Short answer to Tracer's query: Radio 1 policy at the time exemplified by Andy Peebles who often wondered how hard the unemployed really tried to find work and Derek Chinnery who said only dolescum and criminals listened to John Peel.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Plenty of good, interesting stuff around in 1983, but a definite feeling that the lunatics who'd taken over the asylum were being reined in and it was getting back to business as usual for the record companies.
Back to having to dig a little deeper to find it, instead of it being showcased on totp every week.
― Billy Dods, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm with Tracer here -- down to the Kasey part, though I first heard his show the year before. Obv. it's also to do with youthful memories etc. but 1983 (and 1984!) were both stellar years. In contrast 1986 into 1987 for the most part felt *really* flat.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:75954310fca08c89d17a7010.L.jpg
― Bill Magill, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Is that a case for the defence or the prosecution?
― Billy Dods, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:37 (sixteen years ago) link
NME's very curious Top 50 singles list of 1983:
1. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson 2. Bring It On - James Brown 3. Pills & Soap - The Imposter 4. The Bad Seed (EP) - The Birthday Party 5. Blue Monday - New Order 6. Lean On Me - The Redskins 7. All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie 8. Church Of The Poison Mind - Culture Club 9. This Charming Man - The Smiths 10. Gimme All Your Lovin' - Zz Top 11. 1999 - Prince 12. Everyday I Write The Book - Elvis Costello & the Attractions 13. Looking For The Perfect Beat - Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force 14. The Cutter - Echo And The Bunnymen 15. Juicy Fruit - M'tume 16. Hand In Glove - The Smiths 17. I Love You - Yello 18. Who's That Girl - Eurythmics 19. Soweto - Malcolm Mclaren 20. A Paris (EP) - The Style Council 21. Let's Dance - David Bowie 22. Right By Your Side - Eurythmics 23. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) - Paul Young 24. Men Like Monkeys - Three Johns 25. I'm Still Standing - Elton John 26. Synchro System - King Sunny Ade & his African Beats 27. Every Breath You Take - The Police 28. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - Michael Jackson 29. Bad Day - Carmel 30. Oblivious - Aztec Camera 31. Go Deh Yaka (Go To The Top) - Monyaka 32. Cold Steel Gang - High Five 33. Tour De France - Kraftwerk 34. One More Shot - C-Bank 35. It's Raining Men - Weather Girls 36. Mutiny EP - Birthday Party 37. Between The Sheets - Lsley Brothers 38. Little Red Corvette - Prince 39. Money-Go-Round - Style Council 40. You Brought The Sunshine Into My Life - Clark Sisters 41. Lost Again - Yello 42. Dark Is The Night - Shakatak 43. Karma Chameleon - Culture Club 44. Hot Hot Hot - Arrow 45. Never Stop - Echo And The Bunnymen 46. Alice - Sisters Of Mercy 47. New Year's Day - U2 48. Everything Counts - Depeche Mode 49. Racist Friend - Special AKA 50. This Is Not A Love Song - PiL
Bubbling Under Cutty Sark - John Barry Seven Walkin' The Line - Brass Construction Revolution - Dennis Brown The Crown - Gary Byrd & the GB Experience Time (Clock Of The Heart) - Culture Club (1982!) Kicker Conspiracy/Wings - The Fall Man O' Sand To Child O' Sea - Go-Betweens White Lines - Grandmaster & Melle Mel Rockit - Herbie Hancock Beat It - Michael Jackson Just Got Lucky - JoBoxers Let's Stay Together - Bobby M & Jean Carn Hip Hop Be Bop (Don't Stop) - Man Parrish Calling Your Name - Marilyn Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley And The Wailers Rip It Up - Orange Juice Lions In My Garden (Exit Someone) - Prefab Sprout Revolution Times - Red London War Baby - Tom Robinson Soul Inside - Soft Cell
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:37 (sixteen years ago) link
"Is that a case for the defence or the prosecution?"
Defense. '83 kicked ass
― Bill Magill, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Never heard these three records, guess they're soul/hip-hop?
