Wednesday, July 26, 2017

40 From 40: 1981

Our survey of four decades of alt-pop (like alt-right, but even more white and middle-class) lands on one of the big years - indeed, to Lord Bob Stanley it's the best pop year of them all. Synthpop, paranoia, post-punk and pop weirdness lead the way, MTV, Kerrang! and Stars On 45 begin their varying career parabolas, Bucks Fizz take Eurovision, home taping starts killing music and Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a dove - to a PR woman as sole audience before a Columbia Records executive meeting, which is surely stretching too far. Good times, these, for a year we could easily have made a second playlist for, but rules are rules so...




Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet)
Dinosaur L - Go Bang
ESG - Moody
Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
D.A.F. - Der Mussolini
Our Daughter's Wedding - Lawnchairs
Depeche Mode - New Life
The Human League - Love Action (I Believe in Love)
Soft Cell - Bedsitter
Pete Shelley - Homosapien
Squeeze - Is That Love?
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe (original Hib-Tone single)
Minor Threat - Minor Threat
Black Flag - Rise Above
The Birthday Party - Release The Bats
Department S - Is Vic There?
Josef K - Sorry For Laughing
Au Pairs - Come Again
Gang Of Four - To Hell With Poverty
The Higsons - I Don't Want To Live With Monkeys
Pigbag - Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag
The Specials - Ghost Town
Madness - Grey Day
Black Uhuru - Youth Of Eglington
Grace Jones - Feel Up
Freeez - Southern Freeez
Linx - Intuition
ABC - Tears Are Not Enough
Brian Eno & David Byrne - The Jezebel Spirit
Prince - Controversy
Lovebug Starski - Positive Life
Gil Scott-Heron - 'B' Movie (Intro, Poem, Song)
ABBA - The Day Before You Came
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Souvenir
Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound
The Fall - Leave The Capitol
The Undertones - Julie Ocean
Scritti Politti - The “Sweetest Girl”
Japan - Ghosts

Previously amongst the 40: 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009

No comments: