in 1981

hi there


just another quasi cultural throwback to the 80s, look you see. specifically, or indeed pacifically, 1981, as the title of this post kind of hints. well, i had to, really. to go back to 1980 would mean confessing that the 80s are as good as 40 years ago, and it feels not to be that way.

for those who crave provenance and such substantive information, this is all january 1981. well, the images are. some references in the text may go beyond, but i suspect several of you just look at the pictures and kind of skip over what i write. and why not.

to be even more specific, or precise, it was an edition of Smash Hits from that month and year which i had a gander at. and here for your consideration are not three, four, six, two or seven items i have taken from the pages of that much vaunted magazine, but five.

ah, yes. the classic, cheeky referencing of one band in a headline for a story about another band. quite a common occurrence in the days when we not only had a fun element in the music press, but a real, genuine, actual music press too. in this instance, my much beloved Split Enz have been referenced in this story concerning the Joe Jackson Band splitting, with titular Joe apparently going solo.

i would like to think that the editorial staff of Smash Hits (which at this time may well have included one of them out of Pet Shop Boys) had little or no interest in the Joe Jackson Band at all. they did, however, have a healthy appreciation for Split Enz, and were delighted to get their name into every edition possible.

perhaps the above will work out, or maybe it will not, but you have to give it a go. that is indeed a most smart wordsearch puzzle above. if you click on the image it might (might) make it a decent, large enough size to warrant saving and printing and having a go at, if you are bored. there are some really ace well known bands included, and a few i have never ever heard of.

the modern world has an idea of people being toxic and wishing ill upon each other as being sort of new, with "social media" being the forum which has enabled such evil. not true, alas. we didn't have an internet to take to in order to spew our bile. but, we did have the school playground, where fellow students could be decried and declared as gaylords or similar for liking the wrong band. also, we had the letters page(s) of the music press. for the price of a stamp, some paper, a pen and an envelope, one could ensure their views were considered for publication and observed by a fairly wide audience.

most of the letters in the edition of Smash Hits i perused appeared to be a not particularly class argument about The Nolans, with readers writing in to express their views for or against them. as such holds little particular interest for me, i have selected the above. the idea that Dave Lee Travis, or if you like DLT (also or if you like the "hairy cornflake"), was mostly responsible for the success of disco, and that somehow Mike Read was better, generally personifies the notion that people have always held outlandish, extreme views in respect of music and have always sought to air them.

had i ever written in to the music press, with the expression of some weirdly specific notion that i embraced an extreme position on? probably quite a few times, yes. the only such instance i can recall, however, would have been in the 90s (when you would have thought i was of an age enough to be old enough to know better) when i made some desperate, probably angry plea against the idea of The Stone Roses doing a James Bond theme. as (so far) they have not done so, maybe my letter hit home.

any notable people who had a passion for using the "twitter" of the day, expressed by frequently contributing to letters pages of the music press? undoubtedly the most well known would be Stephen Morrissey, who frequently bombarded the NME with his views, before he changed his name to Morrissey and formed The Smiths. from what i recall a volume of these select writings were published, although i could be quite mistaken.

so far as i am aware, i have never ever purchased an item on the basis of it being endorsed or otherwise promoted by a professional footballer. let me go further and state that under no circumstance would i consult, solicit or consider the opinion of such in respect of any stereo (vibes) equipment. but, apparently, something of a significant target market would indeed part with money on the basis of such.

yes, that is indeed Kevin "King" Keegan above. actually in the late 70s / early 80s footballers didn't really become mega superstars beyond the realm of the game, so credit to him for becoming so. it would probably be fair to say that Keegan was sort of a neil shipperly of his day, although obviously quite as cherished, loved, celebrated or talented.

no, i suppose that i could not end this without a Bowie reference. this below presentation of his lyrics is interesting mostly as the font used creates an at a glance impression that his name may have been Daniel Bowie.

the lyrics for songs appearing in Smash Hits was most useful. not particularly to enable singing along, but to understand those tunes where the vocals were somewhat hazy. by no means was it a given that albums would always contain the lyrics printed on the inner sleeve, and there was no "google" thing to go and check up on such.

were there any "incidents" with magazines publishing not exactly correct lyrics? why, yes. if i remember it right, it was when Smash Hits had a go at presenting the lyrics for a Deacon Blue song, possibly Wages Day. rather than the actual lyric, "say, say, say, say", in their wisdom Smash Hits presented "sex, sex, sex, sex" as that which was being sung. parents got infuriated, and an apology (of sorts) followed in the next edition.

right, then, that shall do for now. many thanks as ever for reading all of this sort of thing, or indeed for just taking the time to have a gander at the pictures. and good luck with that word search. no, there is not a prize for doing it, unless you consider the satisfaction of doing it a reward. which, in fairness, you should.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!