Silver discs(October 1981)
A monthly look back at the top singles of 25 years ago
The three best records from the Top 10 (13th October 1981) Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough: If Kirsty Young ever invites me onto Desert Island Discs, this song's coming with me. You may consider it a simplistic synthpop folly, but I recognise it as a work of pure melodic genius. Yes, the lyrics are transparent and twee. Yes, you can play the introduction one-fingered. Yes, the song lacks the maturity and depth of the band's later work. But to my mind every layer meshes together perfectly, like an electronic concerto, in an uplifting anthem to teenage innocence. It's not your average pop tune, it has quirks and counterpoint and blurry swooshes. But oh dear, the video hasn't dated well has it? There are some well dodgy leather outfits on show, as well the complete range of early 80s Top Man polyester suits. And watching Dave & Co sitting around sipping fruit cocktails with paper umbrellas is all slightly too derivative of the band's Basildon nightclub roots. But the audio track is divine, as befits Vince Clarke's DM swansong. And really, genuinely, I still can't get enough. [video]
"And when it rains you're shining down for me, and I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough. Just like a rainbow you know you set me free." Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin - It's My Party: Just to be clear, this is not David A Stewart from the Eurythmics, this is Dave Stewart the 'leading British keyboardist'. In 1981 he joined forces with 'leading British vocalist' Barbara Gaskin, and they assembled this sparkling leftfield cover version of an old Lesley Gore hit. It had just the right mix of charm and knowing tongue-in-cheek, and it stormed to number one selling three quarters of a million copies in the process. Dave and Barbara are still together, both in the recording studio and in the Biblical sense, and they deserve our eternal respect for keeping the Birdie Song off the top of the charts. [video]
"Nobody knows where my Johnny has gone, but Judy left the same time. Why was he holding her hand when he's supposed to be mine?" Godley and Creme - Under Your Thumb: Two of the founder members of 10cc, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme broke away in 1976 to form their own experimental duo. This atmospheric ballad finally gave them a hit five years later. It's a kind of musical 'Most Haunted' - the eerie tale of a rainswept railway carriage posessed by the spirit of a suicidal woman. And it's enchanting. Kevin continues to be a renowned director of music videos, and Lol remains a less than amusing internet chat abbreviation.
"Then she rose up out of nowhere and her hair was full of steam, and she stuck her head out the window and screamed."
My most utterly all-consuming favourite record during October 1981 LaurieAnderson - OSuperman: The first time you heard this record, you knew immediately whether you loved it or hated it. Musical Marmite, it was. I first heard it on the John Peel show, and I was immediately entranced. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..." O Superman was eight minutes of skeletal performance art, punctuated throughout by a repeated breathy 'ha'. Above this minimalist undercarriage was a goofball anti-war poem spoken into a vocoder, and little more. "Hello? This is your Mother. Are you there? Are you coming home?" Avant garde New York artist Laurie Anderson was the creative force behind the song. O Superman was part of a larger work entitled United States, and was accompanied by an understated video featuring shadows, swirling globes and pounding fists. Plus hundreds of hyperventilated 'ha's. "...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..." The single was first released on the tiny One Ten label and was never expected to be a hit. But its hypnotic swirl rapidly enticed many, and O Superman flew to number two in the charts within a fortnight. Top of the Pops deigned to show part of the video, but the producers couldn't stomach the full eight minutes. "Well, you don't know me, but I know you. And I've got a message to give to you. Here come the planes." A surefire number one was expected, except that all of us who loved the single had already bought it so it fell straight back down the charts as quickly as it had risen. O Superman wasn't just a one hit wonder, it was a one month wonder. "...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..." Laurie rewarded her new fans with an accessibly offbeat album called Big Science, which is still worth a listen today, and later another personal favourite - Language Is A Virus. She's since worked with Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed and (the other) Dave Stewart, as well as spending a couple of years as NASA's artist in residence. "They're American planes. Made in America. Smoking or non-smoking?" And in 1997 Laurie finally it to number one as part of the BBC's Perfect Day charity cover version. She only got to sing four words, but that still beat 1981 when she'd become famous for uttering just one. "...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha." [video]
15 other hits from 25 years ago: Birdie Song (Tweets), Shut Up (Madness), Thunder In The Mountains (Toyah), Walking In The Sunshine (Bad Manners), Quiet Life (Japan), Open Your Heart (Human League), Good Year For The Roses (Elvis Costello), Mad Eyed Screamer (Creatures), Lock Up Your Daughters (Slade), Let's Hang On (Barry Manilow), Procession (New Order), It's Raining (Shakin Stevens), When You Were Sweet Sixteen (Fureys & Davey Arthur), Hold Me (BA Robertson), Dead Cities (The Exploited) ...which hit's your favourite? ...which one would you pick?
Silver discs (October 1981)
Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough: If Kirsty Young ever invites me onto Desert Island Discs, this song's coming with me. You may consider it a simplistic synthpop folly, but I recognise it as a work of pure melodic genius. Yes, the lyrics are transparent and twee. Yes, you can play the introduction one-fingered. Yes, the song lacks the maturity and depth of the band's later work. But to my mind every layer meshes together perfectly, like an electronic concerto, in an uplifting anthem to teenage innocence. It's not your average pop tune, it has quirks and counterpoint and blurry swooshes. But oh dear, the video hasn't dated well has it? There are some well dodgy leather outfits on show, as well the complete range of early 80s Top Man polyester suits. And watching Dave & Co sitting around sipping fruit cocktails with paper umbrellas is all slightly too derivative of the band's Basildon nightclub roots. But the audio track is divine, as befits Vince Clarke's DM swansong. And really, genuinely, I still can't get enough. [video]
