494. Kraftwerk – The Model/Computer Love (1982)

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The Intro

I still find it weird to know that Kraftwerk, one of the greatest, most influential groups of all time, had a UK number 1 single. Even weirder that it’s primarily due to The Model, a song that had been released five years before it topped the chart. Then again, should it really be a shock that it had taken the rest of the world half a decade to catch up to sounding anywhere near as good as Kraftwerk?

Before

You don’t need me to tell you that the West German experimental scene of the late 60s and early 70s was thriving, exciting and diverse. So it’s really annoying that everyone was lazily lumped together by the British press as ‘krautrock’, and that the name has stuck. Nonetheless, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can and more had a shared desire to move on from the desolation of post-war Germany and push the boundaries of music.

Among the many great young artists were Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, who met as students at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid in 1968. in Düsseldorf. The duo became part of Organisation zur Verwirklichung gemeinsamer Musikkonzepte – also known as simply Organisation. They recorded one album of experimental music, Tone Float, in 1970, which only saw release in the UK. At the time, Hutter contributed only Hammond organ, with Schenider-Esleben primarily on flute and percussion.

Shortly after Organisation disbanded, Schneider-Esleben became interested in synthesisers. He and Hütter were inspired at an exhibition by surrealist duo Gilbert & George, and adopted the image of two deadpan artists dressed in suits that has remained indelibly Kraftwerk ever since.

The early line-ups of Kraftwerk – the German for powerplant – were a work in progress, with the only constant throughout being Schneider-Esleben. Even Hütter briefly left to complete university. Konrad ‘Conny’ Plank, who had been behind the mixing desk on Tone Float, was their producer.

Kraftwerk would have you believe their debut album was Autobahn in 1974. Schneider later dismissed their first three albums as ‘archaeology’. They’re not commercially available, and no material has been performed from them since 1975. However, while they may vary in quality, and it’s a nice idea to imagine Kraftwerk arrived fully formed in the mid-70s, it’s a real shame they have been airbrushed out of history. Their eponymous debut, released in 1970 and starts with the propulsive highlight Ruckzuck. One track, Von Himmel Hoch, featured future Neu! drummer Klaus Dinger.

Kraftwerk 2 came two years later and featured only Hütter and Schneider-Esleben. While not as interesting as its predecessor, it does open with the lovely Klingklang, which gave the duo the name of their future studio.

Their third, Ralf & Florian (1973), is the best of the forgotten trilogy. It saw the duo move closer to their trademark sound, including their first use of vocoder, but with elements of psychedelia still at play, and Tanzmusik is very lovely. I genuinely think that the LP’s cover, which shows Hütter as an awkward geek next to a very suave and totally on-point Schneider-Eseleben, is the reason these albums have disappeared. Although Hütter hinted in 2009 that these albums could see the light of day eventually, we’re still waiting.

In 1974, Hütter and Schneider (at this point dropping his second surname) went shopping for synths which would transform their sound and fortunes, including a Minimoog and a Farfisa organ. They also picked up two new members – Klaus Roeder on violin and Wolfgang Flür on percussion. Their associate, the painter Emil Schult, who helped on the artwork to Ralf & Florian, became more heavily involved, helping to create a more formulaic look for the new quartet, and even contributing lyrics to the title track of their ‘first’ album.

All 22 minutes of Autobahn, Kraftwerk’s hymn to the joy of simply driving on German roads, remain a total charming delight and if you’re going to rewrite history, what a way to begin chapter one. Amazingly, it’s still brilliant in its radio edit of three minutes, which peaked at 11 in the UK in 1975. It just goes to show that a great hook will capture the imagination of record buyers, even if it is part of an electronic symphony that symbolises a giant leap forward in pop. Also worth mentioning from the accompanying album is the gorgeous Kometenmelodie 2.

Kraftwerk toured Autobahn in the UK, US and Canada, and heads were turned by four unassuming men in suits creating magical, futuristic pop music. Hütter and Schneider sang and played synths, while Flür was joined by newest member Karl Bartos on home-made electronic percussion. The classic line-up was complete.

With Kling Klang now a fully operational studio, more electronic gadgets to hand, and Hütter and Schneider producing, Kraftwerk set to work on the icy cool follow-up, Radio-Activity (Radio-Aktivität in their homeland). A concept album that played on the twin themes of the title, Kraftwerk paid tribute to radio waves on the sweet Airwaves and sang about nuclear power on Radioactivity, co-written with Schult. The peaks aren’t as high as its predecessor, but Radio-Activity is more cohesive. Kraftwerk toured once more and David Bowie declared himself a fan, even inviting them to support him on tour, but they declined.

In 1977 came Kraftwerk’s best album yet. The title track to Trans-Europe Express was an epic sequel-of-sorts to Autobahn, this time focusing on rail travel. It namechecked their new biggest fan, Bowie, and helped invent hip-hop when sampled on Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force’s 1982 hit Planet Rock. And the opening track Europe Endless is a gorgeous hymn to the continent. They also started to explore the concept of disparity between humanity and image with Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies – with the latter reaching 25 in the UK singles charts.

The Man-Machine, which followed in 1978, wasn’t quite as good, but definitely summed up their concept better than anything else within this decade. Robots and the title track further refined their danceable rhythms and the idea that they were conjured up by people who were seemingly more mechanical than humanoid. Neon Lights is up there with Europe Endless as one of their sweetest songs. And The Model was, as it turned out, catchy and importantly, short enough, to be an actual catchy pop record.

Kraftwerk spent much of the next three years working on modifications to their studio, to enable them to effectively take it out on tour. Computer World is Kraftwerk’s masterpiece and well worth the longest wait yet between LPs. It was also their most timely, arriving just as the home computer revolution began and digital technology entered the mainstream. Concise and flawless, Computer World is one of the greatest albums of all time. The fun, bouncy Pocket Calculator was released as a single, but somehow only reached 39. It was perhaps just too esoteric for the mainstream at the time. This was followed by the moving melody Computer Love, which only performed slightly better, peaking at 36.

However, Kraftwerk’s record label, EMI, had gotten wind that The Model, which was the B-side to Computer World, was getting more attention than the A-side. Against the group’s wishes, the single was re-released as a double-A-side, with a video created for The Model, and for one shining week, Kraftwerk were on top of the pop world.

Reviews

The Model, originally Das Model in their homeland, was written primarily by Schult. The artist was dating a model at the time, and Hütter and Bartos knew he had something, but they reworked the guitar-driven tune to fit their sound better.

From Radio-Activity onwards, Kraftwerk had chosen to release German and English language versions of their albums simultaneously. This of course led to occasional differences in lyrics when translated, but The Model and Das Model are mostly the same – bar for a striking utterance of ‘Korrekt!’ in the latter. This came about due to an in-joke in which the group invited a waiter they knew from a nightclub they frequented in Düsseldorf. Very funny for them, I’m sure, but it does jar somewhat and I’m glad it’s not in the UK version. The Model, is a typically Kraftwerkian icy cool observation of a beautiful woman, at once both sexy and not at all. The tune is a hell of an earworm, and totally at home among the best electronic pop of the early 80s. But it’s easier to appreciate than enjoy. It may sound silly to accuse a Kraftwerk song of lacking heart, but at their best, Kraftwerk actually made some great soulful records – and you only need to flip this record to hear one.

Although I assume the video to The Model was put together without Kraftwerk’s permission, it’s pretty good. Simple but effective, it’s primarily old footage of models, interspersed with the group performing inside their neon-lit studio/live setup. The only negative is the dated, early 80s technique of ‘animating’ them to create an annoying needlessly jerky effect.

Computer Love is the beating heart of Kraftwerk, and in an ideal world, deserves to be recognised as a number 1 in its own right. But lets just be grateful that this extremely prescient song exists in the first place. Released as Computerliebe in West Germany, Computer Love predicts modern dating as a lonely man forlornly stares at a screen while looking for romance. I’ve been there, done that, and believe me, this song captures such melancholy very well.

A lot of that is down to the plaintive melody, which came from neither Hütter or Schneider. Caps for this can be doffed squarely at the unsung hero Bartos, who had also helped work The Model into shape. Schult was again responsible for some of the lyrics – I applaud whoever came up with ‘I need a data-date, a data-date’ and assume it was him. The full seven minutes of Computer Love is pretty emotional – the rhythm grows more propulsive in the latter half. Is this to mirror the desperation of the protagonist? However, it inevitably loses some of this effect when chopped in half for a single release. Nonetheless… it’s just really rather beautiful.

Coldplay certainly felt so – they lifted the melody on their 2005 single Talk. After asking Kraftwerk’s lawyers for permission, they eventually received a letter in the post, which contained a handwritten reply that simply said ‘Yes’.

After

Kraftwerk took their Kling Klang studio on the road for their ‘Computer World’ tour, using replica mannequins to perform The Robots to audiences. They then began to work on their next album, provisionally called Technicolour. In 1983 they released the fantastic single Tour De France – a sign of Hütter’s growing love for cycling following the rigours of the previous tour. He tried to persuade the rest of the group to record a concept album based around cycling, but they refused – perhaps in part due to the fact he was involved in a cycling accident during recording that left him in a coma for a while. The single climbed to 22 and was featured in a brilliant scene from the film Breakin’ (known over here as Breakdance).

