Going underground - The Jam

With a basic knowledge of English as a child, I thought this song was about taking the subway in London. In reality, of course, the lyric is an indictment of the British policy on arms, referencing the government of the UK's commitment to nuclear weapons, implying a level of acceptance on the part of the general population.

The Jam had three instant number one hits in the UK in 1980, of which this was the first. The band consisted of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler and broke up in 1982.

My collection: 7" single no. 48

Found: Rapsody, Den Haag, 1980

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Going underground' / 'The dreams of children'

Call me my baby - Georgie Davis

Kees Rietveld was born in Den Haag, Netherlands in 1969. He participated in the Soundmix show in the Netherlands in 1985, and won the contest with his imitation of Stevie Wonder. After this television debut, he scored a Dutch top 10 hit as Georgie Davis with 'Blackstar', a very Wonderesque-sounding track.

Davis released four more singles, but all of them failed to reach the Dutch Top 40. The last one was 'Call me my baby', a more adult-sounding track released in December 1988. In 1990 he participiated in the national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Eenmaal', but ended up being last of the ten participants.

My collection: 7" single no. 748

Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, February 17, 1989

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Call me my baby' / 'I don't wanna wait to give up'

Shouldn't have to be like that - Fra Lippo Lippi

The Norwegian band Fra Lippo Lippi had a European hit with 'Shouldn't have to be like that' in 1986. It would be their only hit, because subsequent singles were hits in countries like Norway and the Phillipines only. In the Phillipines the band still has a great fan following to this day.

I found this picture disc during a holiday in London. I liked it so much, that I bought it even though it looks discoloured and worn. I've never seen a copy again. I do have the regular single as well, but a collector's item is always more interesting to use for show and tell. So here it is...

My collection: 7" single no. 390

Found: Record Exchange, London, October 1989

Cost: 1 pound

Tracks: 'Shouldn't have to be like that' / 'The distance between us'

Maggie - Fay Lovski

Another single by Fay Lovski, and another one that didn't become a hit. It was a popular song on radio and television, probably because of its upbeat sixties-style production. The song was taken from the album 'Confetti', an album I've been looking for since the late Eighties, mostly because of the track 'He don't love me anymore', a beautiful ballad that was not released as a single, unfortunately.

I found this single just before going to a birthday party in Utrecht that night. It was an annual tradition to buy some records before going to that party.

My collection: 7" single no. 2228

Found: Grammofoonwinkel, Utrecht, December 30, 1994

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Maggie' / 'Fool moon'

China - Huang Chung

The band that found fame as Wang Chung originally started in 1980 as Huang Chung. Jeremy Ryder, Nick Feldman and Darren Costin chose this name as it refers to the standardized bass pitch of ancient China. The literal translation means 'yellow bell', the band summarized the definition as 'perfect pitch'.

They released three singles as Huang Chung before finding fame with 'Dance hall days' with their new band name Wang Chung. 'China' narrowly missed the Dutch Top 40. My sister bought the single when it came out, which is the reason I still remembered it 15 years later. I was very surprised to find the extended version of the track on the B-side. A very good deal.

My collection: 7" single no. 3002
Found: Geest, Den Haag, June 20, 1998
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'China' / 'China (extended version)'

Dr. Mabuse - Propaganda

I'm glad to say I got into Propaganda before they took over the charts in Europe with their second single 'Duel'. 'Dr. Mabuse' peaked at number 27 in the UK singles chart and number 7 in Germany in 1984, but elsewhere the single failed to chart.

The song was named after the fictional character made famous by film maker Fritz Lang. Journalist Paul Morley was involved in signing the band to Trevor Horn's newly-formed ZTT Records label. He marketed the band as 'a twisted, hellish version of Abba'. Well, as a child I thought this was a scary song, indeed.

My collection: 7" single no. 1597

Found: All that music, Leiden, June 28, 1992

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Dr. Mabuse' / 'Dr. Mabuse der Spieler'

De Troubadour - Lenny Kuhr

Today is the 40th anniversary of Lenny Kuhr winning the Eurovision Song Contest with 'De Troubadour'. The event took place on March 29, 1969 and the 16 participating countries awarded the exact same 18 points to four competitors, causing four countries to win that year. Since there was no tie-break rule in place, Spain's Salome won with 'Vivo Cantando', Lulu from the United Kingdom won with 'Boom bang-a-bang', France's Frida Boccara won with 'Un jour, un enfant' and Lenny Kuhr won for the Netherlands.

According to some, France would have been the overall winner because it was their song that got votes from all but six countries, although Lenny Kuhr was the only participant of the four that got the highest mark from one country: six points. Whatever the real outcome might have been, today is a great day to highlight this song. There is a whole website devoted to the 40th anniversary of 'De Troubadour' here, and if you want to hear the song in German, Spanish, French, English and Italian, go to this page. On this blog you can hear the original song plus its B-side, 'Mais non monsieur'.

My collection: 7" single no. 3600

Found: Record fair, Rijswijk, March 14, 2009

Cost: 2 euro

Tracks: 'De Troubadour' / 'Mais non, monsieur'