32. Cold Steel Gang - High Five 34. One More Shot - C-Bank 40. You Brought The Sunshine Into My Life - Clark Sisters
― Billy Dods, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
What a daft thread title. Summer and fall '83 were GREAT radio periods in the US.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:43 (sixteen years ago) link
High Five were a Liverpool indie group, a bit like the early Farm.
"One More Shot" would have been in my personal EOY '83 top ten; fantastic record, produced by John Robie, vocals by Jenny Burton, like a hardcore variant on Robie's more popist "IOU" by Freeez.
"You Brought The Sunshine Into My Life" - gospel-ish American nu-soul, very fine single.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Here's the Peel Festive 50 for 1983:
New Order - Blue Monday Smiths - This Charming Man New Order - Age Of Consent This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren Cocteau Twins - Musette and Drums Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain (Peel Session version) Billy Bragg - A New England The Fall - Eat Y'self Fitter Smiths - Hand In Glove Naturalites and Realistics - Picture On The Wall Red Guitars - Good Technology P.I.L - This Is Not A Love Song X-Mal Deutchland - Incubus Succubus Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup Cure - Lovecats Cocteau Twins - From the Flagstones Echo and the Bunnymen - Never Stop New Order - Your Silent Face Sisters of Mercy - Temple of Love Siouxie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence The Fall - The Man Whose Head Expanded Echo and the Bunnymen - The Cutter The Assembly - Never Never The Imposter - Pills and Soap New Order - Leave Me Alone 10000 Maniacs - My Mother The War Sisters of Mercy - Alice Cocteau Twins - Peppermint Pig Aztec Camera - Oblivious Redskins - Lean on Me Chameleons - Second Skin X-Mal Deutchland - Qual Smiths - Handsome Devil (Peel Session version) Tools You Can Trust - Working and Shopping The Fall - Kicker Conspiracy Luddites - Doppleganger Sophie and Peter Johnston - Television Cocteau Twins - Hithertoo SPK - Metal Dance The Fall - Wings U2 - New Year's Day Danse Society - Somewhere Birthday Party - Deep in the Woods Caberet Voltaire - Fascination New Order - The Village Birthday Party - Sonny's Burning Strawberry Switchblade - Trees and Flowers Elvis Costello - Shipbuilding Cure - The Walk Tom Robinson - War Baby
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link
'83 was very different in America.
I guess the argument - which I partially subscribe to - was that in the UK in the early eighties it was possible to be a little bit experimental and yet still ride to the top of the charts. But by '83 or thereabouts it was a bit more difficult.
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:52 (sixteen years ago) link
As exemplified by the entirely ill-conceived in-house go-go dancers who danced to everything and I mean everything on TOTP in '83, including "First Picture Of You" by the Lotus Eaters where they succeeded in (a) obscuring the group completely and (b) causing the record to go down the chart the following week, and "The Walk" by the Cure where they clutched their heads and frothed as though, you know, Not Quite Right In The Head because "visiting time is over" innit.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link
On the bright side, Bruce Foxton did ascend to #23 with his first solo outing, the heartrending "Freak."
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link
It probably was different in America since, with the aid of MTV, they essentially got our 1982 a year late.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link
otm.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:00 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah, to go along with all the other incredible american songs we had
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:01 (sixteen years ago) link
-- Zelda Zonk, Friday, March 7, 2008 3:52 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
even if this is true -- i don't think it is -- how long did this supposed drought last? and how long had been the good times before it? the whole thing is nonsense.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:01 (sixteen years ago) link
I remember the b-side, "Writing's on the wall" or "Nights in white satin as rewroter by Bruce Foxton"
― Mark G, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Yes, agreed. Weirdly for a Brit, 1983 was also the year that *I* started regularly listening to Casey Kasem - courtesy of AFN radio in Berlin, whose weekly R&B chart countdown show was just awesome: Mtume, SOS Band etc. And it was also the peak of that whole open-minded electro/funk/soul/new wave/hi-energy melting pot culture, that I loved so much. My single of the year was C-Bank's "One More Shot", which I bought on white label before they'd even finished playing it in the shop - a rare case of a record grabbing me by the balls from the first listen and never, ever letting go.
