Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1984 - (page 198)

As more than one of you have raised my gig going, I feel duty bound to ignore @threespires request not share more of my concert attendance stats and reminiscences. Not least because 1980 was the zenith of such matters. The year of rock, rock ‘til you drop. My records may not be 100% accurate but, if I counted correctly, Setlist.fm now shows me as having been at 56 gigs in 1980.

Most of them were heavy rock, but there was some “lighter” fare: Genesis, 10cc, Eric Clapton, Yellow Magic Orchestra and The Buggles, sorry, Yes.

One of the gigs was the first Monsters of Rock Festival (now Download) at Donnington, headlined by Rainbow, supported by the likes of Judas Priest, Scorpions, April Wine and Saxon, who wrote a song about it (“The Bands Played On”).

That was just the sixth time I saw Rainbow that year, having already seen five gigs on their UK tour. A great experience because although the main set list was always the same, no two gigs were the same due to the amount of improvisation from Ritchie Blackmore, who I have repeated many times is the most exciting musician I have seen.

I saw quite a few artists more than once in 1980. The band that I saw the most was Girl, who I saw 7 times. Often as a support but also headlining smaller venues. I may have one of their gigs missing but it should have been 8 times I saw. I related this story earlier this year on this thread:

Saw Girl quite a few times. We went to a few club gigs at weekends, and Phil Lewis definitely recognised us. We met him backstage when Girl supported Kiss in 1980. At the first Wembley gig he was complaining he couldn’t stay awake because he had drunk so much cough syrup, he had a cold and Girl pulled out of the second night, much to Gene Simmons disgust. If all four of Silverwing had been there, rather than just 3 of them, they would have got the support slot on the second night.

Two of my very best friends were (are) brothers and had a band Silverwing that I introduced to Kennedy Street Enterprises, who were Manchester based concert promoters and also did artist management. Their owner was my Mum’s best friend’s husband’s brother-in-law. Silverwing got a management deal as a result and that meant we got backstage passes for all four of KISS’ 1980 UK gigs, which Kennedy Street promoted. Silverwing also got some press coverage in Sounds, which is how we knew Ross Halfin – these connections will have some relevance to my 1981 write-up.

Girl’s lead guitarist was Phil Collen, who went on to take that role in Def Leppard just as they got massive. However, when he was rather less well off me and the boys from Silverwing bumped into Phil Collen on Charing Cross Road where his old Morris (IIRC) had broken down. We either push started it or pushed it into a side road. I believe this event took place in 1980 when we were in London for four gigs in June that were the culmination of me going to 10 gigs in 11 nights: Whitesnake, Fleetwood Mac, Rush x 2, Van Halen x 4, Styx x 2.

The Van Halen gigs were great and produced one of the most ridiculous sights I have seen at a concert, no, not Dave Lee Roth's spandex outfits. VH brought over their full US lighting rig. This was in the days before Vari-Lites so they had 750 lamps in the rig, which was fine at the Manchester Apollo, which has a very large stage for a theatre but at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall, half the rig was flying over the audience.

Anyway, Van Halen released their “Women and Children First” album in 1980, which I reviewed on that other thread and count as one of my most favoured albums and certainly my favourite release of 1980, so I will use one of my picks to nominate The Cradle Will Rock, and hope no one else was planning to.
 
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threespires said:
To be honest I did wonder if I was overreaching with my suggestion that music became more politicised by 1980. I take your point about the politics of the everyday and also if I think too for example about some of the soul music of the 60s and 70s it was highly political. I suppose I was trying to convey that even very mainstream shows like TOTP found themselves playing bands that were writing songs that were explicitly and directly political but perhaps I'm just displaying a bias towards my own experiences and recollections.

Elvis Costello was one of a number of important artists I didn't get round to mentioning and as you say there's a lot to pick from off Get Happy! Though I sometimes think he comes across as a bit self-satisfied, I suspect if I had his breadth and depth of musical knowledge and ability I probably would to!

Somewhat bizarrely, now you've triggered the memory, it appears I do actually know all the words to Underneath the Arches! I can only assume my Mum or Dad sang it to me as a child.

On another point and I hope you don't mind me including you in this, but I regularly find myself assuming that posters in the music threads are younger than they actually transpire to be. It only really happens in the music threads and I think it's because people write about the music they love with a verve and passion that irrespective of chronological age makes them come across as youthful. I'm convinced our love of music keeps us young at heart.
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Mention of Elvis C and the fact I have just nominated a Van Halen track reminds me of a David Lee Roth quote from around 1980:

Roth said, "The reason the critics all like Elvis Costello better than me is because they all look like Elvis Costello".
 
RobMCFC said:
He's already had plenty of mentions on this thread, and although I don't think The River album is up to the standard of the other classic-era Bruce albums, the title track is probably his finest moment.

Huey Lewis & The News were the first band I saw in concert, and although that would be six years down the line, they got off the mark with their debut album in 1980. Although not a band associated with punk, you can hear the energy in this selection that Huey Lewis took from his time in London in the 70s playing with country rock band Clover.

