yup, "I'm On Fire" in the style of "Nebraska" would rule.
FYC FTW.
― stirmonster, Sunday, 6 June 2021 00:45 (two years ago) link
Precisely! re IOF.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, 6 June 2021 00:57 (two years ago) link
I actually think it sounds like that in my head. Then I listen to the track.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, 6 June 2021 00:59 (two years ago) link
Can't say "Can't Ignore the Train" ever brought to mind Talking Heads or Blondie, but it's one of a mere handful of 10,000 Maniacs tracks I really like. Plus I'm drawn to underdogs in these things, so...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 6 June 2021 02:45 (two years ago) link
I love how this video is so weirdly frantic and unrehearsed but they do one synchronised move in it, very briefly. I had also forgotten about the guitarist's crazy leg dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5Se-9XAVE
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, 6 June 2021 15:33 (two years ago) link
How weird it is that the guitarist and bass player from the Beat went on to so much more commercial success than the two front men. Well, in the UK at least, if not globally? Also, I'm sure everyone has already had this thought before, but it only just occurred to me that Johnny Come Home kind of works as an answer song to Smalltown Boy. Might even be in the same key and same bpm?
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 17:12 (two years ago) link
I bought six of these in 1985: Simply Red (ex-jukebox bargain bin), Lone Justice / Moroder & Oakey / Feargal Sharkey / Miles Davis (all in the heavily discounted new release bargain bin) / Fine Young Cannibals (full price, on 12"). I was hoovering them up by the bucketload back then.
― mike t-diva, Sunday, 6 June 2021 17:27 (two years ago) link
Head Over Heels
― edited for dog profanity (cryptosicko), Sunday, 6 June 2021 18:44 (two years ago) link
i've always associated Johnny Come Home with Smalltown Boy too.
And the two members of FYC who weren't Roland Gift of course went on to have (possibly) the first ever UK originated House record top 20 hit.
― stirmonster, Sunday, 6 June 2021 20:46 (two years ago) link
Good point! They must've had one of the first UK rap top 20s too - they wrote and produced Monie Love's 'It's A Shame'. What earlier UK rap hits were there?
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
They were just narrowly beaten to it by Krush "House Arrest", Beatmasters/Cookie Crew "Rok Da House" and Jack 'N' Chill "The Jack That House Built", but it was close. (You could perhaps argue for Mel & Kim "Showing Out" or MARRS "Pump Up The Volume", but they're both a bit borderline.)
― mike t-diva, Sunday, 6 June 2021 20:58 (two years ago) link
House Arrest by Krush was released the previous year and got to #3, one of the people responsible for it was Mark Brydon, earlier of Chakk, later of Moloko.xp rats, beaten to it!
― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:00 (two years ago) link
Re UK rap top 20 hits, Derek B might well have been the first, with "Goodgroove" and "Bad Young Brother" in the first half of 1988.
― mike t-diva, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:01 (two years ago) link
what was the track we're talking about?
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:08 (two years ago) link
Ah, that'd be right! only other things i can think of is embarrassing shit like Stutter Rap xp
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:09 (two years ago) link
David Steele and Andy Cox from FYC / The Beat were also the people behind 2 Men, A Drum Machine & A Trumpet - Tired of Getting Pushed Around
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
what the heck kind of music is 'Johnny Come Home' anyway, musicologically speaking?
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:14 (two years ago) link
80s pop
― Mark G, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:16 (two years ago) link
xp The ex-FYC house track was Two Men A DrumMachine And A Trumpet “I’m Tired Of Getting Pushed Around”. (This is currently my specialist subject as I’m in the middle of publishing the 1988 James Hamilton Record Mirror columns/charts at https://jameshamiltonsdiscopage.com )
― mike t-diva, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:16 (two years ago) link
Thanks Mike and Nick.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:20 (two years ago) link
Cheers! i bought all of those at the time, except for Krush, but hazy now on what came out when. The borderline ones (Mel & Kim "Showing Out" & MARRS "Pump Up The Volume") are the ones that have (by far) aged the best.
― stirmonster, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:27 (two years ago) link
...although i still dig "Rok Da House".
