Silver discs(March 1981)
A monthly look back at the top singles of 25 years ago
Something highly prophetic happened on Top of the Pops in mid-March 1981. A technicians' strike (or something similar) meant that no live acts could appear, and the whole show featured nothing but new-fangled pop videos from end to end. I'd never seen anything like it. How times change.
The three best records from the Top 10 (17th March 1981) KimWilde - Kids In America: She was only 19 at the time - no longer a kid, and had never even been to America. But we didn't care, we loved the record, and we loved Kim. As the daughter of 60s rocker Marty Wilde music was in her blood, which did at least mean she could sing. This, her debut record, sounded both angry and glamorous (but in a very approachable Home Counties style). Kim's reinvented herself recently, flogging cod liver oil for Holland & Barrett and standing knee-deep in manure on daytime gardening programmes, whilst still somehow keeping her credibility. She may have moved on, but they played Kids In America on daytime Radio 1 last month and to my ears it still sounded just as fresh and sparkling and lovely as ever (although sandwiching it between two R&B dirges probably helped).
"Outside a new day is dawning, outside suburbia's sprawling everywhere, I don't want to go baby. New York to East California, there's a new wave coming I warn you." Toyah - It's A Mystery: At the opposite end of the pin-up scale to pouting Kim came post-punk Toyah. Across the country copycat girls tried to tease their hair into extreme shades of red and daubed their faces with suburban warpaint. Leaping into the chart for the first time, perhaps more through hard graft than pure musical talent, Ms Willcox offered us her 'Four From Toyah' EP in the hope that we might like one of them. Thankfully we did, and an endearing pop (and acting) career followed. And she's still going strong, as anyone at (ahem) Butlins in Minehead or Skegness last weekend can testify.
"It's a mystery, oh it's a mystery, I'm still searching for a clue, It's a mystery to me. A shot in the dark, the big question mark in history - is it a mystery to you?" TeardropExplodes - Reward: Bang! This song punched you in the face with its perky brass opening, then hurtled onward without pausing for breath. Three minutes of uplifting joy from the pen of musical maestro Julian Cope, although none of his later musical masterpieces managed to reach the same giddy chart heights. One of my schoolfriends was absolutely convinced that this song kiched off with the lyrics "Bless my cotton socks I'm in the nude". I hate to disappoint him, but...
"Bless my cotton socks I’m in the news, The king sits on his face but it's all assumed. All wrapped up the same, All wrapped up the same. They can’t have it, you can’t have it, I can’t have it too until I learn to accept my reward"
My favourite three records from March 1981 (at the time) DepecheMode - Dreaming Of Me (reached number 57): I didn't realise when I taped this single off the radio that this was the beginning of a 25-year love affair. Casio drumbeats and a synth siren, followed by plinkety keyboards with a teenage bedroom vibe - it was an inauspicious start for the four lads from Basildon. Nobody yet really knew what the band looked like, or even how to pronounce their name properly [see debut NME article here]. But I was instantly attracted by the unique close harmony vocals and alluring melody, and I adored it. The single may not have reached the Top 40, but various careers spanning teenypop, Yazoo, leather shorts, Erasure, near-fatal overdoses and stadium rock all began here. I'm just chuffed that I noticed.
"So we left, understanding, cleancut so we're sounding fast. Talked of sad, I talked of war, I laughed and climbed the rising cast" B Movie - Remembrance Day (reached number 61): Perhaps not great timing to release a song about November 11th in March, but hey, I'll still happily replay this gorgeously atmospheric single even in May or August. The Mansfield band had just featured on Stevo's seminal Some Bizarre album (alongside the equally unknown Soft Cell, Blancmange, The The and Depeche Mode), but alas their music never really captured the public imagination. If you remember B Movie you'll want to visit their tune- & nostalgia-packed website, and you might even want to head down to the Metro club in Oxford Street this Saturday for a (very) rare gig. And yes, they all look like bank managers now.
"Hailstones and epitaphs, mourning bells and half mast flags, in the cemetery where they fell all those many years ago, now it's just a memory eroded by the years" Small Ads - Small Ads (reached number 63): You won't remember this, I bet. A bunch of chirpy geezers, cooler than Chas & Dave and more tongue in cheek than Madness, singing a song about local newspaper classified advertising. Wholly appropriate, then, that you can now buy a copy on eBay. I'm tempted.
"This year's registration with a slightly dented wing, only down in Finchley, think I'll give the bloke a ring"
20 other hits from 25 years ago (and this is easily the best list yet): Jealous Guy (Roxy Music), Kings Of The Wild Frontier (Adam and the Ants), This Ole House (Shakin Stevens), Can You Feel It (Jacksons), You Better You Bet (The Who), Star (Kiki Dee), Ceremony (New Order), Something 'Bout You Baby I Like (Status Quo), Intuition (Linx), It's A Love Thing (Whispers), What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted (Dave Stewart and Colin Bluntstone), Walking On Thin Ice (Yoko Ono), I Missed Again (Phil Collins), Lately (Stevie Wonder), Mind Of A Toy (Visage), St Valentine's Day Massacre EP (Headgirl), Can You Handle It (Sharon Redd), Capstick Comes Home (Tony Capstick), Slow Motion (Ultravox), Up The Hill Backwards (David Bowie) ...which hit's your favourite? ...which one would you pick?
Silver discs (March 1981)
Kim Wilde - Kids In America: She was only 19 at the time - no longer a kid, and had never even been to America. But we didn't care, we loved the record, and we loved Kim. As the daughter of 60s rocker Marty Wilde music was in her blood, which did at least mean she could sing. This, her debut record, sounded both angry and glamorous (but in a very approachable Home Counties style). Kim's reinvented herself recently, flogging cod liver oil for Holland & Barrett and standing knee-deep in manure on daytime gardening programmes, whilst still somehow keeping her credibility. She may have moved on, but they played Kids In America on daytime Radio 1 last month and to my ears it still sounded just as fresh and sparkling and lovely as ever (although sandwiching it between two R&B dirges probably helped).
