As the Eighties drew to a close, the career of Spandau Ballet was also seemingly coming to an end. The album 'Heart like a sky' did not meet the expectations commercially speaking, and the singles taken from the album also had little success in the charts.
'Empty spaces' was the third single from 'Heart like a sky', and stalled at number 94 in the UK singles chart. In other territories, the single did not chart at all.
My collection: 7" single no. 1142 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, January 13, 1990 Cost: 6,5 guilders Tracks: 'Empty spaces' / 'Fight for ourselves (live)'
'That's the way love goes' was written and produced by Janet Jackson with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jackson came up with the title, inspired by the downbeat tone of the music created by Jam and Lewis.
Although the record company wanted to have 'If' as the first single from Janet's new album in 1993, Jam and Lewis argued that 'That's the way love goes' would be the better choice. They were right: it was a number 1 hit in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, also reaching number 5 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 2 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 2003 Found: HMV, London, October 18, 1993 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'That's the way love goes' / 'That's the way love goes (instrumental)'
Metallica's James Hetfield wrote this song while on the phone with his girlfriend. Since he held the phone with one hand, he plucked the four open strings with the other, which eventually made up the first two bars of the song. The lyrics were also dedicated to his girlfriend, which talk about being 'so close, no matter how far', indicating the bond they shared even when Hetfield was on tour. Initially, the song wasn't meant to go on the album, and Hetfield had written it for himself, but when drummer Lars Ulrich heard it, it was recorded for the album anyway.
The single reached number 5 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 6 in the UK singles chart. The band re-recorded the track with a full orchestra in 1999 for the album 'S&M'.
My collection: 7" single no. 1816 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, January 9, 1993 Cost: 6,5 guilders Tracks: 'Nothing else matters' / 'Enter sandman (live)'
Elpida Karayiannopoulou was born October 1, 1950 in Spercheiada, Greece. At 14, she moved to Athens with her two older brothers to study. After this, she started a career in music when she became a singer of an orchestra, eventually recording an album with them and then forging her own career.
She became internationally known when she represented Greece during the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Socrates'. She finished eighth out of 19 competitors. She returned to the contest in 1986, representing Cyprus with the song 'Tora zo'.
My collection: 7" single no. 4570 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 20, 2010 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Socrates' / 'Pou na ise agapi'
Written by Susanna Hoffs with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, 'Eternal flame' was inspired by two eternal flames: one for Elvis Presley that Michael Steele saw when the band was at Graceland, and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child. Steinberg: 'Susanna was talking about The Bangles having visited Graceland, and she said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame. As soon as those words were mentioned, I immediately thought of the synagogue in the town of Palm Springs, California where I grew up. I remember during our Sunday school class they would walk us through the sanctuary. There was one little red light and they told us it was called the eternal flame.'
Released as a single from the Bangles' 1988 album 'Everything', it reached number 1 in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.
My collection: 7" single no. 734 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, February 7, 1989 Cost: 6,5 guilders Tracks: 'Eternal flame' / 'What I meant to say'
American-born Dutch singer Lori Spee released her third album 'Intuition' in 1983. The single 'Sugar' was taken from this album in January 1984. Supported by a concert tour in the Netherlands, the single still didn't manage to conquer a place in the Dutch Top 40.
It is actually a nice song, although it was maybe a bit too 'middle of the road' in this synthpop-dominated era in music.
My collection: 7" single no. 1236 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, May 25, 1990 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Sugar' / 'Time alone'
Personally, I think the best Police track is 'Synchronicity II', as it displays an amount of aggression that is not equalled in any other piece of music I know. The title refers to Carl Jung's theory of Synchronicity. It tells the story of an emasculated husband and harried father whose home, work life, and environment are terrible and depressing. One of the best lines in the track is 'every single meeting with his so-called superior/is a humiliating kick in the crotch', as the visual image underlines the music so well.
According to Sting: 'Jung believed there was a large pattern to life, that it wasn't just chaos. Our song 'Synchronicity II' is about two parallel events that aren't connected logically or causally, but symbolically.'
I have two copies of this single: the regular UK single featuring the B-side 'Once upon a daydream', and a Brazilian copy, which features the earlier single 'Wrapped around your finger' on the B-side. 'Synchronicity II' reached number 17 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 1166 / no. 3247 Found: Record fair, 1990 / London, October 20, 2000 Cost: 5 guilders / 1 pound Tracks (no. 1166): 'Synchronicity II' / 'Wrapped around your finger' Tracks (no. 3247): 'Synchronicity II' / 'Once upon a daydream'
Gry Johansen was born August 28, 1964. She represented Denmark during the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Kloden drejer' ('The planet's spinning'). The song finished 17th out of 20 competitors. She made two further bids for Eurovision in Denmarkt in 1989 and 2000, but both times she was unsuccessful.
