1990 - #OneDay

A new decade, a new dawn beckons with the Soviet Union slowly collapsing and East & West Germany formally joining to make Germany. Nelson Mandela released from prison after 27 years and Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web, the start of the biggest revolution the world would see which continues to grow and change on a daily basis, so much so that it is almost impossible to imagine life without it.

Other news remained completely standard and could be taken from pretty much every year, riots over the UK, based around the Poll Tax that was introduced this year, on April 1st, which probably should have been a clue for the government of the day. Some of the most violent riots seen in the UK, the march ending in Trafalgar Square filling news an papers for weeks after as a sense of shock at the scale of unrest took over. Other major events included Iraq invading Kuwait... The starting point of events that have cost millions of lives in the following decades, showing no signs of slowing down still. In an odd coincidence, it was on September 11th this year that President Bush threatened the use of force against Iraq, a date that we all know now.

There was one event that gripped the UK though in a way not really seen before and that was Italia 90 - the football World Cup being held in Italy. The government in the UK had discussed withdrawing the England team for fears of violence and following recent football events, the sport really was at it's lowest ebb. The official song, World In Motion by New Order got the ball rolling, football and fashion colliding. It was actually a really poor tournament, very long and dull games, very low scores - Argentina got to the final only scoring 5 times in total, but the English team had something that captured the imagination. Once into the knockouts, a last minute goal against Belgium got us through, then a famous game against Cameroon where again a last gasp goal won it. Then the semi-final. The nation watching, and one of the most famous football images ever was indelibly burned onto the conciousness of many.

The moment the tackle was made, the gesturing by Gary Lineker, the realisation that one of the most gifted players would not be in the final whatever happened to England in the rest of the game, the footage still brings goosebumps to this day. The penalty misses were bad, but the enduring image is of a man knowing his dream will never be fulfilled.

There is a film, One Night In Turin, and even if you don't like football, it is such an emotional journey, like the documentary Senna, you are dragged in, even knowing exactly what is going to come, exactly what happens, you move closer to the edge of your seat. Buy it, rent it, download it, but make sure you watch it. This is why many people fell in love with football, and the changes just around the corner in England meant it was never going to be the same again, but Gazza means we will never forget it.

Music wise the Stone Roses played Spike Island, either legendary or worst ever gig depending on your viewpoint, the Madchester bands kept pouring the sound of baggy over the nation, The Happy Mondays with Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches making it fairly clear what was a big part of this scene. The La's released their only album that manages to be in many top 5 lists, The Fall kept releasing albums and from the US Gangster Rap started to be noticed in the UK. NWA, 2 Live Crew, Ice T and more releasing materials that caused consternation among the press and music papers. Could white English kids really use the "n" and "b" words in the way that the records we started buying did? An argument that still rumbles on today. The usual suspects of Madonna and the Stock Aitken & Waterman pop were still filling the charts, but dance based acts were getting mainstream. The KLF, Adamski, Beats International were changing the airwaves, slowly but surely.

As for me, I was working in an insurance company, processing Death Claims, almost as exciting as it sounds. Gig going on a regular basis, and spending far too much time in The Aristocrat and the El Halal.

Single: Sacrifice / Healing Hands - Elton John

This was a bad period for Elton John - his earlier works, some in previous July top spots, were really good, but this is just a dull ballad. 

The love song story makes the music worse somehow, quite how this would have sold the volumes required to get the number one slot I don't know. Really not a lot I can add, you may own it on a greatest hits album, I would leave it in the cover.

Album: The Essential Pavarotti - Luciano Pavarotti

Totally cashing in on the success of the World Cup as above and the theme tune to the football, this was one of a bucket load of "introduction to Opera" albums that appeared as soon as they physically could. This is no bad thing at all, opening up many people to listen to music that they may other wise dismiss as "poncy" and not give the time to. This is not a bad collection, and there really is no need to seek out this one in particular, but it has "all the hits" on it, and is a good showcase of his work.

My slight grumble (there had to be one) is that Opera is best listened to as a whole, not as a bunch of random "singles" that have been used in adverts and films. Like concept albums and those with a story and theme, some of the tracks on their own make no sense, but in the right context are amazing.

I have listened to this twice on the train, and it really does get the emotions up, get some Opera on your iPod.

It is odd to look at the world changing events of this year, and for me and many the memory is of a footballer crying. It was a different time indeed.   

