#1983

OK it's not totally awful, but there were so many better hardcore/punk albums released that year than that record!

Completely true, but again -- it only let me put up three covers.

But whilst the start of the year was good, by the autumn it was definitely in decline, and the likes of Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw coming into the scene was a final nail in the coffin

Your loss. Both were brilliant!
(Kershaw didn't have any sizeable hits until 1984 though)

The most important point made in the article is the public school comment by Kevin Rowland. That was precisely when and where everything that is wrong with both British pop and British politics today began.

It's arguable that 1983 is when the sort of people who'd previously have ignored pop altogether began listening to it in the UK (and, yes, I am thinking of a certain current political leader who'd have done O-levels that year at Eton): Jones/Kershaw/T Twins invented a sort of "light pop" to appeal to people who in a different political universe would still have listened to light classical. Then Hucknall turned it into a perverse kind of minor artform that could be vaguely admired, dispassionately.

Was about time then. The entire idea of music as rebellion against older generations was pathetic from the very beginning.

Ulmer didn't actually go anywhere near the charts, did he? (Hope I'm wrong!)

I can remember a time, shortly after Wham hit big in the UK, when chart pop seemed to lose it's weirdness and sense of otherness for a while, everyone seemed to be scared to appear uncool, I think? And things seemed less fun and less inventive and less thrilling in some way.

I would say you are thinking of 1986-87, when everyone started having mullets. And not inventive mullets with personality, like Mike Score, Limahl and even Howard Jones had. No, just the same boring standard mullet, looking alike on everyone.

1986 was about the year I stopped loving chart music. (I was 13)

The most important point made in the article is the public school comment by Kevin Rowland. That was precisely when and where everything that is wrong with both British pop and British politics today began.

It's arguable that 1983 is when the sort of people who'd previously have ignored pop altogether began listening to it in the UK (and, yes, I am thinking of a certain current political leader who'd have done O-levels that year at Eton): Jones/Kershaw/T Twins invented a sort of "light pop" to appeal to people who in a different political universe would still have listened to light classical. Then Hucknall turned it into a perverse kind of minor artform that could be vaguely admired, dispassionately.

-- February Callendar, Saturday, March 8, 2008 10:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

is what rowland said verifiable, though? was there really a social sea-change in the music business in the early 80s? i wouldn't have thought so.

any thoughts on the 'jam generation', RC?

There was a sea-change in politics and business in the 90s. When the generations who grew up listening to rock would actually start getting the top jobs. And that is why you suddenly had pop/rock fans among the people in power. Not because anything actually happened to the music.

10.00pm Now That's What I Call 1983

Denise Van Outen presents a nostalgic trip through the musical highlights of 1983. Heaven 17, Howard Jones, Nick Heywood, Paul Young, Ali Campbell, Kajagoogoo, Nik Kershaw and Tony Hadley perform their greatest hits in the studio, and there is a glance at the year's big events, including the release of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, the arrival of the compact disc and the advent of morning television.

Wow, quite some cultural diversity on that line-up!

Tony Denton must be rubbing his hands in glee.

I would start a different thread out of this question, but I'm too lazy.. which years (or time periods) were the most different between America and the UK? I'm guessing 1983 was one of those years.

David Van Day would be on this, but a) Dollar didn't release any records in 1983, and b) he's too busy being a wanker in Ant & Dec's jungle.

I've no recall of starting this thread, which is a bit disturbing since it was only earlier this year. Still, I think the argument kind of works, if you stick solely to UK chart music. In 80-82, postpunk had loosened things up a little, some unlikely things might make the charts, but by 1983 that was less likely. Can't be arsed to look through old charts to see if my hunch is correct though.

good songs from the top 40 25 years ago:

MaccaJacko - Say Say Say
The Cure - The Love Cats
Jacko - Thriller
Adam Ant - Puss N' Boots
Tina Turner - Let's Stay Together
Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance
Rocksteady Crew - Hey You
Yes - Owner Of A Lovely Heart
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Rogers & Partonstein - Islands In The Stream
Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know

but that's just out of the 25 i knew plus being harsh on 'That's All', 'Waterfront', 'Union Of The Snake' and one or two others (not including the re-release of 'Oblivious')

Back in 1983 Channel 4 had a show called Unforgettable in which old pre-Beatles Britpop stars came back for a lap of honour (I won't say bus pass lap of honour since most of them would only have been in their forties then), mostly singing their hits from 25 years earlier.

