Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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This week in 1980 was short of the kind of incident that captures the attention of this site, so I'll merely observe that Don McLean's Crying was still at the top of the UK singles chart, while Roxy Music now held dominion over the British LP chart, thanks to their seventh album Flesh and Blood reaching its highest summit.
This made it their second UK Number One album. In the USA, it peaked at Thirty-Five, meaning they still had a bit of work to do over there.
The Fourth Doctor's still up against the Time Witch, leading to an adventure in a castle.
There's a feature about the various monsters the Doctor's faced and how he goes about telling which ones are evil and which ones aren't.
Speaking of evil; in their own strip, the Daleks destroy the planet Alvega then set their sights on Solturis. Where's the Doctor when you need him?
We get a Lee/Ditko tale of cursed Vikings, taken from the pages of Tales of Suspense #39 which I do believe was the issue that introduced Iron Man to the world.
Meanwhile, the Cybermen are still having trouble on Planet Goth, thanks to the typewriter of Alan Moore.
All I know about this one is it continues the story in which the Frightful Four are out to capture Spidey, so the Trapster can borrow his identity and attack the unsuspecting Fantastic Four.
That particular section of the movie seems to have been stretched-out over a surprising number of issues.
There's a review of the movie version of The Empire Strikes Back.
Man-Wolf's still messing about in outer space and having trouble with Arisen Tyrk.
We get Part Two of A Martian Odyssey, as drawn by Ruben Yandoc who's not an artist I normally associate with Marvel.
And we finish off with a Jack Kirby written and drawn tale of the Watcher, in which reckless space adventurers get kidnapped by trees and have to be rescued by the more cautious individual they've been mocking.
That is, of course, from Tales of Suspense #4
My knowledge of this one's sketchy at best but, clearly, Machine Man's in it, as is ROM.
I believe the Howling Commandos are still attempting to rescue a British scientist from the Germans, by the cunning ploy of making their foes think they're outnumbered when they're not.
Kull, meanwhile, is no longer king but isn't letting that put him off battling to protect a city from flying monsters.
Charlie dares say that the Battle at Hoth is his favorite scene out of all the Star Wars flicks. Charlie even will watch just that scene to get his yayas out!
ReplyDeleteCharlie is ever perplexed as to why a record, e.g., Roxy Music's album would go to #1 and not anywhere near that in the USA?
ReplyDeleteCharlie has heard numerous versions of various songs over the years, listening to the British and USA release, and cannot for the life of Charlie figure out why drums, bass, intro, etc. is changed? Is there any data to suggest our respective countries prefer relatively more/less bass, for example?
Charlie is gobsmacked.
Whats gobsmacking is you lot in America didn't have Boney M, Charlie. Or even - zut alors! - give Plastic Bertrand a hit!
ReplyDeleteHasn't the difference in taste between the US and the UK around the turn of the 70s into the 80s been discussed here before?
I seem to recall mentioning I'd never heard Journey til I saw the last episode of the Sopranos - that kind of thing wasn't big here - and conversely all the Two Tone stuff failed to make it across the Atlantic. Well, except for The [English] Beat.
-sean
Sean, were you a fan of the Sopranos? So was I.
ReplyDeleteThere was something Shakespearean about that series.
M.P.
Sean- yes, the difference in music tastes was dramatic, and personally frustrating. I abhorred Journey, but deeply loved the Ska records found at the import sections of our local record store. Back then, I looked in envy at the music on the UK pop charts.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I recently had an Ancestry DNA test. Revealed that most of my ancestry originated from the UK. Does that explain my Anglophilic tendencies? Who can say......
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSean, et al.
ReplyDeleteCharlie can fairly well understand why a group may / may not be successful in a foreign land. (E.g., Cyndi Lauper was a smash hit and the USA and never charted in the UK?)
