you know there is a current love for the 80s going around at the moment.
lots of people are sonically referencing the era, the never ending love for clip shows, and reunions of bands that should know better.
so when radio 2’s dale winton said that his radio show on saturday was going to revisit this weeks chart from ’86 i was intrigued as to my memory flashback given that i could not really recall anything of value from that year when it came to the pop charts.
needless to say, an hour later i was of the opinion the year definitely sucked the big one.
jesus – what an awful period.
the hour was filled with absolute shite including, fucking awfulness from van halen, supposed hilarity from cliff richard and the young ones, the cast of grange hill, fivestar, big country, falco (i still don’t get the love for that one), and sodding level 42. (full playlist : here)
it was a truly painful experience.
of course, away from the pop charts things were wonderful, but as is the way, the charts dominated the playlist in the car, shops, tv etc, and so even though i was hooked into john peels evening show, the mainstream provided the daily background soundtrack.
so, yes, enjoy your revision of the 80s, yes, power up those old linn pads, but please remember, there were some dark dark pop times in amongst the leggings and shoulder pads.
no wonder in october of that year, when i stumbled across age of chance everything suddenly clicked.
m.e