Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1985 - (page 203)

Out on blue 6 said:
Not too sure everyone is ready for Rowche Rumble or Nag Nag Nag yet!!
I do have what isn't really a left field pick in terms of popularity but isn't the norm in terms of genre I'm thinking of putting up
Click to expand...

They've already had a 'dose' of (the other) MES on the album thread so maybe now is the time for a bit of CV !
 
Saddleworth2 said:
My first nomination is Too Much Too Young by The Specials which ironically could have been Mrs S and I's theme tune at the time. Married at 18 and two children by the time we were 21 (one of them critically ill at birth). Parents break up, Father left never to be seen again. Death of another parent, all within a very short period.
Our life could have been the subject of a rock opera :-)

Too Much too young - The Specials
Click to expand...

Blimey, there's certain years you don't look back fondly at, but that sounds like the year from hell.

My wife who is a couple of years younger than me always smiles at the fact that when this song came out she didn't understand how wearing a cap would help :-)
 
  • Like
Reactions: OB1
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
When I think of 1979, these days I think of the Smashing Pumpkins' song from the 1990's. The reason I mention that is because that song takes me back to these very days I was entering my teenage years and all the fun that would ensue, mostly led by the songs of the time that I remember. First parties, first times at the roller rink, you get the idea.

Cool kids never had the time

Given I should be identifying a good pub/restaurant in Manchester to have a Sunday family dinner after we arrive the Sunday after next, I'll instead write more about the songs I remember from this year. If anyone has a recommendation for a classic British Sunday dinner place near the Piccadilly station where we'll be staying, please PM me and I'll get some credit for that from some true insiders and look like I know what I'm doing, when I'm instead thinking and musing about music from this year!

I'll even pick up a pint for you if you are so inclined too. Onto the year at hand...

Hollywood Deep Cuts
I'd be remiss if I didn't get any songs nominated by the Eagles, and given this was their last original album together during that time period, I had better get this one in. The Long Run was one of the first 8-tracks I remember owning, and I knew this was one of the lesser known songs from that release that was always a favourite of mine. Give me that Don Felder guitar solo that starts at 3:35 in. This was a stark lyrical commentary on the Hollywood machine where dreams are made for the few, and what it sometimes takes to make them come true, at quite the price.

King of Hollywood - Eagles

Supertramp would raise the ante on the state of Hollywood that same year in this song which was my favourites from Breakfast in America, which might have been the album of 1979 for me, so something had to come from this. The lyrical commentary here was pretty scathing, and the music raised this to a new level with a great chorus of "if we only had time, only had time, for you" with the powerful music and guitars behind it.

Gone Hollywood - Supertramp

So the bad news in 1979 is that both Yes and Rush did not have a release. But, patience would be needed as great things were on the horizon. I'm not sure how much this was known in the UK, but the phrase "poor man's Rush" was a comparison used to describe the this Canadian rock band by music critics and fans. This was due to the fact that this band and their debut album would check these three boxes that year in them:
  1. being from Toronto
  2. being a three-piece band
  3. featuring a high-pitched singer
However, this would be an oversimplification, as this band took a more "song-oriented" approach to their music also had their own distinct characteristics. Not sure how many this side of OB1 have heard them, but this song and debut album began my enjoyment and appreciation of my second favourite Canadian band.

Lay It On The Line - Triumph

As @Saddleworth2 suggested a few "years" back in these playlists, let's make this about the memories and hearing specific music for the first time. Well, I've got two stories left that still have vivid memories to me. The first was one of the first weekend parties I remember going to in the basement of my friend's house where I heard Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes playing and everyone was singing along to "Refugee", the latest hit song on the radio. And as much as I loved that song, it was side two of that release of I gravitated to, with the powerful opening keys and catchy hook. Then he said "you better watch your step, or you're gonna get hurt yourself" Words of wisdom soon to come.

