Spandau Ballet: Classic or Dud?

"True" is great. Not only the song, but also the album. It's the only Spandau Ballet album that fully works as an album from beginning to end, not only as a bunch of singles and filler.

"Musclebound" got played on Pick Of The Pops yesterday.

Horst Wessel to fuck, what a racket.

http://www.spandauballetstore.com/index.html

Go on, knock yersel out.

(Exclusive Ticket Link, as per arrived in my gmail inbox, no interest)

The True Sound of Thatcherism

I don't advocate that particular article, mind. I think I've only heard their singles. Just clicked on it this morning and now this thread has been revived.

Jesus, that article was a heap of dirty caftans.

jeez:

Billy Bragg has even attributed his decision to become a performer to them: "One day I saw Spandau Ballet on Top of the Pops wearing kilts and singing Chant No 1 and something in me snapped. I was waiting for a band to come along to play the kind of music I wanted to hear, and none was forthcoming, so it was that moment I finally realised it was gonna have to be me," he said at a press conference in August 2003.

.. and went on to tour and do gigs as part of Red Wedge, alongside Gary and Martin Kemp! (Not Tony Hadley, clearly)

I never liked them, but they were always about the 'raising yerself up' like the Mods did. Which is not Thatcherism, it predates her by a large margin. And seeing as how they wrote the songs, etc (and not the clothes horse in front), the article is a bunch of crap.

That quote makes me want to throw Billy Bragg off a skyscraper. Douche.

It is the key to all the doors
it is the crashing on the shores
it lives in your steering wheel (!)
it hides in the wind and rain
with voices as cold as steel
it’s calling your name

this is the nature of the beast
(this is the nature)
this is the nature of the beast
(this is the nature)
without all this heat
they’ll be dancing west to east
this is the nature of the beast

Spandau Ballet vs. Thompson Twins, hmm...

How can this of all threads have no images?

Duran Duran + Crocodile Dundee =
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q66/DaneShadows/spandau-ballet.jpg

What dud duds. They could use some color in their clothing.

http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/images/spandauballet.jpg

The Edwardian era is my favorite.

I find "True" to be one of the most detestable songs of the 1980's.

I just read about the Spandau re-form thing in the paper. Ye gods. "Hi, we're out of cash, fancy a concert or three?"

I used to love them as a kiddie, but I was always more interested in their earlier semi-weirdy tracks like Chant #1 and Instinction and Paint me Down.

Gah their lyrics were dreadful though.

"She used to be a diplomat
But now she's down the laundromat"

Even as a 14 year old fan that line made me want to hurl my pink Walkman across the room in disgust.

the only band ever that made Andy Partridge start a beef = classick.

This sounds like a great story! Anyone know it?

Spandau Ballet are set to be the first intergalactic group in the world when they perform outside the earth’s atmosphere when commercial flights begin in 18 months time on Sir Richard Branson’s new commercial spacecraft, Enterprise, which was unveiled on Tuesday.

It was unveiled in California’s Mojave Desert in front of an audience that included Arnold Schwarzenegger and HRH Princess Beatrice.

Spandau Ballet will have five minutes of weightlessness to perform one of their hits, which will include either ’I’ll Fly For You’, according to founding member Steve Norman, ’Gold’ or ’True’.

The landmark voyage will be sponsored by Insureandgo, Britain’s leading independent travel insurer. Founder Perry Wilson says “This is the first time we’ve been involved in space travel. Perhaps this will open new markets for us in space travel.”

The event is supported by EMI Chairman Guy Hands and organised by Richard Hillgrove.

As only six passengers and two pilots are permitted to on board, cameras, microphones and equipment will all be automated and operated from earth.

Spandau Ballet are currently celebrating their reunion and 30th anniversary with a world tour.

"She rides the soul train while he fights the law."

Topcoats over spacesuits.

Me on True (the album): http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/spandau-ballet-true.html

Electro, funk and dance music pioneers, SPANDAU BALLET, will return to the United States to perform after 28 years this March as part of the 2014 South By Southwest Film and Music Festival at the reopening of the legendary Vulcan Gas Company.

