Decade IV: 1986

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded 8th April 1990.

 

Okay, so we're back with the OG Decade tapes that I compiled in 1990, a new decade and the end of my teens ahead, ten years of life-shaping music behind me.

Time to address the elephant in the room. You may have noticed from the track listing below and in the previous fortnight that the selection leans heavily on alternative, guitar-based music, and very little in the way of club or pop music. 

Yes, I will admit that as well as receiving my first proper Valentine's card and the same person agreeing to be my first proper girlfriend, I was beginning to tap into my inner Goth. I think I bought my first pair of winkle picker boots with shiny buckles around age 15. And the shirts. Oh, the shirts. My local Boots was also doing quite well out of my regular custom for hair gel and hairspray. Yep, I was quite the catch. I don't know what she was thinking.

Anyway, for all that, the parallel story of my teens was also my propensity for a pop song. My nascent record collection happily included the likes of Heaven 17, Bronski Beat, Erasure, Giorgio Moroder with Phil Oakey, Pet Shop Boys, Cameo, Madonna, Propaganda and so on. 

The reason why you're seeing little of that here is that, when I had the idea in 1990 of recording a themed series of mixtapes covering the 1980s, I already had the overarching title, Decade. I also had the thought that there would be a second, parallel series of more club/pop-oriented songs, acknowledging my love of the 12" single and called Decadance (sic). I never got around to recording any of the latter series, but maybe an idea to revisit here one day...

I will also add that whilst I enjoyed a bit of gnarly guitar, I despised Bon Jovi with a passion. No surprise that at school, I was in the minority, as the bobbins hair metallers were especially popular with my female friends. Thankfully, my girlfriend was an exception, in many ways but crucially in her indifference to the hirsute charms of Jon and the lads.

Scene set, here’s the mixtape.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood open up, though a band very much on the downward slide by 1986. I bought the single but more out of a weakening sense of loyalty and I didn't even bother with the accompanying album, Liverpool, at the time. And I echoed the howls of protest when an interview with comic writing legend Alan Moore on Channel 4's The Tube was abruptly cut short to segue to the video of Warriors (Of The Wasteland). It wasn't Frankie's fault of course, but they bore the brunt of my disgruntlement.

John Lydon had made a triumphant return with Public Image Ltd. and the single Rise, ahead of an album that depending on the format you bought was titled 'Album', 'Cassette' or 'Compact Disc' or 'untitled', if you want to be contrary. Co-produced with Bill Laswell, it's big on percussion, like the musical equivalent of a left hook from Mike Tyson (who became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in November 1986, fact fans). I love 'Album' for lots of reasons, and follow up single Home is one of them.

The Godfathers are next in line, matching Tyson's left hook with a piledriver to the head. I bought I Want Everything on 12" and played it loud. My mum understandably hated it. Tick.

I'm not sure my parents were fans of Gene Loves Jezebel but for all their backcombing, lipstick and chiffon, Sweetest Thing was a brilliant pop song. This is one brotherly reunion that isn't likely to happen until hell freezes over, though there's much to love in their early 80s albums. Sweetest Thing only got to #75 in the UK yet Discover reached #32, the only UK Top 40 album in their career.

A perhaps surprising return for Wall Of Voodoo, after their first appearance in 1983. Mexican Radio had a least been a minor hit (#64). Far Side Of Crazy failed to make even that much of an impression, despite the added appeal of 12" B-side Dance You F***ers (the label's censorship, not mine!). I didn't buy this first time around though I acquired Far Side Of Crazy when it was itself included as a B-side to follow single, a cover of The Beach Boys' Do It Again, which fared equally poorly with record buyers in general. Andy Prieboy was now lead singer and it's worth mentioning that former frontman Stan Ridgway had a #4 hit with Camouflage in July 1986. That must have stung a little.

Also on the comeback trail was Iggy Pop, aided and abetted yet again by David Bowie, with a phenomenally successful album, Blah Blah Blah, to boot. Cry For Love was the opening salvo and whilst Iggy enjoyed greater success with the follow up cover of Real Wild Child, I prefer this.