Don't Do Me Like That - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

The last song is a guilty pleasure and my extra one to compliment the one I remember hearing at the skating rink that I wasn't as much of a fan of, which was ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down". I'm not sure why, but that song just never was one that resonated with me. However, this single was the song I remember the most to learn to perfect roller skating back then, and it was probably the one I remember speeding to going round and round weaving in and out of traffic to this song. Even now, when I hear this song, it brings back distinct memories of the roller rink and days and years gone by.

Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe

I pick myself up off the ground to have you knock me back down again and again?
Click to expand...
Surprise, surprise, I am a Triumph fan and I think I have almost all their albums. Their original UK release was IIRC a combination of songs from their first two Canadian releases. Pretty sure my vinyl copy of Just A Game was an import.

Although Rush did not release anything in the year, they did record their next album in the UK I think and whilst here played a couple of sold out shows at the New Bingley Cow Shed, both of which I attended. They had also done a UK tour earlier in the year where I saw both Manchester Apollo gigs and also my first Hammersmith Odeon (now Apollo) gig, my father booked me a hotel so that I could go down and stay over for it. The tour gigs were supported by another Canadian band Max Webster, who were a slightly quirky hard prog rock band led by guitarist vocalist Kim Mitchell. A great pairing.

If my addition is correct, I attended 41 gigs in 1979. They covered quite a range of music, from AC/DC to Frank Zappa, including Rush, Zep, Van Halen, Boston, Journey, Sammy Hagar, BOC, The Tubes, Roxy Music, Horslips, Bad Co, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Whitesnake, Gillan, Uriah Heap, UFO, Queen, The Who, Steve Hillage, Trevor Rabin, Maiden, Leppard, Earth Wind & Fire, Jude Tzuke (at our hall party) and Cheap Trick (in the main hall at Uni).

I also saw Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile at the FTH, with I believe Nick Lowe on bass.
 
Last edited:
Right so six into four just will not go.
I have decided to leave out Van Halen and the Pat Benatar releases. The latter being mostly cover versions (albeit very good).
Two of my four selections involved key personnel changes that evoked very strong albums as a result.

Ronnie James Dio seemed to be integral to the sound of Rainbow.Often usurping the prog stronghold of myth and legend it was a great shock when he was no more. Enter the exact opposite in Graham Bonnet. Girls swooned over this new heartthrob and the radio friendly Since you’ve been gone emerged.

Over in Germany, Scorpions were now without the talismanic lead guitarist Michael Schenker. As a result the music shifted and the album Lovedrive succeeded. One of many favourites is Loving you Sunday morning.

Transatlantic Foreigner continued their rich vein of form with Head Games. Included in this release was the brilliant opening track Dirty White Boy.

And finally we come to Supertramp’s Breakfast in America. The obvious would be The Logical Song or the title track. For my selection it was very close between the closing track Child of Vision or Take the Long way Home. Ive chosen the latter today :-)
 
threespires said:
This makes me want to pick Delta 5's Mind Your Own Business but I've only got one pick left unless I go mini OB1. Too much good stuff from this year so I'll hold fire and see what comes up e.g I assume one of the lurking SLF fans will be along soon with something from Inflammable Material.

MES has already been his own hype man for his entry into the fray, so I'm looking forward to hearing with what he goes with.

Post punk really had the wind in its sails by this point, The likes of Magazine, The Slits.Cabaret Voltaire and The Fall will hopefully all get a look on. So much to pick from.
Click to expand...

I’ll allow a bit of flexibility but this is BB’s year and he prefers a shorter list. Otherwise it would turn into a monster with the number of tracks I’d like to include.

I have not played the list do far through but I know most but not all the tracks and it is shaping up to be an interesting one, plenty of variety and a good mix of the obvious and less obvious tracks.
 
Mancitydoogle said:
Great write up as usual Bimbo and good choices

1979 was a significant year in my life, I.d just got engaged to the first Mrs MCD and I was becoming successful at work so we decided to take our honeymoon before our wedding (paid for by ourselves ) We decided on visiting the USA for first time, so we flew Pan Am to JFK.
Being naive 20 year olds and in the days before the internet , we did very little research.I had this idea of staying in NY city then doing a road trip to Miami and then flying to Mexico.
Little did we know NYC was like the Wild West in those days and our hotel was in Times Square! We made a hasty exit the next day on a Greyhound to Washington which wasn’t much better but strangely felt a lot safer to us.
We stayed in a motel for a few days sightseeing and then hired a car for the journey to Florida ,driving listening to the US radio was a treat for me, and a track was being continually played, it was nothing like I’d heard before.

