Displaying items by tag: Pop Music

The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971- 1987)
The BBC2 television music show ran from 1971 to 1987. Unlike other contemporary music programs OGWT featured non chart music with a preference for serious rock music and album songs.

It was April 1980 and punk was dying.

Dig the new breed who were still pretty much the old breed with the occasional knob on. The Jam, the Clash and the Stranglers were no longer punk bands in any sense of the word. They’d ‘progressed’. A straight punk band wasn’t cool any more. Ska had wrestled the scene away from punkified London and carried it off to a ghost town in the bleak midwest for a bleak midwinter. It wouldn’t survive.

© Words Barry Cain
I stopped listening to ‘pop’ music in the mid ’80s. I simply heard it. It had become a means to an end, a way to make good, quick money. The musical notes had turned into £ signs as I cashed in on any new kid in pop town by publishing one shot poster magazines.

I knew Marcus Reeves was talented, and could pen a song. In addition I had the pleasure of meeting him last year, and what a sharp, intelligent, focused and witty man he is.   Furthermore, his understanding of music and songwriting was overwhelming, as we discussed these subjects at a bar in Denmark Street London WC1.  So, when I received his latest offering, I did not hesitate for a second before hitting the play button, and the track I heard increased my already high opinion of Marcus Reeves. 

We all know New York is going off at the moment, and one manifestation of the city's new-found confidence seems to be a new-found love of Cyndi Lauper – the original queen of Queens. Lauper's iconic image and quirk-fuelled pop has taken hold again in music, whether it be the 80s-tinged pop that is presently engulfing Britain or the echoes of her influence in stars like Karen O and Santigold in the US.

Barely a week goes by without an album getting the legacy-edition treatment. Usually I'm against the money-grabbing mentality of major labels, but I've been enjoying these reissues. Featuring rare demos, live footage and extra tracks from huge talents like John Martyn, Dennis Wilson and Johnny Cash, they're great historical documents.