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The Human League

When Sheffield computer operators Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh teamed up with hospital porter Phil Oakey in 1977 to experiment with electronic sythesizers, The Human League was formed. A year and a demo tape later, Adrian Wright joined the outfit and their live performances which had mainly been to art college students, now included playing support to Siouxie & The Banshees and, in 1979, Iggy Pop.

Ware and Craig Marsh left The Human League in 1980 to form Heaven 17. Oakey and Wright discovered Joanne Catherall and Susan Sulley dancing in a local nightclub and recruited them to dance on stage with the band. Several singles in the early part of 1981 were released and reached the lower end of the UK charts, the first major success being Sound Of The Crowd. Their next single did even better - Love Action (I Believe In Love) got to number three in the summer. By the end of 1981, the album Dare was number one and a single lifted from it, Don't You Want Me occupied the top slot in the UK.

A second album Hysteria followed in 1984, as did Phil's brief excursion away from the band with Georgio Moroder with Together In Electric Dreams.

In 1986, the album Crash was released and the single Human was the last one of the decade to make the Top Ten.

Then, just as everyone thought they had disappeared, The Human League returned in 1995 with the catchy optimistic love song, Tell Me When which reached number six. Their second single that year, One Man In My Heart proved that Tell Me When wasn't a fluke by a chart position of number thirteen.

Nice to see the League back and let's hope the new album they are currently working on is here soon !

Level 42

Level 42 arrived in 1980 when the friends from the Isle of Wight, Mark King, Mike Lindup, Boon and Phil Gould got together to produce what would some of the more well respected albums of singles of the decade.

Combining funk, soul with a commercial pop sound and King's unique vocals over his funky slap-bass rhythm lines, their debut single Love Meeting Love appeared at the bottom end of the charts in July 1980.

Several similar lower region chart entries followed for the next few years, until July 1983 when they entered the Top Ten with the cool Living It Up (The Sun Goes Down).

The hits kept on coming and early 1987 saw the release of the Album Running in The Family, the title track of which reached number three in February in the UK. Later that year, the Gould brothers left Level 42 and replacements Gary Husband and Alan Murphy arrived.Unfortunately,1989 saw the death of Alan Murphy from a HIV related illness.

Phil Gould re-joined Level 42 in 1994, although the group disbanded later that year. I'm not sure of the current projects for this collection of talented musicians/songwriters, but Mark King's strong performances with bass held high against his chest (how does he manage to play like that - is that the secret technique of kick-ass funky basslines ?) are about due for a welcome return as far as I'm concerned.

Quadrophenia

Perhaps it's just me, but it seems like all the good British films produced between 1978 and 1981 starred Phil Daniels. That's no mean deal as Daniels is one of our best.

In Quadrophenia, Phil plays Jimmy Cooper, a scooter riding Mod, accurately recreating the pop culture of 1964 when Mods dressed in narrow lapelled suits and were proud of their music. The music ranged from rare black soul to the innovative new sound of bands like The Who, featured on the majority of the soundtrack, though probably not surprising considering that the film Quadrophenia was adapted from their stage musical.

The story revolves around the infamous bank holiday weekends in the coastal town of Brighton which saw Mods and Rockers clash in violent disturbances. Jimmy experiences the typical conflict between between his home life, his respectable office junior position in a London advertising agency and the need to follow his weekend alter ego of one of the Mod "Faces".

As a fan of 60's culture who ,too young to remember it first hand, I'm pleased that Quadrophenia really does tell it like it is. There are so many subtle references to the period dropped in here and there. One of my favourite scenes has Jimmy vomiting in the staff toilets during a nasty hangover whilst two of his bosses discuss a new cigarette advertising campaign they are working on (this was long before the ban of tobbacco TV advertising).

"You don't think all this new talk about lung cancer will hamper the campaign then ?", says Boss No 1

"No. Young people today don't worry about things like that", replies No 2 as Phil Daniels staggers from the cubicle, wiping his mouth and washing his hands before lighting a ciggie.