Kraftwerk found themselves becoming victims of their own success. After years of pioneering electronic music, some of those they inspired began to catch up with them, thanks in part to the advance in technology and growing cheapness of the instruments needed to create similar sounds. Although Flür had performed on the accompanying tour, his percussion was not included on Computer World, and he preferred to spend his time on the road with his girlfriend than out cycling with Hütter. 

Over time, Technicolour developed into Techno Pop, then Electric Café, before finally being released in 1986. Although much maligned, the opening trio of Boing Boom Tschak/Techno Pop/Musique Non-Stop is up there with some of their most fun work. But there’s no hiding the fact it descends almost into pastiche in the second half. Flür is missing from the LP’s credits. Neither Musique Non-Stop or The Telephone Call charted in the UK.

After years away, Kraftwerk returned to live performances with gigs in Italy in 1990. Flür had been replaced by Fritz Hilpert, and Bartos left soon after, with his slot filled by Fernando Abrantes. In 1991 came The Mix. Originally conceived as a best-of, the album served as an update of key tracks, bringing them more in-line with their live shows. For many dance music fans who discovered Kraftwerk at the time, it’s one of their favourite albums. The updated The Robots climbed to 20 in the UK. Abrantes departed before long and was replaced by Henning Schmitz.

In 1999, Kraftwerk were commissioned to create a jingle for the Hannover Expo 2000 world’s fair in Germany. The result was developed into Expo 2000, which reached 27 in the singles chart on these shores.

Hütter finally got his wish in 2003 when Tour De France Soundtracks was released. Unsurprisingly, he was credited with most of the music, with Schneider’s name absent. Maxime Schmitt received co-writing credit on the lion’s share of the album. It was better than you’d expect an album that had been awaited for years, but was a little one-note – inevitably, I guess. It spawned their last charting single to date – Aerodynamik, which peaked at 33 in 2004.

Kraftwerk’s ‘Minimum-Maximum’ tour began in 2003, and saw decreasing physical input from the ‘band’ members. All four stood in front of laptops, which, of course was inevitable for Kraftwerk, the synthesis of man-machine now complete. An accompanying live album was released in 2005.

Schneider left Kraftwerk in 2008, leaving Hütter as the sole surviving member. His ever-decreasing role was taken by Stefan Pfaffe – a ‘video technician’.

2009 saw the release of Kraftwerk’s controversial The Catalogue, in which Hütter had taken a similar approach to Star Wars creator George Lucas, changing the artwork to the albums from 1974 onwards and effectively telling the world that Kraftwerk began with Autobahn. You have to wonder if this approach had helped Schneider decide to leave. They also began touring a 3-D show featuring impressive backdrops to their shows.

Kraftwerk continued to tour, presenting a run of shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012 in which they performed each album from The Catalogue box-set per night. Pfaffe had been replaced by Falk Grieffenhagen.

In 2017 I finally got to see Kraftwerk live at Sheffield City Hall. The 3-D element was somewhat ruined in the second half due to a curtain malfunction, in which one poor guy was forced to hold the huge curtain half-open for the rest of the set. He got the biggest cheer of the night when Hütter thanked him. The 3D The Catalogue box set was an excellent document of this tour, and with the audience noise removed, was effectively a reworked version of their entire official back catalogue.

In 2020, Schneider died of cancer, and despite Kraftwerk’s faceless self-image, the music world recognised the huge contribution he had made. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. Hilpert was replaced in 2023 by Georg Bongartz, another video technician. Kraftwerk continue to tour the world.

The Outro

What will happen to Kraftwerk when Hütter either retires or dies? It’s very likely that the group will still function as a touring entity to me. After all, the only existing founder member has ensured people can pay to see and enjoy their music and impressive stage show, no matter who is pressing the buttons. There will most likely be a neverending chain of four ‘musicians’ – that is, after all, what you think of when you think of Kraftwerk. Perhaps they will be represented by holograms. Despite occasional teases, it’s unlikely there will be a new album.

What is beyond a doubt is Kraftwerk’s place in music. They are the most important group since The Beatles. Often imitated, never bettered, their ability to push boundaries, with an ear to a catchy tune, using a very German sense of fun, was incredible. We are lucky to have had them in our lifetimes.

The Info

Written by

Ralf Hütter, Karl Bartos & Emil Schult

Producers

Ralf Hütter & Florian Schneider

Weeks at number 1

1 (6-12 February)

Trivia

Births

11 February: Actress Natalie Dormer

Deaths

6 February: Painter Ben Nicholson
8 February: Sir Cedric Morris, 9th Baronet

    Meanwhile…

    6 February: Queen Elizabeth II commemorates her Pearl Jubilee.

    493. Shakin’ Stevens – Oh Julie (1982)

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    The Intro

    1981 had been a banner year for Shakin’ Stevens, with two number 1 cover versions of rock’n’roll classics This Ole House and Green Door. Shaky was back a year later and he topped the charts for the third time with a song of his own – the jaunty, Cajun-flavoured Oh Julie.

    Before

    The album Shaky had made Stevens one of the most popular singers of the previous year. With two number 1s under his belt, Epic Records milked the LP for one more hit. However, his cover of the vintage ballad It’s Raining proved it was time to make more music, when it peaked at 10.

    Recording on the follow-up began at the end of a whirlwind year. Give Me Your Heart Tonight. As it wasn’t released until October 1982, it’s most likely that the album was still being worked on when Oh Julie was released, but Epic were understandably hoping to try and keep Stevens very much in the public eye.

    Oh Julie was penned by Stevens and arranged by his guitarist Mickey Gee, who had previously worked with Tom Jones (when he was known as Tommy Scott), Joe Cocker and Dave Edmunds. He had also played in Shaky’s old backing band, The Sunsets.

    It’s also worth talking about – on a song that there isn’t really much worth saying – Steven’s guitarist and producer, Stuart Colman, who played a large part in the singer’s success. In 1976, Colman organised a march to the BBC, complaining about the lack of rock’n’roll on Radio 1. Despite the fact the station, as always, was supposed to be playing chart music, Colman was awarded his own show, and that is why Epic gave him the fateful call to ask him to produce Stevens.

    Also in the line-up for Oh Julie was the accordionist Geraint Thomas, who had recorded the album Geraint Thomas & the Dominators, produced by Andy Fairweather Low, in 1979. Thomas’s input adds some much needed colour to Stevens’ least-remembered chart-topper, giving it that authentic rockabilly feel.

    Review

    Before Shaky fans shake their fists at me, let me say, fair play to Stevens for Oh Julie. It’s a decent stab at songwriting, and a rather brave attempt to move away from only recording classic material. Anyone would have potentially come up short against rock’n’roll standards in that situation. But it’s middling at best – and Shaky doesn’t cover himself with glory by admitting later that he only called it Oh Julie because it rhymes with ‘truly’.

    Actually… I’ve just scanned the lyrics. Bloody hell Shaky, I’ve changed my mind. They’re beyond lazy. Let’s face it, Colman deserves credit here for having polished a bit of a turd. There’s no excuse for this when you compare it to some of the amazing number 1s yet to come in 1982.

    What is worth mentioning, however, is the unhinged video. Stevens can always be relied on for amusingly camp videos, and this is no exception.

    Shaky is out in the cold, singing by a lamppost while an accordionist (Thomas himself?) plays on. Suddenly, our hero spies the sexy, glamorous Julie, who gives a sly look and goes inside, leaving her door open (ahem). Taking this as a red rag to a bull, Shaky goes in, and we then see that there’s CCTV cameras watching him. He starts singing to photos of Julie on the wall, which start coming to life, and then we see Julie sat in a control room casually watching him busting his moves. All totally normal. Once he’s had enough, Stevens just fucks off and Thomas carries on playing. Mental.

    After

    Although Give Me Your Heart Tonight was a top 10 album and spawned several hits, 1981-82 were the peak years for Stevens. However, there was one last number 1 to come – but that has to wait until we get to the 1985 Christmas number 1, Merry Christmas Everyone.

    The Outro

    There’s not a lot to say here, so I’m just going to use the chance to post once again the fantastic sight of a pre-fame Jim Moir before he became known as Vic Reeves, dancing in the video to his 1987 number five hit What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? which had been the final number 1 of the 50s for Emile Ford and The Checkmates.

    The Info

    Written by

    Shakin’ Stevens

    Producer

    Stuart Colman

    Weeks at number 1

    1 (30 January-5 February)

    Trivia

    Births

    31 January: Footballer Allan McGregor

    Deaths

    30 January: Actor Stanley Holloway
    1 February: Conservative MP Sir John Foster
    4 February: Scottish blues-rock frontman Alex Harvey
    5 February: Folklorist Peter Opie/Welsh novelist Ronald Welch

    Meanwhile…

    5 February: The collapse of Laker Airways leads to 6,000 passengers stranded.

    Store Back Open!

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    So, in a sign of how little attention I’ve sadly given to this little site I love, I’ve discovered my shop has been shut and I don’t know how long for. Sorry.

    Signed copies of both my books are back online, just in time for Christmas! Simply click the links below to begin.

    Store

    If you’re tempted, let me tell you that I was told recently that someone who received my 60s book two years ago as a present, told that person that ‘it’s one of the best music books I’ve ever read’.

