Taken from their debut album 'Von Anfang an', 'Tausendmal du' became Münchener Freiheit's first hit outside of Germany. The single entered the Dutch Top 40 in June 1986 and peaked at number 28 during its five week chart run.
The Nick Straker Band formed in the late Seventies. Its members were Nick Straker, Tony Mansfield, David McShera, Pete Hammond and Phil Towner. In 1979 they released 'A walk in the park', a rather innovative disco song. It did not reach the Dutch Top 40, but it did peak at number 20 in the UK singles chart.
Mike Moran (born March 4, 1948) and Lynsey De Paul (born June 11, 1960) wrote the song 'Rock bottom' together and also got to perform it together on the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, representing the United Kingdom. Although the song was in the lead when the juries started giving their points, the song finally came second, behind the winning song 'L'oiseau et l'enfant'.
'Bad girls' was taken from Donna Summer's 1979 album of the same name. Donna Summer wrote the song herself, after being inspired by an incident: a police officier mistook one of her assistants for a street prostitute.
Fischer Z released their third album 'Red skies over paradise' in 1981. This was the last album released under the classic line-up, despite the departure of keyboardist, Steve Skolnik. The album featured many songs about politics and several references to the Cold War. After this album, band leader John Watts pursued a solo career.
In the late Eighties and early Nineties I was a regular viewer of MTV, back when they were still broadcasting music videos. I was not the only one: I had a fellow student and friend who was just as addicted to the channel as I was. We both loved Rebecca de Ruvo, and hated Simone Angel (We had so much in common).
'Ein Bisschen Frieden' was written by Eurovision Song Contest veterans Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger. It was performed at the 1982 edition of the Contest by 17 year old high school student Nicole. With her innocent looks and white guitar, she managed to secure Germany's first (and last) ever win.
Originally a three-piece pop outfit from Roby, near Liverpool, England, Black featured Colin Vearncombe (born June 25, 1962, West Derby, Liverpool), Dave Dickie and Jimmy Sangster. Vearncombe was previously in the Epileptic Tits at the age of 16, playing punk cover versions. He then moved on to producing his own tapes until Dickie (ex-Last Chant) and Sangster formed a unit together.Black's first single was 'Human features', released in 1981 on the independent Rox label. The single did not chart and was probably released in a very small quantity. Finding this single is next to impossible. I searched for it for years on end, and finally only got it because an old Black fan was selling off his items. I spent a small fortune, but was extremely happy to get my hands on this rare recording.
My collection: 7" single no. 2983
Found: Private seller, received April 9, 1998
Cost: 20 pounds (or more)
Tracks: 'Human features' / 'Electric church'
'Everything but the grl are Tracey Thorn on vocals and Ben Watt on guitar and vocals. 'I don't want to talk about it' was released to coincide with their fourth LP, 'Idlewild' (February 1988) from which the B-side 'Oxford Street' is taken. The string arrangement was written by Ben Watt and Nick Ingman.'
'I don't want to talk about it' was written by Danny Whitten. His band Crazy Horse released it on their self-titled album in 1971. In 1975, Rod Stewart recorded his version for his album 'Atlantic Crossing'.
The debut album by Shakespear's sister, 'Sacred heart', featured a track 'Run silent, run deep'. It was released as a single with the shorter title 'Run silent'. The single was released in a limited edition gatefold sleeve, with a booklet in the middle.
Chris Isaak recorded 'Wicked Game' for his third studio album 'Heart shaped world'. Despite being released as a single in 1989, it didn't become a hit until it was later featured in the David Lynch film 'Wild at heart'. This single is the latter release, with an instrumental track by Angelo Badalamenti - also from the film - on the B-side. Part of the success can also be attributed to the music video, directed by Herb Ritts, featuring a topless Helena Christensen.
The studio version of 'Love of my life' appeared on Queen's 1975 album 'A night at the Opera'. Freddie Mercury wrote it on the piano and guitarist Brian May rearranged the song for acoustic 12-string guitar to facilitate live performances. The song was written for Mary Austin, Mercury's girlfriend at the time.
Lol Mason formed the Maisonettes in the early Eighties with Mark Tibenham and Nick Parry. They recorded a demo of the song 'Heartache Avenue', which was discovered by David Virr in a pile of demo tapes in his office. He decided to release it on his own label, entitled Ready, steady, go!. To fill out the band, two teenage models, Denise Ward and Elaine Williams were recruited as backing vocalists.
In 1984, the Pet Shop Boys recorded three songs with producer Bobby Orlando, at Unique Studios in New York. 'West end girls' was one of them. Tennant and Chris Lowe devised an arrangement involving what Tennant calls 'Barry White chords' and a drum part lifted from Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. Orlando was thrilled by the song's production; his idea was to make a rap record in a British accent.
Anne Marie David was born on May 23, 1952 in Arles, France. She moved to Paris when she was eighteen to get involved in musical theatre. In 1972, she was cast in the role of Mary Magdalene in the French version of 'Jesus Christ superstar'. A year later, she was selected to represent the country Luxembourg with the song 'Tu te reconnaitras'.
After their debut album 'The hurting' had been a reasonable success, Tears for fears had to come up with a follow-up. The new album - which would be 'Songs from the big chair', released in 1985 - was preceded by the single 'Mothers talk'. Roland Orzabal commented: 'The song stems from two ideas. One is something that mothers say to their children about pulling faces. They say the child will stay like that when the wind changes. The other idea is inspired by the anti-nuclear cartoon book 'When the wind blows' by Raymond Briggs.
Howard Jones was not unlike other popular artists in the Eighties, in that he had a fanclub. The difference to many other artists was that the fanclub was run by his parents. In the pre-internet age, fans had to be informed with newsletters and fanclub magazines that were usually released a few times a year.
The last single release in the UK from Tori Amos' debut album was a re-release of 'Silent all these years'. There was a special limited edition cd-single with added new B-side tracks such as 'Song for Eric' and 'Ode to the banana king'.
ABC's second single 'Poison arrow' defined the glamorous, baroque sound that would make their debut album 'Lexicon of love' (1982) such a classic album. Written by the band and produced by Trevor Horn, the single peaked at number 6 in the UK and number 13 in the Netherlands.