― mike t-diva, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:06 (sixteen years ago) link
American R&B was shit-hot in '82 and part of '83.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:07 (sixteen years ago) link
too many great pop singles from this year (not inc the ones originally released in '82 but inc. the ones that were more successful in '84 etc.) to take the thread question at all seriously
― blueski, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Nothing about this sentence makes any sense.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:16 (sixteen years ago) link
The 1983 Disconet Top Tune Medley 17:30 104 BPM to 172 BPM
Mix by Mike Arato & John Matarazzo Produced by Raul A. Rodriguez
Men Without Hats — The Safety Dance The S.O.S. Band — Just Be Good To Me Yaz — State Farm Herbie Hancock — Rockit Madonna — Holiday Michael Jackson — Billie Jean Freeez — I.O.U. Shannon — Let The Music Play Lime — Angel Eyes Irene Cara — Flashdance… What A Feeling Eurythmics — Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) Thomas Dolby — She Blinded Me With Science Thompson Twins — Lies Donna Summer — She Works Hard For The Money Michael Jackson — Beat It Michael Sembello — Maniac Pointer Sisters — I'm so Excited Michael Jackson — Thriller
― mike t-diva, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Well I'm not sure if it's true - having lived through the period it feels true to me. It feels to me that 83, 84, 85 were semi-drought years, and then things started to be interesting again: hip-hop, house, etc.
It feels to me that in those early eighties, some slightly off the wall things could get in the top 20. A Joy Division or a Japan could not just get records released, but could also get top 20 hits.
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:21 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah that one top twenty joy division single totally made all the difference. blergh -- this is entirely academic, rly. "the kind of music i like was marginally more popular for a two-year period a quarter of a century ago, therefore it was a golden age and the subsequent two-year period was terrible!" lol criticism.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link
Maybe you're right.
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link
there was hip-hop in 83/84/85. i believe some of it may even have been interesting.
― blueski, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:36 (sixteen years ago) link
the dickies - stukas over disneyland
OTM OTM OTM !!!!
― Alex in NYC, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link
-- blueski, Friday, March 7, 2008 4:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link
yeah. not much of it in the UK or US charts tho.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:38 (sixteen years ago) link
"i'm so excited"! "holiday"! "let the music play"! "rockit"!
christ almighty! i suppose someone will come along and say these were actually WRITTEN in 1982 and so don't count?
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:39 (sixteen years ago) link
they were handed down to Moses in triplicate
― blueski, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Jesus was singing "I'm so excited" when he came down from the mountain with the commandments!
― Mark G, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link
I thought that the drought period for hip-hop was Autumn 84 to Autumn 85: post-electro, pre-Def Jam.
― mike t-diva, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost OR WHOEVER IT WAS! ach.
1983 had 'into battle with the art of noise'
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link
RUN DMC
It seems I'm trying to only post pedantries on this thread.
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Tell you what I didn't get in 1983, right: The Smiths. Dour, retrograde, boringly conservative, Red Guitars meets Orange Juice. Just couldn't see what the fuss was about. It actually took the Francois Kevorkian remix of "This Charming Man" to show me I was wrong. Very, very wrong.
― mike t-diva, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, that's two singles in, so it's not exactly after the bus had left.
― Mark G, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Nothing wrong with establishing the truth, as opposed to the terrible wrongs involved in establishing soulful, passionate and honest 1983 band the Truth who certainly gave pop a blandness washout with their stirring "Confusion (Hits Us Every Time)" followed by the uplifting, honest, passionate and soulful "A Step In The Right Direction."
Dennis Greaves was the New Messiah and it's all our fault that we didn't adhere to his cocktail-crushing teachings.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link
am i the only one who likes gary byrd's 'the crown'? it's ridic pompous/self-righteous and often cheesy and stilted lyrically but still glorious - esp. the chorus and when stevie chimes in. i'd put it up there with 'stand on the word' in a way.