RAPPERS DELIGHT by The Sugerhill Gang , I bought the 12inch at the first Tower records Store I found ,to add the the large collection of albums I’d be bringing back to the UK.

We never got to Mexico, but that’s a story for another day.
Click to expand...
Which version do you want? I have put a short version on but I can swap it for the extended version, all 14 minutes!
 
Protein Junkie said:
Right so six into four just will not go.
I have decided to leave out Van Halen and the Pat Benatar releases. The latter being mostly cover versions (albeit very good).
Two of my four selections involved key personnel changes that evoked very strong albums as a result.

Ronnie James Dio seemed to be integral to the sound of Rainbow.Often usurping the prog stronghold of myth and legend it was a great shock when he was no more. Enter the exact opposite in Graham Bonnet. Girls swooned over this new heartthrob and the radio friendly Since you’ve been gone emerged.

Over in Germany, Scorpions were now without the talismanic lead guitarist Michael Schenker. As a result the music shifted and the album Lovedrive succeeded. One of many favourites is Loving you Sunday morning.

Transatlantic Foreigner continued their rich vein of form with Head Games. Included in this release was the brilliant opening track Dirty White Boy.

And finally we come to Supertramp’s Breakfast in America. The obvious would be The Logical Song or the title track. For my selection it was very close between the closing track Child of Vision or Take the Long way Home. Ive chosen the latter today :-)
Click to expand...

You’ve managed to pick three of my favourite songs from their respective albums; not that I don’t like the Scorps track but there are others I prefer on Lovedrive.
 
I’m going to reward myself for all the hard work adding tracks with a guilty pleasure (of sorts) track. Another slightly ironic pick as it is KISS’ most popular song according to a Tweet I saw just yesterday from Paul Stanley (an omen!) 1.6B streams for possibly the most unlike KISS track they did, the disco classic: I Was Made For Lovin’ You.
 
threespires said:
Blimey, there's certain years you don't look back fondly at, but that sounds like the year from hell.

My wife who is a couple of years younger than me always smiles at the fact that when this song came out she didn't understand how wearing a cap would help :-)
Click to expand...
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger mate. It wasn’t like I didn’t listen to music in that year but mostly retreated into my comfort blanket of late 60s early 70s. We are still going strong and fast approaching our golden wedding anniversary in December. :-)
 
BimboBob said:
I thought 10 minutes was our maximum?


But seeing as I bought the 12" when it came out and it was on my original list that was narrowed down then I say...go for it!
Click to expand...
No, there’s no limit on song length, it’s just that Rob doesn’t like songs over 10 minutes long, or live albums or…
 
threespires said:
I banked on someone else putting this up :-). I lived in Windsor for a while and by virtue of my wife's job knew a housemaster at Eton. Nice guy, though he and his wife were clearly sluming it by entertaining me and Mrs Spires. Unlike one of his numpty former pupils he understood exactly the nature of this song! I tried to convince him that Weller's career trajectory at the age he was when he wrote this showed how much more meritorious he was than the vast majority of his charges but that wasn't really deemed a polite topic of conversation so we would talk about Italy and it's wines instead. Fairly sure that qualified me as a class traitor.
Click to expand...
Italian wines are always a safe topic of conversation when confronted with a member of the intelligentsia I find. ;-)
 
Saddleworth2 said:
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger mate. It wasn’t like I didn’t listen to music in that year but mostly retreated into my comfort blanket of late 60s early 70s. We are still going strong and fast approaching our golden wedding anniversary in December. :-)
Click to expand...
This is true.

Congrats on the upcoming landmark. My wife and I are only just coming up to 35 years of marriage; although about 40 as a couple.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top