1989 - #OneDay

When looking at the music from this year I was hopeful that the news would be as good to back up some of the all time great albums I bought this year, but flicking through the reviews of the year it was hard to find positives in the main. Not just Dirty Den from Eastenders getting shot, but the list of terrible events of this year, when I turned 21, is just endless. 

The tail end of the year with revolutions over Europe and the end of the Berlin Wall is the ray of sunshine, offering many the hope that the future was going to be peaceful and better, a dream not realised for all. The sinking of the river / disco boat The Marchioness with the deaths of 51 of the people aboard hit close as that summer this had been quite a regular night out for me and friends, but as this followed Hillsborough it was part of a year of events that friends were directly impacted by. The tragedy at the FA Cup semi final has been covered more than probably any other event in football, and anyone who was a regular attendee at big games looked back and thought how close a disaster like this was to happening week in and week out. Football was not what it is today, old stadiums and terraces prevailed and fences were a bleak reminder of what it was like at football far too often. 

Football on TV was mainly just Match of the Day and the odd live game, but 1989 also saw the creation of Sky TV which was going to change football forever. The last game of the season was live on TV though, Liverpool v Arsenal when the title was won with the last kick of the game with an audience of about 8 million, compared to the 27 million who watched Coronation Street one night.  With still just the 4 channels to choose from the audience levels were at a level that would never be seen again for individual shows.

It was the events in June that captured this year for me, and the video I am sure gives it all away. Anyone watching the events in China unfold over the previous few weeks had a hope that things would change, but also a fear of what might happen. The worst case happened, and as the tanks and army rolled in killing protestors, what was odd is how much was caught on film and shown on TV. A Government ordering the killing of civilians, turn the news on today, and in Syria you can see the exact same thing happening, and the exact same response from the rest of the world. It does defy any rational thought process as to how this happens again and again and how quickly it is forgotten and the trade deals carry on. The video of the "Tank Man" possibly one of the most powerful images from the year, the thousands killed like him remain nameless and not even part of Chinas history. No wonder they need Google to block most of the internet for them.

Music wise, it was the year that The Stone Roses debut came out, and since then has sat at or near the top of almost every list of great albums. It is an absolute classic in my eyes, not loved by everyone, but hit the mood of music perfectly at the time. Another debut album this year was Bleach by Nirvana, to me their best album by a long way, but never got anywhere near the coverage and sales of Nevermind. A totally different album and genre, but again seems to have hit the mood just right, and both bands spawned a multitude of similar sounding but nowhere near as good bands as the wave of Madchester and Grunge took over various different record collections. Doolittle by The Pixies another release from this year that any record collection would benefit from having added to it.

Single: Back To Life (How Ever Do You Want Me) - Soul II Soul

The soundtrack to the summer of 89 was this track. It was impossible to miss on radio, TV anywhere music was being played you would hear this. It reminds me of a trip to Alton Towers with Bob driving a Golf and also being in the Lions at Bledlow pub. 

Although not fitting the mainstream trends at the time, the dance beat and soulful sound was so strong that it was no surprise that this track was the hit it was. Like the Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince track just listening to this takes you to summer. There is not a BBQ or garden party that can not be improved by playing this. Caron Wheelers voice is so clean and majestic that singing along is not an option - but turning the stereo up will not annoy the neighbours.

Album: Club Classics Vol 1 - Soul II Soul

A double hitter from the London band this week, taking the singles and album charts by storm, mainly down to the single as above. The first release from the album didn't do a lot but the single Back To Life got the recognition it deserved. A band, a collective, a record label and clothing line and an ever changing rota of backing singers was the plan that was followed through their career, and they are still touring but no new material for years that I can see has been released. 

Like the single, this is perfect sunny day listening material, but to me is just that little bit too "samey" to listen to the whole album. I played it twice straight through and apart from the opener, Keep On Movin' and Back To Life I would struggle to be able to pick out the other tracks individually. Maybe not the entire scene changing album it is credited with being often, but for that summer, Back To Life was the soundtrack.

1988 - #OneDay

An odd year for many reasons, not a lot really happened to me, or I had discovered strong lager and this is where memories fade. A little of both I think..

