Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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The sky was the limit in April 1983 because that was when the Space Shuttle Challenger set off on its maiden voyage which I don't think was to anywhere in particular.
Launched in the cinemas, that month, were a whole bunch of films, perhaps the most notable, from my perspective, being Flashdance and The Hunger.
I have seen one of those films. It is not Flashdance.
Thinking about it, I have seen Flashdance. I was getting it mixed up with Dirty Dancing.
Then again, I think I might have seen Dirty Dancing too. It may be Footloose that I haven't seen.
Then again, I might have seen Footloose. I'm not sure.
Now that confusion's cleared up, let's see what was happening in the British charts that April.
When it came to singles, David Bowie managed to stay at Number One for almost the whole month, thanks to Let's Dance but was dethroned, at the very end, by Spandau Ballet's True which isn't really my cup of tea but, I believe, was the most played track on US radio in the 1980s, so clearly others liked it.
Over on the album chart, there was a fair amount of churn, with the month kicking off with Pink Floyd's The Final Cut on top before that was superseded by Bonnie Tyler's Faster than the Speed of Night but then that too was slain, by David Bowie's Let's Dance.
And what of the galaxy's greatest comic?
It was still giving us Robo-Hunter, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Tharg's Time Twisters, Invasion of the Thrill-Snatchers and Skizz.
Prog 314 also gave us a Tharg Special Thriller called Mr Macabre whose title alone suggests it may be worthy of investigation.
Prog 311, meanwhile, delivered the yarn What a Load of Rubbish by Keith Law and Eric Bradbury though I've no idea what that was about.
Judge Dredd seems to have been battling a menace called The Starborn Thing for the whole duration.
And Prog 310 gave us Tharg's Video Games Guide which was handy, as Prog 312 offered us the chance to win Activision video games.
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As foreshadowed last month, Prog #310 includes the brilliant Moore Gibbons Time twister, Chrono-cops. Moore managed to fit an incredible amount into 5 pages and Gibbons illustrated it ala Will Elder's Dragged Net spoof from Mad #3. Easily found online and well worth a re-visit. This issue also features an article on the Spectravideo quick shot joystick, which should provide a warm nostalgic hit for any 8 bit computer fan. All this and a Bowie single. What more could our young minds stand?
DW
Well DW, Chrono-cops is brilliant of course, anticipating Watchmen with the way Moore and Gibbons use the panel grid to play with time (impressive considering the page count, and it being fairly light-hearted).
But my young mind could have stood a better Bowie single. Not that Lets Dance is bad - its not
Spanish Ballet, right? - but it was a bit disappointing after those great Scary Monsters singles.
And let's not get into what Bowie did for the rest of the decade.
Flashdance - is that the one with What A Feeling for a theme tune? That was an annoying earworm at the time.
-sean
Spanish Ballet - gaaahhh! Bloody spellcheck. Usually I use my laptop to comment, which doesn't correct stuff, but this notebook I'm trying out just now keeps changing what I write. It's really f&%#@! annoying.
-sean
Sean
Given how slow time moved in those days, any new, proper Bowie single was still a thing to celebrate.
We took it for granted at the time but 10 to 12 new pages of Moore, each week in toothy, was spoiling us. I rather liked Skizz and this era of Time Twisters (i.e. Chromo-cops and the previously mentioned Reversible Man) were really starting to demonstrate that Moore was going to force the bar up, for writers. I'd forgotten that they also jumped on the home computer craze, with a round up included each week. This makes sense, in hindsight, because 2000AD definitely had a different readership than, say, Marvel UK. I remember a lot of people buying it that wouldn't traditionally be considered comics people, but probably did buy into the burgeoning computer magazine genre.
DW
Yeah DW, 2000AD definitely had a broader readership than other comics at the time. Which I think was largely because of Judge Dredd, and for which John Wagner should really get a lot of the credit.
After a boring period the progs are getting better again thanks to the double weekly dose of Moore. And on top of that we were getting Marvelman, V for Vendetta and Captain Brexit every month, which seems amazing in retrospect but as you say we took it for granted at the time.
Actually, come to think of it, we're not that far off from Moore starting on Swamp Thing later in the year, so most (all?) of the time he was writing Halo Jones for 2000AD he was already busy at DC. Which is quite a continual bloc of quality work.
-sean
DW, thanks for all that 2000 AD info.
Sean, I really liked Let's Dance at the time but I think it was the last Bowie song I did like.
What a Feeling was indeed in Flashdance.
Autocorrect is indeed the Devil's handiwork.
Lets Dance was indeed better than what Bowie did after it Steve. Not that I begrudge him making some money - or want to knock anyone else's taste - but he didn't do anything that really appealed to me again until Black Star, which was a very stylish exit.
-sean
Let's Dance - A spectacular album which had numerous singles to which one could dance! Is it true the drumming to the Let's Dance song is copyrighted? I keep hearing it's considered a piece of genius.
We are really in the heart of the "british invasion" in the USA.
Bowie and Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran and Culture Club (Do you really want to hurt me?) and even lesser known groups like Jo Boxers (Just Got Lucky) or Haircut 100 (Love plus 1).
I think Sheffield had a few entries in the invasion as well?
