The End

It's the last day, the last hour and the last minute of the year 2020, and this will be the final Lost In Music post. Thanks for reading and keeping up with us over the years.

Goodbye.

40 Years On: Down the Hill Backwards - a 1980 playlist

 As we say goodbye to 1980 (and good riddance to 2020) here's a final playlist of selected tracks from the year, in reverse chronological order:

1. Visage - Visage
2. Spandau Ballet - To Cut a Long Story Short
3. OMD - Enola Gay
4. Kate Bush - Army Dreamers
5. XTC - Towers of London
6. David Bowie - Fashion
7. Madness - Baggy Trousers
8. Adam & The Ants - Dog Eat Dog
9. The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me
10. The Skids - Circus Games
11. The Jam - Start!
12. David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
13. Gary Numan - I Die: You Die
14. Sheena Easton - Modern Girl
15. Ultravox - Sleepwalk
16. Bow Wow Wow - C30, C60, C90 Go!
17. ABBA - The Winner Takes It All
18. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
19. OMD - Messages
20. The Human League - Being Boiled (Holiday '80)
21. John Foxx - Underpass

Friday's 40th five (no.52/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980. And here's the final five for this year. 

It's Christmas week. We won't mention the number one, but instead try and pick out the best of the rest.

1. Adam & The Ants - Cartrouble. In the wake of recent success with Antmusic etc., the group's back catalogue (ca.1978) is being revisited and this one is at the top of the Indie charts this week.

2. The Look - I Am The Beat. Another one that's "bubbling under" this week, and will finally get into higher ground in the new year.

3. The Fall - How I Wrote Elastic Man. John Peel begins his festive Fifty this week. This one is at no.26 and the man himself pronounces it as his favourite single of the year.

4. The Undertones - Whizz Kids. Smash Hits was a request only edition this week, but as this one was included we'll put it in too as one that may have slipped through our radar, from their 1980 album Hypnotised.

5.  John & Yoko / Plastic Ono Band - Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Several Lennon songs in the charts this week, understandably, and this one is up at no.4.

Happy Christmas 1980/2020.

Friday's 40th five (no.51/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. The Beat - Too Nice To Talk To In a fairly stagnant chart (with John Lennon outselling everything by several miles) this is the highest new entry this week down at no.31, and opening this week's Top of the Pops.

2. Specials - Do Nothing. Another new entry at no.34 and also on Top of the Pops this week.

3. The Clash - The Magnificent Seven. Their triple album Sandinista is a new entry this week at no.19 (Super Trouper manages to hold back John Lennon, dec.) 

4. In Camera - Co-Ordinates. Quirky indie track of the week, recorded for Peel session broadcast 16/12. Signed to 4AD.

5. Gary Numan - Photograph. Numan was back in the charts, and on TOTP, this week with the single This Wreckage, lifted from the Telekon album. This is the previously unreleased B side.

Friday's 40th five (no.50/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. John Lennon - Imagine Lennon was brutally murdered outside his home in New York this week in 1980. His signature song was naturally being played everywhere.

2. The Police - De Do Do Do De Da Da Da. Sting 'n' pals' new single was the highest new entry in the charts this week, from Top 10 album Zenyatta Mondatta. 

3. The Nolans -Who's Gonna Rock You. Ireland's finest siblings are still in the mood for dancing and getting even raunchier with this new single in at no.40.

4. Magazine - A Song From Under the Floorboards. From the group's live album Play which entered the lower reaches of the charts this week, only te disappear again thus guaranteeing cult status.

5. Orange Juice - Simply Thrilled Honey. Postcard release fom Glasgow newcomers highest new entry on RM indie chart this week.

Friday's 40th five (no.49/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

Adam & The Ants - Antmusic Follow-up to the Dog Eat Dog breakthrough hit, another tarck from the Kings of the Wild Frontier album. 

Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry. This perhaps unintended Christmas song was the highest new entry on the charts this week at no.15 and remains a "classic" of the yuletide genre.

Stay Cats - Runaway Boys. US rockabilly nostalgics get their first UK hit this week with thsi one entering the Top 40 at no.23.

The Jam - Pretty Green. Only ABBA could stop this album entering the charts at no.1, and they did. Opening track from The Jam's new long-player Sound Affects.

Queen - Flash The British rockers' theme to the new Flash Gordon movie, written and mostly played by Brian May. Released this week.

