Trevor Jackson introduced me to the station and the idea to do shows with whatever you want to do was really tempting. So I signed the contract and never looked back.
Lengthy post-punk special, inspired my first ventures into clubs. The artwork is the logo of a new wave club in Kiel I regularly went to in the 80s, called Pfefferminz.
The Human League – The Black Hit Of Space Indoor Life – Contre Nature Chris Carter – Beat Soft Cell – Say Hello Wave Goodbye 400 Blows – Strangeways (Revisited) Dark Day – Nudes In The Forest The Wirtschaftswunder – The Girls Of The Navy Shock – R.E.R.B. Section 25 – Looking From A Hilltop Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter Cabaret Voltaire – Automotivation Boris Policeband – Tow Away Family Fodder – Winter Song Holger Hiller – Das Feuer Kreutzer – Affentanz Comateens – Ghosts Pete Shelley – On My Own Markus Oehlen – Beer Is Enough Palais Schaumburg – Kinder Der Tod Simple Minds – I Travel Visage – The Anvil Tuxedomoon – What Use? The Cure – The Walk Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Messages New Order – Video 586 The Fun Boy Three – Life In General Virgin Prunes – Faculties Of a Broken Heart The Neon Judgement – The Fashion Party British Standard Unit – D’ya Think I’m Sexy John Foxx – Underpass Brenda Ray – D’Ya Hear Me! The Specials – I Can’t Stand It BEF – Uptown Apocalypse Vanity 6 – Make-Up Implog – Holland Tunnel Dive Jah Wobble – I Need You By My Side David Byrne – Big Business The Associates – Skipping Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras – Robot Children Fad Gadget – Pedestrian Ike Yard – Cherish 8 James White And The Blacks – Contort Yourself Gang Of Four – At Home He Feels Like A Tourist General Strike – My Other Body Suicide – Shadazz Chain Of Command – Honour Amongst Thieves Electric Chairs – J’Attends Les Marines Clock DVA – Resistance Vice Versa – Riot Squad Throbbing Gristle – United Mathematiques Modernes – A+B The Bach Revolution – Labor Pains The Vyllies – Babylon Strange Devotion – Against The New Formation Der Plan – Wat’s Dat? The Flying Lizards – TV The Flying Lizards – Tube Ceramic Hello – Ringing In The Sane Jeunesse D’Ivoire – A Gift Of Tears Blue Chips Of Asama – Haruko’s Lament The Sound – I Can’t Escape Myself Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance Thomas Leer – Letter From America Baard – Savior For The Nations Atom Spies – Single Dance Vivien Goldman – Launderette Sun Yama – Subterrean Homesick Blues John Bender – 39A5 Something Liaisons Dangereuses – Être Assis Ou Danser Fred Frith – Same Old Me Kim Fowley – Searching For A Human In Tight Blue Jeans The Normal – Warm Leatherette
Auch wenn ich sie altersbedingt erst mit etwas Verspätung entdeckt hatte, der Split der Specials, nach nur zwei grandiosen Alben, war ein echtes Schockerlebnis. Man hatte gerade erst ihre Wichtigkeit begriffen, das Echo von „Ghost Town“ hallte im Kopf noch lange nach, aber da war es schon vorbei. Was die Mitglieder Terry Hall, Lynval Golding und Neville Staple kurz darauf als Fun Boy Three losließen, muss allerdings für weite Teile der Pork Pie behüteten 2-Tone-Fangemeinde noch ein viel größeres Schockerlebnis gewesen sein. Zwar deutete es sich bei „More Specials“ schon an, aber nun war sie ganz weg, die Punk/Ska-Kombi, die Rude Boy-Outfits, die bittere Straßenkultur, und vor allem die musikalische Ideenwelt von Jerry Dammers. Stattdessen: Dschungeltrommeln, knappe Slogans und billigste Elektronikinstrumentierung. Wo vorher die Specials noch vielfältige und abseitige Einflüsse zu einem scharfen Profil bündelten, waren Fun Boy Three erstmal eine simplifizierend klingende Trotzreaktion. Eine zutiefst gegenteilige Neuerfindung, die in ihrer Konsequenz unmissverständlich darauf hindeutete, dass bei den Specials bezüglich künstlerischer Differenzen doch einiges im Argen gelegen hatte. Dennoch, die kongeniale Gesangsachse zwischen Terrys schneidendem Call und Nevilles brummiger Response war noch bestens intakt, und die grundsätzliche Angepisstheit der Texte war auch keinen Deut abgemildert, sie war nur nicht mehr hinterhältige Detailbeobachtung, sondern hinterhältige Beobachtung eines frustrierenden Gesamtbildes. Dazu im Hintergrund ein einziges Gerumpel und Gerappel auf der einen, bunt-verquerer Einfachstpop auf der anderen Seite. Und natürlich introducing: Bananarama! Ich hatte damals nicht unbedingt Eindruck, dass dieses Album ein großer nachhaltiger Wurf sei, es gab einfach keinen Vergleich, und eigentlich folgte erst mit dem zweiten Album „Waiting“ die Erkenntnis, dass hier etwas Ungehörtes und Unverwechselbares passiert war. Selbstverständlich ist „Waiting“ eines der tollsten Alben überhaupt, aber eben musikalisch konventioneller, und diese Tatsache bewirkte bei mir, dass ich ihr erstes Album immer besser und wichtiger fand, wohingegen ihr zweites Album eines der tollsten Alben überhaupt blieb (siehe auch The Colourfield). Und das ist ein wichtiger Unterschied.