Squeeze

For the sake of accuracy, Squeeze are really a 70's, 80's and 90's band - the majority of their hits spanning the late 70's and early 80's. Formed in Deptford, London in1974, the core of the band has rarely altered. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook led the band and wrote the songs with keyboard master Jools Holland returning to Squeeze between projects.

Their first hit single, Take Me I'm Yours reached 19 in the UK charts in April 1978, it's cheeky lyrics set to an equally cheeky walkin' synth bassline. Two further singles followed that year which did not reach the Top 40. However, one of those singles, Goodbye Girl would remain a favourite at gigs despite only reaching no 63.

In March 1979, Squeeze's time came in the form of a number 2 chart success with Cool For Cats. Chris Difford sang lead vocals and heavily injected the Cockney accent in this tale of a Cockney wide boy's frustrated attempts at being cool. By June of the same year, they had a second number 2 record when Up The Junction stormed the charts. More cheeky yet intricately crafted Difford lyrics rounded off their 1979 hits in September with Slap and Tickle.

Two further hits, Another Nail In My Heart and Pulling Muscles From The Shell, followed in 1980 with Is That Love being their first single of 1981.

The lead vocalist is quite often the sink or swim marker in a bands success, yet Squeeze have always managed to swap back and forth between Difford and Tilbrook (or both, in the case of Take Me I'm Yours) without compromising the band's style. In the summer of 1981, this was taken even further when vocalist/keyboard player Paul Carrack was recruited and shared lead on Tempted and other tracks on their album East Side Story. Carrack fronted the band Ace, responsible for the much loved 1975 single How Long.

1981 was also the year of their last top ten single Labelled With Love which reached number 4 in October.

They broke up in 1982, re-forming in 1985 with Jools back again , although it two years for them to return to the top twenty with Hourglass reaching number 16 in Britain and number 15 in America.

Jools left to form his own big band and pursue swing and boogie woogie and later his own TV series showcasing new bands with established artists - Later With Jools Holland. Paul Carrack's work with Mike & The Mechanics is well documented. Squeeze continue to thrive and have experienced short bursts of chart success, 1996 being a particularly good year for them, chartwise. And when it's Cool For Cats it's Cool For Ca - aa-aa tts ......

Spandau Ballet

When Spandau Ballet formed in 1979, they didn't have long to wait before the public warmed to their unique mixture of New Romantic style with soul influences. Their first single, To Cut A Long Story Short reached number 5, though I will remember them for their summer 1981 hit Chant No 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On), which reached number 3 and was played extensively in the UK clubs.

As with all phases in music and fashion, the New Romantic era ended and Spandau Ballet made the transition to mainstream pop without alienating anyone. Lifeline, Communication and the gold edged True proved to be some of their best work.

Spandau Ballet's success can no doubt be attributed to their team work. Tony Hadley fronted the band, yet the contribution of Martin and Gary Kemp and the quality of the performers kept them at the top for so long.

The group disbanded in 1990 and the Kemp Brothers went on to concentrate on other projects, not least their acting careers starring in The Krays. Tony Hadley has since released solo material, but without the success he deserves.

Imagination

When backing singer Leee John met Ashley Ingram as they worked with Chairman of The Board and The Delfonics they formed a duo named Fizz. By the early 80s, drummer Erroll Kennedy joined them and Imagination was born.

Specialising in cool soul tracks, the sensual Body Talk struck a chord in the UK when they reached number 4 in May 1981. It was much of the same highly produced mellow offerings that contiuned to bring them success throughout the 80s with Music and Lights, Flashback and their biggest hit, Just An Illusion, a number two hit in the summer of 1982.

The late 80s saw each member embark on solo projects. Those people in Britain who recall the overnight weekend TV service Night Network may remember Leee's Place with Leee chatting and singing with some of the soul greats. Ashley is now an established writer/producer, some of his best work being with soul queen Des'ree.

Culture Club

After a brief spell performing with the Malcolm McLaren managed band Bow Wow Wow, Boy George was approached by Mikey Craig to sing with his new band Culture Club. Over a year later I 1982, their first hit Do You Really Want To Hurt Me hit the top slot in Britain.

