0027 - ABC

In my previous posting on A Flock Of Seagulls, much of what I had to say was gushing praise for two of their three singles released in 1982.  ABC also released 3 singles in 1982, but go one better than A Flock Of Seagulls - they're all excellent.

0024 - A-Heads

Another one-song wonder, No Rule is some absolutely textbook punk from A-Heads. It starts out sounding like it's going to be a bad school band cover of the Jam's That's Entertainment, but quickly gets the ironic intro done before clattering to the end with a sound that, were it recorded in 2002 and not 1982, would be uncomfortably close to Elastica's.

0015 - A Flock Of Seagulls

Mention A Flock Of Seagulls to anyone old enough to remember the 80s (and a lot of people who aren't) and they'll think of hair.  Frontman Mike Score's ridiculous barnet is perhaps the most mocked, parodied and generally laughed at hairstyle of all time, although, in fairness, at least it means we remember him and his band.

0003 - 10CC

I found just the one 10CC song squirreled away in a hidden corner of my laptop, their biggest hit (I'm so mainstream), I'm Not In Love.

0001 - Mystery Artist...

I suppose I knew when I decided to start this musical odyssey that I was taking on a fairly herculean task. If you'd asked me at the time, though, how many different artists I had in my music collection, I'd probably have guessed at about three or four hundred, which is only about one thousand short of the actual total...

Adam & The Ants

Ah, the early 80s.  As far as I'm concerned the period from maybe 1981, possibly a year or two earlier, to 1984 was the absolute peak of popular music in my lifetime.  Post-punk, New Wave, The New Pop, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, the rise of electronica - there was just so much exciting musical stuff going on that was both interesting and commercially viable, and this was just in the UK.  I've already eulogised over A Flock Of Seagulls and ABC on the blog, so let's add Adam & The Ants to that list.

Action Painting!

While I suppose it's possible that someone reading this blog might think I have a pulsating, gigantic brain stuffed to bursting with pop and rock Facts, most of you probably realise that I do a wee bit of research for each post - not simply to supplement what I already know about each band, but also to check that what I think I know is actually true.  Although given that my research usually starts (and sometimes ends) at Wikipedia, I may be stretching the definitions of the words 'facts' and 'true'.

Action Painting! are the first challenge to my casual approach to research, as they're the first band in my collection not to have a Wikipedia entry.  How will I manage?