Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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September 1984 wasn't much fun if you weren't a Stevie Wonder fan.
That's because his not-exactly short hit I Just Called to Say I Love You spent the entire month at Number One on the UK singles chart. In fact, it would go on to spend six weeks, in total, at the summit.
Meanwhile, on the British album chart, Now That's What I Call Music 3 by Various Artists threatened to maintain an equivalent stranglehold.
But, in the month's very last week, it was finally dislodged by the arrival of David Bowie's new LP Tonight - an album I've no recollection of ever having heard of. It would appear, if Wikipedia's to be believed, that it isn't what could be called a fan favourite.
In the real world, that month, the space shuttle Discovery touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in California, thus completing its maiden voyage.
While, several thousand miles away, the UK and the People's Republic of China signed the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to its neighbour, in 1997.
In the cinemas, there weren't too many releases of note but that September did see the unleashing of Amadeus upon the world's big screens. I was going to say it's the film that made a star of Robert Downey Junior but it turns out he wasn't in it. It starred Tom Hulce.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?
As far as I can make out, it was still serving us a diet of Strontium Dog, The Ballad of Halo Jones, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Ace Trucking Co and Tharg's Future-Shocks. So, no great surprises there.
However, I must report that I've just been struck with the realisation that the briefly famous late 1980s band Halo James must have been named after Halo Jones.
And it turns out they were.
Then I wondered if Jesus Jones were also named in honour of Halo Jones.
And it turned out they weren't.
Even though they always looked and sounded like they'd read too much 2000 AD.
FFS. Did Ezquerra, Belardinelli and the two R Smiths know where the bodies were buried? Why did they do all the covers in 1984? All terrible. The last one has decent composition I guess…?
ReplyDeleteStevie Wonder’s move from Moog and ARP synths in the 70s to what sounds like Casio home keyboards in the 80s was a terrible thing. Nice melodies but karaoke production.
My mum was a big Bowie fan so she got ‘Tonight’ for Christmas 1984. It is poor. It takes the gloss of ‘Let’s Dance’ as a starting point but tries to be more experimental but falls awkwardly between two stools. The main single was ‘Blue Jean’, with a shit video by Julian Temple.
Sorry for the rant. I don’t drink coffee but I just had a coffee.
MM sums it up nicely!
ReplyDeleteI bought one Bowie album in my life: Tonight. Why? Well, fresh on the heels of "Let's Dance" how could it miss? It was no joy.
And what WAS with Stevie Wonders' "Casio keyboard" LOL. Great observation Matthew!
But as a general observation, all the big guns basically crapped out by 83: Who, Stones, Stevie Wonder, Bowie, McCartney... Hard to sell stuff to kids when you are basically old enough to be their dad, lol.
And though King Charlie's memory is a bit rusty 40 years on, MCCARTNEY's last 3 hits were team-ups with Stevie WONDER and MICHAEL JACKSON IIRC?
'Lets Dance' wasn't that great either really. Not compared to the run of albums that ended with 'Scary Monsters'.
ReplyDeleteBowie was going for the international stadium A-list thing in the 80s - apparently he never made that much money during the 70s (or at least didn't hang onto it) - and 'Heroes'-style art-rock didn't fit in with that.
Personally I wasn't that keen on anything he did after that 80s period either, til 'Blackstar' which was an astonishing return to form and taking creative chances. Although I guess he didn't have much to lose by then.
Its not that his 90s stuff was bad, just not particularly interesting imo (sorry DW, and probably McScotty).
And yeah, Matthew is right about those covers. The progs have hit a bit of a dull patch again, but worth reading for Halo Jones. When you look at the line up - Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper - Moore and Gibson were definitely bringing something fresh to 2000AD with Halo and Rodice going shopping.
-sean
-sean
Oh dear, I just signed off twice. Duh
ReplyDelete-sean
Steve, 'Threads' was first broadcast this month in '84 (on the 23rd).
ReplyDeleteKinda surprised you didn't mention it. Perhaps you're still traumatized by the sight of the Tinsley Viaduct getting nuked on tv...
-sean
Matthew, I think problem was that the classic artists (Bolland, Gibbons, O'Neil) had moved on to the lucrative US market, and the second phase (McMahon, Davis, etc) weren't currently featured. Gibson did some great Halo covers but, from memory, only a couple (and the odd poster) per 'book'. I really liked the Glenn Fabry and Steve Yeowell covers, but they wont appear for a few years yet.
ReplyDeleteSean Sean, I broadly agree with your take on Bowie. Tonight was a let down because it was neither the pop-tactic nor serious. Never Let Me Down even worse, and then we get the excutiating Tin Machine. He could still do it if he tried (Absolute Beginners) but was obviously not paying attention because the recent remix of Never Let Me Down is great, and so it wasn't the songs.