George was an instant hit with the media too with his outrageous dress style. The media attention often unfairly overshadowing the band’s music. George’s roots lay in soul, from Northern Soul to the great Philadelphia era and the early highly produced sounds from producers like Gamble & Huff and Rogers & Edwards.

His soulful voice backed often by the underrated vocalist Helen Terry brought instant hits in the form of I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, Miss Me Blind, the soul classic Time (Clock Of Your Heart) and many others.

The band split unofficially in 1986 and after various problems, George embarked on various solo projects as performer, DJ, remixer and producer.

1999 saw the re-formation of Culture Club followed by a top five hit, the addictive song with a reggae feel, I Just Want To Be Loved, song which in my opinion is one of their best yet.

Kylie Minogue

Back in January 1988, at a small radio station I was involved in we threw a new piece of vinyl onto the turntable called I Should Be So Lucky by an artist we had never heard of called Kylie Minogue. Whilst everyone was quite into the current music trends of the time, none of us watched Neighbours, the Australian soap opera that had topped the British TV ratings for the last few years. Kylie was the soap's star, but the fact we thought it would be a smash without knowing of her "day job" proves that she was going to be a natural top singer. Within weeks, Kylie's single reached number one.

By the end of 1988, she had clocked up a further number one with Especially For You, a duet with fellow Neighbours actor Jason Donovan. Not a bad career start when you consider that the three hits she had between her duet and I Should Be So Lucky went to Number Two !

The production/songwriting team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman (known as The Hit Factory) continued to guide Kylie through smash hit after smash hit, twenty of them to be exact. Her cover of Little Eva's Locomotion is still an end of night favourite at discos and whilst she left Neighbours years ago, her singing career and her new direction into modelling will keep the name Minogue in everyone's minds on both sides of the world. Kylie returned to the top of the charts throughout the current decade proving that we can't get her out of our heads !

Rick Astley

Rick Astley may sing like someone from Detroit, but he was born in the North of England and worked in his fathers garden retail business before he was discovered singing in his part-time band.

Rick joined the studios of Stock Aitken and Waterman during the mid 80s. The three hit producers were the pioneers of using new music technology and had a team of backroom staff, eager to learn.

One of those youngsters was Rick and he got his chance to sing on the single Never Gonna Give You Up which topped the UK charts in 1987. His powerful unique voice (I mistook it for Billy Ocean at the time !) combined with the tightly produced Stock, Aitken, Waterman track proved a winning combination that they would repeat throughout the rest of the 80s on hits like Whenever You Need Somebody, Hold Me In Your Arms and She Wants To Dance With Me together with many others.

Rick also had a major hit with the Nat King Cole song, When I Fall In Love.

Rick split with the three producers and an album Free in 1991 brought a hit single in the UK, Cry for Help.

Since then, he has been involved in many other projects including backing vocals on Elton John's 1994 single, Can You Feel The Love Tonight from the film Lion King.

Latest news emerging suggests Rick is about to reunite and record again with the hit producers, something that is long overdue for Astley fans.

If you are a fan of Rick's music and the artists that have received the Hit Factory's Midas touch, why not visit Jeremy Kay's 80s site, the authority on all things Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

Madness

By the end of the 70s, the punk and new wave era gave way to a Mod and Ska revival. Whilst some bands remained Ska purists, Madness combined Ska influences with fun lyrics and the record buying public loved it.

Formed in North London in the late 70s, their first single The Prince reached a respectable number 16 in the UK charts. The next two years produced a staggering 9 top ten hits, including My Girl and Baggy Trousers (both peaking at number 3) with their first number one House of Fun in May 1982.

Madness were as fun visually as they were on record. Nicknamed the Nutty Boys, their memorable videos included saxophonist Lee suspended from a large crane (in Baggy Trousers) and the trademark robotic like movements.

Headed by lead singer Graham "Suggs" McPherson, Madness' success was always very much a team effort with the support of Carl Smyth's vocals and Mike Barson's anarchic piano accompaniments amongst others.

Madness split after the mid-80s but played regular re-union concerts under the banner Madstock.