But Charlie does not understand the tinkering with songs being released in a foreign land. The most obvious examples that came to mind were Heaven 17 and Human League. Fascist Groove Thing as Charlie recalls has a number of differences between the US and UK release. But to what end???
OF course, the Beatles changed I want to hold your hand to Kommt gibt mir deinen hand... but that's different lyrics not music.
Charlie, Cyndi Lauper had the odd big hit in Britain but was noticeably less successful here than in America.
ReplyDeleteThe big disparity I always remember was Hall and Oates. Singles that made Number One for them in the US would often languish in the lower reaches of the Top 100 in the UK. In fact, Rich Girl didn't even make the Top 100 over here, despite topping the US chart.
I don't have a clue why singles were remixed for US release. Up until now, I wasn't aware it happened.
Yes, the American charts suck. The UK charts are so much better for the 80's! So many good artists that were a big deal in the UK and nobodies in the US.
ReplyDeletedbutler, et al.
ReplyDeleteMy observation about the 80s were that in the USA there were many hits that were not exactly youth oriented.
E.g., Lionel Richie's hits (nothing against him) were not exactly "New Wave" lol, whereas in the UK your charts didn't seem to have so many of those hits that appealed to older folks.
That said, my only data for this observation comes from when I lived in Germany in the mid-80s and I would buy the UKs "Now That's What I Call Music." These double-disc compilations where just chock full of UK groups I never heard of, with chart-topping songs Often there were groups I never heard of like The House Martins or The Stranglers, who had huge hits in the UK / Europe, who are literally unknown in the USA.
The only exception coming to mind was Nina Simone's hit "My Baby Just Cares for Me" around 1986.
Everything written above is NOT a scientific study, just an observation, lol.
Charlie, my understanding is that records were remixed to fit US radio, which it was thought was geared to more of a car culture (listening in an opentop driving down a Californian freeway being a different experience to, say, Walkman headphones on the bus into Sheffield).
ReplyDeleteObviously you have the rise of video promotion in the 80s which probably accounts for the British invasion of Duran Duran and that lot, but I'm guessing they appealed to a younger audience than the ancient over-25s into Lionel Richie.
MP, yeah, I liked the Sopranos (although it maybe went on a couple of seasons too long).
-sean
Sean - oh my brother - I only wish I had been driving in a convertible with the top down in Cali, LOL, instead of spending 7 months a year bottled up inside in Chicago, in my youth!
ReplyDeleteThen again, maybe Chicago, or Mo-Town, or LA had better weather than Sheffield which could explain the different recordings, LOL.
Charlie, do you remember German pop and rock music from that period?
ReplyDeleteMein Gott! "Du bis keine Mona Lisa..."
That's one thing they're not good at, anyway.
(otherwise they beat us hands down...)
M.P.
Unfair to Germans M.P. - they did make some terrible pop music, but they also came out with Kraftwerk, Can, Einsturzende Neubauten and all that lot, who were way better than most of what was coming out of the US or UK.
ReplyDelete-sean
Perhaps so, Sean. Maybe the radio stations over there weren't playin' the good stuff when I was on guard duty. I can see how that might be the case.
ReplyDeleteThat's often the case over here...
M.P.
Hey, I like German pop music! Even though I don't speak German.
ReplyDeleteGerman (Austrian) Pop Music:
ReplyDeleteModern Talking - You can win if you want, Cheri Cheri Lady, Geronimo's Cadillac...
Opus - Live is life (A mega Hit still in commercials and stuff 35 years later)
Black Foos: Frankreich Frankreich (I suspect Sean knows this and has a grin when he hears it!)
ALphaville - Forever Young
Peter Schilling - Major Tome
Nena...
Scorpions...
And let's NOT forget Milli Vanilli!!! "Girl! You know it's true!"
Bowie gong to Berlin is a well known epic in his career.
Some even consider Bonie M to be a German Group (I think the dude went on to create Milli Vanilli?)
AnNyhow the list goes on and one!
