Ever heard: "That was better before..."
Ever wonder what singers from the eighties became?
Do you remember Kajagoogoo, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, ABC, Spandau Ballet, Nick Kershaw, Howard Jones, Duran Duran, Human League, Madness, New Order ???
Well, this blog will bring you back in the eighties, but will also try to find the follow-up of those (not so ancient) times. ;-)
I wish you all the best for the New Year. May 2005 bring you everything you need and everything you wish. Let's hope music in 2005 will be good enough to appear in my blog in 20 years from now...
Come back here in several days to see who reached the first places in the 1985's charts, but for now let's celebrate the New Year!!!
Ok, I told you than in UK charts nothing moved at the first place during 4 months... But, Americans were luckier as they welcomed on their charts' first place the one and only Luise Veronica Ciccone worlwide known as Madonna!
Well, for this one I guess there is no need to tell you what she became since then... so, what I could do is maybe refresh your memory a bit...
Madonna's debut LP, "Madonna" was released in September 1983. Her first single to enter the charts was "Holiday". One year later, her second album called "Like a Virgin" is released and both the album and single reach the first place in the U.S. in december.
Since then, she did something every year to make sure we're not forgetting her. That was not only albums, but a lot of world tours, some "scandalous" books and several movies... and most of all, she always renewed herself successfully everytime it was needed. That is probably what made her stay at the top for so long.
Nowadays, Madonna seems to definetely have chosen Spirituality rather than Sexuality. Her "scandalous" life is over, she's now married with 2 children. She's writing Tales for Children and she even decided to change her name to Esther, a name more suiting Kabbalah's rules...
Would 2005 be the year of Esther's first album... wait and see...
To review the whole Madonna's career and even watch all their videos, visit her official website by clicking here: Madonna's Official Website
Again, if I'm not updating before then, I'm already wishing you all a
Sorry, I've been sooo long to update my blog, but you'll see why this is not so "urgent" to update it...
Unless you are less than 20 years old, you can't have forgotten this hit from 1984: the Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". This song was played so many times on radios during 4 months(!!!) and still is during each Christmas period that I'm sure all of you could sing it right away!
What you might not be able to do is to list all the band/singers that were part of this Band Aid? If you want to try, you have to know they were 20 of them... Ok, stop to read until you find them back, then compare your list with the one below:
Bananarama Bob Geldof Culture Club David Bowie Duran Duran Eurythmics Frankie Goes to Hollywood Heaven 17 Human League Kool and the Gang Midge Urge Paul McCartney Paul Young Phil Collins Spandau Ballet Status Quo Sting The Style Council U2 Wham!
The aim of this song written by Sir Bob Geldof, was to collect funds to feed and help children in Ethiopia. Fifty million copies were sold. It sold over 3 million copies in the UK alone. Midge Ure was the co-producer, and he accompanied the first relief shipment of food and medical supplies to Ethiopa, March 11, 1985.
If you'd like to have the original song on CD, you'll find it on If I was: The Very Best of Midge Ure and Ultravox. By the way, this song is probably the least reason to buy this album, but songs like "If I was", "Vienna", and "Fade to Grey" make it a "must have" album for all the 80's fans!
Now here is the bad news for those who hated having heard that song sooo much... It's back again! Yes, 20 years later this song is back "thanks to" a new band called Band Aid 20. This new band consists of:
Beverley Knight Bono Busted Chris Martin (Coldplay) Daniel Bedingfield Danny Goffey (Supergrass) Dido Dizzie Rascal Estelle Feeder Fran Healy (Travis) Jamelia Joss Stone Justin Hawkins (Darkness) Katie Melua Keane Lemar Ms Dynamite Natasha Bedingfield Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy) Paul McCartney Rachel Stevens Robbie Williams Roisin Murphy (Moloko) Shaznay Lewis Skye (Morcheeba) Snow Patrol The Sugababes The Thrills Will Young
This song jumped on the UK hits' first place right away, but I'm not sure this success will last as long as the previous one... I'm quite sure that next year at Christmas, we'll hear 84's version again and probably not this one anymore... Anyway, this year the funds collected are for helping victims of the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. So, I guess it's a good thing to buy the song... but nobody said you have to listen to it! ;-)
If you wish to learn more about this project and/or download the song/ringtone, click on the following link : Band Aid 20
As the original song occupied the first place during 4 months, you know now why my update was not that "urgent"! I'll have to find another trick to know who I'll be talking about for the next weeks!...
Anyway, if I'm not updating before then, I'm already wishing you all a
Merry Christmas!
May Peace and Love be with you all!
Would you wish have some typical Christmas songs, check there Christmas songs
Yesterday, I told you who was on UK charts' first place... Today, I'm going to talk about the ones that reached the first place in US charts 20 years ago... It was Hall & Oates with the song "Out of Touch".
Hall & Oates' duet was formed in the 70's already but their biggest hits songs are part of the 80's history. To be honest, before doing some searches on them, I did not clearly remember what they sang, but just click on the following links to listen some samples, and I'm sure you'll say: "Ooh, that's from them?!? I know that song!". So, here are the ones I easily remember when listening to : "Out of Touch", "I can't go for that...(no) ", and the more famous "Maneater" and "Kiss on My List".
I thought this group disappeared at the end of the 80's, but actually they are still there... They might be a bit less successful than in the 80's but they are touring regularly and have just released a new album in October '04 named "Our Kind of Soul". This album contains mainly cover versions of soul standards and is kind of a tribute to legendary soul music stars such as Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Barry White, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin...
2005 might be the year of their come-back to international success... Seems Hall & Oates are trendy again, as a new dance release of "Out of Touch" by Uniting Nations is currently climbing in the charts...
Already a week has passed, and I gave you no information...
I'm very sorry! :-( Here is the method I will use to know who I'm going to talk about: I'll check who was N°1 in the charts 20 years ago in the UK and the US. So, this week back in 1984, the number one in the UK was Frankie Goes to Hollywood with "The Power of Love". This song is probably one of their biggest hits just after their famous "Relax" and "Two Tribes" that both stayed 5 weeks n°1 on UK charts.
The video was also great but MTV forced YouTube to remove its videos... So, here's the song from a tv show:
The band broke up in April 1987. All the members are still more or less in the music business but they never reached the same success level than the one they reached with FGTH... Only the lead singer Holly Johnson managed to have a quite successfull solo career. His first solo album "Blast" reached n°1 in the UK charts. This album contains 3 hit singles "Americanos", "Love Train" and "Atomic War". In 1991, Holly discovers he is HIV positive. He stops making music and begins writing his autobiography ("A Bone In My Flute" published by Century in 1994) , painting and coming to terms with his diagnosis. Nowadays, he's mostly involved in paintings even if he still occasionally sings and produces others.
On the 18th November 2004, all the members of FGTH but Holly, performed together again for the Prince' s Trust at Wembley. That was a great success so they might be back in 2005!
This is my first post and I want to welcome warmly all of you! ;-)
I guess you found this blog because you like 80's music, so do I!
When listening "old" good songs from the eighties, I'm often wondering: "What the hell happened to that singer/band? They used to be so popular?"
Well, now I decided I would not just threw those questions in the air, but I will investigate to find out the answers... and I'll bring them back to you here!
If you have any suggestion on who you would like me to look for, just let me know?
For now, I'll do my searches on a non-specific order, but if you request s.o. I'll do that one first!
I hope you'll enjoy this blog and will help me to make it great!
Sometimes some videos are removed from YouTube and the links in my blog are not working properly anymore... If you ever notice a video that is not available anymore, please leave a comment to let me know and I'll change the link. Thanks in advance!