This single features an English version of 'Kloden drejer', entitled 'We're like starlight'. It was released in several European countries, but without commercial success.
My collection: 7" single no. 4407 Found: Second Life Music, Amsterdam, December 30, 2009 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'We're like starlight' / 'For one more night'
Following Depeche Mode's single 'A question of lust', 'A question of time' was released as Depeche Mode's 17th single in August 1986. The track was remixed for the single, running at a slightly faster temp and pitch than the album version on 'Black celebration'. The accompanying music video was the first to be directed by Anton Corbijn and brought forth a big relationship with him and the band which still lasts to this day.
The single reached number 17 in the UK singles chart, but was unsuccessful in many other territories.
My collection: 7" single no. 474 Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1985 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'A question of time (remix)' / 'Black celebration (live)'
David Bowie has claimed that 'Modern love' was inspired by Little Richard, and it maintains the album's theme of a struggle between God and man. It was the first track on his 1983 album 'Let's dance' and released as its third single.
By the time 'Modern love' was issued and edited as a single, Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour was underway. The track had become a popular encore on the tour. A live version, recorded in Montreal on July 13, was on the B-side. It reached number 2 in the UK singles chart, number 9 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 14 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 1253 Found: Parkpop, Den Haag, June 24, 1990 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Modern love' / 'Modern love (live)'
This promotional 12" single was released in the USA in support of 'Spark', the first single from Tori Amos's 1998 album 'From the choirgirl hotel'. It is a very interesting item, because of the B-side: the instrumental version of 'Spark' was not released on any other format, either commercially or on any other promotional item. This is why this 12" single is still sought after among Tori Amos fans.
I was lucky enough to find a copy during a record fair in the Netherlands, and I've treasured the item ever since.
My collection: 12" single no. 365 Found: Record fair, 1998 Cost: 25 guilders Tracks: 'Spark' / 'Spark (instrumental)'
According to Jeff Lynne, 'The diary of Horace Wimp' is 'a song about a lucky lad who somehow defies the odds and gets the girl. Really wild use of the vocoder.' Originally released on the album 'Discovery' (1979) by the Electric Light Orchestra, it was subsequently released as a single.
The single reached number 8 in the UK singles chart, number 10 in Ireland and number 48 in Australia.
My collection: 7" single no. 1023 Found: Record Exchange, London, October 17, 1989 Cost: 10p Tracks: 'The diary of Horace Wimp' / 'Down home town'
During the first half of the Eighties, the Dutch band Doe Maar achieved the status of superband within the boundaries of the Netherlands with their Dutch language songs. They were going in against the trend of bands singing in English, during a period when Dutch language music was anything but cool. With a mixture of ska and funk (simply named 'Skunk' by the band) they created music that had an inexplicable appeal to young girls.
The single 'De bom' ('The bomb') was all about the threat of nuclear weapons that ran rampant during this cold war period. The lyric underlined the meaninglessness of life when a bomb was hanging over our heads. It gave the band their first number 1 hit in November 1982 - and in the two years that followed, Doe Maar's fanbase was often compared to the one of the Beatles during their heydays.
My collection: 7" single no. 2250 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, March 4, 1995 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'De bom' / 'Skunk', 'Man o man'
'It's alright (Baby's coming back)' was a slight return by Eurythmics to the electronic-based sounds of their earlier albums. Driven by a subtle drum machine track, Lennox sings a straightforward ode to a lover returning to her after a long absence. The instrumental passages feature some elaborate multitracked harmony guitar parts from Stewart.
The track was released as the fourth and final single from their album 'Be yourself tonight'. It peaked at number 12 in the UK singles chart and number 20 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 2027 Found: Record Exchange, London, October 19, 1993 Cost: 50p Tracks: 'It's alright (Baby's coming back)' / 'Conditioned soul'
'Another weekend' was a comeback of sorts for Five Star. It was the first single from their fourth album 'Rock the world'. Due to declining record sales, the group were intent on changing their clean-cut image. They opted for a new, raunchier leather-clad look, whilst the track demonstrated a slightly harder edged dance sound. Vocals sounded a bit like the Michael Jackson style of singing, with lots of exclamations.