    That was bloody lovely to hear. Whether you buy or not, I promise to take better care of Every UK Number 1 in future. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

    492. Bucks Fizz – The Land of Make Believe (1982)

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    The Intro

    Bucks Fizz may be considered a bit of a joke, but they deserve better than that. Not only did they win the Eurovision Song Contest with the sugary sweet Making Your Mind Up, but they went on to have a further two number 1s, and The Land of Make Believe is an excellent pop song with more to it than the fairytale imagery and super-catchy chorus.

    Before

    Although Bucks Fizz had originally been intended as merely a vehicle for songwriter Andy Hill’s Making Your Mind Up, he and his girlfriend, music publisher Nichola Martin, were determined for the group to sustain that success. Together with RCA Records executive Bill Kimber, they decided to change tack, update the cheesy rock’n’roll sound of their debut, and make the whole project more polished. And it paid off when follow-up single Piece of the Action climbed to 12. That may not sound too impressive, but bear in mind that at the time this was the highest chart placing ever achieved by a Eurovision-winning act with their follow-up single. It became the first track on their eponymous debut LP, which also contained their next single, One of Those Nights. However, this track only reached 20, so alarm bells may have begun to ring. Had the well run dry already?

    With this perhaps in mind, Hill sought help from fellow songwriter Pete Sinfield. He had been a founding member and lyricist for King Crimson, before writing words for Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He also wrote the lyrics for Lake’s classic I Believe in Father Christmas. Sinfield moved to Ibiza to live as a tax exile, and by the time he returned to London in 1980, progressive rock was largely extinct.

    Sinfield was introduced to Hill and they set to work on Bucks Fizz’s fourth single. Though it may seem a simple task for the man who wrote the words to prog classic LP In the Court of the Crimson King, Sinfield said in a 2002 interview: ‘It is 10 times more difficult to write a three-minute hit song, with a veneer of integrity, than it is to write anything for King Crimson or ELP.’

    During the recording, Mike Nolan told Hill he thought the song was a dud, and could even sink the group for good, but the producer told him that Bobby G and Cheryl Baker had already recorded their parts, and what’s more, they loved it. Nolan later admitted he had been totally wrong.

    Review

    Whether Hill’s fairytale tune came first or not, Sinfield nonetheless wrote lyrics that shone a light on the darkness behind so many fairytales, and that queasy, eerie feeling they can conjure. Though the first verse seems traditional enough:

    ‘Stars in your eyes, little one
    Where do you go to dream
    To a place, we all know
    The land of make believe’

    It’s followed up with this distinctly darker couplet: ‘Shadows tapping at your window/Ghostly voices whisper: “Will you come and play?”‘ and a genuinely creepy

    This lyric, and ‘Something nasty in your garden’s waiting/Patiently, till it can have your heart’, take on a whole new meaning when you consider that Sinfield later revealed The Land of Make Believe was in fact an attack on Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government – something that’s focussed on brilliantly in episode one of director Adam Curtis’s recent BBC documentary Shifty.

    Most eerie of all is the ending – usually not played on the radio. It’s a nursery rhyme, read by then-11-year-old Abby Kimber, who was the daughter of the RCA Records executive mentioned earlier:

    ‘I’ve got a friend who comes to tea
    And no-one else can see but me
    He came today but had to go
    To visit you?
    Ya never know’

    This gains added weirdness when you consider that young Kimber would a year later star in Minipops, the ill-advised TV show in which young children performed pop songs. The series was cancelled after one series due to complaints over having children dressed up as adults performing songs with sexual lyrics. Conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this song – anti-Thatcher, who was mates with Jimmy Savile… what did Sinfield know?!

    The hidden depth to The Land of Make Believe adds lots of appeal – but even if that depth wasn’t there, it’s a great pop song. The chorus is incredibly catchy and the early 80s electro production is leagues above Making Your Mind Up – fair play to Hill and co for not resting on their laurels. And as a young child at the time, I can tell you that this ticked all the boxes when it came to parties and discos.

    With sights set on the Christmas market, the video to The Land of Make Believe has lots of pantomime imagery, glitter and sparklers. And for a change it’s Baker, not Jay Aston, that is the video’s sex symbol – which is ironic as it was Aston that chose the outfits.

    After

    The Land of Make Believe was released in November in time for the Christmas market, but stalled at five during the festive chart itself. However, when Don’t You Want Me finally ran out of steam, Bucks Fizz finally scored their second number 1. The Human League’s Phil Oakey was among many critics, fans and fellow pop stars that were full of praise for the first new chart-topper of 1982. It would be a hell of a year for chart music.

    The Outro

    A year later, The Land of Make Believe was recorded by future Eurovision winner Celine Dion, whose first UK number 1, Think Twice, was written by Hill and Sinfield.

    The Land of Make Believe was covered by pop group allSTARS* in 2002. It reached nine in the singles chart.

    The Info

    Written by

    Andy Hill & Pete Sinfield

    Producer

    Andy Hill

    Weeks at number 1

    2 (16-29th January)

    Trivia

    Births

    16 January: Ordinary Boys singer Preston
    19 January: Ice hockey player Shaun Wallis
    21 January: Rugby union player Nick Duncombe

    Deaths

    21 January: Actress Penelope Dudley-Ward
    27 January: RMS Titanic survivor Frank John William Goldsmith

    Meanwhile…

    18 January: ‘A Complaint of Rape’ – the third episode of BBC One fly-on-the-wall documentary series Police, shows police treating a female complainant dismissively, which led to changes in police treatment of rape allegations. 

    21 January: Miners vote against strike action and accept the offer of a 9.3% pay rise from the National Coal Board.

    26 January: Unemployment is recorded at over 3 million for the first time since the 1930s. However, the 11.5% of the workforce currently unemployed is approximately half of the record percentage which was reached half a century ago.

    491. The Human League – Don’t You Want Me (1981)

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    The Intro

    It’s a tale as old as 1981. The tall but true tale of how a bunch of Sheffield synth-based misfits fell apart, causing the remaining singer to hire two dancing teenage girls he saw in a club and release one of the best pop songs ever. This is the story of The Human League and Don’t You Want Me, the Christmas number 1 that year.

    Before

    The Human League flickered into life in 1977. Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were computer operators who met at the youth arts project Meatwhistle. Both were lovers of glam rock and Motown, but, perhaps in part because of their occupations, were becoming increasingly interested in avant-garde electronica. Only a few years previous, the idea of working class people delving into the latter was just fantasy. But the cost of electronic components had started to drop, and so Ware and Marsh clubbed together to buy a Korg 700S synthesiser. A mutual friend booked them to perform at his 21st birthday party, and so The Dead Daughters were born.

    After a few more informal performances, Ware and Marsh decided to form a proper group. They recruited Adi Newton, bought a Roland System-100 synth and became The Future. They rehearsed in a disused cutlery workshop in the centre of Sheffield and during this brief time they recorded and compiled a demo tape of 10 songs. The Future visited London with this tape but were not signed, resulting in Newton leaving to form the influential Clock DVA with Steven ‘Judd’ Turner. The demos were eventually released by hip producer Richard X in 2002, along with early Human League tracks on compilation album The Golden Hour of the Future. It’s not an easy listen, sounding not unlike Throbbing Gristle or early Cabaret Voltaire, but it’s a curio.

    Ware, wisely, decided a singer was needed if they were to hope to find a record deal. First, they asked Glenn Gregory, who had been in a punk band with Marsh, but he had moved to London to become a photographer. Instead, they settled on their old school friend, Philip Oakey. He was working as a porter in a hospital, when they asked him. Despite no musical experience, Oakey was handsome and known on the Sheffield music scene for his outlandish dress sense. Ware went round to his house to ask him to join The Future, but was forced to pin a note to his front door when he didn’t answer.

    Oakey accepted, but got off to an awkward start, struggling to sing around the rest of the band, and only possessing one instrument – a saxophone – which he couldn’t really play. But they persisted and Ware decided a change of name could give them a second chance with record companies. In early 1978, he suggested they become The Human League, named after a group from the science fiction board game Star Force: Alpha Centauri. The Human League wanted greater independence from Earth – in the game I mean, not Ware, Marsh and Oakey.

    The Human League released a demo tape with Future material thrown in. Ware’s friend Paul Bower from local new wave act 2.3 alerted the Edinburgh-based label Fast Product, who he had recently signed with. Thus, the first Human League single Being Boiled was released (for a long time, I thought Being Boiled (Fast Version) was an incorrect description of the pace of the record). Being Boiled was catchy, but it was not pop. Oakey’s lyrics, combining a protest against silk farming with Eastern religion, were his first contribution to the group.

    The Human League’s first live performance came that summer at Sheffield’s Psalter Lane Art College – now known as Sheffield Hallam University. The trio were concerned about live shows beforehand, and more so afterwards, but hope came in the form of Oakey’s friend Philip Adrian Wright, who went from audience member to the band’s Director of Visuals. A session for John Peel followed, as well as dates supporting The Rezillos and Siouxsie and the Banshees. None other than David Bowie saw one of their live shows and declared in the NME that he had witnessed the future of pop music.