― stirmonster, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:28 (two years ago) link
Was just looking up David Steele on Discogs and it says he was also in a Scottish psychobilly band called Dead Neighbours. When he left, he got replaced by Will Heggie from the Cocteau Twins and the band became Lowlife. I mean wtf? Is that really the same David Steele?
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:33 (two years ago) link
sounds like a discogs error. could it be??
― stirmonster, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:39 (two years ago) link
i think this is my favourite post FYC thing he was involved in -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7c45E0OZ_Y
― stirmonster, Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:42 (two years ago) link
yeah i'm looking at the cover of their album and it doesn't look like him at all, even though the amazon blurb says it is:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/DEAD-NEIGHBOURS/dp/B005F4CLN0
shame really, that would be an excellent bit of trivia if true xp
― building a hole (NickB), Sunday, 6 June 2021 21:45 (two years ago) link
I had never heard the Dury remix before today. Slight, but fun.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 7 June 2021 18:15 (two years ago) link
Almost impossible to choose between Head Over Heels and Johnny Come Home. (And fwiw I also bought Showing Out, Pump Up The Volume, House Arrest and Rok Da House as a teenager)
― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Monday, 7 June 2021 21:08 (two years ago) link
We’re voting for the song, not the review, right?
― Alba, Monday, 7 June 2021 23:58 (two years ago) link
I voted for the review bcz that was the title of the poll
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 00:06 (two years ago) link
but I think jed means the songs
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 00:07 (two years ago) link
lol "hot for teacher" is "kind of a heavy metal benny hill" otm, and that's one of the reasons why i love it so
― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 00:10 (two years ago) link
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic),
Yeah that's what i thought to do as well
― Fauna Sukkot (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
This was an exceptionally strong week for singles, I must say
― Fauna Sukkot (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 00:32 (two years ago) link
Er, fortnight
Would be a fun thing to listen to every single that came out in 1985, week by week.
I did that with movies a few years ago, when one of my favorite cinemas shut down. I was talking to the owner, and he showed me a newpaper ad for the opening day in 1983 and we both agreed that it was an amazing lineup. I persuaded him to show those movies on the last night, and he was really into the idea and told me to get the DVD's together. He backed out at the last minute, but by then I had every movie that came out in the first half of June, 1983 on DVD and it was this crazy immersive thing, like, why not do July next?
― Fauna Sukkot (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 00:38 (two years ago) link
Well, here's a thing. Since January 1982, I had been compiling a weekly personal chart, but on this exact day - 18th June 1985 - they came to an end. I was about to graduate from university, and I was also just about to move in with my boyfriend of two months' standing (who became my life partner; we're still together), so there must have been an element of "putting away childish things", but 1985 wasn't exactly a golden year for new music, so enthusiasm must have been waning anyway.
Anyhow, here is that final personal chart from 18th June 1985 in full. Oddly, it's a top 34.
01 (05) Unexpected Lovers - Lime02 (04) The Lady Don't Mind - Talking Heads03 (10) Axel F - Harold Faltermeyer04 (NE) No Cure, No Pay - Working Week05 (re) Vicious Games - Yello06 (11) 19 - Paul Hardcastle07 (02) Walking On Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves08 (NE) Stop Making Sense (LP) - Talking Heads09 (13) Duel - Propaganda10 (03) Ways To be Wicked - Lone Justice11 (NE) Rise Up (For My Love) - Yvonne Kay12 (07) The Word Girl - Scritto Politti13 (01) Body Rock/Peter Slaghuis Remix - Maria Vidal14 (NE) Paisley Park - Prince15 (12) You're My Heart, You're My Soul - Modern Talking16 (NE) Cccan't You See (Re-mixxx) - Vicious Pink17 (re) Bad Habits - Jenny Burton18 (20) Dangerous - Natalie Cole19 (16) Walls Come Tumbling Down - Style Council20 (08) Oh Yeah! - Bill Withers21 (15) Sally Maclennane - The Pogues22 (09) Wicki Wacky House Party - The Team23 (30) Shake The Disease - Depeche Mode24 (17) The Perfect Kiss - New Order25 (NE) Fan The Flame - Barbara Pennington26 (23) Sweet Nothing - Working Week27 (15) Obsession - Animotion28 (22) History - Mai Tai29 (06) Let Me Feel It - Samantha Gilles30 (18) Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals31 (39) Money Moves - Barrington Levy32 (28) Sex Machine - James Brown33 (NE) That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore - The Smiths34 (21) Time After Time - Miles Davis
