On July 27, 1981, Stevie Nicks, who wrote Fleetwood Mac’s only #1 hit, releases Bella Donna, her debut album which would four million copies on its way to #1 thanks to heavy radio airplay for the US#3 “ Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, the US#6 “Leather And Lace” and the US#11 “Edge of Seventeen”. Pristine Jimmy Iovine production and musicianship throughout. That said, I didn't understand a word of “Edge of Seventeen” until I read a lyric sheet. Apparently it has something to do with John Lennon.
Debbie Harry : Backfired
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein team up with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernie Edwards on Koo Koo. Despite the musical talent, the songs here are overshadowed by the album cover photographed by Brian Aris and then painted over by H. R. Giger of “Alien” fame to create an image both memorable and so severe, posters were banned from the London Underground stations. “Backfired” is the best tune here but Harry is not a soul singer or rapper and her delivery only works as a counterpoint to the funky Chic sound.
Siouxsie and the Banshees : Arabian Knights
Siouxsie and the Banshees release the UK#32hit “Arabian Knights ”, perhaps the only song that contains the word “orifices” played on the BBC.
The B side is a cover of Ben E. King’s 1975 smash “Supernatural Thing”.
On July 8, 1981 The Go Go's released their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, on IRS Records. It would take nine months and MTV, but the album topped the US charts for six weeks beginning in March of 1982."We Got The Beat", a #2 hit, introduced American audiences to the five musicians who came across as best friends.
"This Town" is the mission statement. /"We all know the chosen toys/ Of catty girls and pretty boys". As Rob Sheffield writes in the Spin Alternative Guide:
In Go-Go's songs, the pretty boys just kept their mouths shut and preened, while the catty girls took center stage to make up that face, jump in the race, and get dressed up to get messed up, whether flashing their underwear in public fountains or prowling by night. The Go-Go.'s eventually developed a knack for songs about men ("Turn To You", "Yes Or No"), but their grand theme was always femme bonding : we rules the streets tonight, this town is our town, our lips are sealed.
The best Go-Go's songs begin with tomboy Gina Schock laying down the beat.
While American critics swooned, the English were less taken with the album .Robert Eggar from the NME summed up the album writing that
"The Go-Go's play sixties pop for the eighties with a seventies philosophy. This record is three years of struggling with instruments, of sleeping on floors in strange cities, of flirting too close with an easy terminal escape from reality. It sounds like a joyous, bubbling celebration by five cute girls, with no thoughts inside their darling little heads save for tonight's beach party."
But there's also some disillusionment with the seedy side of Hollywood night life, summed up on "Tonite," "Lust to Love," and "This Town", which includes lyrics that provide a counterpoint to that joyous MTV video: We're all dreamers, we're all whores/ Discarded stars/ Like worn out cars ".
Beauty and The Beat finished #10 in the Village Voice Pazz and Jop critics poll. It topped Greil Marcus's list:
GREIL MARCUS:
Go-Go's: Beauty and the Beat (I.R.S.) 20;
David Lindley: El-Rayo-X (Asylum) 20;
Red Crayola with Art & Language: Kangaroo? (Rough Trade) 15;
On July 8, 1981 R.E.M. released their debut single "Radio Free Europe" b/w "Sitting Still" on the Hib-Tone label. With an energy that matched the excitement of punk rock and indecipherable lyrics, the single marks a brave new world for alternative rock, opening one side of the gate as Mission of Burma holds the other. Man, I wish I heard this single in the Summer of '81 but I was on my own course, buying one classic album a week as recommended by Dave Marsh's Rolling Stone Record Guide. But never fear : R.E.M's debut album and I would arrive at my college radio station the same week.
The Ramones : We Want the Airwaves
In July of 1981 The Ramones released "We Want The Airwaves", a new single produced by Graham Gouldman of 10cc fame. The Pleasant Dreams single sounds more like hard rock than punk rock to these ears. Music journalist "Chuck Eddy" described the song as " a sort of Black Sabbath punk rock". The song failed to chart.
Other great songs complaining about the airwaves : "American Beat 84" by The Fleshtones and " I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" by X.
