Music connaisseur and all-round Renaissance man Paul Bitti takes you on a virtual tour back in time to the England of the 1970s and 1980s
Music has always been a huge part of my life. And for me it all started back in the music of the 70s and 80s. Let me explain. The first song that made a deep and lasting impression on me was ‘Dirty Old Town’, my mom screeching along with Shane McGowan as she repared a beautiful chocolate banana cake, with golden bananas and delicious melted chocolate that gave off a scent that would have transported any adult immediately back to childhood. The song created conflicting emotions in me. Shane MacGowan’s voice sounded like the voice of an old drunk singing under a bridge. It terrified me. And yet there was my mother, singing happily along. When I first saw the video of the song, my fear increased – what kind of creature was this man, who had black stumps for teeth and looked like he couldn’t care less!
The 70s and 80s seem such an innocent time compared with today, where image and appearance are the quintessential aspects of a professional music career, with seductive curvaceous female artists and male artists with chiseled jaws and abdomens. Back in the 80s if you said you had a six-pack, people asked you for a beer.
So what caused the big change? In my opinion, it was the Internet. Back then, nobody knew what the Internet was, let alone YouTube – only a few nerds and computer geeks (aka, Future World Leaders) had a computer at that time. So recording artists didn’t have to worry about their online presence or image. Their image and appearance was in the real world, on music circuits, in the flesh. Sure, there was the medium of television, but we were still light-years away from any sophisticated online universe. If you wanted to see your favorite band, you had two options – either watch Top of the Pops on a Thursday evening if your band was one of the few popular bands in the country, or, the more likely option, go and see them in a pub or at a concert. Very different times indeed to today, when we can download videos and music in mere seconds. Today’s world is of course a much easier one for the consumer, but in my opinion, much of the joy has been lost.
Anyway, back to my story. So my love affair with 70s and 80s music began with my mom. She gave me my first musical ‘grounding’ with all the well-known household-name stadium bands such as Bowie, Genesis, U2, Queen, Duran Duran, Prince, Pink Floyd.
But little did I realise that there was so much more going on at the time. The next stage of my musical development was with my cousin Émile, who introduced me to incredible lesser-known UK artists such as The Smiths, The Cure, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, bands which spoke to my troubled teenage angst-ridden soul.
By the age of 18, my musical education was complete. Through friends and acquaintances, but especially thanks to my best friend and worst enemy the Internet, I was able to discover new bands from this and other time periods. I learned to travel not only backwards, but also sideways in time. My goal today is to share some of the incredible but less well-known music of this fascinating period.
So come with me on a journey, to the less well-known underground artists and groups of the period, the ones that could be heard back then in pubs, whose tunes were sung by teenage boys and girls on the streets, but that have been long since forgotten. Let’s go back in time….
What do you want if you don’t want money
What do you want if you don’t want gold
Say what you want and I’ll give it you darling
Wish you wanted my love baby
Oops sorry, we’ve gone a bit too far back. We are now in the 60s, and the singer is Adam Faith and the song is ‘What do you want?’ Before we get back in our time machine, let me tell you briefly about Adam Faith. Adam Faith was actually one of the pioneers of British pop music. His sound and look actually paved the way for countless bands to come. So, thank you Adam Faith, for existing and sharing your talent with the world. We salute you, and bid you farewell.
Now, let’s get back on course. Fasten your seatbelts – we’re heading for the 1970s and 1980s!
‘What can I get you?’
‘Half a pint of lager and a packet of Salt and vinegar Taytos crisps, please!’
Ah, yes, we are unmistakably in a quaint old English pub in the 70s. Can you smell the stale beer, vomit and cigarette smoke? They don’t make pubs like that anymore!
Can you hear the music in the background? Listen closely:
He’s in love with rock’n’roll, whoa
He’s in love with gettin’ stoned, whoa
You are now listening to The Clash singing Janie Jones. The Clash were a famous London pub rock group of the 1970s and 1980s. At this time, The Clash were HUGE – they had a series of hit songs on the radio, and their music was played in every pub in England.
Let’s walk for a bit in the streets of London and let’s go to another pub to see what music they are playing there – I hope it’s not The Clash again – I mean, I love them and all, but variety is the spice of life, right? So something other than The Clash, please – don’t forget that we are on a musical adventure back in time! Here we are: The Eagle and Child, an iconic London pub of the time. Let’s go inside!
I got a telegram from the studio man
And I’m bound out the door
Suitcase on the rack, driver shootin’ smack
Backseat lover gettin’ high
Sit down in my seat, a natural lightning bolt
Play my guitar for a dollar a minute
It’s tough being a rock & roll star
Aaaahaaa, that’s also a really famous pub rock group, they are called Ducks Deluxe. Yes, I know, funny name, right? But Ducks Deluxe were one of THE bands of the 80s.Just know that this band is one of the only bands that still play together after 37 years of absence after they all went their separate ways, they’re reunited in 2007. Right now you are listening to one of their best songs: Coast to Coast. They started out in 1972 and two years later had this breakout hit which made them household names for a while. They were also often seen in pubs as they played pub rock style music. And guess what – they are still going strong today!
Now let’s go to a very famous small concert room: one of the UK’s best small music venues: Bush Hall. And let’s see what we will find there….
Tonight folks you are in for a musical treat! They are the biggest stars in the UK at the moment! Please give a huge round of applause for Joy Division!
And that’s not all. Joining us later are The Smiths!
The crowd cheers wildly as the opening riff of ‘Love will tear us apart bursts out. Ian Curtis is in a kind of trance on stage. People are slam dancing. Beer is flying into the air.
Joy division was an British group from Manchester that formed in 1976, this is such a beautiful song you are listening to, < Love will tear us apart > which was a song that was a tribute to dying relationship, 4 years later after after incredible performances and alot and alot of people listening their songs, the band dissolved after the tragic suicide of the Curtis who was trhe singer of the band.
< Punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?
When in this charming car
This charming man
Why pamper life’s complexity
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger’s seat? >
Wow, have a listen, this is the band: The smiths, incredible band, i love it. They are now performing their hit song: This Charming man. The Smiths are considered as the second most influential British rock group of the century after the Beatles. Just try in the UK, everyone knows them, just ask in the streets you’ll see. With their album: The Queen is dead, they even defeated the Beatles, with the best British rock album of the century.
We could stay so much longer in the UK at that time period, so much artist that we could still discover, album we could listen to, and places we could go to to listen to more artists and groups, which shows how UK music in the 70s and 80s is powerfully, but we need to go back to our present time, let’s go back, at least you’ve discovered a lot of new artists, I hope this gave you the same urge I had when I did some researches on the theme to go and discover new artists and groups of that time.
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