I had one Corgi car. Not sure why I bought it other than it looked cool. ENded up being the fastest car on the street though it was obviously not built to compete on a race track.
They were really not widely known / sold in the USA in the late 60s. Matchbox was fun stuff but got displaced by Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning. Johnny was truly competitive with Hot Wheels among us boys with their "red line" tires, racing tracks, etc.
Matchbox was great for being with your little buddies and making villages in the sand box or gravel parking lot. Construction vehicles were quite appropriate for that setting. HW and JL had no business there and anyhow even when we were little we had a sense the dust and sand and gravel were not healthy for the tires!
Just curious did any of these Prog comics above ever feature British Invasion songs in them like we were talking about Aunt May and Peter Parker singing some tunes a few weeks ago?
I could picture Dred humming "do you really want to hurt me?"
I googled wicki for Bowie's SPanish Ballet and find no reference to it. Help?
No-one ever references the Spanish Ballet, Charlie.
Their chief weapon is anonymity, and obscurity. Er, their two weapons are anonymity, obscurity, and an almost fanatical devotion to flamenco...
-sean
Charlie
Spanish Ballet is Sean's spellcheck enhanced Spandau Ballet. The first Nemesis story 'Terror Tube' was based upon The Jam's 'Going Underground' and it was intended as the first in a Comic-Rock series that never eventuated (it just became Nemesis). Dredd was peppered with pop culture references.
Sean, Steve
I really rate 'Absolute Beginners' and The Pet Shop Boys mix of 'Space Boy' but his moments of genius did become increasingly scarce. The recent remix of 'Never Let Me Down' is actually really good and it's a shame Bowie took his eye off the ball during the original production. Between 'Tonight' and 'Never Let Me Down' we have four albums for The Smiths, that displaced Bowie as the essential act of the time. I agree about Blackstar, though.
DW
*from The Smiths*
DW
"Spanish Ballet" conjures up wonderful images of beautiful dark-haired Latin women floating around. It is a pleasant thing to ponder.
"Spandau Ballet" makes me think of Rudolph Hess dancing around in a tutu.
Which may have actually happened, nuts as he was.
M.P.
What about "Sheffield Ballet"? Now theres an image to ponder...
On The Smiths, I find myself in disagreement with DW, as I always thought Morrissey seemed like a bit of a cockwomble.
But then my preferred laureate of Manc miserabilism was Mark E. Smith, so what do I know about music?
-sean
There already was a "Sheffield Ballet", Sean.
It was the Full Monty.
M.P.
DW - At the time, we were told that 'Absolute Beginners' was going to be the coolest thing to ever happen in the history of pop music. Then it sank without a trace.
Phillip
Phillip
Yes, the song was great but I don't know anyone that saw the movie. I couldn't accept Patsy Kensit as anyone other than the Birdseye peas girl.
DW
I'm currently working my way through the entire run of 'Extras' (13 episodes in total) on BBC iplayer and Bowie appeared in an episode from the second series. When that particular episode was first broadcast in 2006 I missed the last ten minutes because a taxi turned up that I'd booked earlier in the day (so why didn't I book the taxi to arrive AFTER the episode had finished?).
Ok... so there was a rash of "music / dance can repel the evil doers i.e., the white stuck-up
/ moralistic folks."
Flash Dance, Foot Loose, and Breakin. Perhaps others?
For me Breakin was the most fun. Had at least one big hit "There's No Stopping Us!"
"And Who are you???"
"Ozone - Street Dancer! Gang - rip off your sleeves and get to work!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8nz05c-BUQ
OK chaps... the link just above for Breakin's "There's No Stopping Us" is where our heroes, the street dancers, win over the frumpy white folks. But it ain't all that.
This link below is all that! the intro to the movie and inspired a nation after Michael J moonwalked in front of the USA to celebrate Motown's 25th Anniversary Show by performing Billy Jean.
The song was top-5 in both the UK and USA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFaPBFd6QRk
Way more fun than Flash Dance or Foot Loose to watch.
Charlie, I must confess to having been previously unaware of the movie Breakin'.
The song vaguely rings a bell but they're no McFadden and Whitehead.
Colin, could you not finish watching the episode in the taxi, on your phone?
DW and Phillip, I had a strange hatred of Absolute Beginners before I'd even seen it.
In the season 2 Family Guy episode, 'Running Mates', in which Peter & Lois are in competition to be Mayor, Peter claims he helped some underprivileged youths save a community centre from being converted into a shopping mall.
Lois replies: " Peter, that wasn't you. That was Adolfo "Shabba-Doo" in Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo! You watched that last night..."
https://familyguy.fandom.com/wiki/Running_Mates/Quotes
Phillip
Electric Boogaloo!
Well, the sequel wasn't nearly as powerful as the original, lol. Nothing unusual in that.
If you want a bit of brain candy, though, and reminisce then I do recommend Breakin. I watched it two years ago. Ole Charlie can still Moon Walk with the rest of them!
Charlie, Funkadelic won over the frumpy white folks first. For instance, heres a link to vanilla British 70s tv dance troupe Legs & Co doin' their thang to One Nation Under A Groove -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T475HEQweWM
-sean
On my phone, Steve?? It was 2006.
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