The single was released as a limited edition in the UK, featuring a gatefold sleeve and five 7" square stickers, each featuring one band member. The single reached number 18 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 3192 Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, September 16, 2000 Cost: 5 guilders Tracks: 'Another weekend' / 'The mews'
I wouldn't exactly mind if Margaret Thatcher, the former leader of the UK's Conservative Party, would have a very long, painful and unpleasant death bed. I don't often wish for bad things for people, but that sorry excuse for a woman has caused so much grief in her country, that she deserves nothing less than a revengeful payback.
Thankfully, I am not alone in feeling this way: Morrissey once recorded the very pleasant track 'Margaret on the guillotine' (with the repeated line 'When will you die?') and Simply Red recorded 'Your mirror' on their 1992 album 'Stars'. It is an extended critique of the Thatcherite politics. The song criticises the selfishness, individualism and nationalism (including attachment to nuclear weapons) that typified it. The opening verse references Thatcher's famous 'There is no such thing as society' speech. The song suggests these attitudes are inhuman and unnatural by contrasting them with the human instinct towards sharing, and (more fancifully) with the natural environment - the birds singing their 'faithful song' - and a sense of inner beauty. The single reached number 17 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 1688 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, August 1, 1992 Cost: 6,5 guilders Tracks: 'Your mirror' / 'Your mirror (live)'
'It's over' was the fourth single release from Level 42's bestselling album 'Running in the family', released in 1987. In contrast to most of their singles, this track was a ballad, with the absence of the trademark thumping bassguitar sound by Mark King. The track was remixed for the single release.
The single reached number 10 in the UK singles chart and number 7 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 1392 Found: All that music, Leiden, February 22, 1991 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'It's over' / 'Physical presence (live)'
The end of Kerwin Duinmeijer's life was not a pretty one: the boy from the Netherlands Antilles was stabbed by a skinhead in Amsterdam, and when he managed to get to a taxi, the driver didn't want to transport him to a hospital because he didn't want any blood on his backseat. It was a death that shocked the Netherlands back in 1983, and it inspired Frank Boeijen to write 'Zwart wit' ('Black and white'), with the immortal line: 'Wie wil er bloed op de achterbank van de werkelijkheid' ('Who wants blood on the backseat of reality').
The song, bizarrely, gave the Frank Boeijen Groep their first top 10 hit. Upon its release in January 1984, it reached number 4 in the Dutch Top 40. Even now, it is recognised as one of the cornerstones of Dutch pop from the Eighties.
My collection: 7" single no. 225 Found: LP Top 100, Den Haag, 1984 Cost: 5,5 guilders Tracks: 'Zwart wit' / 'Kamer voor twee'
Nathalie Paque was born on May 11, 1977 in Liège, Belgium. She was selected to represent France during the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest. Although Sandra Kim's victory for Belgium at the age of 14 was already three years before, some countries were still playing the paedophile card, hoping to score with a cute looking youngster. (Thankfully, or regrettably, these days there's a Junior Song Contest for this kind of thing.)
Since the EBU was prompted by the very young age of Paque to set an age limit in 1990, barring any children from under 16 from the contest, she will always be the youngest participant in the Contest ever: at just 11 years old. She sang 'J'ai volé la vie' ('I've stolen life'), an unremarkable song that finished eighth out of 22 participants.
My collection: 7" single no. 4398 Found: Second Life Music, Amsterdam, December 30, 2009 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'J'ai volé la vie' / 'J'ai volé la vie (instrumental)'
'Bedshaped' was released as the third single from Keane's debut album 'Hopes and fears' in August 2004. According to Tim Rice-Oxley, the song is 'about feeling that you've been 'left behind' by an old friend or lover, and about hoping that you'll be reunited one day so that you can live out the end of your lives together the way you started them (...) a hope that they'll eventually want to get away from the bright lights and come back home. it's a sad and angry song, but also full of hope. I think I'm right in saying that in hospital when someone is ill and has to spend a lot of time in bed they can become 'bedshaped'. It sounds a bit depressing (...) but in the context of the song I wanted to suggest old age and frailty.'
A 7" vinyl single was released as a numbered limited edition in the UK. My copy is number 249. 'Bedshaped' reached number 10 in the UK singles chart and number 26 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 4569 Found: Discogs.com, received February 19, 2010 Cost: 5 pounds Tracks: 'Bedshaped' / 'Something in me was dying'
As the Eighties drew to a close, the career of Spandau Ballet was also seemingly coming to an end. The album 'Heart like a sky' did not meet the expectations commercially speaking, and the singles taken from the album also had little success in the charts.