This was one of the years called the Summer of Love depending on when you found out about dance music and raves and such, this year was almost all free, or at most a couple of quid on the "door" to get in, and for a lot of it the police and authorities didn't seem over inclined to break the events up. I didn't drive at this time, so others always had the job of getting to service stations or trying to park somewhere in London with a vague idea that we could find something, we often did, but also just as often didn't. In the days before twitter and facebook, let alone SMS, organising and finding people was just not as easy as it is now, and that was always part of the fun. Finding a rave and being there all night had that thrill behind it you can't get from planning a night out three months in advance and sending invites and "whose going" pages.

One of the bigger music events of the year was the concert at Wembley for the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela, who was still in prison at this time. This is one of those things in life that you had to be alive at the time to comprehend this. Boycots of fruit, bands and sports stars vilified for visiting and playing in South Africa, Barclays Banks being pushed out of University Campuses as the world slowly started to really take notice of what was still a completely segregated country. Without banging on too much about the politics of the whole event (24 MPs in the UK wanted to cancel the concert as it was in support of a terrorists, the ANC, now the government there!) this was one of the tipping points in getting the wider issues discussed openly. It seems amazing even now that this was just allowed to happen, and yet look at the news and see what we are allowing to happen over the world today and it isn't that amazing, just more depressing.

We didn't go to this gig, we went to one in Milton Keynes Bowl which was more of a "leftfield" line up, the more overtly political bands that were never going to be able to play on BBC at the time - that was a good day, a long walk, and the longest ever diversion by a taxi driver on the way home, he took us to the wrong town as we all fell asleep as soon as we got in!

Some of the other events of the year that still impact on life and news today include the Lockerbie bombing, still headline news for much of this year, the truth behind it still unknown, and now unlikely to ever be uncovered. The SAS shot 3 IRA suspects in Gibraltar, and also members of the IRA were banned from speaking on UK news, a tactic instantly made pointless by employing Irish actors to do the voice overs on the news. Some of the most shocking events in "The Troubles" this year included a UDA man shooting and throwing grenades at a funeral, and two soldiers being beaten to death after driving into a funeral procession. The fact that these events were filmed and shown on TV and not just spoken about or written up in the papers again forced people to acknowledge that this was real, not just "news" that could be forgotten about.

Musically, House Music was coming from most car stereos and pirate radio stations, the late John Peel being one of the few mainstream DJs to play it at all on the radio. It was also my first taste of "Gangster Rap" with NWA releasing Straight Outta Compton and Ice T with Power. The controversy caused in the US and the media made the genre and the bands involved more famous than any marketing campaign could have. The NME at the time really didn't know what to do with the reviews of albums like this, I wish I had kept some of them as the "indie rock guitar based journalists" just had no idea what words they could actually type.

Looking back over the releases of the year it is a mix of bands who have reformed in the last couple of years and those you struggle to remember anything at all about. This was probably about the time that I stopped knowing all the facts about the charts and trivia about record sales, as I moved away from the mainstream and started relying on recommendations rather than just what was on the radio, but it is the charts that we look at here.

Single: Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You - Glenn Medeiros

See the cover, bloody hell. 

This is what I feared when I kicked off with this idea was that I would stumble across the worst of the one hit wonders.

What can I say, total dross.

Do you see how I keep starting new lines with double spaces?

Three minutes and 49 seconds on youtube watching this.

I will not get this out of my head for days, even though there appears to be no tune and no words apart from the title.

Truly appalling.

Album: Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman

While I would like to think I owned this before the Nelson Mandela concert I doubt I did, but it is still here in the house on vinyl. The concert as referenced above "broke" her to worldwide fame and sold in the millions.

With a sort of folk vibe her voice is so strong and memorable that everyone knows at least one track from this album, and that would be Fast Car, the second track here. The first is my favourite, Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution but this is one of those albums without a duff track on it. A socially and political album that people bought mainly because they liked Fast Car would be my bet, but hopefully they listened to it all, and some of her words sunk in. 

Songs like Across The Lines referencing struggles and riots, details about the police not coming to black neighbourhoods, this is a hard hitting album that I am glad I have come back to. Love songs mingle in the mix her as well, this really is a great listen. Don't even waste a second of your time on Glenn Medeiros and get this album today, if you have it, put it on. 

This is music.

Another mixed year, but I have not only listened to Tracy Chapman a lot, but also some other older albums I have from the year. Next time I turn 21 and there are some more classic music memories.