Hello friends near and far. The D*ruffalo Hit Squad is back in full swing. And we brought something with us.
The Gist – Love At First Sight Everything But The Girl – Bittersweet The Smiths – Work Is A Four-Letter Word The Beat – Save It For Later Aztec Camera – Oblivious Tracie Young – Invitation The Style Council – How She Threw It All Away Prefab Sprout – Cars And Girls Orange Juice – I Can’t Help Myself The Icicle Works – Love Is Wonderful Colour The Pale Fountains – …From Across The Kitchen Table The Fun Boy Three – We’re Having All The Fun Dexys Midnight Runners – Tell Me When My Light Turns Green Madness – Disappear Makin’ Time – Feels Like It’s Love JoBoxers – Just Got Lucky Nick Heyward – When It’s Started To Begin It’s Immaterial – Ed’s Funky Diner (The Kleinholz Caper) It’s Immaterial – Ed’s Funky Diner (Album Version) The Company She Keeps – What A Girl Wants The The – This Is The Day
Walker Brothers – I Don’t Want To Hear It Anymore Sammy Davis Jr – Love Is Just A Meaningless Word The Fun Boy Three – Alone Soft Cell – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye Issac Hayes – Ike’s Rap II / Help Me Love Everything But The Girl – Fascination Julian Cope – Me Singing Pretty Things – Trust Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding Chapter & The Verse – Lorraine (Memphis Listen To Her) Was (Not Was) – Zaz Turned Blue Richard Ashcroft – Check The Meaning Glenn Gregory – Wichita Lineman Mr. Fingers – Survivor Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods Beach Boys – Disney Girls The Free Design – Memories
The sad truth about going out in the 80s in a small coastal town: Even if you read all the right magazines, had knowledgeable and smilarly enthusiastic friends, and kept on digging all the time. It just did not mean that you could actually dance in a club to what you just discovered. That does not mean the DJs were bad, but a lot of them were a bit lazy. If a sequence of songs worked, it was repeated for quite a while. And music was played in topical blocks. You had an italo disco round, then maybe a goth round, new wave, 2 tone, synthpop. If you came in and you just missed your preference you had to wait. Thankfully a lot of music at the time was good and interesting enough to make that bearable. But there was so much incredible music coming out, it was just frustrating that you could only hear a fraction of it in the clubs you had most frequent access to. I must admit I compensated that for many years, playing as much different music on the same occasion as I could, and often it did not make much sense. In any case a lot of mixes I did were some kind of ideal party that rarely happened, for a particular style of music or several at once. This mix is a good example, even if at the time I recorded it my situation in those aspects had already changed quite a bit. But it seems I could still remember…
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance The Flying Lizards – Her Story Hot Gossip – Geisha Boys And Temple Girls Telex – Raised By Snakes The Bollock Brothers – The President And The Showgirl New Order – The Perfect Kiss Strawberry Switchblade – Since Yesterday Holger Czukay/Jah Wobble/Jaki Liebezeit – How Much Are They? The Fun Boy Three – Life In General Visage – Anvil (Night Club School) The Residents – Diskomo The Stickmen – Do Get Down Devo – Freedom Of Choice Yello – Base For Alec Human League – The Sound Of The Crowd Heaven 17 – (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang Matia Bazar – Elettrochoc Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag Tuxedomoon – No Tears Suicide – Dream Baby Dream John Cale – I Keep A Close Watch
I was deeply involved in the local subcultures in my small coastal hometown in the 80s. I did not know what I wanted to be, of course, but I know I did not want to be as boring as so many other people my age I met. So local subcultures seemed like an easy way out to be or at least act different. I always listened to a lot of different music at the same time but I opted to be part of the Two Tone/Mod scene. I liked the style and the hierarchical challenge. And well, the fashion was so much better than in other scenes. Of course the town was so small that you kind of were stuck with all the other scenes though, because the majority of other youths hated other youths who thought they were something else, and looked different (and better), and thus you were constantly beaten up. Given the many rules of conduct of “my” subculture many records I loved had to stay guilty pleasures, though I gained a lot of pleasure from them nonetheless (and still do). Now in the process of assimilation in Berlin I also realized how lots of 80s styles were already recycled for a while, like Post Punk, Synthpop, Electro or Italo Disco. I always was interested in context, so mixes like these were probably an effort to set things straight for myself. Never forget where you are coming from and so on. But probably they also reminded me that I was getting older too, and whether I should leave my years of being relatively irresponsible and unreasonable behind. The photo is a take on the Larry Levan story of him cleaning the mirror ball himself before the party, taken before a party at my flat.
Cabaret Voltaire – Just Fascination Shriekback – Working On The Ground John Foxx – Underpass The Weathermen – Punishment Park Impedance – Tainted Love Dominatrix – Dominatrix Sleep Tonight Yazoo – State Farm The Fun Boy Three – Faith, Hope And Charity Yellow Magic Orchestra – Behind The Mask A Certain Ratio – Knife Slits Water A.R. Kane – A Love From Outer Space Yellow Magic Orchestra – Nice Age Nitzer Ebb – Join In The Chant Soft Cell – Torch Liaisons Dangereuses – Etre Assis Ou Danser Visage – Visa-Age Suicide – Shadazz Rheingold – Fluss Godley & Creme – Under Your Thumb
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