― blueski, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost no very true exactly. Been sold the second comin' so much I got a headache.
Hmm, that could make a good opening line. Apart from the headache bit. ANYWAY!!!
Yeah, the Truth. Nice t-shirt with the 12" but then mass exodus!
― Mark G, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:52 (sixteen years ago) link
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZ0su_Jzj4 but you want a version over 7 mins (think the 12" clocks in at just over 10)
― blueski, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Perhaps I ought to start a 1983 singles freebie poll - the "Baby Jane" beach ball slugs it out with the Annabel Lamb video.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:54 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost to Mark G re The Smiths: But in 1983, two singles was a whole lifetime! No, Orange Juice felt like my fellow travellers: from pasty-faced lovesick fey boys not getting any sex in 1980-81, to shiny new pop party boys with nice new haircuts getting plenty of sex in 1982-3. So the last thing I wanted to do was put my cardigan back on and retreat back to the bedsit...
― mike t-diva, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, right there with you on that one.
I think I decided when I heard a feature on Radio 1, they were testing guitars out in some instrument expo, and they handed Johnny Marr a sitar/guitar, and he played the riff from "Charming Man" totally unselfconsciouly, because he wanted to know what it would sound like on *this*.
At this point I decided, whatever, JMarr was the cool dude.
― Mark G, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:58 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost to d: Baby Jane was the Adidas t-shirt, but there are some things you don't do even for a decent quality t-shirt and putting Rod at no 1 was one of them. "Don't blame me I didn't buy it" badges to the fore!
Reposting this to Popular in how many years time...
― Mark G, Friday, 7 March 2008 16:59 (sixteen years ago) link
was thrilled to find the vocal version of Shirley Lites 'Heat You Up (Melt You Down)' on itunes plus the other week. not a hit obv but superb italo.
― blueski, Friday, 7 March 2008 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
The 1983 Disconet Top Tune Medley (1983) Part 1 The 1983 Disconet Top Tune Medley (1983) Part 2
― mike t-diva, Friday, 7 March 2008 17:21 (sixteen years ago) link
1983 was an ace year. Stuff didn't really go wrong until 1986-87, as a result of a combination of digital synths, rap, house, hair metal and Stock/Aitken/Waterman. Pop music has never fully recovered since and become as good again as it was before the mid 80s.
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 7 March 2008 20:47 (sixteen years ago) link
x-post -- Fair enough, but for a sec I'm all, "Wait, WHAT?"
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Because nothing's more pop hedonist than an album with that name!
'Hedon the Door'?
― NickB, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Blueski's list of good songs is impressive!
I really like 'owner of a lonely heart'.
― the pinefox, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:34 (fifteen years ago) link
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 livesonic youth - confusion is sexthe fall - perverted by languagethe fall - in a holeglenn branca - symphony no 1birthday party - mutiny / the bad seedswans - filthrem - murmureinsturzende neubauten - drawing of patient o.t.rudimentary peni - death churchthe cramps - smell of femalemisfits - earth adsuicidal tendencies - s/tminutemen - what makes a man start fires?husker du - everything falls apartcreatures - feastbig black - bulldozerthe comes - no side
also stuff by jandek, the ex, daniel johnston, harmonic choir, etc etc
and this happenedhttp://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s365578.jpg
― Edward III, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:41 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:52 (fifteen years ago) link
In other words, none of the above was happening VISIBLY, whereas a year earlier they might have done.
― What a broad smile! It is like a delta! (Marcello Carlin), Friday, 21 November 2008 16:54 (fifteen years ago) link
In the US, I think the decline started a bit later - around 1985.
― o. nate, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:55 (fifteen years ago) link
(I mean the decline in Top 40 radio - not talking about small, independent releases.)
― o. nate, Friday, 21 November 2008 16:57 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Zelda Zonk, Friday, 21 November 2008 17:07 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Edward III, Friday, 21 November 2008 18:28 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 21 November 2008 19:07 (fifteen years ago) link
Boring Pazz & Jop results imo.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 1 November 2019 02:02 (four years ago) link