1986 - #OneDay

On my birthday this year, I turned 18, so was able to try alcohol for the first time... On the actual day I was in Lloret de Mar in Spain celebrating the end of school days. Yes, the 'A' levels were completed, we had left school and none of us had any idea what we were going to do next, so we all went on holiday. Not quite the grown ups we wanted to believe as I had to get a letter from my mum before the travel agent would take the booking as I was still only 17 then!

Very few of my peers were off to University, even from a Grammar School it was the exception rather than the norm to go, and my decision had been made easier, possibly as I had a feeling I would not be on the front page of the Telegraph with record results.. So it was into the world of work, the wonders of the temping agency and weekly pay meaning that in this year alone I worked in a variety of jobs, from washing up to sorting toothbrushes for export to insurance. None of these really grabbed my attention, so I took the easy option of working in an insurance company as they offered me the job.

The year became very memorable for many people because of this image. The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just after take off in January, and was watched live by a higher than usual audience due to one of the travellers being a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who was scheduled to carry out lessons to her classes while in space. I have found while looking back over the years that while the musical memories are the key factor for me, there are one or two pictures each year that are so iconic that almost everyone, even if they weren't alive at the time, knows what they are of, and this I think is one.

There is another iconic picture from this year, from the football World Cup held in Mexico in the summer. And it is one that will always be a bad memory for England fans. After stuttering through the group stage England had a quarter final against Argentina, only a few years after the Falklands War, but I doubt that was on Maradonnas mind for his first goal. In what will go down as one of the most blatant miscarriages in a football match, he later scored what was voted the goal of the century, and helped Argentina to lift the World Cup. England were left with scant consolation that Gary Lineker won the golden boot, and a career flogging crisps awaited him.

Musically it seems to have been a bit of a dull year looking throught the releases. A decade since Punk had changed the face of music everything seemed a bit bland, needing a bit of a kick again to get it moving. Dance / House music was just bubbling around on the radio, championed as new by John Peel, ignored by the majority of others. It really was a year of rock ballads and stadium bands being born, with not much else, apart from a cassette tape from the NME. C86, described as the beginning of Indie music, was a compilation album of some of the rising musical stars of Indie music, although the Indie Chart was already full of The Smiths and New Order. If you want to get a digital copy of C86 just click here for the details.

The above, and the usual suspects of Billy Bragg and The Style Council filled my ears, along with the Beastie Boys first album and their impending tour booked for 1987, but there was only one person topping the charts the world over this year, and she is still doing much the same now.

Single: Papa Don't Preach - Madonna

A single taken from the True Blue album, this was Madonna really taking over pop music in the 80s. Constant re-imaging of herself, different looks in different videos, and cornering the market in what is pretty close to marketing perfection. Her music was everywhere at this time, films, radio, TV - it was impossible not to know who she was, in an age before the internet she was truly a global celeb.

This single, with clear references to teenage pregnancy and abortion was only one of her ways of annoying the religious right in the US, and ensuring that the free publicity of news and talk show topics kept her in the spotlight at all times. Not one of her best singles in my opinion, but like almost all of her output, I bet you all know most of the words.

Album: True Blue - Madonna

And here she is again, so far the first artist to have album and single at the top of the pile on my birthday. Much as above, she was everywhere, so being top of the album chart should have been no surprise. It really is an album of time, and it does sound dated to me on listening to it, maybe because it is, and the re-invention was so much that you can almost date things by which look she had at the time.

Album kicks off with Papa Don't Preach, and that is probably the strongest track on this. Second is Open Your Heart, which again is memorable, but not in a great way. At least two other singles, the title track and La Isla Bonita, this album is Madonna at her pop music mass market peak. It is hard to really make any comments on it, as although it sold in the millions, when was the last time anyone played it? It is not a classic, it is not going to change your view of music or challenge you in any way really, it is just pop. This is not a negative, just a fact, I was bored listening to it, singing along to the ones I knew and not really enticed to listen to the ones I didn't again. 

I didn't have a single track by Madonna in my collection until now, and doubt I will add more unless the fate of dates compels me to, nothing really against her, but it was all so overplayed that I can't really justify listening to it again.

Come back next time, when I am in full time employment, I try alcohol again and for some reason I don't have my hair cut for ages.

1985 - #OneDay

It has been a while since I caught up on this, and we are in 1985, so I was in the Lower Sixth at school, probably not doing too well on my exams and still spending too much time in detention, or after school club as I used to tell my parents.

