It never hurt to have a visual hook to get on MTV in the ’80s. From Bananrama and Dexys Midnight Runners’ hobo-chic, to Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran’s new romantic ruffles, a cool gimmick was sometimes all a band needed to get them over some middling material.
This was certainly the case with the Unforgiven, a power-pop/alterna-country/cowpunk act from California’s Inland Empire. Dressed up in their best Western gear, the group emerged from the ashes of a more straight-ahead Cali punk act, the Stepmothers. A little U2, a little Alarm, and a lot of look, the Unforgiven signed to Elektra Records and immediately set out to get their visual inspiration, Clint Eastwood, to direct their first video – a move they’d soon regret.
According to the bio on their website, the group had their agents at CAA send Eastwood a copy of their album in an effort to secure his directorial duties for their lead single, “I Hear The Call.” (download) Clint politely declined, but kept the album and allegedly ripped off the cover photo, font and hell, the band’s name for his movie of the same name. The band soldiered on and MTV jumped on the video anyway, for a brief moment at least: (more…)
The recent release of a cleaned up and remastered Ultravox 
(including a bonus DVD with all the Midge Ure-era videos) got me thinking about how much I used to love this band, despite their being so serious all the time.
In 1967, the Monkees sold more records than the Beatles. And the Rolling Stones. Combined. That year they also scored their third number one single, plus another Top Five hit. The assembled-for-television quartet were the biggest rock music act in the United States and United Kingdom. Three short years later, they’d be stripped down to duo and watch their final pre-reunion single peak at a pathetic #98.
There are certain acts and albums I absolutely adored in my younger days in the ’80s that I don’t quite care for now. One of these groups is the Thompson Twins, the New Wave trio that broke into the charts big time with the 1984 single “Hold Me Now” and its album, Into The Gap. As a high-school sophomore, I wore out my copy of Gap, but I really loved their 1982 effort, Side Kicks, which featured “Lies” and “Love On Your Side.”
Here’s an example of a great song that couldn’t be confined to a B-side. Wide Boy Awake was Adam & the Ants bassist Kevin Mooney’s first project after splitting from the Ants following 1980’s Kings of the Wild Frontier. While his new group only released a handful of tracks, two became club hits, one of which is still fondly remembered and played on “retro” club nights to this day.
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Yes, we’ve just gone and declared this week Kon Kan Week here at Popdose. Seeing as the duo nicked their name from the Canadian Content requirement for broadcast media up north, it’s only fair you get your dose of Kontent this week. Since the illustrious Mr. Steed featured Kon Kan’s 
I bought and fell in love with Blondie’s Parallel Lines album when I was around ten years old, and always wondered who the mysterious “Lee” was who was credited for writing the disc’s driving opener, “Hanging On The Telephone.”  As a youngster, I pored over the album credits, noticing that no one in the band was named Lee – where did this great song come from?
We’ve talked about Peter Godwin’s great lost art-rock combo, Metro, in a 
No, no, dear reader, I didn’t lose track while writing at 11pm once again and accidentally throw up a Lost in the ’80s post. By 1990, Adam Ant was pretty much considered washed-up. His last album, 1985’s, Vive Le Rock, sank without a ripple (despite being a fun, Tony Visconti-produced, glammy blast), and Ant was spending most of his days playing minor parts in b-movies in an attempt to cross over to Hollywood. That’s why it was such a shock to suddenly see a new Adam Ant album on the racks as the ’90s dawned, much less one produced by Prince bassist Andre Cymone.
When Siobahn Fahey left Bananarama in 1988, most people probably never expected to hear from her again. For Fahey to return to music with a goth look fronting a Siouxsie Sioux-influenced dance/electro combo was probably the most unexpected thing of all. But in 1988, Fahey’s solo project, Shakespear’s Sister (originally with an apostrophe, later without) released its debut album, Sacred Heart, and single, “Break My Heart.”