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 8 June 2021 10:20 (two years ago) link
im no bossologist but really surprised to read criticism of ‘i’m on fire’ production, have always thought that was a perfect sounding record
anyway, ‘head over heels’
― lemmy incaution (emsworth), Tuesday, 8 June 2021 11:34 (two years ago) link
"heavy metal Benny Hill"
― andrew m., Tuesday, 8 June 2021 13:49 (two years ago) link
Having just played through all the tracks, I'd say that Maureen Rice did a decent job with these reviews; there's little to take issue with here. As this was Simply Red's first release, her optimism was justified at this stage. It's a good cover of a great song, and the acceptable face of the "soulcialism" that was so big in 1985, as was "Johnny Come Home" (Big Sound Authority's lame effort being at the other end of the spectrum). The praise for Maria McKee's vocals on the Lone Justice is a tad hyperbolic, but the track holds up well as a good example of the jangly "new authenticity" wave of US bands that were breaking through (boosted by the enthusiasm of Hepworth & Ellen on Whistle Test). The review of Feargal Sharkey's "Loving You" is particularly on point, while the weakest review for me is for Van Halen's surprisingly thrilling "Hot For Teacher", which I've never knowingly heard before and would have crossed the street to avoid in 1985 - those arresting Burundi-style drums at the start really should have got a mention. So if we're voting for best review, it's Sharkey, but my favourite track remains "Johnny Come Home".
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 8 June 2021 13:55 (two years ago) link
Sting - If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free: If the Police had one more album in them, this would've been perfect. There's like two more singles from Sting's first solo LP that would have been good Police tracks - not a fan of the rest.
I didn't realize "Ways to Be Wicked" was a flop...#77? It feels too conservative to be representative of their talents, but it's highly enjoyable, meat-and-potatoes stuff. I would've thought top ten easy, but it was probably a really bad sign that it didn't even break into the top 40.
I love that Springsteen track - it seems amazing something that short and low-key can be a top ten hit, but then again he was "as big as Coca-Cola" by that point. (I remember reading that somewhere and it struck me as a perfect description of Bruce's gigantic, mainstream popularity in the mid-'80s.)
I didn't realize FYC was that "old." It makes sense given how old the (English) Beat were but "She Drives Me Crazy" seemed like another generation later.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 8 June 2021 14:33 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 14 June 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 15 June 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Smash Hits was excellent wasn't it? I know people say the 80s was the peak and reading this I'm inclined to believe so, but even the 90s version I grew up with was better than most other magazines I read at the time.
On Youtube there are a good few recordings of the Poll Winners Parties from late 80s/early 90s, they've cheered me up a lot during lockdown.
― boxedjoy, Tuesday, 15 June 2021 09:03 (two years ago) link
Pretty sure Marcello Carlin has done this and written about it, somewhere.
― mahb, Tuesday, 15 June 2021 09:18 (two years ago) link
I'm On Fire is an amazing song impeded by its production. A better version of it would be the best track here.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Saturday, June 5, 2021 8:12 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
― stirmonster, Saturday, June 5, 2021
waht
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 15 June 2021 10:06 (two years ago) link
Nebraska in the style of Tunnel of Love would be Springsteen's best album.
smash hits was absolutely my number one source of music news when i was in my early teens and going through a bit of a goth phase. used to cut out every picture of the cure, the cult and the banshees and stick them on my wall. getting this sticker was an absolute highpoint though:
https://i.ibb.co/yh2kX5K/Capture.jpg
― disraeli grinds my gears (NickB), Tuesday, 15 June 2021 10:16 (two years ago) link
brix with a fag in her hand
― disraeli grinds my gears (NickB), Tuesday, 15 June 2021 10:17 (two years ago) link