Gold: The Spandau Ballet Singles Poll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqNau8Kp-E0

^ what do you guys think of this lot? always thought of them as being like an early spandau but fronted by ming the merciless instead of that plank hadley

gross

Ha I knew that would be friggin' Classix Nouveaux

Nope, don't like Classix Nouveaux!!

was trying to think of bands that could have been spandau ballet if spandau ballet hadn't already existed

think that classix were maybe a lot closer to the true new romantic aesthetic than spandau though, who always seemed like a bunch of soul boys at heart

jimmy sommerville and tony should have done a duet together imo

Spandau Ballet may have had the better vocalist, but the (original line-up) Duran Duran had a better image and better songs.

Of course quality-wise I feel neither of them are a patch on Japan and Ultravox, but that's just me! :P

You mean the Stephen Duffy led Duran Duran?

D'oh!!!

No, the Le Bon/Rhodes/Taylor/Taylor/Taylor line-up, naturally!

-original +'classic'

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

We used to have Magic FM on in the morning for Dr Fox's unintentional hilarity and I couldn't help noticing the version they have of True edits out the sax solo. Presumably too raucous. Voted Communication, which has much to enjoy - that bit where the organ sounds like it's straining to inhale, "I'm-a left-a hee uh-huh", "Dick Tate!" etc

Was always disappointed that "These are my salad days, and this is my Salad" was never a lyric of theirs (or anybodys)

I will go to my grave contending that Duran Duran's songs are and were almost total shit.

Everybody's got their blind spots.

Midnight I think I'm gonna make it
Feel the magical lash of the roll
And the crash in their lives
Headline in tomorrow's papers
Kill that light it's so bright
And you're shining it right in my eyes

CHORUS
Show me your secret and tell me your name
Catch me with your fizzy smile
Try to remember again and again
What it is that I recognise
Don't ask me now
When I need you I don't know how
To believe in your advice
Just this once I take the dice

Midnight so what's the point of faking
For a kiss or a whisper
You pull out a desperate prize
Hold tight onto Daddy's bracelet
Make them pay for their chances
With money they don't think that's nice

People overrated Duran Duran because they had the reprehensible Spandau Ballet next to them. I like To Cut a Long Story Short and Chant No 1. The rest is bilge. Like Duran, they quickly dropped the punk-funk tension that was the only worthwhile thing about them and wrote mindbogglingly awful lyrics - Spandau did the same bad things as Duran but they did them much much worse.

Those random lyric generator programs are, um, pretty rubbish really, aren't they?

But they can be handy when you find it hard to write the next line.

I like To Cut a Long Story Short and Chant No 1. The rest is bilge.

otm

"true" is so badly sung it has camp appeal i guess. as far as duran VS spandau goes, let me wheel out the war stories. hazy memory of interviewing both lead singers back in the day: tony hadley was imperious and hungover while simon lebon was preposterous and affable

sounds about right

You're like the sixth or seventh guy who's said Le Bow Bow, contrary to impressions created by his wardrobe, is a charmer.

Billy Bragg tells a nice story about Gary Kemp volunteering for Red Wedge but really timidly because he was so self-conscious about how low Spandau's reputation was. Like, "Please don't laugh at me."

Gary Kemp had a few 'visibilities' i.e. attempts at music before succeeding with that one. Check an episode of "You must be joking" where he's in an acoustic double-act with Phil Daniels on one song...

voting "Communication" though i probably would cringe if i listen to it right now

My exact first thought too,. Bet "Only When You Leave" holds up.

I ultimately voted for "Only When You Leave."

How omnipresent were their singles in the UK? The band was pretty huge in Europe through '87.

really really really omnipresent

Spent too mcuh attention as a teenager as a teenager parsing

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

GHOST BUSTERS!

omigod they really have a song called "Nature of the Beast"

it's about guinea pigs

Making love through the barricades always seem like a convoluted and painful way to practise safe sex, if you ask me

not if your love is a hard prison wall

lol the only song I actually know here is "True"

Gold is some powerful inspirational shit.

remove words 3 thru 5 in that sentence maybe

Tell us more about the "punk-funk tension"! Sounds great.

BTW finally listened to some DD live albums and they might change your mind if you're a non-believer. GOOD LIVE BAND!!

Chant Number One used to be my favourite, but now it's between Instinction and Lifeline. Hmm. OK, Instinction, because Trevor Horn always wins.

hmm

I would like "Gold" a lot more if it was actually a full-on Swing Out Sister song

Tell us more about the "punk-funk tension"! Sounds great.

Babygirl, unpack yr sweaters and get FABULOUS in FALL gay homo queer &c 2012

It's the bongo bit that bugs me.

... potentially a good lyric that

the part that bugs me is the section in the verse where the melody just has nothing to do with the chord progression underneath it, to the point where it would sound like a mistake if dude didn't sing it exactly the same way every time

and the bongos are totally wasted

what's worse – Hadley's vocal, the sax solo, or the death throes of an asphyxiating goat?

or the death throes of an asphyxiating goat

Robin Gibb's on it?

I just listened to "Lifeline" and I've already forgotten how it went

"Round and Round" sounds like a showtune

oh I can't wait until you get a load of the singing on "She Loved Like Diamond."

"She Loved Like Diamond"

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