    Not that you could tell that from their next release. The Dignity of Labour EP contained four experimental instrumentals and didn’t perform well, but this combined with the growing support of their contemporaries helped them get noticed. After supporting Iggy Pop in June 1979, they signed with Virgin Records, taking Fast Records label owner Bob Last as their manager.

    The problem was, Virgin insisted they use conventional instruments and vocals. As a compromise, they released the disco-influenced single I Don’t Depend on You, which featured two female backing singers… as The Men. It didn’t chart. They were allowed to continue with their old style and released their debut album Reproduction in August. It was patchy at best, and although the single Empire State Human was promising, it didn’t compare with Tubeway Army’s Are ‘Friends’ Electric?. Gary Numan was taking any momentum The Human League might have initially had.

    Nevertheless, 1980 showed promise when Holiday ’80 EP almost cracked the top 40. Produced by John Leckie, who had worked with XTC and Simple Minds, it included an excellent new version of Being Boiled and closed with a medley of Gary Glitter’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 2 with Pop’s Nightclubbing. The Human League made their Top of the Pops debut with a performance of the former.

    In May 1980 Wright began playing keyboards during live gigs as well as looking after visuals, and they released their second album, Travelogue. It was an improvement on Reproduction – particularly The Black Hit of Space, which sounded ahead of its time. But tensions were growing. Oakey and Ware had often disagreed about their direction, with the former fancying a more commercial sound whereas Ware wanted to continue a more esoteric, totally electronic manifesto. Numan’s success with Cars and Virgin’s refusal to release anything else from Travelogue brought matters to a head, and Ware decided to walk out, taking Marsh with him. With a tour imminent, this was a disaster.

    Last tried to sort the situation out, suggesting two new bands under a Human League sub-label, but Ware and Marsh wouldn’t return. It was agreed that Oakey could keep the name and they went on to form Heaven 17 with Gregory, based on the reference to a fictional pop band in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. Interestingly, before that, they formed British Electric Foundation, and released albums featuring modern acts covering famous songs with their electronics as backing. Heaven 17 was just one BEF act.

    Although Oakey got to keep the group name, this was in effect a poisoned chalice at this point. All Human League debts and commitments were his, including ensuring Ware and Marsh got one percent in royalties from the next Human League LP. Not only that, the media were, understandably, laughing at Oakey. How the hell was he going to get anywhere? Wright hadn’t written a song as yet and was new to playing keyboards. The musical talent had gone and the tour was literally days away.

    It’s a well-known anecdote, but it bares repeating, that Oakey decided to hire a female backing vocalist and scoured the clubs of Sheffield. He visited the Crazy Daisy Nightclub and chanced upon two 17-year-olds on the dancefloor. A desperate Oakey, in an image that brings to mind Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1980) if his girlfriend wasn’t also there with him, asked Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall to join The Human League as dancers and backing vocalists. Once they agreed to be on board, he had to approach their parents, who agreed, providing Oakey promised to keep them safe. The new line-up was completed by professional musician Ian Burden from local group Graph on keyboards. However, despite Oakey’s moves, the tour was scoffed at by the music press, who slated Sulley and Catherall. The girls returned to sixth form education.

    With Virgin still pressuring The Human League for reasons to keep them on the label, Oakey and Wright recorded and released the single Boys and Girls in February 1981. It was similar to the kind of songs recorded by the previous line-up and only reached 46, but Virgin decided what was missing was a decent producer. In a genius move, The Human League were paired with Martin Rushent, who had worked with Buzzcocks, Shirley Bassey and Joy Division. Rushent’s first move was to get the group out of Sheffield, where they still shared a studio with Heaven 17, and offer a fresh start at his Berkshire studio.

    The first fruits of this pairing were the call-to-arms single The Sound of the Crowd. Sulley and Catherall were now on board as official members and on backing vocals, and Burden was also offered a full-time job. It was catchy as hell and perfectly timed, capturing the imagination of electronic music fans and New Romantic poseurs alike. The single peaked at 12 that spring. At last, some momentum.

    Last reckoned one more professional on board could really guarantee future hits, and so he suggested guitarist Jo Callis, formerly guitarist with The Rezillos, who he had managed. The new line-up recorded one of the most enduring Human League tracks, Love Action (I Believe in Love). Released in July and soaring to three in the charts a month later, The Human League had proven the naysayers wrong and against all odds, were now bona fide pop stars. Sully and Catherall dropped plans to go to university and the group convened to assemble the album that would cement their reputation. As Shaun Ryder would later say, ‘It’s Dare‘.

    Dare was released in October and preceded by another great single, Open Your Heart, which was a number six hit. Dare was huge, even causing the Musicians Union to publicly condemn it for potentially putting ‘real’ musicians out of a job. After it went to number 1, Virgin executive Simon Draper insisted the album should be mined for one more single. Oakey wasn’t happy with Draper’s choice. It was a song that the singer considered to be the weakest on Dare, which he had relegated to the last track on the album. Amazingly, the track was Don’t You Want Me.

    Dare’s closer had been inspired by a photo story in a teen girl magazine. Originally conceived and recorded as a song solely from the point of view of the male protagonist. But, inspired by the romantic drama A Star Is Born (1976), he veered towards a troubled romantic duet. With two female backing vocalists in the group, he was spoiled for choice. Pure luck of the draw meant Sulley got the gig. ‘Romantic’ is perhaps the wrong word for this bitter power play snapshot between a man who falls for a cocktail waitress and ‘five years later on’ is being left behind. However, he’s not going down without a fight and threatens ‘I can put you back down too’.

    Callis and Wright created a synth score to accompany Oakey’s bitter lyrics, which was initially harsher than the finished article. They really struck gold when they hit upon the guitar-synth melody that accompanied the chorus, which came about by happy accident caused by a computer error that played the line a half-beat out of time. Rushent and Callis loved the end result but Oakey thought it was largely shit – which is perhaps why he recorded his vocal in the studio toilets. An experience that went on longer than he’d have liked due to Callis repeatedly flushing a toilet by reaching in through an open window.

    Review

    You don’t need me to tell you what a totally brilliant song Don’t You Want Me is. But you might want me to explain why it not only endures as the years go by. Why it is never boring. It’s never annoying, no matter how many times you hear it. Were it not for Pet Shop Boys’ Always On My Mind, this would be the best Christmas number 1 of the 80s.

    There is something innately brilliant in these early 80s electronic British number 1s, in the same way there was back in 1963 when The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and similar acts pushed the envelope. The technology is primitive (though incredibly futuristic in 1981 – so much so, the Musicians’ Union had felt obliged to show everyone just how threatened they felt). Don’t You Want Me is one of the best of the bunch.

    Oakey’s decision to keep The Human League going and moving in a pop direction when their split happened has of course proven how wise he was. But his feelings towards this song were definitely wrong. It’s incredible to discover he considered it an afterthought and shoved it at the end of Dare. At the time, he and Rushent often disagreed about their work, but the producer was absolutely right to add a glossy, commercial sound to Don’t You Want Me. It’s that brightness, that colour, and simplicity of sound that made the album so huge.

    Oakey didn’t give himself enough credit either. The concept of basing a duet around love is as old as time. But a duet that was possessive, cold and cynical, was new. The word ‘love’ doesn’t even come into the equation until Sulley admits her feelings near the end.

    Of course, everything comes together for that total banger of a chorus, which will be drunkenly shouted by men and women on dancefloors for evermore. If The Human League’s story was made into a film, Don’t You Want Me would be the perfect happy ending. Oh, and hats off to Sulley too, who’s vocal is both deadpan and somehow emotional at the same time.

    Another element that is definitely worth a mention is the video, directed by Steve Barron, who created some of the most memorable pop videos of the era, including Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing and a-ha’s Take On Me. Shot on 35mm film, Don’t You Want Me really stands out due to its cinematic feel. The storyline, of a director’s struggles to make a film, was inspired by the French film Day for Night. Oakey, Sulley and Callis really stand out and could have perhaps made great actors. It could be argued that Oakey proved his worth in his cameo in Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s amazing 1992 pilot The Weekenders…

    After

    Don’t You Want Me held firm at the top of the pops for five weeks and was the biggest-selling single of 1981. The Human League were in so much demand that the stereo remix of the Fast Product version of Being Boiled was re-released in January 1982 and soared to six. Don’t You Want Me then scored the group a US number 1 that summer. Later that year, an instrumental version of Dare called Love and Dancing and credited to The League Unlimited Orchestra was also a hit. They very nearly achieved two Christmas chart-toppers in a row when the Motown-influenced Mirror Man was kept from the top by Renée and Renato’s Save Your Love. Disgraceful. In 1983 they reached two once more, this time with (Keep Feeling) Fascination. This marked the end of the always fractious working relationship with Rushent, who walked out during initial sessions for their next LP.

    Hysteria (1984), produced by Hugh Padgham and Chris Thomas, divided fans and critics alike, and The Human League’s commercial powers waned. The singles – The Lebanon, Life on Your Own and Louise, reached 11, 16 and 13 respectively. Oakey’s collaboration with one of his idols, Giorgio Moroder, was deservedly more successful, as Together in Electric Dreams – from the soundtrack to Electric Dreams (1984), peaked at three.

