Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
In these times of conflict in Europe, it's always reassuring to know there are certain things that can unite the continent.
One of those is the Eurovision Song Contest.
Granted, it mostly unites Europe in a stampede to award the British entry zero points but, still, that's at least some kind of accord.
And so it was that, on this very night in 1982, BBC One was broadcasting A Song For Europe, the event at which the nation got to choose its entry for that year's competition.
I can exclusively reveal the nation's choice on that evening was Bardo's One Step Closer which bore a more-than-passing resemblance to Manfred Mann's version of Blinded by the Light.
No one, after all, ever accused Eurovision of originality.
Sadly, Bardo were destined not to go on to win the main contest. That was won, as I recall, by German teenager Nicole with her lovely song A Little Peace.
Elsewhere, that week, it was all getting heated in the nation's theatres, as a court case brought by "decency" campaigner Mary Whitehouse, against the National Theatre of Britain for its production The Romans in Britain, ended when the Attorney General dismissed proceedings after it became clear her expert eyewitness had been sat too far away from the stage to have clearly seen the body part he claimed to have seen.
In the South Atlantic, that week, Argentine scrap metal workers raised their national flag on South Georgia in the Falkland Islands and set off a whole heap of trouble.
Over on the UK singles chart, Tight Fit finally lost their Number One spot. They lost it to the equally non-credible Seven Tears by the Goombay Dance Band, a song which bore no resemblance at all to Auld Lang Syne.
On the album chart, Barbra Streisand's Love Songs reclaimed pole position from the Jam's The Gift.
Oops.
We also get to see a selection of the readers' drawings.
And we get the chance to win a fabulous work of art.
I don't have a clue what that work of art is.
I suspect it's not one of the readers' drawings.
I can say, though, that Cap's still battling the robotic horror that is Adonis.
But I do know this book also gives us the chance to win a fabulous work of art.
In a shocking development that will shock no one, information about Scooby-Doo and his TV Friends #5 is hard to find on the internet. Thanks to eagle-eyed reader McScotty, however, the cover has been unearthed. And it's this one.
I can reveal little of the contents, although, it being Scooby-Doo, I suspect we can guess at what they may be like.
And, if that's not enough to keep us happy, we can at least console ourselves with the fact that, this issue, we can win the Worzel Gummidge annual of which we've always dreamt.
Posts
29 comments:
I'm not even going to ask how Thor is balancing Mjonir.
And it does get my recommendation for the double balancing act on the cover.
Not sure recent history backs you up on Eurovision unifying the continent, Steve.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/feb/27/ukraine-pulls-out-of-eurovision-as-singers-quit-over-russia-row
Mind you, as current events show, theres obviously something to be said for conflict remaining at the level of tacky pop competitions. Maybe thats why the US appears to be making song contests great again with their own version now -
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/mar/18/american-song-contest-eurovision-usa-states
Those lucky Americans, eh?
-sean
Scooby do and Friends issue 5 can be seen here Steve. I'm sure you can just use this as it's a for sale item ( that's my logic anyway)
https://comicbookrealm.com/series/1788/24579/marvel-uk-scooby-doo-his-tv-friends-issue-5
He probably won't use it Paul - I reckon Steve just likes ending his Thursday night posts with a question mark!
-sean
Thanks for the link, McScotty. I've now added the cover to the post.
Sean, I was reading about the American Song Contest, the other day. It seems like a bit of an endurance test to get through it all. I suspect they may have to rethink the format.
Charlie, that does indeed seem a strange place for Thor to be storing his hammer.
I think we've all been pretty impressed at the quality of the many singles featured over the last couple of years and so it's sad that the nadir of sh@t singles hit number one this time forty years ago. Worse than the awful outfits, mid-seventies bubble perm and having Ms Jones from Rising Damp on backing vocals, was the f@#$%^& fire breathing! All the things Top of the Pops didn't allow...
Still water under the bridge.
DW
Not to defend that Goombay Dance Band record DW, but I think their mistake was actually putting the singer - Mr. Bubble Perm - in the video rather than finding a stand-in from the Carribbean to look the part.
Because otherwise, was it really any worse than the average Boney M hit?
Ok, I'll get my coat...
-sean
I guess Boney M were a few years earlier and so the fashion didn't seem so jarring, and additionally, Bobby Farrell had moves ;-)
I generally didn't have a problem with the novelty songs mixing it with the serious stuff (and quite liked last week's Lion Sleeps Tonight) but remember being horrified watching this mob on Top of the Pops. It seemed so far away from what was 'cool'. (A subjective minefield if ever there was one).
Then again, it went to number one and he probably made a packet, while the then recently turned 14 year old DW, was mostly concerned with 6502 assembly code, walking home from school with Angela C, and what was for dinner.
DW
Sorry to nitpick, Steve, but Nicole's Eurovision winner was called 'Ein Bisschen Frieden' and then it was released in the UK as 'A Little Peace'. Forty years later it remains the last Eurovision winner to reach No.1 in the UK singles chart.
On the subject of Eurovision winners - next week is the 50th anniversary of ABBA recording their first ever song 'People Need Love'. But (nitpicking again) it's not really an ABBA song because they weren't yet known by that name - on the single they were called Benny & Bjorn, Agnetha & Anni-Frid (BBAA?) and 'People Need Love' was meant to be a one-off single with no intention of forming a permanent group!