 

I mentioned earlier that Bronski Beat didn't make it into this series, though Jimmy Somerville's next project does. I thought The Communards was a brilliant next step and the musical partnership with Richard Coles produced some fabulous music, politically charged pop, beautifully arranged and sung, with incisive, insightful lyrics. Disenchanted is perhaps the prime example of this. It could be taken as an update or reflection on Smalltown Boy, though it's many other things too. And that wonderful descending piano chord at the bridge. A shame that The Communards are generally remembered for their 80s revival of disco classics. All hits and all good, but they were so, so much more than that.

Depeche Mode began the second phase of their career in 1986, following the mega-selling Singles 81-85 compilation. Many of my classmates referred to them as 'Depress Mode', though my friend Ady and I were increasingly committed to this new direction. 1986 would bring the Black Celebration album and my first ever live gig, seeing Dave and the lads at the Colston Hall in Bristol. I loved lead single Stripped and I bought the 5-track 12" single without having heard a note of the song. I didn't need to. Still hits the spot, four decades on.

My first proper girlfriend and I shared a love of Talk Talk. The Colour Of Spring and it's attendant singles came out as our young romance was blossoming and so the music inevitably became very special for us both. To be truthful, Give It Up was 'our song' - sadly prescient, given that our relationship lasted mere months - yet I have had an enduring love for Living In Another World as it's arguably the least Talk Talk-like song that they ever recorded. And I love it for that.

After committing the crime of not including either E=MC² or Medicine Show in my 1985 mixtape - all the more unforgivable, as This Is Big Audio Dynamite was one of my favourite albums of that year - here they are at last. C'mon Every Beatbox was released to announce the arrival of second album, No. 10, Upping Street. It's a cracking single, from it's familiar riff on Eddie Cochran's C'mon Everybody, to Sam Sever's deft editing and scratching, to Mick Jones and Don Letts' superb trade offs. The 12" version is even better, even if my vinyl rip is sounding to my ragged ears like it might be running a tad too fast....

My second crime is the paucity of Julian Cope in this series. Apart from his appearance with The Teardrop Explodes in 1981, this side marks the first sample from Julian's solo career. Though what an example! World Shut Your Mouth had been demo'd but never finished before the Teardrops, er, imploded. It then provided the title of Julian's first album in 1984 though omitting the song itself.

World Shut Your Mouth finally saw the light of day at summer's end in 1986, the song beefed up by US producer Ed Stasium, famed for his work with Ramones, and with a remix 12" by fellow Americans Trouble Funk. This was a different Cope for sure: sexy, pouting, leather clad; though the climbing frame mike stand was a sure sign that he was still bonkers as ever. The Saint Julian album also proved to be a huge success (#11 in the UK) and for a brief moment, the world did shut its mouth and pay attention. 

Another hugely underrated and underappreciated act is It's Immaterial. Driving Away From Home had been a surprise Top 20 hit in April 1986 and the record label reasonably thought that Ed's Funky Diner, a flop single in 1985 yet an equally brilliant and quirky song, deserved another shot. 

 

As before, Ed's Funky Diner was given the full format treatment: 7", 7" double pack with an extra single, 12", limited edition remix 12". It did better than before, though by better I mean a peak of #65. Their debut album got a few places higher and that was the end of the band as a chart-troubling entity. Thankfully, despite a series of unfortunate events in the intervening decades, It's Immaterial are actively recording and releasing music in the 21st century and the world is a better place for it.

 

1) Warriors (Of The Wasteland) (Single Version): Frankie Goes To Hollywood

2) Home (Single Version): Public Image Ltd.

3) I Want Everything (Single Version): The Godfathers

4) Sweetest Thing (Album Version): Gene Loves Jezebel

5) Far Side Of Crazy (Remix): Wall Of Voodoo

6) Cry For Love (7 Inch Edit): Iggy Pop

7) Disenchanted (Album Version): The Communards

8) Stripped (Single Version): Depeche Mode

9) Living In Another World (Single Version): Talk Talk

10) C'mon Every Beatbox (Extended Vocal Version): Big Audio Dynamite

11) World Shut Your Mouth (Album Version): Julian Cope

12) Ed's Funky Diner (Album Version): It's Immaterial

 

Side One (46:19) (KF) (Mega)