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

It's a good thing I planned ahead for travel weeks like this.

It happened one summer, it happened one time
It happened forever, for a short time
A place for a moment, an end to a dream
Forever I loved you, forever it seemed

One summer never ends, one summer never began...

Martha Davis has said in various interviews that this song touches upon themes such as the loss of virginity and innocence. While back in 1983 I didn't know about the former, but I remember the latter, for however short of a time it would be. A few girlfriends later, this song has always resonated with me during this time period for a summer relationship that pretty much ended as soon as it began, but while it was happening, it was oh so real, so I'm going to claim this song as soon as I can so it doesn't get away like things did back then.

Martha mentioned how the inspiration for this track came from knowing that "...summer is ending when you hear the ice cream truck go by for the last time and you know he won't be back for a while". This song to this very day is one that will always take me back to a place and time while snuggled up watching Friday Night Videos when a first unexpected kiss happened while watching the video of another band from this same year, but this song sums things up, so it goes first.

"Suddenly Last Summer - The Motels
 
Right, I'm popping back into this thread as a fellow traveller of it, because we're now into 1983, and I've got something to be enthusiastic about.
In 1983 I moved from having spent a very, very happy academic year in a slater's cottage (renovated) in the hills above Deiniolen, Gwynedd — a luminous year in my life — to, would you believe, the People's Republic of China. I'd got very out of touch with what was going on in rock and pop in the UK, and most of what I'd heard did not impress me. On the telly and radio during that year in north Wales, I'd heard such luminaries as Culture Club, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and thought to myself, “Yeah, your time of listening to all this is really, definitely over. The sixties and seventies are far away, and even though you're only on the cusp of thirty, you are now an old fogey.”
(I have to admit that I can listen to that lot now as a guilty pleasure — I've even got Duran Duran's Greatest Hits on CD, and you know what? it's pretty good stuff. And “True”, which has graced a thousand wedding receptions in Essex, is a fine ballad. One gets mellower and less sectarian as one gets older…)
In fact, the best music I heard was the singing choirs of absolutely blutered but perfectly musically on–point men in the pubs down in Deiniolen on a Saturday night. Everybody spoke Welsh in the streets. As somebody who'd grown up in London and Manchester, that was some eye-opener, I can tell you. By the way, nobody ever refused to speak English to me.
I was pleasantly mistaken, though. Because living in the PRC from ’83 to ’84 was like returning in a time warp to a peculiarly grey 1950s — a friend I made over there put it perfectly when he said, “You know, my problem with China is that it does not swing”. So right. Because of that, I didn't catch up to what I am now going to nominate on here for’83, until ’84 when I moved to the far suburbs of Tokyo. (From Gwynedd to Beijing to Tokyo — I jumped from hills studded with Methodist chapels in the 1880s to a Chinese city locked into 1955 to a megalopolis the likes of which I have seen nowhere else on earth, situated, as far as I could see, in 2030 or so).
So here it is, drum roll: The Luxury Gap, and from it, among several I could choose, “Crushed by the wheels of industry”. This, to me, was the acceptable face of synth rock and LinnDrum. It was sassy, it was tuneful, it didn't take itself too seriously. It looked from the outside into the world of the nouveaux riches who seemed to be how the eighties were defining themselves, took the piss out of them but also had a sneaking admiration for them. And shit, I'm straight, but even I fancied Glenn Gregory (almost as much as that black girl in the video clip of “Temptation”).

And yes, I still ask myself, in these days of global warming, whether there's a party going on that's going to change the way we live, and how do we know we've even been invited?
 
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Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Right, I'm popping back into this thread as a fellow traveller of it, because we're now into 1983, and I've got something to be enthusiastic about.
In 1983 I moved from having spent a very, very happy academic year in a slater's cottage (renovated) in the hills above Deiniolen, Gwynedd — a luminous year in my life — to, would you believe, the People's Republic of China. I'd got very out of touch with what was going on in rock and pop in the UK, and most of what I'd heard did not impress me. On the telly and radio during that year in north Wales, I'd heard such luminaries as Culture Club, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and thought to myself, “Yeah, your time of listening to all this is really, definitely over. The sixties and seventies are far away, and even though you're only on the cusp of thirty, you are now an old fogey.”
(I have to admit that I can listen to that lot now as a guilty pleasure — I've even got Duran Duran's Greatest Hits on CD, and you know what? it's pretty good stuff. And “True”, which has graced a thousand wedding receptions in Essex, is a fine ballad. One gets mellower and less sectarian as one gets older…)
In fact, the best music I heard was the singing choirs of absolutely blutered but perfectly musically on–point men in the pubs down in Deiniolen on a Saturday night. Everybody spoke Welsh in the streets. As somebody who'd grown up in London and Manchester, that was some eye-opener, I can tell you. By the way, nobody ever refused to speak English to me.
I was pleasantly mistaken, though. Because living in the PRC from ’83 to ’84 was like returning in a time warp to a peculiarly grey 1950s — a friend I made over there put it perfectly when he said, “You know, my problem with China is that it does not swing”. So right. Because of that, I didn't catch up to what I am now going to nominate on here for’83, until ’84 when I moved to the far suburbs of Tokyo. (From Gwynedd to Beijing to Tokyo — I jumped from hills studded with Methodist chapels in the 1880s to a Chinese city locked into 1955 to a megalopolis the likes of which I have seen nowhere else on earth, situated, as far as I could see, in 2030 or so).
So here it is, drum roll: Penthouse and Pavement, and from it, among several I could choose, “Crushed by the wheels of industry”. This, to me, was the acceptable face of synth rock and LinnDrum. It was sassy, it was tuneful, it didn't take itself too seriously. It looked from the outside into the world of the nouveaux riches who seemed to be how the eighties were defining themselves, took the piss out of them but also had a sneaking admiration for them. And shit, I'm straight, but even I fancied Glenn Gregory (almost as much as that black girl in the video clip of “Temptation”).

