Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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January 1988 was a big month for anyone hoping to restructure the Soviet Union because it was the month in which that entity launched its program of perestroika, thanks to legislation introduced by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
Also in the world of Communism, vice-president Lee Teng-hui became President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang.
When it came to ventures more capitalistic, Hollywood was, no doubt, hoping to rake in the big bucks, thanks to the release of such never-to-be-forgotten blockbusters as Cop, The Couch Trip, The Telephone, Biggles: Adventures in Time and, of course, Braddock: Missing in Action III.
I am 100% sure I've never seen any of them and I must suspect that not too many cinematic fortunes were made that month.
When it came to the adjacent album chart, January kicked off with Now That's What I Call Music! 10 dominating before it was dethroned by Wet Wet Wet's Popped in Souled Out which was then toppled by Johnny Hates Jazz's Turn Back the Clock which was then replaced by Terence Trent D'Arby's Introducing the Hardline According to ...
As you'd expect, it was providing us with the latest thrills from Bad Company, Nemesis the Warlock, Judge Dredd and Tharg's Future Shocks.
But proving to be highly profitable were the following artists and tracks, for they each seized the top spot on the UK singles chart: Always on my Mind by the Pet Shop Boys, Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle and I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany.
When it came to the adjacent album chart, January kicked off with Now That's What I Call Music! 10 dominating before it was dethroned by Wet Wet Wet's Popped in Souled Out which was then toppled by Johnny Hates Jazz's Turn Back the Clock which was then replaced by Terence Trent D'Arby's Introducing the Hardline According to ...
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?
But it also saw the return of the ABC Warriors - who found themselves up against The Black Hole - and the return of Grant Morrison's Zenith.
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38 comments:
Biggles - despite its silliness - is strangely compulsive ( I've watched it many times! ) Peter Cushing's final role is in Biggles. Plus, the short, dark-haired waitress from 'Allo, Allo' is Biggles' love interest. The scenes with WW1 planes landing in a lightly snow-covered landscape make Biggles suitable for broadcasts over Christmas, too!
Phillip
I’ve seen Cop - it was quite a fashionable film in the 80s and early 90s but has faded away a bit now.
More of the same from 2000ad, though seeds of change with Zenith and the ABC Warriors. Weirdly I thought the ABC revival was earlier in the decade, but it makes sense. Bisley and SMS appear on the scene - who was SMS, anyway?
Matthew, all I know about SMS is that whoever he was, back then he used to do illustrations for the sf mag Interzone. And he inked the Captain Airstrip One story written by Alan Moore.
Which is here, if you haven't read it -
https://glycon.livejournal.com/18354.html
-sean
'Cop' was James Woods again, wasn't it?
I think Matthew's right that it had some sort of cultural cachet at the time. Probably that's because it was based on an early James Ellroy novel, and he'd started to get a lot of attention the previous year with 'The Black Dahlia'.
-sean
Yes, I vaguely remember 'Cop' from Alex Cox's movie nights. James Woods figured prominently in several films, I think ( in the days before Woods started sending himself up.)
Phillip
James Woods was a cult movie darling through the 80s. The Onion Field, Once Upon A Time In America, Videodrome, Cop, Salvador.
I think the wheels started to wobble around 89 when there was that nasty business with Sean Young on the shoot of The Boost. After than he was playing out-and-out sleazebags in 90s movies - Contact, Casino etc.
Night Moves, Best Seller!
Phillip
*after that
Charlie’s CD player biught in 1985 went on the fritz 5 years ago. It was a good run, no complaints.
Now, a 2nd DVD player does that duty and 2 weeks ago, CH got out his CDs and played Darby’s“Introducing The Hardline” at a proper volume through the Klipsch II’s (1982 vintage)!at a proper volume so as to garner the wrath of Mrs. CH.
Man did it sound GOOD!!! That album is a proper clobber!!! First time in decades I’d played it.
FWIW Darby was a fav among us GI’s in Germany at the time. Perhaps because he was an AWOL Army grunt?
Charlie, your CD player lasted for 35 years!! My CD player, bought in December 1998, still works over 27 years later.
Charlie - Could Terence Trent have become Milli Vanilli's third wheel? Surely Frank Farian could have dubbed Terence's voice, too!
Phillip
Yep, that CD player had a good run! And when it crapped out, I just figured why wouldn’t the DVD player in storage play a CD? And it did; it’s just fine!
Juxtaposition of TTD on to Milli Vanilli… makes my head hurt!!!
TTD messed up by not having Martyn Ware (of H-17) produce his second album too!
And the MV story on Amazon is a heart breaker.
CH
Charlie - To go off at a tangent, a few days ago, on Look North (a Yorkshire regional news show), a Beatles fan was appealing for memories of Beatles performances in Sheffield:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mkjy221kwo
Maybe later in the year, Look North will revisit this story, with news of her survey's findings.