    The Human League, once at the forefront of electronic music, struggled to adapt to rapidly advancing technology as the 80s progressed. Callis, who had helped write some of their biggest hits, quit and was replaced by drummer Jim Russell, closely followed by Last. In 1985 they shelved material for their next album due to disagreements with producer Colin Thurston, so Virgin paired them with hip hitmakers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. At first the signs were good, as the single Human was a number eight hit in 1986, but the other singles released from Crash sank rapidly. Wright left soon after, and Burden departed in 1987.

    There were more line-up changes and poor results as the 90s began. Romantic? (1990) featured a line-up bolstered by keyboardist Neil Sutton and guitarist/keyboardist Russell Dennett, and even Callis returned to help. But although Heart Like a Wheel was a minor hit, reaching 29 in 1990, Virgin dropped The Human League two years later.

    Oakey’s mental health suffered and he lost confidence in his abilities, but after recording an EP with Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1993, EastWest Records signed The Human League and paired them with producer Ian Stanley, formerly of Tears for Fears. The first fruits, Tell Me When, was released on Boxing Day 1994, and was a well-deserved hit, peaking at six. Sounding very of its time, but reminiscent of material from Dare, The Human League were back in vogue, and the parent album Octopus scored a further hit with One Man in My Heart. A remix of Don’t You Want Me even made it to 16.

    A change in management at EastWest saw The Human League without a record deal and although they signed with Papillon Records in 2001 and released the album Secrets, it sank commercially. They joined the nostalgia circuit. However, in 2008 Oakey had a great idea – The Steel City Tour. The Human League teamed up with Heaven 17 and ABC to celebrate the music of the early 80s that came from Sheffield. Oakey and Ware had buried the hatchet – whether it was genuine or for the sake of a moneyspinner, I don’t know, but I’d have loved to seen it.

    The Human League’s last album to date is Credo, which was released in 2011. This would suggest there may be no more to come, but if so, that’s fine. Oakey and co. should be more than content with their legacy, and especially this song, which went from an afterthought to a single that made them pop immortals.

    The Outro

    Don’t You Want Me became a top 20 hit for the third time in 2014, reaching 19 as a result of a social media campaign by fans of Aberdeen FC, who one week earlier had won the Scottish League Cup. They had turned the chorus into a terrace chant of ‘Peter Pawlett baby’ in honour of their midfielder.

    The Info

    Written by

    Jo Callis, Philip Oakey & Philip Adrian Wright

    Producers

    Martin Rushent & The Human League

    Weeks at number 1

    5 (12 December 1981-15 January 1982) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

    Trivia

    Births

    15 December 1981: Actresses Michelle Dockery/Victoria Summer
    21 December: Cricketer Sajid Mahmood
    28 December: Singer-songwriter Frank Turner
    29 December: Actress Charlotte Riley
    1 January 1982: Footballer Luke Rodgers/Television host Gemma Hunt
    4 January: Footballer Richard Logan
    6 January: Actor Eddie Redmayne
    9 January: Catherine, Princess of Wales/Conservative MP Robert Jenrick

    Deaths

    15 December 1981: Journalist Claud Cockburn
    16 December: Engineering manager Rose Winslade
    17 December: Opera singer Sybil Gordon
    1 January 1982: Actress Margot Grahame
    2 January: Conservative MP Sir Tam Galbraith
    4 January: Wykeham Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis
    11 January: Actor Ronald Lewis/Army major-general Sir Kenneth Strong
    12 January: Army major-general Frank Crowther Roberts

    Meanwhile…

    19 December 1981: An opinion poll showed Margaret Thatcher had become the most unpopular postwar British prime minister, and that the SDP-Liberal Alliance had the support of up to 50% of the electorate.

    20 December: The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurred off the coast of Cornwall. The mini-bulk carrier MV Union Star‘s engines had failed in heavy seas, so the lifeboat Solomon Browne went to the rescue. But sometime after the lifeboat had rescued four people, both vessels were lost with all hands. 16 people died, including eight volunteer liefeboatmen.

    1 January 1982: The new year began with three new regional TV stations on ITV – Central, TVS (Television South) and TSW (Television South West), replacing ATV Midlands, the incredibly bitter Southern Television and Westward Television respectively.

    2 January: The Welsh Army of Workers claimed responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water.

    10-15 January: The extremely cold winter that began in December 1981 continued with the lowest-ever UK temperature of -27.2C recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire.

    490. Julio Iglesias – Begin the Beguine (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    Singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias is the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and the best-selling male Latin artist in history. However, it took his cover of Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine to finally take him to number 1 in the UK singles chart.

    Before

    Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva was born in Madrid on 23 September 1943. His father, Julio Iglesias Sr, was one of Spain’s youngest gynaecologists and María del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat was of Jewish descent.

    Growing up, young Iglesias spent most of his time either playing professional football as a goalkeeper or studying law. But his time as the former came to an abrupt end when he was involved in a serious car accident in 1963. Unable to walk for two years, Iglesias was given a guitar in hospital from a nurse who thought it would help him concentrate on new skills he could learn with his hands. After rehabilitation, he passed his law degree.

    In 1968, Iglesias won the Benidorm International Song Festival with La vida sigue igual, which was used in the 1969 film of the same name, in which he played a fictionalised version of himself. He then signed to Discos Columbia (the Spanish branch of Columbia Records) and released his first album, Yo Canto, which was a huge hit. In 1970 Iglesias represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, where he came fourth with Gwendolyne.

    Throughout the 1970s, Iglesias would score hits around the globe in various languages, including Un canto a Galicia (1971), A flor de piel (1974), Corazón, corazón (1975) and Quiéreme mucho (1979).

    In 1979, Iglesias moved to Miami, Florida, where he signed with CBS International. The title track to the LP Hey! became his first charting track in the UK, peaking at 31. 1981 saw Iglesias release the album De Niña a Mujer, which featured his version of Begin the Beguine.

    Porter had written Begin the Beguine while on a Pacific cruise in 1935 and it quickly became a part of his Broadway musical Jubilee. The song refers to the dance and music form beguine, which is similar to a slow rhumba, had originated in the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and was steadily growing in popularity at the time. Begin the Beguine was considered too long to become a hit, but Artie Shaw and His Orchestra’s version became a hit in 1938.

    A year later Joe Loss and Chick Henderson recorded their version, which went on to become the first record to sell a million. The song featured in Metro-Goldywn-Mayer’s musical Broadway Melody of 1940 twice and soon became a pop standard, covered by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Elvis Presley.

    Iglesias wrote new lyrics for his version – titled Volver a Empezar in Spanish. Only the first line, ‘When they begin the beguine’, is in English, which makes it the first mostly foreign language chart-topper since Manhattan Transfer’s Chanson D’Amour in 1977. It was the first Spanish song to become number 1 here, but Iglesias was the second Spanish act to do so, after Baccara, also in 1977.

    Review

    It’s astounding to think that this track managed a week at number 1 inbetween two all-time classics in Under Pressure and Don’t You Want Me. It’s very dated for 1981 and would have sounded more contemporary had it been released in the balmy summer of 1976. Over the lightest of disco backings, Iglesias sings about lost love, rather than dancing the beguine. However, the words, translated into English, are empty and bland. One doesn’t feel Iglesias has ever felt such emotion.

    A strange number 1 for 1981, indeed – perhaps the older record buyer liked the easy listening stylings of the handsome middle-aged crooner, while younger listeners fancied something that reminded them of summer, just as one of the coldest winters of all time began (see ‘Meanwhile…‘.

    The video is also very uninspiring, featuring a suave Iglesias crooning against a multi-coloured disco backdrop.

    After

    Iglesias tried to repeat the success of Begin the Beguine with Yours (Quiéreme Mucho), This cover of a criollo-bolero nearly did just as well, peaking at three in 1982. The 1943 song Amor was less successful, only climbing to 32.

    A greatest hits collection, Julio, was released in 1983, and became the first foreign language LP to sell more than two million in the US. A year later came 1100 Bel Air Place, his first to be mostly recorded in English. It was a smash hit and included the popular duet To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, which he recorded with country music legend Willie Nelson. It peaked at five in the US and 17 here. The album also featured his cover of The Hollies’ The Air That I Breathe, which featured backing vocals from The Beach Boys. The relevance of the album title? It was a former home of Iglesias, and superstar producer Quincy Jones resided there until 2005.

    Iglesias continued to record with huge stars. In 1988 he released My Love with Stevie Wonder, which is to date his last UK hit, peaking at five. In 1993 he recorded Summer Wind with Frank Sinatra, and a year later, the album Crazy, which included duets with Sting, Dolly Parton and Art Garfunkel.

    In 2003 he released one of his most successful albums, Divorcio, which I’m ashamed to say I can only hear being exclaimed in the same way as ‘Scorchio!’ from The Fast Show. 2006 saw Iglesias release Romantic Classics, which consisted of covers of songs he believed would become future standards, such as I Want to Know What Love Is and Careless Whisper.

    Already boasting, no doubt, of shelves full of international awards, in 2013 Iglesias also was recognised by Guinness World Records as the best-selling male Latin artist, and he was also inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

    The Outro

    Iglesias hasn’t released new material since México & Amigos in 2017, but to be fair, he is now in his 80s, and could very easily choose to retire and rest on his considerable laurels. Divorcio!