And yes, I still ask myself, in these days of global warming, whether there's a party going on that's going to change the way we live, and how do we know we've even been invited?
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Aaah the paving slab song.

Luxury Gap is a fine album. Glenn is still gorgeous. Temptation is still belted out live to this day. Great choice.
 
In 1983, I was still 3 years away from getting into music, so here's four selections from 1983 that I picked up in the years shortly after.

One of my favourite songs of the era: A bass line so good that Ray Parker Jnr nicked it for Ghostbusters and was successfully sued by Huey and Co. As an extra bonus, guitarist Chris Hayes throw his Hendrix "Purple Haze" tribute into a magnificent solo.

"I Want A New Drug" - Huey Lewis & The News

After the success of American Fool and its hit single "Jack & Diane", John Cougar was really hitting his stride as a songwriter. His increasing confidence demonstrated by the fact that he'd now added his real surname. IMO, this is one of his best songs.

"Pink Houses" - John Cougar Mellencamp

I could have picked any number of fantastic guitar pieces from Eliminator, but let's go for the classic opener.

"Gimme All Your Lovin'" - ZZ Top

Not a massive song in my CD collection, but as they've already had a mention let's go with one of their biggest songs:-

"Sister Christian" - Night Ranger
 
RobMCFC said:
In 1983, I was still 3 years away from getting into music, so here's four selections from 1983 that I picked up in the years shortly after.

One of my favourite songs of the era: A bass line so good that Ray Parker Jnr nicked it for Ghostbusters and was successfully sued by Huey and Co. As an extra bonus, guitarist Chris Hayes throw his Hendrix "Purple Haze" tribute into a magnificent solo.

"I Want A New Drug" - Huey Lewis & The News

After the success of American Fool and its hit single "Jack & Diane", John Cougar was really hitting his stride as a songwriter. His increasing confidence demonstrated by the fact that he'd now added his real surname. IMO, this is one of his best songs.

"Pink Houses" - John Cougar Mellencamp

I could have picked any number of fantastic guitar pieces from Eliminator, but let's go for the classic opener.

"Gimme All Your Lovin'" - ZZ Top

Not a massive song in my CD collection, but as they've already had a mention let's go with one of their biggest songs:-

"Sister Christian" - Night Ranger
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Excellent. You saved me three picks there (Huey, JCM, ZZ) and I do like Night Ranger. The albums from the first three artists are crammed with tracks one could pick (and I will when I eventually get round to making my own ‘83 list). ZZ Top were another band I saw in 1983, at the Victoria Halls in Hanley of all places.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
It's a good thing I planned ahead for travel weeks like this.

It happened one summer, it happened one time
It happened forever, for a short time
A place for a moment, an end to a dream
Forever I loved you, forever it seemed

One summer never ends, one summer never began...

Martha Davis has said in various interviews that this song touches upon themes such as the loss of virginity and innocence. While back in 1983 I didn't know about the former, but I remember the latter, for however short of a time it would be. A few girlfriends later, this song has always resonated with me during this time period for a summer relationship that pretty much ended as soon as it began, but while it was happening, it was oh so real, so I'm going to claim this song as soon as I can so it doesn't get away like things did back then.

Martha mentioned how the inspiration for this track came from knowing that "...summer is ending when you hear the ice cream truck go by for the last time and you know he won't be back for a while". This song to this very day is one that will always take me back to a place and time while snuggled up watching Friday Night Videos when a first unexpected kiss happened while watching the video of another band from this same year, but this song sums things up, so it goes first.

"Suddenly Last Summer - The Motels
Click to expand...

