1980 has gone down as the year of unusual numbers of rock deaths - Lennon, John Bonham, Ian Curtis, Bon Scott, Malcolm Owen of the Ruts, Tim Hardin - which tends to overshadow that the improbable pace of development and diversification around these years was coming into its own. Things came from all angles, the clubs becoming a sales influence in the year when Top Of The Pops was off TV for nine summer weeks due to Musician's Union strike action while the indie chart was launched in January to give a sector deep into the shapeshifting oddity of post-punk and its cousins 2-Tone, electronics and goth more exposure. The American hardcore and punk underground reared up with SST starting to put out records other than Black Flag's, while at the other end of the sales scale pop itself went in strange exploratory directions as percussive, feedback-laden sloganeers Adam & The Ants became pretty much the biggest band in the land. And look at rap starting to make itself known in its original, straightforward form down there. These really were accelerating cultures, which is obviously why the year's 40 starts with a knowingly retro record.
The Barracudas - Summer Fun
The Undertones - Wednesday Week
Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach
The Soft Boys - I Wanna Destroy You
XTC - Generals And Majors
Paul McCartney - Coming Up
Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
Adam & The Ants - Don't Be Square (Be There)
A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
Young Marble Giants - Wurlitzer Jukebox
Grace Jones - Private Life
UB40 - King
The Specials - Do Nothing
John Foxx - Underpass
The Cure - A Forest
Orange Juice - Blue Boy
New Musik - This World Of Water
Squeeze - Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)
Diana Ross - My Old Piano
Susan Fassbender - Twilight Cafe
Dexys Midnight Runners - There There My Dear
Magazine - A Song From Under The Floorboards
Madness - Embarrassment
The Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
Joy Division - Isolation
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Mission Of Burma - Max Ernst
The Birthday Party - Mr Clarinet
The Cramps - Garbageman
Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia
Motörhead - Ace Of Spades
The Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Happy House
Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three - The New Rap Language
Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
Kate Bush - Babooshka
Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
The Jam - That's Entertainment
Robert Wyatt - At Last I Am Free
John Cooper Clarke - Beasley Street
Previously on 40 From 40: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009
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