    The Info

    Written by

    Cole Porter (Spanish version Julio Iglesias)

    Producer

    Ramón Arcusa

    Weeks at number 1

    1 (5-11 December)

    Trivia

    Deaths

    7 December: Author Gordon Rattray Taylor
    8 December: Burnley FC chairman Bob Lord
    9 December: Rugby league player Brian McTigue/Scottish playwright CP Taylor
    10 December: Metallurgist John D Eshelby

    Meanwhile…

    8 December: Following the freaky weather that brought 104 tornadoes to the country, a severe wave of cold weather, later to become known as ‘The Big Snow of 1982’ begins with severe snow storms across the UK. Temperatures plummet to the lowest in any December on record since 1874 and the heaviest snow storms since 1878. The storms continue in waves until 27 December.
    Also on this day, Arthur Scargill becomes the leader of the National Union of Mineworkers.

    489. Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    Under Pressure, that behemoth of a pop track by rock giants Queen & David Bowie, sees both acts trying to outdo each other. Somehow, rather than come out as a sloppy egotistical mess, it became one of the greatest number 1s of the 80s, no matter how many times you might hear it.

    Before

    Six years previously, Queen had scored the 1975 Christmas number 1 with their most famous single, Bohemian Rhapsody. A lengthy nine weeks there earned them huge fame and meant their next two singles were hits too – in 1976, the lovely You’re My Best Friend went to seven and epic singalong Somebody to Love peaked at two. 1977 brought mixed fortunes, with Tie Your Mother Down only reaching 31. Queen’s First EP was a cash grab that went to 17. But We Are the Champions restored their fortunes, hurtling to two. The rest of the 70s featured some of their most famous songs performing well – most notably the double A-side Bicycle Race/Fat Bottomed Girls (1978) at 11, Don’t Stop Me Now (1979) at nine and Crazy Little Thing Called Love (1979) at two.

    The last track I mentioned was the first release from The Game, which was their first LP of the 80s. It was also the first to see Queen introduce synthesisers into the mix for the first time. Other singles from this album included the number seven smash Another One Bites the Dust. They also released their soundtrack album for the camp film Flash Gordon (1980).

    The last time we saw David Bowie around these parts wasn’t that long ago at all. Ashes to Ashes, the first track to be released from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), had been number 1 in 1980. The excellent Fashion followed and peaked at five, before commercial success trailed off with subsequent singles – the title track (number 20) and Up the Hill Backwards (32).

    In July 1981, Queen were recording what was to become the LP Hot Space at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland. One of the tracks they were working on was drummer Roger Taylor’s Feel Like, but they weren’t happy with the results. Also at Mountain Studios was Bowie, who lived in Switzerland at the time and was recording the vocals to the title song of the film Cat People (Putting Out Fire). Two of the biggest acts of the 70s met each other and, perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, they decided to try working together.

    Queen and Bowie had lots in common, for a while. Both found fame during the glam period as rock acts that weren’t afraid to be flamboyant, or to experiment either. However, it’s fair to say that although Queen stuck mostly to the rock format, Bowie had been continually experimental as the decade progressed. But both were about to release some of the most straightforward pop material of their careers, but not before Queen continued to make Hot Space, which consisted mostly of disco.

    Initially in Montreux, Bowie contributed backing vocals and a spoken word section to the track Cool Cat, but he wasn’t happy with his performance and asked to be wiped from the recording. With Hot Space recorded, they all decided to see if they could create a new song, which included the guitar element from Feel Like. Although Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, Taylor and Bowie were all credited for what became Under Pressure, Deacon claimed in 1984 that Mercury was the driving force.

    You would think Deacon would be keen to lay claim to one of the most famous bass riffs of all time, but he didn’t. In 1982 he stated that Bowie had created it. However, Bowie said on his website that it had been written before he joined the band in the studio. In recent years both May and Taylor have insisted it was Deacon, but in 2016 May appeared to clear matters up. In an article for Mirror Online, the guitarist said Deacon had been playing a riff in the studio consisting of the same note six times, ‘then one note a fourth down’. Queen and Bowie took a break and went for food and liquid refreshment at a local restaurant. Several hours later, Bowie misremembered the riff that Deacon had been playing, and insisted it was what became the backbone of Under Pressure. He even went so far as to stop Deacon playing, which made matters tense for a while. However, everyone must have come to their senses and seen that, whoever was right, Bowie’s version was a magic ingredient. May also said in the interview that normally at this point, Queen would have gone away and discussed the song’s structure. Bowie wanted to carry on, saying ‘something will happen’.

    Review

    Bowie was right. Something did indeed happen. Under Pressure is one of the finest number ones of the 80s and one of that holy list of songs that I will never, ever grow tire of. If anything, the lyrics take on added relevance with every passing year. However, how much better would it have been if they’d taken more time on the song? I’m looking at you in particular, Mercury.

    It’s strange to see how Queen’s lead singer would be so willing to let this song be mixed and released without him working more on his lyrics. Vocally, he and Bowie are an excellent match for each other, complimenting each other so well and then seemingly battling it out at the song’s finale. But why did he and the rest of Queen settle on his scatting in lieu of more actual words? Bowie later said he felt they could have spent longer on Under Pressure lyrically, and that’s a polite way of putting it.

    However, Mercury does just about pull it off – after all, this is a man with such a commanding presence, he had the whole of Wembley Stadium yodelling along with him at Live Aid four years later. And of course, underpinning the whole song is Deacon’s entrancing, ultra-catchy bass riff. The intro is spellbinding, and when the riff and Mercury’s understated scat leads into his and Bowie’s ‘Pressure!’, the hairs on the back of your neck can still stand to attention.

    Bowie and Queen’s anthem to the stress of modern life can be seen as a prediction of the 21st century, which explains just why the song has aged so well. The former’s handiwork is clear, and almost retro by his standards, as we get a little of the unusual wordplay little seen seen by the glam icon since his Berlin period – now don’t get me wrong ‘Pressure, pushing down on me, pushing down on you, no man ask for… puts people on streets’ is not exactly comparable with the cut-up lyrical technique of some of his finest late-70s material, but it’s clear this is him and not Mercury at work.

    What makes it all the more frustrating is that Mercury’s few lyrics on Under Pressure work really well with Bowie’s. When he sings ‘Chipping around, kick my brains ’round the floor/These are the days it never rains but it pours’ are an effective compliment to Bowie’s preceding lyrics about the terror of seeing friends struggling under the weight of the world. But then he just scats again. And again. And when he says ‘OK!’, is it a sarcastic quip that everything is far from OK, or just pure laziness? Either way, it’s a bit mind-boggling that everyone was happy to let it stay in the song.

    But with Under Pressure, the whole is definitely far greater than the sum of its parts. And back to that finale. From Mercury’s hushed ‘Turned away from it all like a blind man’ is pure brilliance. The way the two superstar singers battle for the last word is awe-inspiring and pop music at its best. Mercury as the questioning optimist, desperately hoping that love will win out. It makes for a brilliant ending. And yet Bowie somehow tops him, reviving the cynicism of his ‘Thin White Duke’ era with the cold cynicism of ‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word’. And then, even better, they both seem to predict where Thatcherism will go next, by noting that love means caring for others – the ‘People on streets’ could be the miners that go on strike three years later. Is this song a warning that, as Thatcher later said, there really is no thing as society, because pressure has stopped people loving anyone but themselves? It’s a hell of a lot to contemplate as the finger clicks fade into silence.

    After

    With neither Queen or Bowie available to star in a video for Under Pressure, it made sense to task David Mallett with the responsibility. The prolific director had created some of Bowie’s most memorable videos, including Ashes to Ashes, as well as Queen’s Bicycle Race. For this single, Mallett compiled stock image of footage that loosely represented pressure, including traffic jams, riots and – controversially – footage of explosions in Northern Ireland, which Top of the Pops insisted on having removed before showing the video.

    Under Pressure spent two weeks at number 1 in 1981. In 1982 it became part of Queen’s LP Hot Space. The band would perform the song live many times, but Bowie didn’t until he joined the line-up for the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, where he joined the remaining members of the band along with Annie Lennox fulfilling Mercury’s role. It later became part of his own sets, featuring bassist Gail Ann Dorsey singing Mercury’s parts.

    The Outro

    In 1990, the song had a revival thanks to the rapper Vanilla Ice. Although he originally claimed not to have sampled the bass and piano on his number 1 Ice Ice Baby (which he clearly had), and then refused to award a songwriting credit or royalties to Queen and Bowie, he later relented. He also later claimed to have purchased publishing rights, which was also bullshit.

    In 1999 a remixed version of Under Pressure, known as The Rah Mix, made it to 14 in the singles chart.

    The Info

    Written and produced by

    Queen & David Bowie

    Weeks at number 1

    2 (21 November-4 December)

    Trivia

    Births

    26 November: Singer Natasha Bedingfield
    27 November: Actor Gary Lucy
    29 November: Photographer Tom Hurndall
    1 December: Actress Kathryn Drysdale

    Deaths

    3 December: Historian Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith
    4 December: Writer Enid Welsford

    Meanwhile…

    • 23 November: The 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak became the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history when 104 reached England and Wales
    • 25 November: A report into the Brixton Riots, which hit inner-city London earlier this year, blamed social and economic problems in inner-city areas across England.
    • 26 November: Shirley Williams won the Crosby by-election for the SDP, overturning a Conservative majority of nearly 20,000 votes.