Squeeze : Tempted
On July 10, 1981 Squeeze released "Tempted" as the second single from East Side Story. It's strange that it took this this long because "Tempted" was the one song FM Rock Radio was playing at the time. The single was not a massive hit by any means, peaking at UK#41 and US#49, but it has become the most famous of the band's songs . It also contains Difford's favorite lyrics, as he tells What's New, " It’s so visual and again floats me back to that time when youth was a cloud I drifted around on from day to day."
The Go-Betweens : Your Turn, My Turn
In July of 1981 The Go-Betweens release their fourth single, "Your Turn, My Turn", with plans to make it the album opener for their debut. Recorded in Sydney at Trafalgar Studios. In Grant & I, Robert Forster writes "Singles were of supreme importance, like a report card of a band. Groups were conscious that everything they wanted to show the word, including how far they'd progressed since their previous record, had to be compacted into a single's release."
The video for the angular ballad is shot in Grant's flat.
Kraftwerk : Computer Love
On July 7, 1981 Kraftwerk released the eventual UK#1 hit "Computer Love", a song that predicts the loneliness of sitting in front of a home computer looking for love. Coldplay fans will recognize the melody which Chris Martin borrowed with permission for "Talk" on the album X&Y.
The Undertones : Julie Ocean
In July of 1981 The Undertones released the dreamy "Julie Ocean", a UK#41 hit. It's a re-recorded version of the Positive Touch song, which adds a tremelo guitar and nearly doubles the length of the tune. A winner!!
Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty : Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
Recorded with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the Hard Promises album, the US#3 hit instead showed up on Stevie Nicks's debut album Bella Donna. Heartbreaker Mike Campbell explained how that happened to Songfacts:
"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" was a song that I had written the music and Tom had written the words. The Heartbreakers had recorded a version of it with Jimmy Iovine, and Jimmy being the entrepreneur that he was, he was working with Stevie, and I guess he asked Tom if she could try it, and it just developed from there. We cut the track as a Heartbreakers record and when she decided to do it we used that track and she came in and sang over it. It became a duet. It's basically all the Heartbreakers on that record .
Mission of Burma : That's When I Reach For My Revolver
On July
4, 1981 Mission of Burma released their debut EP Signals, Calls
and Marches on the Ace of Hearts label. Best known for “That’s When I Reach For
My Revolver” and “ All World Cowboy Romance”, the “Marquee Moon” of post-punk,
the EP’s intense, noisy, yet catchy punk rock sound nearly instantly transformed alternative rock and what we played on college rock
radio. My favorite EP of the year, the CD version includes the first single
“Academy Fight Song/Max Ernst” and other extra tracks.
Gang of Four : To Hell With Poverty
On July
3, 1981, Gang of Four released the single “To Hell With Poverty”, perfectly encapsulating the Reagan/Thatcher
attitude towards people of lesser means. The punky funk number became a dance club
hit in America where cheap wine comes in refrigerated boxes.
Foreigner : Urgent
As July of 1981 began, a new song topped FM rock station playlists. Featuring synthesizers programmed and played by an unknown Thomas
Dolby and a sax solo by the legendary Junior Walker, “Urgent” was one of the
great booty call songs of the decade. The first single from 4, “Urgent” was a
US#4 hit. The album is also a huge seller because most listeners aren't as annoyed as I am by Lou Gramm constantly pushing his vocal range to the breaking point (ie "He heard one guitar/juts blew him away" on "Juke Box Hero").
Electric Light Orchestra : Hold On Tight
Electric Light Orchestra : Yours Truly, 2095
Like a lot of fans I walked away from Electric Light Orchestra following the Xanadu soundtrack and I now realize that was a big mistake. For Time, released July 2, 1981, a concept album about time travel, Jeff Lynne traded his orchestra strings for the sounds of synth pop. Gary Numan and OMD are often mentioned as influences, but I hear a lot of New Musik. The album spent two weeks at the top of the UK charts. Its reputation has grown over the decades especially among science fiction fans. I'm posting "Hold On Tight" because it was the only American hit and the music video was the most expensive ever made at the time. But check out "Yours Truly, 2095" to hear why fans were originally baffled by the new ELO.