Another band featuring heavily on this thread, but loved by only a small number of us, Rush produced one of their signature singles in 1980.

And finally, with the addition of Neil Finn to the line-up, Split Enz got a bit more poppy and produced their most well-known single.

"The River" - Bruce Springsteen

"Some of My Lies Are True (Sooner or Later)" - Huey Lewis & The News

"The Spirit of Radio" - Rush

"I Got You" - Split Enz
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Ah, you chose The River.

I loved that album and I still think its one of my top three of his. The title track is about Springsteens sister and husband and tells the pre-ordaned story of their blue collar life together. It is melancholy and beautiful in equal measure and a million miles from the optimism of 'Born to run'.

I may well come back to this album as it has so many wonderful tracks on it and for me was the musical highlight of 1980.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Ah, you chose The River.

I loved that album and I still think its one of my top three of his. The title track is about Springsteens sister and husband and tells the pre-ordaned story of their blue collar life together. It is melancholy and beautiful in equal measure and a million miles from the optimism of 'Born to run'.

I may well come back to this album as it has so many wonderful tracks on it and for me was the musical highlight of 1980.
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There are some amazing tracks on there: "The Ties That Bind", "Independence Day", "The River", "Point Blank", "Cadillac Ranch", "The Price You Pay", but considering it is 19 songs, I think the material is pretty average after the best 6 or 7.

And that's before we start on the stuff he left out that later appeared on Tracks: what was he (or his producer) thinking of leaving out "Roulette" (surely one of his best songs?) and "Restless Nights"? It beggars belief that these were left off and lightweight fluff such as "Sherry Darling", "Out In The Street" and "Crush on You" were included.
 
RobMCFC said:
There are some amazing tracks on there: "The Ties That Bind", "Independence Day", "The River", "Point Blank", "Cadillac Ranch", "The Price You Pay", but considering it is 19 songs, I think the material is pretty average after the best 6 or 7.

And that's before we start on the stuff he left out that later appeared on Tracks: what was he (or his producer) thinking of leaving out "Roulette" (surely one of his best songs?) and "Restless Nights"? It beggars belief that these were left off and lightweight fluff such as "Sherry Darling", "Out In The Street" and "Crush on You" were included.
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its the variety of the album I love. Whilst some of the latter tracks on side 2 aren't as strong I wouldn't change it.
 
OB1 said:
Mention of Elvis C and the fact I have just nominated a Van Halen track reminds me of a David Lee Roth quote from around 1980:

Roth said, "The reason the critics all like Elvis Costello better than me is because they all look like Elvis Costello".
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But it didn't stop old Declan getting with the delightful Diana Krall did it !
 
threespires said:
Yup. Gets dismissed as dinner party jazz but I've seen her a few times and she knows what's what.
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Seen her twice, both times at the RAH. Very classy lady. I have to say I love her more traditional jazz stuff best when its mainly with a band of three or four jazz maestros although one of the concerts she had just released Glad Rag Doll which was grounded in vaudeville music. I liked that too. Sometimes she is packaged, orchestrated and recorded in a way that does lead to that accusation and I think that is sometimes a waste of her undoubted vocal and instrumental talents.
 
Decent French rock bands are few and far between, so when I first heard this band, it was a revelation. Combining the anarchic rage of punk with the hard rock chops of bands they admired, especially AC/DC, you didn't have to understand what Bernie Bonvoisin was singing to know that he was angry about something.

It turns out that he was angry about a lot of things, including Ayatollah Khomeini, the Nazis, the KGB and particularly the Fifth Republic, which is what this song, taken from the album Répression, is railing at - the social alienation of an entire generation:

Antisocial - Trust (original French language version)

In stark contrast to this, my next song is a power pop classic. It sounds a bit like Cheap Trick meets The Cars to me.
Apparently, it was originally going to be an anti-war protest song, but because the name sounded like a girl's, they turned it into a love song!

Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris (and the Cruisers)
 
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Yes, I AM doing it....

My leadoff track has been telegraphed in advance of the changing lineup in the band Yes, but this for me, was the first album of theirs I heard at this very in 1980 when I started to get into them and into the lens and begin to discover their back catalogue of the 1970's at the ripe old age of 13. And none of it would have happened without Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes for allowing the band to continue on into the 1980's. And that bass you hear in this song is brought to you by Mr. Christopher Squire, the ONLY member of Yes who was on each and every release until his passing in 2015. Take a bow, and how the fans and I miss you and your musical gifts in the realm of the bass guitar so.

And yes, this was the first song of theirs that I remember hearing from them, and I'll offer up this track and "Does It Really Happen?" and "Machine Messiah" as other fantastic music off this album that came of age just as I did into the world of prog rock, and things just haven't been the same since. Heck, I didn't even get into Rush until the following year, so be on alert Rob, I'm coming for 1981! ;-)

After spending this very evening at the pub at Mary D's adjacent to the Etihad, I feel I've come full circle this UK trip in realizing a lot of my bucket list items including a backroom view of the City pre-match festivities that I can only dream about in the US while catching a match in the AM while those who "tailgate" US style do so in pubs like this. Thank you, Johnny of Mary D's, for the insiders tour.