I suppose you've seen the film Summer of ’43 ? It's a curious thing, it could easily be syrupy, but it generally isn't, I find. It holds up. And I can easily believe that the conditions of wartime and loss create those “passing ships” encounters, even between different generations, because of, well, a need for a moment of comfort.
 
BimboBob said:
Aaah the paving slab song.

Luxury Gap is a fine album. Glenn is still gorgeous. Temptation is still belted out live to this day. Great choice.
Click to expand...

He's in decent nick for his age and gets away with aviators very well, but he was always going to lose that type of hair.

The Luxury Gap instantly drops me right back into some very happy times with a young lady at Loreto sixth form, she also liked the Thompson Twins but you have to take the rough with the smooth.

Some really good albums this year and apart from two must haves, I'm struggling to make my choices.

Beyond ones already mentioned there's obviously Power Corruption and Lies, Speaking in Tongues, High Land Hard Rain, Tom Waites's deranged reinvention with Swordfishtrombones, though I didn't know him at the time Robert Cray first hit the scene with Bad Influence and SRV's debut Texas Flood came out; Violent Femmes, Punch The Clock, Porcupine and whatever the CT album with Sugar Hiccup is; as a casual listener arguably The Fall's most most accessible album in PBL, Soul Mining by The The. Even some of the poppier albums were good, Cyndi Lauper not just ditzy but pretty switched on and though blue-eyed soul may get a bit of a kicking these days I'm just not having that Pino Palladino's bass on Wherever I Lay My Hat is in anyway outdated, sure it's a cover song but if you are going to cover people then make it Whitefield, Strong and Gaye. I've no interest in Altered Images but Claire Grogan on the front cover of their last album was very arresting. I've had Construction Time Again on in the car recently and it might not be DM's most beloved album but it's got some fine songs on it; OMDs' Dazzleships mostly commercial suicide but very lovable. On the jazz front the somewhat divisive Wynton Marsalis was hitting his stride and Bill Evans had a good album out too. Hell, I even like some of Beverley Hills 90125 or whatever it's called with that fella who sings almost as high as Geddy Lee, though you'd never accuse Trevor Horn of just letting a band get on with it :-)
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
I suppose you've seen the film Summer of ’43 ? It's a curious thing, it could easily be syrupy, but it generally isn't, I find. It holds up. And I can easily believe that the conditions of wartime and loss create those “passing ships” encounters, even between different generations, because of, well, a need for a moment of comfort.
Click to expand...
I think you mean Summer of '42 (1971), and yes I did watch that in the late 70's. Jennifer O'Neill was stunning, Gary Grimes well played his innocent character trying to find himself, and Jerry Houser pretty much stole every comedic line in the film before he went onto become even more famous in commercials and Brady Bunch offshoot movies that I'd occasionally see on and there he was as an adult.

en.wikipedia.org

Summer of '42 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

This wasn't one of those situations as we were the same age and long time friends, but there was always one of us who wanted it to be more than just that, but I'd hate to skip ahead...
 
threespires said:
He's in decent nick for his age and gets away with aviators very well, but he was always going to lose that type of hair.

The Luxury Gap instantly drops me right back into some very happy times with a young lady at Loreto sixth form, she also liked the Thompson Twins but you have to take the rough with the smooth.

Some really good albums this year and apart from two must haves, I'm struggling to make my choices.

Beyond ones already mentioned there's obviously Power Corruption and Lies, Speaking in Tongues, High Land Hard Rain, Tom Waites's deranged reinvention with Swordfishtrombones, though I didn't know him at the time Robert Cray first hit the scene with Bad Influence and SRV's debut Texas Flood came out; Violent Femmes, Punch The Clock, Porcupine and whatever the CT album with Sugar Hiccup is; as a casual listener arguably The Fall's most most accessible album in PBL, Soul Mining by The The. Even some of the poppier albums were good, Cyndi Lauper not just ditzy but pretty switched on and though blue-eyed soul may get a bit of a kicking these days I'm just not having that Pino Palladino's bass on Wherever I Lay My Hat is in anyway outdated, sure it's a cover song but if you are going to cover people then make it Whitefield, Strong and Gaye. I've no interest in Altered Images but Claire Grogan on the front cover of their last album was very arresting. I've had Construction Time Again on in the car recently and it might not be DM's most beloved album but it's got some fine songs on it; OMDs' Dazzleships mostly commercial suicide but very lovable. On the jazz front the somewhat divisive Wynton Marsalis was hitting his stride and Bill Evans had a good album out too. Hell, I even like some of Beverley Hills 90125 or whatever it's called with that fella who sings almost as high as Geddy Lee, though you'd never accuse Trevor Horn of just letting a band get on with it :-)
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90125 is one of my favourite Yes albums. I love Horn's production on it. The presence of Trevor Rabin on guitar is important; he also played some of the keyboards and co-wrote every track.
 