The five original members - Tony Hadley, John Keeble, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp and Steve Norman - recently announced the world premiere of their documentary ¬¬¬¬¬Soul Boys of the Western World at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX in competition in the 24 Beats section. The feature length film was directed by George Hencken and includes rare original footage and a side of the band many fans will never have seen before.

Soul Boys of the Western World will be screened at 2:00pm on Wednesday, March 12th at 2:00pm at the Paramount Theatre (713 Congress Ave). Later that night Spandau Ballet will also stage their first performance in America in nearly three decades in Austin's famed Vulcan Gas Company (The Vulcan), 418 E 6th St which has been closed for 44 years and is reopening, re-built and re-born, with this performance by one of the 80's iconic super groups.

Electro what and what now?

So they're apparently playing San Francisco on January 23rd...full American tour happening?

And so it proves:

JANUARY
23rd San Francisco, CA Warfield Theatre On-Sale 11/14
25th Los Angeles, CA Wiltern Theatre On-Sale 11/14
27th Denver, CO Paramount Theatre On-Sale 11/14
30th Chicago, IL House of Blues On-Sale 11/14
31st Detroit, MI Masonic Temple Theatre On-Sale 11/14

FEBRUARY
3rd Toronto, ONT Massey Hall On-Sale 11/14
5th Boston, MA House of Blues On-Sale 11/14
6th New York, NY Beacon Theatre On-Sale 11/15
7th Westbury, NY Theatre at Westbury On-Sale 11/14
9th Washington, DC 9:30 Club On-Sale 11/13
10th Red Bank, NY Count Basie Theatre On-Sale 11/14

how much were your tickets?

I sold your liquor cabinet for them.

anyone watch the movie yet?

this one..

http://cheeseontoast.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Spandau-Ballet-soul-boys.jpg

Asshole Toys For The Western Turd, more like.

this much is true

A statement from Tony Hadley :- I am no longer a member of the band Spandau Ballet & will not be performing with the band in the future. pic.twitter.com/KcuNGTtSFn

— Tony Hadley (@TheTonyHadley) July 3, 2017

First subtweet from Holly Johnson.

They need a replacement = it is Alfred's time to shine.

That's my instinction!

I just listened to their first album out of curiosity, it's not bad.

not really sure what the point of this band is without their lead singer but I imagine the majority of people who would go see them at an 80's review show at this point wouldn't know any better either

Hmm. My opinion these days is that Spandau Ballet were much better at stuff like 'True' and 'Only When You Leave' than the type of material that made up their first couple of albums. Although, having said that, 'To Cut a Long Story Short' is still probably their best track overall.

It's funny, obviously I think that there's a lot of music from that period that has aged pretty well, particularly in the pop realm - 'Freedom' by Wham! has aged well, and quite a lot of what the original Duran Duran line-up did. Yet much of Spandau Ballet's music has aged pretty fucking horrendously.

round and round it goes!

That statement sounds like he's been forced to stand down from the board of directors, etc .

Didnt they all sue each other some years back?

Yes, but they all came together and reuned, all that.

As I say, the statements seem to say he wasn't interested in September 06, so when the company year end comes around and they all get their dividend, if he's not interested in doing more in the coming year and the rest do, he'd need to be paid off in return for his resignation.

Is my guess, anyway.

the artist pretending it's art!

Wasn't it "the art is pretending it's art"?

who knows? Don't trust a band whose songwriter once wrote "She rides the soul train while he fights the law."

Or "stealing cake to eat the moon"

Or "loving makes the cream taste nice"

"She rides the soul train while he fights the law" would be good if it was supposed to be ridiculous, I'm guessing it wasn't though.

Spandau Ballet appear in a short interview just before the 7 minute mark of this quite wonderful 12 minute news report (1981) on "The New Romantics": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CApOAaxUuc - "Spandau Ballet refuse to promote themselves like a normal pop group. They only appear at concerts in unusual venues, and these are never advertised. Their followers just hear through the grapevine where they're appearing."

Well that formatted horribly...

Yet their music was, on the whole, gash. Seriously, their first record is basically 'To Cut a Long Story Short', 'The Freeze' and a load of crapola.

I'm sure I remember reading that even though Gary Kemp came out in support of Labour during the '80s, Tony Hadley was actually a raging Thatcherite.