    488. The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    After a couple of near misses, The Police found themselves back at the top of the hit parade for the fourth time with Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.

    Before

    The trio’s third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, had spawned their third number 1, Don’t Stand So Close to Me. But the next record – their ‘gibberish classic’ (as Alan Partridge called it) De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da – was understandably their lowest-placing chart position (minus some reissues) at five.

    Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers headed to AIR Studios in Montserrat to record their fourth LP, Ghost in the Machine, which was co-produced by Hugh Padgham. First single from this collection was Invisible Sun, which did very well indeed, peaking at two.

    Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic was an exception from the album, in that it was recorded at Le Studio at Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada. It was also the oldest track from Ghost in the Machine, having originated back in 1977 as a track by Sting, before the band had formed. He eventually revealed the inspiration for the track was Trudie Styler, who lived next door to Sting and his then-wife Frances Tomelty, who was Styler’s best friend at the time.

    The demo of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic eventually surfaced on the 1997 compilation Strontium 90: Police Academy. Strontium 90 was the name of Sting, Copeland and Summers’ – plus Gong’s Mike Howlett – previous band. On this rather charming, gentle acoustic guitar-led version, Sting played every instrument.

    Four years later, Sting worked on a second demo in Le Studio, this time with piano to the fore. He was confident this would form the basis of a number 1 single, but Copeland and Summers were less keen, so they started from scratch on a band version. When this didn’t work out either, Sting finally persuaded the others to go back to the Le Studio demo.

    Tensions grew when Sting decided to bring in session keyboardist Jean Roussel, who had played on Cat Stevens’ Wild World. Summers found Roussel pushy, and his inclusion on piano, Minimoog and clavinet certainly sounds like a potential recipe for excessive use of instrumentation on such a light track. However, Roussel’s input makes for that rather lovely intro, and adds colour in general throughout. The rhythm section did get to add some of that signature Police sound, though muted compared to their previous chart-toppers.

    Review

    It’s clear that Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic meant a lot to Sting and had personal meaning for him as it meant he could express his forbidden love. But his determination to get Copeland and Summers to in effect play backing band to this solo outing understandably caused problems.

    However, Sting was ultimately proven right. Sure, it’s on the lighter side of The Police’s back catalogue and possibly too saccharine for some, but it’s a lovely, sun-kissed burst of upbeat loveliness. It’s not without flaws though. Rhyming ‘magic’ with ‘tragic’ is a bit rubbish, and I don’t understand why, after all the time spent getting Roussel to give the track more, they decided to make Sting sound like he’s singing from a cave. What happened there?

    Far better is the second verse, which Sting returned to several times through the years:

    ‘Do I have to tell the story
    Of a thousand rainy days since we first met
    It’s a big enough umbrella
    But it’s always me that ends up getting wet’

    Again, this most likely has personal meaning to the singer and Styler, as he uses it again on O My God, a track on the final Police LP, Synchronicity (1983), and the song Seven Days from his fourth solo album Ten Summoner’s Tales (1993).

    The video, filmed in Montserrat by Derek Burbidge, is also a mixed bag. It’s nice to see the band performing for locals and the island footage ties in nicely with the joy of the song. But this is the fourth Police video I’ve watched now, and they’re all the same. Put the band in a very literal setting that fits the theme of the track, and also film them pissing about in the studio and generally acting up for the camera.

    After

    Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic topped the charts in the UK, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands, and peaked at three in the US. They had one more UK chart-topper to come before they split up.

    The Outro

    An orchestral version of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic was recorded by Sting for his 10th album, Synchronicities, in 2010.

    The Info

    Written by

    Sting

    Producers

    The Police & Hugh Padgham

    Weeks at number 1

    1 (14-20 November)

    Trivia

    Births

    15 November: Labour MP Jared O’Mara
    17 November: Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding
    20 November: Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison/Actress Andrea Riseborough

    Deaths

    14 November: Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford (see ‘Meanwhile‘)
    17 November: Anglican bishop Colin Winter

    Meanwhile…

    14 November: Ulster Unionist MP Robert Bradford was gunned down by three IRA members in Finaghy, Belfast, during political surgery.

    18 November: The England football team qualified for the World Cup in Spain by defeating Hungary 1-0 at Wembley Stadium. It was the first time they had qualified for the tournament since 1970.

    487. Dave Stewart With Barbara Gaskin – It’s My Party (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    Look for this song anywhere online and the first thing you’ll read is ‘No, not that Dave Stewart’. Nonetheless this Dave Stewart, with Barbara Haskin’s version of the 60s teen classic It’s My Party by Lesley Gore is an interesting curio in the history of number 1s.

    Before

    It’s My Party had been written in 1962. The original was penned by John Gluck, Wally Gold and Herb Weiner, who were staff writers at Aaron Schroeder Music. However, the lyrics actually came from Seymour Gottlieb, a freelance songwriter, who had worked with Weiner (oo-er). He had been inspired by his daughter Judy’s tears over her grandparents being invited to her 16th birthday party.

    The writers took the song to Barbara Jean English, the receptionist at their firm, who cut the demo version. However, Musicor, the label owned by Schroeder, wasn’t interested.

    It could have, potentially, become Helen Shapiro’s third number 1 single. The young British star, who had scored two chart-toppers with You Don’t Know and Walkin’ Back to Happiness in 1961, recorded a version for her Helen in Nashville LP in 1963. Unfortunately for her, she was beaten to the punch by 16-year-old US singer Gore. Her version, produced by the legendary Quincy Jones, was huge and is rightly remembered as a pop great from the early 60s, becoming number 1 in many countries – but, surprisingly, not in the UK, where it peaked at nine.

    Stewart, who was born in Waterloo, London on 30 December 1950, would have been 12 at the time. He was still at school when he joined his first band. The Outsiders were a local covers band. From there, he joined Uriel as their organist at the age of 17, a group that also featured future progressive rock icon Steve Hillage. When university called for Hillage, Uriel continued as a trio, renamed as Egg. They recorded two albums for Decca, and stayed on good terms with Hillage, who briefly rejoined them in 1969 to record together under the name Arzachel.

    Egg broke up (hahaha) in 1973, and Stewart joined upcoming Canterbury progressive rock band Hatfield and the North. When they split two years later, Stewart briefly joined Hillage’s Gong before forming National Health, which largely consisted of former Hatfield and the North bandmates. When National Health disbanded in 1980, Stewart quickly formed Rapid Eye Movement (not to be confused with the far better known and longer-lasting REM in the US).

    In 1981, Stewart moved in a different direction, becoming interested in new, electronically led versions of classic pop tunes. The first of these was a cover of Jimmy Ruffin’s Motown classic What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, featuring vocals by former member of The Zombies, Colin Blunstone. Stewart had clearly hit upon a good idea, but I’d bet even he didn’t think his next single would make it all the way to number 1. This time around, he enlisted Gaskin, who had provided backing vocals in Hatfield and the North.

    Gaskin, born 5 June 1950, was actually born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. In 1969 she moved to Canterbury to study at university, but quickly fell into the Canterbury scene, becoming the singer in folk-rock group Spirogyra. She met Hillage, who was also a Kent University student, as well as the band Caravan and Stewart. Through this friendship she sang backing vocals occasionally for Hatfield and the North, but when Spirogyra split up, Gaskin left England to travel around Asia.

    Upon her return almost three years later, Gaskin was invited to join the all-female group Red Roll On. Soon, she became reacquainted with Stewart and after working together on an album by Bill Bruford, they collaborated on It’s My Party.

    Review

    Stewart and Gaskin’s prog background is very much apparent on this single, in spite of it sounding like a New Romantic track due to the use of then-futuristic early 80s synths. It’s like a mini-symphony, in which Stewart initially makes his bank of keyboards mirror Gaskin’s trauma over her missing Johnny (stop sniggering), with lots of seemingly random drum machines sounding out.

    Gaskin’s vocal is, to be honest, pretty irritating, particularly the way she wines ‘you!’ at the end of each line. She reminds me a little of Toyah, here, which might explain why this single did so well – Toyah was huge at this point, thanks to singles such as It’s a Mystery. Her stuff sounded great to me as a boy, and so did this record. Not so much as a middle-aged music snob… There’s an element of high-camp irony to It’s My Party, sure, but the spoken-word section is annoyingly over-the-top, and I don’t really understand how it then switches to a finale that sounds the most like the Gore version, all bubblegum pop and kitsch jollity.

    It’s certainly not your average cover, but perhaps the end section appealed to parents and grandparents who loved the original, whereas the kids liked the modern sounds and incredibly of-its-time video? An interesting chart-topper, certainly – and for four weeks, to boot. But a bit of an annoying mess, too. I’d imagine the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart would have come up with a more commercial-sounding version, and Annie Lennox could have done a very good job with the vocal.

    I have more time for the video than the song itself, I know that. But I’ve no idea why there are two kendo fighters battling, other than the Japanese martial art was popular at the time. And why is Stewart wearing – what is it, a face protector used by boxers? And I definitely don’t know why his face is replaced by neon light at the end, but it reminds me of the spooky kids with lights shining from where their eyes should be in the video to Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 chart-topper Total Eclipse of the Heart – and I like it. There’s lots of very 80s angular-faced mannequins scattered around the party, and yes, that’s Thomas Dolby playing Johnny.

    The sleeve of the single used to mesmerise me as a child, I recall, with Gaskin wearing stupendously long nails and Stewart brandishing a sword.

    After

    Further Dave Stewart With Barbara Gaskin singles followed this UK and Germany number 1. They recorded an album’s worth of material but chose to release two tracks a year for the next three years. But nothing, including covers of Busy Doing Nothing in 1983 and The Locomotion three years later, managed to chart, let alone get in the top 10.

    Stewart reformed National Health in 1981, and used his hippy days as inspiration for Neil’s Heavy Concept Album in 1984. The ‘Neil’ in question was Nigel Planer’s character in The Young Ones, and the LP featured his brilliant cover of Traffic’s Hole in My Shoe, which missed out on number 1 by one place. He had also composed the theme tune to BBC Two’s revamped Whistle Test in 1983. In the 1990s, he worked with cult TV critic Victor Lewis-Smith, creating the music for his two series Inside Victor Lewis-Smith (1995) and Ads Infinitum (1999).

    The Outro

    Gaskin continued to work with Stewart on albums and gigs sporadically through the years and in 2021, 40 years after It’s My Party, they married.

    The Info

    Written by

    Herb Wiener, John Gluck Jr & Wally Gold

    Producer

    Dave Stewart

    Weeks at number 1

    4 (17 October-13 November)

    Trivia

    Births

    25 October: Footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips
    31 October: Physician Kate Granger
    7 November: Footballer George Pilkington
    13 November: Racing driver Tom Ferrier

    Deaths

    19 October: Footballer Johnny Doyle
    22 October: Conservative MP David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter
    24 October: Archer Inger K Frith
    27 October: Army major-general Sir Randle Feilden
    30 October: Writer Denys Rhodes
    5 November: Cricketer Sir Harold Vincent
    6 November: Physician Douglas Vernon Hubble/First World War nurse Beryl Hutchinson
    8 November: Jockey Tim Brookshaw/Conservative MP Lionel Heald

    Meanwhile…

    19 October: British Telecom announces the discontinuation of the telegram in 1982, after 139 years in use.
    Also on this day, Scottish Celtic footballer Johnny Doyle is accidentally electrocuted while building his new home.

    22 October: The case of Dudgeon vs United Kingdom is decided by the European Court of Human Rights, which rules that laws in Northern Ireland that criminalise consensual gay sex are in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights. Ooo, those pesky woke Europeans.

    23 October: A MORI poll puts the Liberal-SDP Alliance on 40%, ahead of Labour on 31% and the Conservatives on 27%.

    24 October: A CND anti-nuclear march in London brings together more than 250,000 people.

    29 October: A patient dies of pneumocystis pneumonia in London, making him the first patient to die in of an AIDS-related illness in the UK. In 2021, ITN identified patient zero as John Eaddie of Bournemouth.

    30 November: Nicholas Reed, the chief of euthanasia charity Exit, is jailed for two-and-a-half years for aiding and abetting suicides.

    1 November: The island Antigua and Barbuda becomes independent of the UK.
    Also on this day, British Leyland’s workers begin a strike over pay.

    13 November: Queen Elizabeth II opens the final phase of the Telford Shopping Centre.

    486. Adam and the Ants – Prince Charming (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    1981 was the year of Adam and the Ants. No sooner had Ant and co. hit the top spot with Stand and Deliver! than they were at number 1 again with another early 80s classic.

    Before

    Following the success of Stand and Deliver!, Adam and the Ants spent most of the summer in continental Europe on tour. Upon their return they headed to London’s Air studios to record what became their last album.

    Prince Charming, which became the title track, was an unusual sound for a number 1. Gone were the Burundi beat stylings of previous LP Kings of the Wild Frontier, and even the pop of Stand and Deliver!. Although Prince Charming is imperial Antmusic, it’s fair to say that, had this song been released by a total unknown, it wouldn’t have had the impact it did. Weirdly, it kind of already had been.

    In 2010, Rolf Harris, still a national treasure at that point, claimed on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Danny Baker Show that a musicologist had found Prince Charming to sound identical to War Canoe, a 1965 release by Harris. You only have to hear 10 seconds of this (which is 10 seconds more than Harris deserves) to hear that they are indeed exactly the same.

    However, Ant never denied it, and in fact showed Harris to be the devious bastard that he proved to be, when he noted that he owned a large collection of ethnic recordings, and War Canoe was in fact an old Maori folk song. Harris subsequently withdrew his complaint ‘with a bit of a giggle’. The prick.

    Review

    At least Ant and co-writer/guitarist Marco Pirroni made it interesting, adding the trademark Ant wailing alongside the guitar. Ant’s lyrics covered similar ground to Stand and Deliver!. That song concerned a dandy highwayman, whereas Prince Charming was lyrically inspired by Beau Brummel, the 18th-century dandy fashion leader, as well as the extravagance of men during the French Revolution. This tied in perfectly with the emerging New Romantic scene that Ant found himself in.

    Much like David Bowie and Marc Bolan had encouraged men to not be afraid to wear make-up and experiment nearly 10 years previous, Ant made himself the voice of his generation, extolling the virtues of being flamboyant in 1981 – ‘Don’t you ever, don’t you ever, stop being dandy, showing me you’re handsome’ and the classic line ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’.

    Musically, yes, Prince Charming is far less adventurous than previous material, never changing from that War Canoe strum. But it is a true earworm that buries its way into the consciousness, and with Adam and the Ants, it’s more a case of taking note of the whole multimedia package, which means factoring in the video.

    This Cinderella spoof is the strongest element of Prince Charming. Ant portrays the male version of Cinders, left at home while his drag queen evil stepsisters get to go to the ball and ‘dance the Prince Charming’. In one of her final roles, Diana Dors (Ant had personally appealed to her to take part) appears as Ant’s Fairy Godmother and dances iconically with five topless men. Ant becomes a Regency era dandy, goes to the ball and gets to do the dance himself, which went down in history as an essential element of this song. You simply cannot hear Prince Charming without picturing the dance, which is barely even a dance. The video ends with Ant in various guises, including Clint Eastwood, Alice Cooper and Marlon Brando, which he pulls off surprisingly well.

    Prince Charming is perhaps Ant’s definitive statement on being a pop star, a love letter to his fans and the high watermark of his band’s popularity, and still sounds great today. But if I’ve spoiled it for anyone by linking it to Harris, I apologise.

    After

    In November, a few weeks after the single had began to slip down the charts, came the parent album, which surprisingly failed to hit number 1. Despite that, Adam and the Ants were one of the UK’s biggest-selling acts of 1981. In early 1982, Ant Rap peaked at number three. It was to be their final new release, as in March 1982, Ant disbanded his group. Pirroni, who was tired of touring, continued to work with Ant in a songwriting capacity. Bassist Gary Tibbs and drummer Chris ‘Merrick’ Hughes formed a short-lived duo.

    The Outro

    When Ant shot to number 1 as a solo star with the excellent Goody Two Shoes, it seemed to be a wise move. He was, after all, the star. However, his popularity began to wane soon after.

    The Info

    Written by

    Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni

    Producer

    Chris Hughes

    Weeks at number 1

    4 (19 September-17 October)

    Trivia

    Births

    21 September: Singer-songwriter Sarah Whatmore
    23 September: Field hockey defender Helen Richardson
    29 September: Hear’Say singer Suzanne Shaw
    1 October: Journalist Deborah James
    9 October: Actor Rupert Friend/Labour MP Jess Phillips
    10 October: Journalist Stinson Hunter
    13 October: Footballer Ryan Ashford/Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke

    Deaths

    19 September: Writer Ruth Tongue
    21 September: Actor Nigel Patrick
    23 September: Disc jockey Sam Costa 
    24 September: Actor John Ruddock
    27 September: Physician Sir Stanley Davidson
    28 September: Conservative MP Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth
    29 September: Historian Frances Yates/Football manager Bill Shankly (see ‘Meanwhile…‘)
    30 September: Welsh rugby union player Roy John/Conductor Boyd Neel
    1 October: Conservative MP Sir Graham Page
    8 October: Labour MP Arthur Allen
    12 October: Political analyst Robert McKenzie

    Meanwhile…

    21 September: Belize was granted independence.  

    25 September: Ford announced it was to discontinue the Cortina model, which would be replaced by the Sierra.

    29 September: Liverpool mourned former football manager Bill Shankly after he died of a heart attack, aged 68.

    1 October: 24-year-old Bryan Robson became Britain’s most expensive footballer when he moved from West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United for £1.5 million.

    3 October: The hunger strikes at Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison came to an end after six months.

    10 October: The Provisional IRA bombed the Chelsea Barracks, killing two people.

    12 October: Granada Television’s Brideshead Revisited began transmission on ITV.

    13 October: Opinion polls revealed Margaret Thatcher was still unpopular as Prime Minster, largely due to her anti-inflationary economic measures.

    15 October: Norman Tebbit’s famous speech in which he told fellow Conservative MPs, how his father didn’t riot when he was unemployed during the 30s. ‘He got on his bike and looked for work’ etc. Whoop-de-do, Norman.