Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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It was time to get your skates on if you were around in February 1988.
Not to mention your skis.
And that's because it was the month in which the 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary!
And guess what?
I've never seen any of them.
However, I suspect The Serpent and the Rainbow is the one I'd enjoy most, as it's a horror film and made by Wes Craven.
When it came to music, the month kicked off with Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now atop the UK singles chart. But it wasn't long before that was deposed by Kylie Minogue's Hi-NRG Stock, Aitken and Waterman created dance smash I Should Be So Lucky.
And what of the galaxy's greatest comic?
But there was, at least, one new thing, because Prog 561 featured Hap Hazzard in the form of a four-page adventure written and drawn by Steve Dillon. I've never encountered it but 2000AD.org tells me - and everyone else - that it's set on the trading world of Fred's Planet and features the youthful Hap and Tricky engaging in life, love and get-rich-quick schemes.
I've seen 'Frantic' several times (on tv), and think it's rather good. Just goes to show the American abroad/in Paris theme predates Liam! And it's not just Harrison Ford in 'Frantic' - Gene Hackman went to Paris, for espionage? /adventure, with son Matt Dillon ( I forget the film's name! ) Before that, Gene Kelly!
ReplyDeletePhillip
I'd lower your expectations for 'Serpent & The Rainbow' if I were you, Steve. It's pretty boring. Always nice to see Cathy Tyson but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Garry Leach Nemesis cover there. And we're in the era of Bisley now I guess.
Not enough can be said here about Terence Trent D’Arby‘s debut album! If any of you have not heard it, I encourage you to give it a listen.
ReplyDeleteCargo Helicopter 47
Charlie, and of course there's a SDC connection as the album was produced by Sheffield's Martyn Ware. He of Human League and Heaven 17 fame. But we all knew that, didn't we?
DeleteDW
What happened to that guy? He had that one song. I thought it was great. Is he like, big in Japan? U.K.?
ReplyDeleteM.P.
If you mean Terence Trent D’Arby then he disappeared up himself. The massive success of that first album made his ego enormous, and he never really delivered the good again. A very good potted history can be found here…
Deletehttps://superdeluxeedition.com/reviews/review-sananda-maitreya-juvenilia-the-columbia-years/
By coincidence, I recently read Martyn Ware’s autobiography and also discovered his podcast series last night, and… he’s not a man who is reticent about his success.
*delivered the goods.
DeleteKylie's (or Charlene's) I should be so luck feels like the start of Stock Aitken and Waterman's domination of the charts, but wiki suggests their biggest hit (Rick Astley's Never gonna give you up) was the prior year.
ReplyDeleteI have no recollection of these progs and so was probably on a break from 2000AD. Notwithstanding Zenith, I think the title's best years were behind it. Subjective, obviously.
The only movie, from this list, I think I've seen is She's having a baby. Again, I suspected John Hughes best days were behind him, but of course he went on to Uncle Buck and the Home Alone saga.
DW
SAW gradually took over the charts from 1986 - Mel & Kim were massive, and they started working with people like Bananarama as well.
DeleteRick Astley was the tipping point, though, in summer 1987; and with Kylie they moved away from the dancefloor / pop divide that they ruled (they were quite good dance producers and very popular with local DJs) into pure pop.
Their engineer and mixer Phil Harding wrote a really good book about his career and that period.
DW - If Venus (was her name/Baby She's got it!), & You Spin Me Round Like a Record are considered the same song, but played at different speeds, maybe that's the best-selling Stock, Aitken & Waterman song (combining the sales of both! )
ReplyDeleteThe Kylie song that brings back safe, cosy, Ramsay Street-viewing, where everyone's a good bloke (& Jim's obsessed with teaching responsibility!) is 'Hand on Your Heart', from 1989. I know Neighbours had already been at its peak for 2 1/2 years by then, but that song brings back all the memories for me!
Phillip
DW - I find Martin Ware’s podcasts and interviews (regarding himself, Human League, Heaven 17, Sheffield, or of interviewmg other Synth Dudes as well) fairly refreshing and informative.
ReplyDeleteHe does clearly feel that he played a significant role in the success of TA D’arby’s first album by being the producer and suggests TAD’s second album flop was due to ditching Ware and producing it himself.
His story about his accountant calling him at kick-off of a Sheffield United game and Ware trying to get him to call back later is a hoot. Apparently the accountant wanted to tell Ware that he had just received a 500,000 pound royalty check from D’Arby for that first album which sold over 10,000,000 copies.
DW - your hammers are hanging in there! Tough schedule though… :( Keep the faith!
ReplyDeleteJust curious… isnit a financial strategy to be relegated every other year to get the $200 MM (?) payout for being promoted to the premiere league? Seems viable for those smaller clubs?