Steve, I was lucky enough to see the space shuttle land at the Kennedy Space Centre in October 1984. Still remember how powerful the sonic boom was when it dropped below the speed of sound. You actually felt it, which young DW hadn't anticipated.
Old DW
That said, I just checked and Kev O'Neil is back in Prog 387 with Nemesis: The Gothic Empire and so what do I know? Great cover on that issue as well...
ReplyDeleteDW
DW -
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember this phase - the superstars had left but the comic still had regular input from Brett Ewins [quite a lot], Steve Dillon, Colin Wilson [possibly?], Alan Davis and some of the other secondary figures who hadn't jumped ship yet. I just don't get why the covers have to be SO BAD. Pat Mills makes a good point about how they had a designer in for the first year of 2000AD which is why the covers were so striking, but by 1984 it's like the editors just didn't care: the presentation seems like an afterthought.
I have to say, in 'Tonight's defence, 'Loving The Alien' isn't bad. That and, as you say, 'Absolute Beginners' [a song that, were it not tarnished by the eponymous movie, I think would be considered a classic] are pretty good.
Only two episodes coming up from Kev O'Neill: recycled from what was supposed to be the first series of 'Nemesis' before it was decided that more backstory was need. Which explains why it's in his metallic earlier style rather than the gnarly organic look he'd developed. Then Bryan Talbot takes over for a good long chunk.
Can someone please reprint 'Metalzoic'?
Matthew, Charlie, DW and Sean, thanks for the Tonight info.
ReplyDeleteDW, thanks for the space shuttle reminiscence.
Sean, I'm sure there's something wrong with me. Whenever I rewatch Threads, instead of being horrified by the nuclear devastation, I just get all nostalgic and happy at seeing local landmarks that no longer exist, like the Eggbox.
Bowie's "Tonight" album was rush released based on the even higher than expected mega success of "Lets Dance" and that showed in its partchiness. Although "Tonight" wasnt great for a Bowie LP, it had some good points like the aforementioned " Loving the alien" track. "Never let me down" and the Tin Machine albums however were awful (one or two tracks were ok). "Heathen", " Hours" and especially "The Next Day" were a return to form and "Blackstar " was a different level, stunning and highly emotional stuff.
ReplyDeleteI rarely ever read 2000AD but the covers at this time were for me almost always poorly laid out .
Today (October 18th) is the 100th birthday of the BBC.
ReplyDeleteWas it 'Threads' where a woman wees herself on seeing a mushroom cloud?
Paul
ReplyDeleteHave you listened to the 2018 remastered Never Let Me Down that formed part of the Loving the Alien box set? It's like a different album. I believe they actually re-recorded some of the instrumentation (so much that Erdal Kizilcay apparently threatened to sue). It's now the album we wanted back at the time. I listen to it on Spotify, rather than the box set. Also, I forgot to mention before, but agree Blackstar is brilliant. Tragic, but what a way to bow out?
Matthew,
I do remember them using a few old chapters of O'Neil before transitioning to Talbot, but not that these were (will be) the issues. I'll guess we'll find out next month ;-)
DW
Matthew, Sorry I forgot to add that the remastered version of the original "Never let me down" album is a marked improvement on the original. The title track was always good but even better now. I'm listening to it on Spotify as I type thanks . Blackstar genuinely is a wonderful piece of music especially to Bowie fans - the video adds to it's overall effect - as you say what a way to bow out. A class act to the very end.
DeleteMcScotty: thanks, I’ll track it down.
DeleteI have fond memories of ‘Never Let Me Down’ from 1987 anyway.
The title track is nice; an old friend of mine had the cassette single of ‘Day In…’ and I used to listen to the Shep Pettibone mixes a lot - they were very Shep Pettibone.
And the one and only time I saw Bowie live was that summer on the Glass Spider tour in Manchester. My cousin did backstage stuff for promoters and had a free ticket.
Colin, it is indeed.
ReplyDeleteThe good old days of the Sheffield nuclear winter Steve, before the city's modern decline.
ReplyDelete-sean
DW, the irony is that while 'Lets Dance' did put Bowie into the mega-stadium bracket, 'Tonight' wasn't particularly any more successful than 'Scary Monsters' had been.
ReplyDeleteProbably what he should have done was keep Nile Rodgers on as producer. Either that, or he probably would have done fairly well just going back to what he'd been doing before, as mass taste had kind of caught up with him anyway (by the mid-80s 'Heroes' was already starting to be re-considered a classic...)
-sean