Tempus Fugit - Yes

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homerdog said:
In stark contrast to this, my next song is a power pop classic. It sounds a bit like Cheap Trick meets The Cars to me.
Apparently, it was originally going to be an anti-war protest song, but because the name sounded like a girl's, they turned it into a love song!

Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris (and the Cruisers)
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Early contender for my Big Winner. I never thought of this song in this way, but I think you described the cross-over bands perfectly.

Here we go again....again.... again!

Memories of the roller skating rink live on!
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Yes, I AM doing it....

My leadoff track has been telegraphed in advance of the changing lineup in the band Yes, but this for me, was the first album of theirs I heard at this very in 1980 when I started to get into them and into the lens and begin to discover their back catalogue of the 1970's at the ripe old age of 13. And none of it would have happened without Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes for allowing the band to continue on into the 1980's. And that bass you hear in this song is brought to you by Mr. Christopher Squire, the ONLY member of Yes who was on each and every release until his passing in 2015. Take a bow, and how the fans and I miss you and your musical gifts in the realm of the bass guitar so.

And yes, this was the first song of theirs that I remember hearing from them, and I'll offer up this track and "Does It Really Happen?" and "Machine Messiah" as other fantastic music off this album that came of age just as I did into the world of prog rock, and things just haven't been the same since. Heck, I didn't even get into Rush until the following year, so be on alert Rob, I'm coming for 1981! ;-)

After spending this very evening at the pub at Mary D's adjacent to the Etihad, I feel I've come full circle this UK trip in realizing a lot of my bucket list items including a backroom view of the City pre-match festivities that I can only dream about in the US while catching a match in the AM while those who "tailgate" US style do so in pubs like this. Thank you, Johnny of Mary D's, for the insiders tour.

Tempus Fugit - Yes

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A quintuple Like for you Sir.
I remember the announcement that Horn and Downes were joining Yes. I also remember buying the album and like you I was impressed with those same three tracks.
Gone with the wishy wasnt,fairies at the bottom of the garden and a new turbo charged Yes appeared.
I am also going to pick a Chris Squire driven track with some outstanding bass coupled with that symphonic grand feel.
Does It Really happen -Yes
 
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Protein Junkie said:
Gone with the wishy wasnt,fairies at the bottom of the garden and a new turbo charged Yes appeared.
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Now I know what you mean, but I feel moved to pick up my pen in defence of early Yes. I've always preferred the Yes Album to either Fragile or Close to the Edge (don't know the first, eponymous album or Time and a Word, I'm afraid — must give them a listen some time), and the reason is that it's got a balsyness to it in the middle of the Anderson warble. Shit, that passage from “I've seen all good people” downright swings. Even the iron fisted whimsical hippy gets into the spirit of it at times, riding along on the surge of the bass and drums. Because the key is there, I think — Bruford and Squire knew how to rock, and how to swing. It's noteworthy that Squire's Ricky is very forward in the final mix.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Now I know what you mean, but I feel moved to pick up my pen in defence of early Yes. I've always preferred the Yes Album to either Fragile or Close to the Edge (don't know the first, eponymous album or Time and a Word, I'm afraid — must give them a listen some time), and the reason is that it's got a balsyness to it in the middle of the Anderson warble. Shit, that passage from “I've seen all good people” downright swings. Even the iron fisted whimsical hippy gets into the spirit of it at times, riding along on the surge of the bass and drums. Because the key is there, I think — Bruford and Squire knew how to rock, and how to swing. It's noteworthy that Squire's Ricky is very forward in the final mix.
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Yes live were a very different band and they could rock with the best of them.
 
1980 was the year I started my first job and as such was able to spend a lot of money on vinyl albums. I really think this was accidental in terms of the number of high-quality releases during this year.

The Story of 1980 Yes has been covered elsewhere but let’s not forget that the band also released the brilliant double live album “Yesshows” and former guru Jon Anderson released his second solo album “Song of Seven”.

Already mentioned are the quad of behemoths namely “Back in Black”, “Women and Children first”, “British Steel” and “Permanent Waves”. All purchased by PJ at the time.

REO Speedwagon hit a rich vein of form with “HI Fidelity” spawning a couple of massive hits with “Keep on loving you” and “Take it on the run”. Heart and Joan Jett also continued their surge with “Bebe Le Strange” and “Bad Reputation” respectively. Pat Benatar released “Crimes of Passion.”

At home, Kate Bush released “Never forever” which included the eclectic mix of hit singles namely “Babooshka”, “Army Dreamers” and “Breathing”. In Europe, The Scorpions increased their fame with the follow up to Lovedrive namely “Animal Magnetism”.

Another seismic shift in the world of Rock was the inclusion of Ronnie James Dio for the Black Sabbath release “Heaven and Hell.”

Three other choices

Black Sabbath – Neon Knights

Pat Benatar – Hit me with your Best Shot

Rush - Freewill
 
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