I've always liked the Vulture. It seemed to me he was an underdog. I don't remember this story, but I hope he at least gave as good as he got.
I could see how some crafty old dude, with some artificial strength and endurance levels, razor-sharp wings and the skills of an expert aerialist, could use speed, gravity and tactics to give Spider-Man a hard time in the canyons of NYC.
It'd be nice if he could win one and retire down to Florida with the loot.
Which I think he did, for a while.
...maybe Florida wouldn't be such a good idea.
Greece?
M.P.
What's with Wurzel vs. Catweazle? Different companies? To this untrained Yank's eye, they pretty much seem the same from afar?
Wow! And Charlie means "WOW!"
Having gone down the THOMAS DOLBY rabbit hole the past few weeks (Charlie loves his vinyl!) he went out and got DOLBY'S autobiography "THE SPEED OF SOUND."
The first few pages are gripping and leave Charlie wondering:
1) New Music Express, NME, was this THE source of music info in the UK?
2) THROBBING GRISTLE - Dolby is relaying something or another enroute to a show by Gristle and Clock DVA in Ladbroke Grove. All this time Charlie thought Gristle were being mentioned b/c their name sounds like a reference to... Where these guys "big time" over there? (Pardon Charlie's naiveté!)
HEAVEN 17 - Holey Moley! They are playing Chicago in September at Park West! Man... what a blast from the past. Both the group and the venue!
Charlie will be there (assuming Covid doesn't screw us over!)
Charlie, I'd never heard of Throbbing Gristle until Sean mentioned them.
I've never read the NME either but I think it was a very important magazine - the first ever UK singles chart was printed in the NME in November 1952.
NME was one of a few influential weekly rock newspapers ( not magazines at this time) in the UK. Along with Melody Maker and Sounds they were probably the most influential music papers in UK. At this time (1970s) NME focused on rock and a bit of punk, Melody Maker was more Prog rock, jazz and Sounds Punk, heavy rock . I haven't head Throbbing Gristle mentioned in years a bit to arty for me.
Dudes!
SMOKE ON THE WATER is 50 years old today!
4 most famous chords ever?
Charlie, I don't know if I can listen to that stuff anymore.
Kinda like "Hotel California" after the 400th time.
Brilliant song, but jeez, it's lost all meaning and impact.
I sorta like jazz now, but I don't understand it. At all.
Which is what makes it mysterious!
I don't wanna understand it. I don't wanna know.
M.P.
Mysterioso jazz! Good for you M.P., you crazy hepcat.
But I'm afraid I'll have to take umbrage over the claim that 'Hotel California' is a brilliant song.
Steve, you're right about the American Song Contest being something of an endurance test.
Thought I'd check out what the entries are like, and after half a minute or so of the first I tried - a bit of camp country-rap about cowboy boots, from Wyoming - I already can't take any more.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT2wpKnrBn8
-sean
UK readers: don't forget to put your clocks forward one hour as British Summer Time begins at 2am tomorrow.
I have more Thomas Dolby "Memoir" questions...
He refers to bunches of the guys coming to see "XTC," where he was running the sound, as Oiks and Teddies... which are?
B.t.w. it's pretty funny to read his intro where he's in a pay phonebooth in the desert in Nevada trying to play demos of two songs he created overnight, to THE Michael Jackson on the other end. lol.
MP, 'Hotel California' was the Eagles' only Top 10 hit in the UK (it reached #8).
Charlie, I would assume "Teddies" were Teddy Boys, youths who dressed in 1950s fashions and were not always averse to violence. I'm assuming "Oiks" were the skinheads who followed Oi! a movement which tended towards far-right thuggishness.
The NME was aimed at people who were serious about their music. So serious, in fact, that I don't remember any of the NME critics ever liking any act, ever.
Worzel Gummidge and Catweazle were both shown on ITV. I'm not sure there were any other links beyond that. Worzel was a living scarecrow. Catweazle was an ancient wizard who found himself stranded in the 20th Century.
Colin, fortunately, all my clocks reset automatically, these days.
Sean, I do feel that Wyoming entry fully captures the feel of how Eurovision would be if it were directly transposed to the US.
It does seem like it should be called 'Amerivision', Steve.
All the those old music papers took the subject seriously - filling a whole newspaper with reviews and articles every week was taking it seriously pretty much by definition.
Its a bit unfair on the NME to suggest they never actually liked anything imo, but it was a bit humourless. My preference was for Sounds - even though the writers could be just as annoying, it did at least feature comic strips like 'The Stars My Degradation' by Curt Vile.
Melody Maker of course was for squares.
-sean
I am amazed at the “sub-cultures” in the UK like Teddies and Oiks. Did we have something similar like that in the United States?
Steve, I must correct you - Teddy Boys dressed in Edwardian fashion hence the name Teddy.
(We mustn't confuse poor Charlie).
Steve, I assume you need to put your watch forward? I have to consult my watch's instruction manual so I know which buttons to press.
Colin, I don't have a watch. I just use my phone to tell the time.
Thanks for the Teddy Boys clarification.
You UK guys!!!
Mods, Rockers, Teddys, Jugheads, et al!
How's a yank supposed to keep all this straight!!!
Just curious if there were names of USA groups that you are aware of? Can't think of any off the top of my head unless one goes down the path of something like "Hell's Angels"
Charlie
Post a Comment