Mad Eyed Screamer said:
I flew from Burlington (and back) last week to / from Tampa and filmed at a few covered bridges in the area! Will take you less than 20 mins to drive to Holmes Creek bridge right on the shore of Lake Champlain. Go at sunset and thank me later….. ;)
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Ah, I see that is just south of Shelburne Farms, which we visited last year. Going to add that to itinerary once we get the rental car on Friday. We've got Stowe and a (full walk this year, not just a partial walk) along the Causeway Park on Lake Champlain planned too.

And I find the fish and chips here is always better when the latter is upgraded to poutine. ;-)

So many great songs in 1983, going to be hard to limit this to just 3 more!
 
In 1983 I has heavily in to American Football and also a BBC2 programme called “Entertainment USA “and they used to show video clips of songs big in America.
I will never forget one track which was an instant wow, that is different and I love it.
Def Leppard -Photograph.

My musical tastes had moved away from heavy and prog and more towards the US radio friendly tunes. Maybe a sign of those times.
My number one female vocalist is Ann Wilson of Heart and one their best songs came out namely How Can I refuse.

My third choice is left field for me but there’s something eternally refreshing about The Tubes -She’s a Beauty.

To cement the shifting sands of the period I am going end up with two more US artists.
Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield
Journey - Separate Ways
 
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OB1 said:
90125 is one of my favourite Yes albums. I love Horn's production on it. The presence of Trevor Rabin on guitar is important; he also played some of the keyboards and co-wrote every track.
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Yeah, I'm not going to slag that album either as it was the first time I would see Yes on tour - twice! And, 90125 predates Beverly Hills by 7 years and a different decade, so careful there, spires! ;-)

And I'll add in the two Trevors on that album with their unique perspectives both made it as well.
Those Rabin songs vocally were great, but once Anderson was added in, songs like "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" and especially "Changes" took on a life of their own. I'm on the fence for a nomination as I have 6 on my shortlist, but wouldn't mind anyone else stepping in if so inclined!

Extra credit for anyone not a superfan to know where the album title came from without Google's assistance. I know PJ and OB1 likely know, but not sure how many others would.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Ah, I see that is just south of Shelburne Farms, which we visited last year. Going to add that to itinerary once we get the rental car on Friday. We've got Stowe and a (full walk this year, not just a partial walk) along the Causeway Park on Lake Champlain planned too.

And I find the fish and chips here is always better when the latter is upgraded to poutine. ;-)

So many great songs in 1983, going to be hard to limit this to just 3 more!
Click to expand...
As you two are acquainted and trading Vermont stories, maybe you could have a little get-together on the music front.

Only last night @Mad Eyed Screamer asked if he could do the 1986 write-up. I pointed out that you had bagged it as your #1 choice, and that most definitely remains the case. I said that MES should do a write-up on some aspect of the musical year or his view of some part of it, but it seems that there is a possibility of collaboration on some level - i.e. you telling him what's in your initial 10 and seeing if that gives him something outside of that to write about.
 
Protein Junkie said:
In 1983 I has heavily in to American Football and also a BBC2 programme called “Entertainment USA”. Apart from having a crush on Jenny Powell back then they used to show video clips of songs big in America.
I will never forget one track which was an instant wow, that is different and I love it.
Def Leppard -Photograph.
Click to expand...
My brother's best friend is Jenny Powell's partner.

I also remember Entertainment USA and used to enjoy it, although I don't remember JP being on it - I remember her from a few years later on No Limits - another show with some great music. EDIT: I've just read that this show, like Entertainment USA, was also created by Johnathan King.
 
RobMCFC said:
As you two are acquainted and trading Vermont stories, maybe you could have a little get-together on the music front.
Click to expand...
It appears he has traveled back to sunny FLA while I am still in the BLUE State of mind of falling leaves, maple syrup, and great IPAs.
RobMCFC said:
Only last night @Mad Eyed Screamer asked if he could do the 1986 write-up. I pointed out that you had bagged it as your #1 choice, and that most definitely remains the case. I said that MES should do a write-up on some aspect of the musical year or his view of some part of it, but it seems that there is a possibility of collaboration on some level - i.e. you telling him what's in your initial 10 and seeing if that gives him something outside of that to write about.
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Ha, the songs have already been chosen and the writeup is well underway, so I'd say I'm pretty much locked in there. ;-)
 
RobMCFC said:
My brother's best friend is Jenny Powell's partner.

I also remember Entertainment USA and used to enjoy it, although I don't remember JP being on it - I remember her from a few years later on No Limits - another show with some great music. EDIT: I've just read that this show, like Entertainment USA, was also created by Johnathan King.
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My bad.
It was indeed its successor “No Limits” and I think it had a similar format.
I’ve amended the previous post :-)
 
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