Friday's 40th five (no.48/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. ABBA - On and On and On. ABBA did the double this week with Super Trouper the single and Super Trouper the album both at no.1 in the UK. Here's a banger from side one of the album which was also released as a single in some countries (but not in the UK).

2. AC/DC - Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. This single, taken from the Back in Black album, was the highest new entry in the Top 40 this week. Eventually got to no.15.

3.  Darry Hall & John Oates - Kiss On My List. Another new entry this week and the first UK Top 40 hit for the American duo.

4. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Israel. Released as a 'stand-alone' single on 26th November, this was their attempt at a "Christmas" song. Sadly it only made no.41 in the UK, although unsurprisingly on heavy rotation on John Peel's show.

5. Blondie - Live It Up. Random track choice from Blondie's new Autoamerican album, highest new entry at no.3 in the UK this week. 

Friday's 40th five (no.47/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short. One of the defining bands of the eighties made their Top 40 debut this week with their debut single, and the highest new entry at no.18.

2. Madness - Embarrassment. The Nutty Boys are also new on the charts this week (no.31) with this track off Absolutely, allegedly about Lee Thompson's teenage sister.

3. John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him (from Double Fantasy). ABBA were straight in to the album charst at no.1 this week, while Lennon & Ono's comeback album entered at a more modest no.27. Penned and sung principally by Yoko, this track was later remixed highlighting only Lennon's vocal for the 1984 compilation album Every Man Has a Woman. 

4. Bow Wow Wow - Louis Quatorze (from Your Cassette Pet). Opening track form the 'revolutionary' mini-album by Mlcolm McLaren's latest project which, as it wasn't released on vinyl, wasn't classified as an album at all, but only as an Ep and as such failed to make the singles Top 40. 

5. Motels - Days Are OK. Lead singer Martha Davis got the Record Mirror cover this week, with a full feature on the band inside "on the eve of their UK tour". British audiences hardly warmed to this Blondie-esque US band however and the single made slow progress.

6. Boomtown Rats - Banana Republic. First new material from the Rats in 1980, and the lead single from new album coming in '81. This new single was a new entry at no.23 this week and would eventually reach no.3 by Christmas.

Friday's 40th five (no.46/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. ABBA - Super Trouper. And they're back with a strong new single and "feeling like a number one". This single (and album) did eventually reach the top although it would also be their last one to do so. Highest new entry this week at no.13

2. Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out. Nothing to do with LGBT, and indeed Ross was apparently horrified when she discovered the double meaning of the phrase after the song had been written and recorded. Another track off her Diana album released back in May. new entry this week and eventually reached no.13.

3. Adam & The Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier. Title track of the band's new album, a new entry this week at no.4. 

4. The Professionals - Join The Professionals (Peel session). More post-punk fun from two former Sex Pistols and a friend. This session was recorded and broadcast by Peel although a self-titled debut album never emerged. 

5. Roxy Music - Same Old Scene. Another single is squeezed out of the Flesh+Blood album and makes it to no.12, its peak position, this week.

Friday's 40th five (no.45/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. Blondie - The Tide Is High. Blondie are back with a surprising cover version of a 1969 Jamaican reggae number. Hisghest new entry this week in 1980 at no.5

2. John Lennon  - Just Like Starting Over. Another comeback although we've waited even longer for new material than we had with Blondie. More tinges of rock n roll nostalgia in Lennon's ode to both his wife and his career in music. Into the charts at 30.

3. Rod Stewart - Passion. Another lead single from another upcoming new album, Foolish Beahviour, Rod's tenth. A fairly modest new entry at 37 but would go higher.

4. Motorhead - Ace of Spades. The heavy metal revival starts here, with the album and its title track both in the charts this week. Saxon and Whitesnake were also coming out with new material around this time.

5. Modern English - Gathering Dust. Rock of a different kind for this band's new single release on burgeoning independent 4AD label. They also recorded their first Peel session later in the month (listen here).

Friday's 40th five (no.44/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. David Bowie - Fashion. The Duke's follow-up to Ashes to Ashes is the highest new entry this week.

2. Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids. From the album of the same name, this is the band's first single on Virgin (with David Sylvian looking dandy on the cover of Smash Hits).

3. Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls - Mr X. New single getting plenty of radio play on the alternative programmes, and is certainly one of the album's strongest tracks.

4. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - 2nd Thought. OMD's new album, their second of the year, is the highest new entry at no.6.

5. Joy Division - Atmosphere. A late release on Factory, and ultimately Ian Curtis' epitaph, is straight into the indie charts at no.1  

40 years on: Top 10 albums of 1980

 Top 10 albums of 1980 (in chronological order)

1. John Foxx - Metamatic
2. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
3. Genesis - Duke
4. The Human League - Travelogue
5. Gary Numan - Telekon
6. David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
7. Simple Minds - Empires & Dance
8. Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
9. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Organisation
10. Mike Oldfield - QE2

It was 40 years ago today...

Another occasional series!

So many 'fortieth anniversaries' this year as, yes you've worked it out right, it's 40 years since that magic year of 1980, the year that the Future really began.

As well as being a crucial year for me as I reached 16 years of age, did O levels, left secondary school, did some proper work for the first time, and moved on to 6th Form college and the Big City, there was some great music too, stuff which really went on to shape my tastes and my life in general.

Luckily I also kept a very interesting and fairly detailed diary in that year, mostly noting down what I was up to, the banalities of routine, school, parents, friends, and of course music which I was hearing, listening to and eventually buying whenever 'pocket money' allowed it!

An important entry came about half way through the year, on 12th July, a Saturday. I'd finished my O levels, left school (waiting to go to 6th form) and was grafting hard out in the fields strawberry picking and crucially earning my own money! Thus I'd saved uo enough to buy my very first radio cassette player. I could now tape stuff off the radio! Revolutionary!

That very same day I also bough both Smash Hits and the NME, which featured Phil Oakey of The Human League, with his characteristic haircut, on the front cover (see pic.) with a group feature and the famous 'consumer guide to synthesisers' on the inside. The band also featured in Smash Hits (full issue here) with an interview, the lyrics to Empire State Human and the memorable full page colour pic/poster of the four members looking down into the camera lens (pc. left). I had the brilliant idea of sticking this page onto my bedroom ceiling directly above my bed, so for many weeks I had the Human League watching over all I did on and in my bed  (!).

Although I and many others didn't know it at the time, these press articles were a last ditch attempt to get some kind of commercial success for what would be this 'first version' of The Human League who had some critical acclaim but not so many sales, especially in the lucrative singles sector. Their "Holiday 80" EP/double 7"/singles package had failed to chart (some consumer confusion?) even after lead track Rock n Roll had been performed on prime-time TOTP, and Virgin were now trying again with the Empire State Human single release, a track from not the latest but thie debut album dating back to almost one year ago. Alas, we know how it all went, the group split into two in the autumn and the rest is history.

But going back to my radio/cassette recorder/player, NME also ironically enough carried an article about home taping which was 'killing music'. Forty years into the Future and although music has not been completely killed, it's certainly more easily avaiable to all, which basically was what we were aiming at with home taping, be it either with cassette copies of LPs or songs recorded off the charts, fingers ready on pause/rec button as appropriate.

Friday's 40th five (no.14/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. Genesis - Behind The Lines. Opening track form their new album which goes straight into the album charts at no.1 this week.

2. Madness - Night Boat to Cairo. the Nutty Boys' Work, rest & Play EP is the highest new entry this week at no.14.

3. Pretenders - Talk of the Town. New material from the band fronted by Chrissie Hind is also a new entry at no.26.

4. Dr Hook - Sexy Eyes. This one is up an amazing twenty-nine places to no.9 this week.

5. David Essex - Silver Dream Machine. Essex makes yet another comeback an bikes into the chart at no.40

Friday's 40th five (no.03/80)

Week by week we're listing 5 tracks which were big music news in the charts, on your radio, on the telly or even in your record collection 40 years ago, this week in 1980:

1. Jon & Vangelis - I Hear You Now: an unlikely debut hit for an unlikely duo - highest new entry at no.25 this week.

2. Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Pina Colada Song). Another debut hit for this American singer/songwriter and another new entry at no.38

3. The Regents - 7 Teen. Another debut at no.31 for these post-punksters getting a lot of radio play.

4. Magazine - A Song From Under The Floorboards. From the band's fourth Peel session, first broadcast this week.

5. New Musik - Living by Numbers. 1980s computer-age ennui starts here. Still outside the Top 40 but on TOTP and tipped for the top.