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| When exactly did cassettes become fetish objects? Just look at that baby...! |
So I woke up this morning with 'War Baby' in my head, and then 'Cruel Summer' and 'Forbidden Colours' and I couldn't work out why, until BING! it dawned on me that all of these things were on this tape I made off of the radio Top 40; and when I checked the date they were all in the chart and the music-killing home taping must have occurred, I realised it was at exactly this time of year in 1983.
Kids, the Pop Clock never lies.
(DavyH has done his A Levels; he is hanging out down the beach; he will protest about, but still go on, a final holiday with his parents to Majorca in September before starting college in London in October).
The other things on the tape are: 'Come Live With Me' by Heaven 17 ('I was 37, she was 17' - curses! I'm nearly 44!!!) 'Do It Again/Billie Jean (medley)' by Clubhouse (it's Steely Dan with the diddle-diddly dinga ding guitar bit from Billie Jean plonked in the middle! A mash up before mash ups!) 'Club Tropicana' by Wham! (c'mon!) 'The Crown' by Gary Byrd (Kips!) 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' by Paul Young (erm...) and 'Right Now' by The Creatures (which I don't think I have heard since. And is excellent. In fact, I am so excited about hearing it again that I've just secured an mp3 of it which I present here for your delectation).
As if all of this were not frisson enough, at the end of the tape the not-quite 18 year old me stuck a load of little drum bits from various records together - Lord alone knows why, but it must have taken hours and occasioned a chronic case of pause-button finger.
The quiz-minded and/or terminally bored amongst you may have some fun with it...
Drum bit montage thing by DavyH, aged 17 and three quarters (1983)
And here's Siouxsie and Budgie...
The Creatures - 'Right Now' (1983)
PS: Yes. The cassette label really does say 'an embryonic journey down the acoustic annals of a great Revolving semi-styletto breath...' . I must have had some 60s psych stuff on it before. Cough.
PPS: Oh go on, have a Bananarama too, I won't tell.
I loved the Creatures, will now need to go and dig out my double pack 7 " single of Mad Eyed Screamer.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I am scouring ebay for a decent tape deck, so I can get all of my early 90's Essential Mixes out and really annoy the wife, she likes dance music only slightly more than The Fall
That should really have been hates dance music slightly less than The Fall
ReplyDeleteYou tease!
ReplyDeleteHow bizarre Mrs M was only talking about the summer of 83 last night and that Cruel Summer and Give It Up (KFC and The Sunshine Band) are the 83 anthems for her
ReplyDeleteLove that comp - I spotted...
Squeeze
Billy Jean
New Order
Queen
The Specials
Edwin Starr
Killing Joke?
The Beatles
Adam and his Ants
Stones
The Beatles (Again)
Do I get a radio 1 Bits 'n' Pieces pen? Funnily enough I did a clips comp late that year from 12" 'extra bits'
Glad to see it's a Sony, never trusted TDK prone to snapping and reef knotting themselves in the tape head..
Or worse, your dinky interceptor.
ReplyDeleteKilling Joke?! Don't make me laugh!
Best tape everrrr!
ReplyDeleteBTW, five bonus points if you can remember the other (non-Clubhouse) "Billie Jean"-inspired hit single from 1983?
ReplyDeleteWonderful.
ReplyDeleteDrew: You shouldn't have too much trouble finding a tape deck. I currently have 3 in my hi-fi graveyard in the spare room, 2 of which work but don't fit in the hi-fi cabinet!
PS word verification is araphois - sounds painful! (Damn, mispelt it, apparently a symptom is redbons!
I vaguely remember a 'reply' record Kips, is that the one?
ReplyDeleteDrew and Darce, could we get a Swap Shop thing going here? 'Has a tape deck to swap and is looking for a PING! computer game..'
PS: Maestro Mondo has correctly identified a fair few of the drummy bits, but missed some easy ones; one or two others will be devilishly tough to get though, I reckon.
Aye, that's the one. Superstar by Lydia Murdock. "I'm Billie Jean and I'm mad as hell. I'm a woman with a story to tell." And a record to sell. Natch.
ReplyDeleteI got a bit hypnotised by all those drummy bits, and kind of lost my way after Blue Monday!
Percussive nausea - very common.
ReplyDelete'Superstar' - that's the one. What larks!
Am I missing something, I don't seem to have a link to the download for the tape. I can see the other three links(drum bit montage,right now and Bananarama). I am on IE6.
ReplyDeleteDruid dear boy, you are missing nothing - there is no download for the tape.
ReplyDeletePS: I am on PG Tips.
ReplyDeletei'll take the nanas any day (all three) (sorry it's that terrible dvds bad influence)
ReplyDeleteand being the luddite i am i've just bought a bunch of c60s for BRAND NEW tape lovelieness.
x
Swingin'! I hope you will be writing your track lists in very neat biro.
ReplyDelete