1983 - A Year in Music

I was looking for a nice way in to this 1983 post, but I couldn't find one. When I looked through the news of the year it was so depressing (Thatcher wins by landslide) that I thought I should just focus on the music. I have a very distinct memory of hearing 68 Guns by The Alarm for the first time. It was either on or walking past Morecambe pier which, just like The Alarm, no longer exists. The similarities don't end there either, as 68 Guns and the seaside town are both blustery and full of wind, and even though they have passed their peak there is a certain faded grandeur and pomp in both, that appeals a great deal to me.

The Alarm - 68 Guns

Aztec Camera - Oblivious
Big Country - Fields of Fire
Eddie Grant - Electric Avenue
Eurythmics - Love is a Stranger
Grand Master Flash - White Lines
Heaven 17 - Temptation
Icicle Works - Whisper to a Scream

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing
REM - Radio Free Europe
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pride and Joy
The Beat - Can't Get Used to Losing You
The Lotus Eaters - First Picture of You

The Mighty Wah! - The Story of the Blues (might be 1982?)
The Rolling Stones - Undercover of the Night
Violent Femmes - Add it Up

1980 - A Year in Music

Don't you just love the 80's? No? Well, you've got a point. If you were to ask my wife what the 80's meant for her she'd have to say something along the lines of learning to walk and leaving the nappies behind. For me the 80's immediately conjures up mental images of TV news footage of many a grim going on; hunger strikes, the Falklands war, Handsworth and Brixton riots, unemployment, the miner's strike, CND and so on. It's not a pretty picture, and for a lot of the 80's, growing up in a fairly depressed midlands new town (not that I was economically affected), not a pretty picture is about as well as I can put it. A couple of the upsides that spring to mind are the Sony Walkman and post punk, a great combination.

So, get off your BMX, hitch up yer leg warmers, and have a look at my top picks for the year 1980, the year John Lennon got shot.

UB40 - King
Echo & The Bunnymen - Villiers Terrace
Bob Marley - Redemption Song
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno
Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

Hot Chocolate - Emma
John Martyn - Sweet Little Mystery
Stevie Wonder - Master Blaster
The Ruts - Staring at the Rude Boys
The Specials - Do Nothing
Willie Nelson - On the Road Again

The Who - You Better You Bet
Neil Diamond - America
AC/DC - Have a Drink On Me
Wah! Heat - Better Scream