SONG TITLES FROM TIME AFTER TIME
All of the chapter headings in Time After Time are song titles, with the majority coming from the period 1981-1985, when the characters in the novel were at school together. If any of them have given you a burst of nostalgia, clicking on the links will take you to Amazon.co.uk, where you can read more about the songs and artists and maybe even buy a couple of CDs for old times' sake. At the bottom of the list are a few of my own favourites from the 1980s that didn't make it into the chapter heads.
A Night To Remember (Shalamar) Not my cup of tea, personally, but if you're in the mood for a retro disco groove type thing, try The Very Best Of Shalamar. Ghosts and The Art of Parties (Japan) I loved Japan. They all wore makeup for a start (I love men in makeup), and only a couple of them looked like brickies. The singer was the ethereally beautiful David Sylvian, and their music had a haunting, late-night, slidey-bass quality. Quiet Life is my favourite of their albums, but Exorcising Ghosts is a good "greatest hits" package. It Ain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It (Fun Boy Three and Bananarama) Terry Hall had a lovely lugubrious voice and a lovely lugubrious face. I expect he still does. Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (Frankie Goes To Hollywood) Frankie practically epitomise the 1980s. 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes' still sound brilliant now. Tell Her About It (Billy Joel) Again, not something I'll be popping in my own CD player, but he's a good old entertainer is Billy, as this Ultimate Collection will ably demonstrate. Love Plus One and Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) (Haircut 100) These are great pop songs, and I have to modestly admit that I think 'Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)' works brilliantly as a chapter title, because it relates to the football match (favourite [football] shirts) where Cass meets Greg, and obviously it's a boy-meets-girl situation. Clever, eh? Nick Heyward can have had no idea. When You're Young And In Love (Flying Pickets) Under Pressure (Queen and David Bowie) I defy you not to snap your fingers during the intro. Work For Love (Ministry) From the album Twitch. If you hate your neighbours, my advice is to put Twitch on the CD player, turned it up full whack, set the CD to repeat and go on holiday for a fortnight. It's relentlessly loud, percussive and painful. That'll do nicely, then. Walking On Sunshine (Katrina and The Waves) The Passenger (Iggy Pop) From Lust For Life. The Doctor Pops among you may have spotted that this one isn't from the 80s at all. OK, so I cheated a tad. But at least it was around in the 80s. Girls Just Want To Have Fun and Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 'Time After Time' the song definitely inspired Time After Time the book, and I listened to it a lot while I was writing. The lyrics are lovely, and Cyndi is ace. There is also a song called'Time After Time'on REM's second album, released in 1984. The album is called Reckoning, because a second album is the make-or-break one where you find out if you're a one-hit wonder or not. Like a second novel... Life In A Northern Town (Dream Academy) I don't even remember this one. One of the customer reviews on Amazon says "everyone knows" it, but I don't. Sorry. Youth and Say Hello Wave Goodbye and Tainted Love (Soft Cell) Three brilliant songs from one fantastic album (Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret). Where The Heart Is (Soft Cell) Also gorgeous, and the lyrics are brilliant. Party Fears Two (The Associates) Featuring the vocal marvellousness of the late great Billy Mackenzie. Happy Hour (Housemartins) Too chirpy for me, but there you go. The group that "spawned" (as they say) Fatboy Slim and The Beautiful South. Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson) The writer/singer of 'Is She Really Going Out With Him?', one of the most brilliant songs in the history of pop. One Step Beyond and Our House (Madness) I wasn't a big Madness fan, but I always thought Suggs had lovely clean hair, and I'm pleased to say he still does. Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (Wham!) George Michael is a prime example (along with Gary Lineker) of someone whose looks have improved as he's got older. Another is Martin Kemp, whose lovely wife Shirley was also in Wham! Coincidence? I think not. Passionate Friend and Reward and Treason (Teardrop Explodes) Julian Cope: godlike genius, expert in ancient monuments, possibly a bit barking. Listen to 'Christ Versus Warhol' on this compilation and decide for yourself. Is There Something I Should Know? (Duran Duran) I love two of DD's songs: 'Come Undone' and 'Ordinary World.' And I loved the video for 'Wild Boys' - all those men wearing not much except a scrap of leather and a few feathers. A shame it didn't catch on as a fashion trend. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) (Buzzcocks) Massive. But not from the 80s. Please forgive. Chance and In A Big Country (Big Country) They were (are?) Scottish. You could tell, because the guitars sounded like bagpipes. I used to find 'In A Big Country' an indispensable aid to cleaning the bathroom - it's rather stirring when there's Flash and Vim to be wielded. A Million Miles Away (The Plimsouls) I have no idea what this is, or anything about the Plimsouls (great name - not!). Who Needs Love (Like That) (Erasure) Erasure produced great singles and quite dismal albums. I still find 'A Little Respect' can cheer me up when all else apart from gin fails. I even like the version by Wheatus. Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken? and Rattlesnakes and Brand New Friend (Lloyd Cole and The Commotions) He was an angsty, intellectual little thing was our Lloyd. Read a lot of books. Visited Paris. Watched French films. Wrote and sang beautiful songs. Always Something There To Remind Me (Naked Eyes) I'm guessing this is a cover version of the old Sandie Shaw hit. Know nothing about Naked Eyes. Know that Sandie Shaw used to wear no shoes while singing. Lifeline (Spandau Ballet) Re Martin Kemp see Wham! above. I was once in the 2nd row at a Spandau Ballet concert at Liverpool Empire and can vouch for the fact that Martin Kemp's eyes are an uncanny shade of blue. The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades (Timbuk 3) Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (The Clash) Not their finest hour. When 'Straight To Hell' (which could be their finest hour, along with 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais') comes on the soundtrack of Kevin and Perry Go Large it makes me shiver. It's the best bit of the whole film. Actually, I'm lying. The best bit of the whole film is Rhys Ifans. O Superman (Laurie Anderson) Altogether now: 'Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh.' Echo Beach (Martha and The Muffins) Imagine being able to put on your CV that you were once a Muffin! Who's That Girl? and There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) (Eurythmics) Fool's Game Girl? (Cabaret Voltaire) See below. My Ever Changing Moods Girl? (Style Council) Paul Weller is, and always has been, so cool, the odd dodgy haircut notwithstanding. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues (Elton John) I'm afraid Elton doesn't do anything for me. He would probably say the same about me, though. Living On The Ceiling (Blancmange) Listen to this and try and keep your feet still. Actually, it was quite easy to keep your feet still if attempting to dance round your handbag to this at Tiffany's in Newcastle - the floor was always extremely sticky. Best not to dwell on why. Labelled With Love (Squeeze) This was a bit of a dodgy, country and western sort of thing, but they did some great songs: 'Take Me I'm Yours', 'Up The Junction' and the mighty 'Tempted.' Wishful Thinking (China Crisis) I loved the Crisis. The funny thing was they sounded like the calmest, most laid-back (indeed dull) people - no hint of crisis at all. Senses Working Overtime (XTC) Land Of Make Believe (Bucks Fizz) I saw Bucks Fizz performing live(ish) before a football match at White Hart Lane, and they were rather impressive, bless them. They even did that skirt pulling-off thing during 'Making Your Mind Up.' The people who organised the pre-match entertainment were unfortunately unable to maintain this high standard - the following week we got the man who won Stars In Their Eyes being Elton John. Just What I Always Wanted (Mari Wilson) Please don't get upset if you get the Cry Me A River CD and find this track isn't on it. Complain to Amazon, not me - they haven't bothered to put a track listing. I'm doing my best... Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) (A Flock Of Seagulls) Mention A Flock Of Seagulls and anyone who saw Top Of The Pops in 1982 will remember the singer's stupid hairstyle. He looked like he was trying to create a model of a seagull out of hair. Somebody's Watching Me (Rockwell). My first "pocket" calculator was a Rockwell (no relation). It was the size, shape and weight of a house brick. Undercover Of The Night (Rolling Stones) Bless them, they seemed ancient even then. Every Breath You Take (Police) Isn't this song a bit sinister? It's like a stalker's anthem. Who Can It Be Now? (Men At Work) Mad World (Tears For Fears) This song coincided with me having a broken heart, so every time this (and 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?' by Culture Club) came on the radio I could indulge in a good weep. TFF were ever so unjolly and seriously traumatised. But then they produced 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World,' which sounds like a holiday in musical form: sunny day, breeze in your hair, egg and tomato sandwich in one hand and a nice cold glass of dandelion and burdock in the other. We Are Detective (Thompson Twins) They weren't really twins, there were three of them anyway and they all had very big and lovely hair. And they made some great records like 'Love On Your Side.' Guilty (Classix Nouveaux) I don't recall this one, either. It seems possible that I had some lapses of consciousness in the 80s that led me to miss entire "hits" and "acts." Don't Dream It's Over (Crowded House) I didn't miss Crowded House, though, and firmly believe Neil Finn to be one of the greatest songwriters since Lennon and McCartney.
Sue's alternative sounds of the 80s
Possibly the reason I don't remember Classix Nouveaux and Dream Academy is because during the 1980s I was mostly listening to: Cabaret Voltaire Cabaret Voltaire are still going, I think, but the 80s was their peak period. Anything from that era by them still sounds pretty fine, but Microphonies is the best. You can hear their influence all over the place in dance music these days (they were early pioneers of the use of tape loops and "found" sounds, the kind of thing Fatboy Slim and Moby do now). And Steven Mallinder was pretty cute, albeit a bit sinister-looking. And very, very tall. Hula All the music I liked in this period was massively noisy - there wasn't any way to listen to it quietly. My next door neighbours at the time can't have been happy, but they had a small Hindu temple in their front room and regularly woke me on Sunday mornings with their chanting, so it all evened out nuisance-wise. Hula's music is hard, thumping, teeth-grinding, a bit scary and quite splendid. Chakk You'll have to take my word for it that Chakk ever existed, because unlike some of my other favourites their music seems no longer to be available. An internet search indicated that they have at least one fan left in Germany, however. They did a great single called 'Out Of The Flesh' (no 50 in the NME singles of the year for 1984, no less) but I listened to their album again recently and it was, frankly, very poor. A Certain Ratio What happens when you put NY funk through a Mancunian filter. They were wonderful. A lot more melodic than my other favourites, with brassy, Latin overtones, and made some beautiful records. They were also brilliant live. African Head Charge More reggae/dub influenced, what they would call "chill-out" music these days. I'm sounding that old now. Next I'll be waxing on about how you can't hear the words in songs any more, not like you could with that nice Perry Como... Also try... Tackhead Mark Stewart Test Department 23 Skidoo