So nothing changes really; I'm assuming this is a tie-in with 25 Years of the Now! series and watching it is going to be for rubberneckers only.

Other things I like from the Top 40 of 19/11/83:

Cry Just A Little Bit - one of Shaky's best; his Rock 'n' Roll Part 2.
Never Never - Vince Clarke and Feargal Sharkey, both near their peak.
Calling Your Name - brilliant New Pop/Northern Soul forgery; fantastic Langer & Winstanley production. Even if Marilyn didn't necessarily sing it.
Undercover Of The Night - ludicrous in a lot of ways but about the last time the Stones showed any signs of real life.

A lot of these "good" songs are people past their peak though: Stones, Adam Ant, The Cure, Tina Turner, Macca. Only the Smiths are really brand new here. I guess Jacko is arguably at his peak, although personally I much prefer the Off The Wall period.

If you look up the chart in question the 41-100 section is much more interesting.

It seems a bit harsh to say the Cure were past their peak in 1983!

I must admit I liked them better when they were miserable bastards and did go off them a bit after Pornography (and their current album is the first one I've really liked since Pornography).

Owner Of A Lovely Heart

lol my brane

Maybe the Cure weren't past their prime in 1983, but they became a different band with The Love Cats. For the postpunk generation, I guess 1983 was the transitional period from rock miserabilism to pop hedonism. Best exemplified by New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies.

Because nothing's more pop hedonist than an album with that name!

And a final song called "Leave Me Alone!"

"You've caught me at a bad time...
...so why don't you piss off."

"Transitional" is what I said! It's got some of the miserabilism of "Movement" and some of the hedonism of later New Order. "Our love is like the flowers" is not a line Ian Curtis was ever going to come up with! Age Of Consent is upbeat! etc.

yeah, upbeat with that extended fadeout of "I've lost you"...

x-post -- Fair enough, but for a sec I'm all, "Wait, WHAT?"

Because nothing's more pop hedonist than an album with that name!

'Hedon the Door'?

Blueski's list of good songs is impressive!

I really like 'owner of a lonely heart'.

thread is total bullshit. I mean, yeah interesting things weren't on the radio and a small group of bands in the UK started putting out crap, but so what? albums I still listen to from '83, some of 'em all-time favorites:

butthole surfers - a brown reason to live
sonic youth - confusion is sex
the fall - perverted by language
the fall - in a hole
glenn branca - symphony no 1
birthday party - mutiny / the bad seed
swans - filth
rem - murmur
einsturzende neubauten - drawing of patient o.t.
rudimentary peni - death church
the cramps - smell of female
misfits - earth ad
suicidal tendencies - s/t
minutemen - what makes a man start fires?
husker du - everything falls apart
creatures - feast
big black - bulldozer
the comes - no side

also stuff by jandek, the ex, daniel johnston, harmonic choir, etc etc

and this happened
http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s365578.jpg

You're missing the point. The point was that there were some quirky things getting into the UK charts in the early eighties, but then by 1983 or thereabouts that didn't happen so much. Which may or may not be true, but there is no parallel universe in which Jandek or Daniel Johnston were storming the charts in 1983.

In other words, none of the above was happening VISIBLY, whereas a year earlier they might have done.

In the US, I think the decline started a bit later - around 1985.

(I mean the decline in Top 40 radio - not talking about small, independent releases.)

A song like Ashes To Ashes is a good example I think. A number one in 1980. Could a song like that - with its Kafka-quoting lyrics, its ghostly, treated piano sound - have got to number one a few years later? Bowie obviously didn't think so when he released Let's Dance.

there is no parallel universe in which Jandek or Daniel Johnston were storming the charts in 1983

it's right here inside my head. also in this universe stan brakhage's the garden of earthly delights outgrosses return of the jedi.

When I look at the overall number of great releases, it was a slump for sure. But I certainly didn't think it at the time. As a tweener kid, I was was just discovering how much there was beyond Queen and Rush, but was enjoying a wide spectrum, from Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Accept, Dio, The Fixx and Cheap Trick on one end to R.E.M., Tom Waits, Bad Brains, U2, Violent Femmes, Social Distortion, Minutemen, Husker Du, X, The Fall, The Wipers, Big Black, Talking Heads, Kid Creole, Lou Reed, Suburbs, Pretenders, Shriekback, Big Country, Minor Threat, Birthday Party, James Blood Ulmer, King Sunny Ade, etc. on the other.

Boring Pazz & Jop results imo.