The first thing that really jumped out at me when browsing events from the year is how many news items were about travel, and not the sort of way that would make you book holidays. Terrorists at airports, planes and cruise liners being hijacked, mid air explosions, crashes, failed take offs and so on. While there have always been crashes and such it does seem to have been weekly news then, but as the cruise industry has shown us recently, it hasn't totally gone away.

Two major football related tragedies happened in May, on the 11th the fire at Valley Parade in Bradford made many people really start to question stadium safety, the Heysel Disaster where many more died adding to the concern that maybe all wasn't well in the world of football. This at a time when the domestic game was struggling to be on the back pages, clubs were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, but still some years away from any real action to be taken by either the authorities or the clubs.

In lighter news, New Coke was launched on an unsuspecting and unwilling public and within 3 months it was gone from the shelves and banished to history. As the picture shows the marketing team went all out with a new design there. Although Cherry Coke somehow seems to still exist, so not sure what the fuss was all about - and that in a time before we could have a twitter and Facebook campaign about it. The major news was obviously the one we all talk about still, the first British Glow Worm day. If it ever made it to a second I don't know, even for me that was just one click too far from Wikipedia. News that will also bring back odd memories of those old enough to remember was the 13 yr old Ruth Lawrence getting a degree in maths from Oxford. No idea what she is doing now, but the news at the time was just that little bit too weird.

 This was also the year of Live Aid, joint concerts in London and Philadelphia, Phil Collins playing at both concerts and raising £50 million for Ethiopia during the day, with Bob Geldof famously swearing on the BBC. Like many urban legends, he never actually said "Give us your fucking money" but "Fuck the address, let's get the numbers", entering the hall of incorrect quotes along with "Beam me up Scotty". Live aid was not universally welcomed, Frank Zappa said "I think Live Aid was the biggest cocaine money laundering scheme of all time." Many cynics, me included, also noted how much the artists playing made on the back of it, but it was all a long time ago so I won't rake that all up again....

In other music news, Madonna did her first tour, Wham played in China and the issue of playing records backwards leading people to commit suicide began with legal action against Judas Priest. A far wider issue than I realised at the time, but the hysteria whipped up by the PMRC and the religious right in the USA probably gave the bands involved more free advertising than was thought possible. The Pogues, New Order, The Style Council were all gracing my turntable, along with The Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist, possibly more famous for the poster included in it, google "penis landscape by H R Giger" and you will see why I didn't have that up on my bedroom wall. To be honest I think it was still Debbie Harry and the Why? poster.

Single: Frankie - Sister Sledge

 In one of those odd twists of fate the other week on twitter the game of "what was number one the day you were born" was being played out, and one of the people I chat to regularly came up with this as their birthday single. It reminded me of the time, and gate crashing a party at the Vic Club where I live, I can actually picture many of the people there that night, mainly in Fila Tracksuits and Nike trainers..

Produced by Nile Rogers, who seems to have pretty much owned Disco music , this is a tune that will stick in your head for days if you listen to it, which I guess is one definition of a perfect pop song. It is inoffensive enough, but I don't think my life will be adversely affected if I never hear it again.

Album: Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen

I will admit up front that when this came out I didn't "get it" at all. It was American dull rock music, and as I didn't really pay attention to it I fell into the trap of misunderstanding the title track, so didn't listen to this, or anything by Springsteen for years. It was probably 20 years after this came out that I first met people who loved him and his work, and was only about two years ago that I first bought anything by him and listened to it.

I do still find it too "middle of the road" for me to listen to a lot, and while he does have different phases to his career, I have listened to this three times this week, and can still only really identify about half of the 12 tracks, the rest just don't grab me, much like many people say to me about Johnny Cash or how I used to feel about Neil Young.

Opening with Born In The USA is the mistake for me, it takes you off to soon that the following tracks just don't get much of a chance. The recognisable singles including I'm On Fire and Glory Days are in there somewhere and the penultimate track Dancing In The Dark the video of which made a star of Courtney Cox are probably the best known. Overall though, he just doesn't do it for me. Looking at the preceding and succeeding number one albums in the UK that were Marillion and Dire Straits respectively, it wasn't a great summer!

Come back next time when I will have left school and be turning 18, and so experiencing my first drink...