M.P. - I am sorry that you did not get to listen to the good German pop music whilst on guard duty.
ReplyDeleteBut, look at the bright side, you didn't shoot yourself or get shot? On my base in Schwabisch Hall the guards decided to play "Quick Draw McGraw" out of boredom. Granted the one only shot the other in the foot (with a .38 or .45 or 9mm). But still you had to figure it hurt?
Still that was better than Baader Meinhoff (Red Army Faction) finally hitting us. We were their next target, lol. But, if we had had you on guard duty, I would have certainly felt better in any case, RAF or no RAF!
Lol!! Scorpions "Lovedrive" album almost got me suspended from high school!!
ReplyDeleteI had an music review column in our school newspaper (helped by working at National Record Mart), and gave that record a great review.
It was the original album cover where a guy was pulling bubblegum off a woman's breast. Guess that would've been bad enough, but the inner sleeve showed... NIPPLE!!!
Some kid bought it on my recommend, his mom got a hold of it...
...and off to the principal's office with me... Again.
I love to read your posts here in Bulgaria. Ironically, I am currently passport-less due to the f@*ckwits in the passport office failing to renew my passport even though I sent it in way back in April for renewal in June. Sigh. Nevermind. Keep on writing and posting and I will sit here and read what you have to say. Take care. Stay strong, stay safe.xxxx Your cyst.
ReplyDeleteStay strong, mystery anonymous person. I'm still receiving mail that was sent in March. Things are moving a little slowly in Britain at the moment.
ReplyDeleteHokey Smokes, Anonymous Guy-winkle!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've got a set of "Bulgarian Blues". Hope the girls are friendly there.
Thinking of Scorpions, I liked their "Steamrock Fever" album as much as "Lovedrive".
I saw those guys as a sandwich act, with AC/DC (with Bon Scott) and Ted Nugent as headliner. It was at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The top was retractable, and they opened it up because the place was filled with pot/cigarette smoke.
Folks have told me it looked like a mushroom cloud bursting outta the arena.
What a great show, especially for a 14 year old.
Charlie, they didn't put me on guard duty because they figgured I was gonna scare off Baader Meinhoff agents. They didn't even give us bullets (probably for the best). I think it had more to do with my platoon sergeant disliking my @ss. I caught every s#!t detail that came down the pike. I'm not complaining. It got me a lot of "Me time."
ReplyDeleteI join my comrades here in welcoming our new Bulgarian friend. Sir, welcome aboard. Our ever-patient master of ceremonies welcomes new perspectives, and so do we, I think.
M.P.
Charlie, too, welcomes our new Bulgarian friend! Charlie doesn't know many Bulgarians but Charlie danced with some at the Budapest Hilton in 1987.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when Charlie had his house re-roofed in Chicago, in 1996, it was done by Bulgarians.
And. Charlie captains an over-50 soccer team and it has a Bulgarian on it named Lubo. He's really good but is lazy and doesn't run much.
So Charlie has a natural affinity towards Bulgarians!
M.P. if it makes you feel better, one of my primary missions was to fly the nuclear warheads around Germany in our Chinooks. No way in hell did the Army trust us to have bullets in our pistols!
ReplyDeleteAnd flying with our pistols was a BIG deal in the first place! I mean, you literally had to be moving around nuclear warheads!
So, we had to keep our bullets to the .38 pistols in our pockets down by our calves / ankles in our flight suits, not in our pistols! Literally like Barney Fife from Mayberry RFD television show.
You can move the nukes but no bullets in those dam guns!!!
Ahhh... the good ole goofy days of the Cold War!
I think I need to drink a few Schwabisch Hall Lowenbrau Biers and start reading a good Le Carre novel, start reminiscing and then cry myself to sleep while listening to the House Martins sing "Build" !!! Nothing like the Cold War and good German bier to make Charlie want to listen to English 80s!
Good ol' Charlie.
ReplyDeleteLong may you wave.
M.P.