Phillip
RIP Robert Duvall.
95!
Best role? Lonesome Dove, perhaps (?)
Phillip
Colin, will pancakes be part of your birthday tea, tomorrow?
Phillip
Phillip, Robert Duvall played the lead in 'Stalin'.
"He doesn't forgive, he doesn't forget..."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPeRD4P578U
-sean
Phillip, I've got some "Dutch style" pancakes from Tesco (large, round and flat, which can be folded over but what's Dutch about that? My mother made pancakes exactly like those every year). My birthday also coincides with Chinese New Year for the first time since 1988 so I've got a Chow Mein Pot Noodle and a Chinese-style Sweet & Sour Pot Noodle. Instead of a birthday cake I've bought a (rather expensive) Higgidy cheese & bacon quiche and I'll be having a glass of Scotch too. I also managed to buy a bottle of strawberry-flavour Ribena which my local Tesco very rarely sells (this is my first bottle since last June).
But is turning 60 anything to celebrate? Apparently the UK has more people over 60 than under 16.
And turning 60 means becoming one of the dreaded "0ver-60s" demographic.
As well as my birthday, Shrove Tuesday and Chinese New Year today is also Mardi Gras, the 12th day of the Winter Olympics and the first day of Ramadan!
Happy Birthday Colin!
Happy birthday Colin.
57 myself, so I sympathize.
I'm reminded of a lyric from a Who song-"imagine a road, so long, looking back you can't see where it really began..."
M.P.
Happy Birthday, Colin! - Yes, it's strange...when we were kids, people aged 60 seemed 'elderly'. Now, 60's knocking on the door...but we still feel our 'youth' hasn't run its full course, yet! Maybe, in the past, people's youth was full of riotous adventures - like flying spitfires in the war - followed by jobs of hard, manual labour - then, being in your 60s, you were worn out, by then!
Phillip
Happy birthday Colin, have a good one .I have 6 years on you, age is just a number, granted in our cases a large number lol. Celebrating getting to 60 is worth it, sadly many folk don't make it to that age .
Happy birthday, Colin.
Happy Birthday from the USA Colin!!!
I met the missus when I turned 60. Never been happier. Point being you still can enjoy new life!
Cheers, Charlie
Out of curiosity are any old-timers on your UK pop charts at this time?
Happy birthday, Colin. Don't go crazy and eat the Pot Noodles and quiche all at once!
-sean
Sean - Thanks for the link - I'll check it out later.
Colin - I went to Amsterdam, as a kid, and the Dutch had a pancake-like treat, called 'poffertjes'. But these were very small indeed, and dusted with icing sugar. To me, for pancakes, lemon juice or treacle are acceptable, but not toppings that detract from the pancake!
Phillip
Thanks for all the birthday wishes :)
Charlie, apparently Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) had a UK #1 hit recently so I suppose she counts as an old timer nowadays.
On the subject of birthdays - I googled Jeffrey Epstein out of curiosity and discovered he was born on January 20th 1953, the very same day that Dwight Eisenhower was inaugurated as the 34th US President!
Funny what we can see that happened on the same date in history.
My father, who is 90, recently sent a WhatsApp to all of our kin (4 generations noting that on the date his sister was born a few weeks ago in January 1944, the headline in the newspaper was “US invades Saipan!”
Sheesh… and most likely Bing was still #1 on the charts with White Christad i would bet!
BTW - Are the pancakes in Britain of which you speak like French crepes? Or are they thicker like American pancakes?
CH
Yes, my mother's pancakes were like crepes, Charlie, and she sprinkled sugar and lemon juice on them.
Another recently successful pop old timer was Kylie Minogue who had the UK's Christmas #1 of 2025.
Charlie, White Christmas was originally released in 1942 so it probably wasn't still at #1 in January 1944.
I was only 33 when my father died (in 1999) but you are 64 and your father is still living so well done to him!
Colin - i am indeed fortunate. Both my mother and father are alive at 89 and 90.
All things in moderation, stay curious, stay physically active, maintain and create social connections, no excessive consumption…
They have had their share of health issues but soldier on.
They do tell us we have to keep moving no matter how much it hurts. If you want to keep moving… keep moving.
And I do love those French crêpes. Both my grandmothers made them. And us grandkids would devour them because they were rolled up with cottage cheese and Concorde grape jelly.
Alas i have had to start personally making French Galletes which are made with buckwheat flour. (The Mrs. has celiacs – so no wheat / gluten.)
Always something new to learn! Stay curious, my friends!
Charlie
Prowler is staring 62 straight in the face and nothing is running on the Old Prowler anymore... pushing PUBLISH... NOW!!!
Don't French crepes lack the brown circles that characterize English pancakes? Or do brown circles just indicate slight burning on the bottom of the pan?
Phillip
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