The Dutch band Dr. Pop is formed in Velp in 1978 by Ans Dijkstra, Bert Meijer, Chris Meurs, Jan de Wit and Ton van Tent. Their self-titled debut album is released in 1980 and is produced by Jaap Eggermont (who would go on to have international success with his 'Stars on 45' project).
The single 'World at war' is released in May 1980 and reaches number 21 in the Dutch Top 40. It's the band's only hit. In 1981 they split up.
My collection: 7" single no. 2407 Found: Record fair, 1994 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'World at war' / 'Titanic'
According to Tears for fears' Curt Smith: ''Suffer the children' was the first song we did together when we left The Graduate. It was our very first experimentation with sequencers and drum machines, with a guy called David Lord, who worked with Peter Gabriel and different people down in Bath. So that was actually the first song we did as Tears For Fears.'
The original 7" version of "Suffer The Children" is distinct from the version found on their debut album 'The hurting' by the inclusion of an extra Curt Smith-sung lyric at the beginning of the song.
There are two versions of the single: the original release featured a white sleeve (pictured above). In 1985, following up on the massive success of the band's second album 'Songs from the big chair', the single was reissued in a black sleeve. All this didn't help matters: both releases did not chart anywhere.
My collection: 7" single no. 1319 Found: London, October 16, 1990 Cost: 1 pound Tracks: 'Suffer the children' / 'Wino'
Back in the Eighties, commercials with old Motown hits were all the rage. Everybody remembers Nick Kamen stripping off in the launderette to the sound of Marvin Gaye's 'I heard it through the grapevine'. A Dutch commercial about milk was made to the sound of this song, 'My girl' by the Temptations. When it was re-released as a single, it promptly reached number 19 in the Dutch Top 40.
It has to be said, though, that this single is a re-release in the UK as a result of a compilation album by the Temptations because of their 25th anniversary. And in the UK, this re-release did not chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 1053 Found: Record Exchange, London, October 17, 1989 Cost: 50p Tracks: 'My girl' / 'Wherever I lay my hat (that's my home)'
'Being boring' was the second single taken from the Pet Shop Boys' 1990 album 'Behaviour'. The song is concerned with the idea of growing up and how people's perceptions and values change as they grow older. The title apparently materialised after someone in Japan accused the duo of being boring. The title is also derived from a Zelda Fitzgerald quotation, 'she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring'.
The track was originally pieced together in a studio in West Glasgow, where the music for 'My October symphony', 'The end of the world' and the unreleased track 'Love and war' were also done. 'Being boring' was not the duo's biggest chart success: it didn't chart in the Netherlands and only reached number 20 in the UK singles chart (whereas previous singles made the top 10 with ease).
My collection: 7" single no. 1503 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, August 6, 1991 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Being boring' / 'We all feel better in the dark'
Taken from their Heart's tenth album 'Brigade' (1990), 'All I wanna do is make love to you' was the first single from the album, composed by producer Robert John 'Mutt' Lange. In the track, the protagonist speaks of a one-night stand with a man, only to reveal later in the song that her intent all along was to use the encounter as a way to become pregnant, because the man she really loves is not able to give her children. It was not the best lyric Heart ever performed.
In the liner notes of Heart's album 'The road home', Ann Wilson commented on the band's dislike for the song, stating, 'Actually we had sworn off it because it kind of stood for everything we wanted to get away from. It was a song by 'Mutt' Lange, whom we liked, and it was originally written for Don Henley, but there was a lot of pressure on us to do the song at the time.' The single was a hit for the band, peaking at number 5 in the Dutch Top 40, number 8 in the UK singles chart and number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100.
My collection: 7" single no. 1206 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, April 13, 1990 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'All I wanna do is make love to you' / 'Call of the wild'
'Suspended in gaffa' was the third single release from Kate Bush's fourth studio album 'The dreaming', at least in Europe. In the UK, 'There was a tenner' was released instead. The song lyrics are about seeing something one really wants (God in this case), then not being able to see or experience it ever again. The 'gaffa' of the title and chorus refers to gaffer tape, the tough black tape used by technicians in the film and concert industries.
The B-side is the original mix of 'Ne t'enfuis pas'. 'Ne t'enfuis pas', which is misspelled on the original sleeve as 'Ne t'en fui pas', means 'don't go' in French.
My collection: 7" single no. 4116 Found: Empire Records, Den Haag, October 17, 2009 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Suspended in gaffa' / 'Ne t'en fui pas'
Liam Reilly represented Ireland during the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Somewhere in Europe', a slightly contrived song in which the singer describes his desire to meet a former lover once again. As he is 'back in Ireland', he wants to meet his lover somewhere in Europe. All the cliches about European capitals are subsequently described.
Still, this array of cliches pleased the European juries, as the song finished second behind that year's winner, the appalling 'Insieme 1992' by Toto Cotugno.
My collection: 7" single no. 4115 Found: Empire Records, Den Haag, October 17, 2009 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Somewhere in Europe' / 'Walking on the brighter side'
The Dutch band Dr. Pop is formed in Velp in 1978 by Ans Dijkstra, Bert Meijer, Chris Meurs, Jan de Wit and Ton van Tent. Their self-titled debut album is released in 1980 and is produced by Jaap Eggermont (who would go on to have international success with his 'Stars on 45' project).
