It was thirty years ago today

I was on a family holiday in Greece on Saturday 13 July 1985, when DJ Richard Skinner uttered his now famous intro: 

"It's 12 noon in London, 7pm in Philadelphia - and around the world it's time for Live Aid!" 

My uncle had borrowed our video recorder (because not everyone owned one) to record the entire TV broadcast on several VHS tapes. It goes without saying that universal access to the Internet was still roughly a decade away, YouTube was 20 years away and catch-up TV was still further into the future. So in short, if you missed it — well, you missed it!

Fast-forward to today and it's interesting to reflect on the scale of the event and its achievements in a world that was a great deal less connected than it is in 2015. Even now, it would still be a huge undertaking to broadcast 16 hours of live music from Wembley Stadium in London and Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia to 1.9 billion viewers in 110 countries. Mercifully perhaps, thanks to the decommissioning of Concorde in 2003; it would now also be impossible to whizz Phil Collins from London to New York in four hours for him to subject people to his music on both sides of the Atlantic. But poverty still exists around the world, though Geldof's charitable endeavours — repeated on several occasions in the intervening years — have at least highlighted what ordinary people can achieve when they are asked for help. An estimated £150 million was raised as a result of Live Aid.

Where the music itself is concerned, I've put together a two-part Live Aid Special radio show, which will be broadcast from 11pm (UK time) this Friday and next Friday — 17 and 24 July — on only80s.co.uk (via the apps there) and via the Listen Here function on the only80s Facebook page. I’ve put together what I hope you’ll agree is a good mix of music and concert-related trivia. Though while I was compiling the music to play — studio recordings of songs performed at the concerts - I was struck by the lack of female performers. For whatever reason, in the 10 hours of continuous music at Live Aid in London, only two female singers (yes, two) graced the stage: Sade performed three songs in her allocated slot; while Alison Moyet merely duetted with Paul Young on one song during his performance, before appearing later as part of the ensemble finale. 

Women were more visible at the Philadelphia concert - Joan Baez, Tina Turner, Thompson Twins, Patti LaBelle, Ashford and Simpson, The Pretenders and Madonna. The Live 8 concerts in 2005 featured many more female artists. Similar concerts would now also include performers from outside the UK and North America.

But criticisms aside, I think it’s important to remember what Bob Geldof and Midge Ure started with Band Aid in 1984 and Live Aid in 1985, and to mark today’s anniversary of what was logistically the most ambitious musical event of its time.

I'm still standing ... for as long as I'm able

Today's blog post is not related to collecting vinyl. I just wanted to share this with you and would appreciate your thoughts.

Last Saturday, my partner and I went to an outdoor Elton John concert in North Wales with about 14,000 other people. Having seen the Rocket Man last year, I knew we'd have a brilliant evening — and we did. The weather was good and the atmosphere was great. We were quite close to the front (in a seated area) and a few people near us decided to dance in the aisle. From where they were, they didn't appear to be restricting anyone's view.

Naturally an army of security staff repeatedly told the dancers to sit down. The dancers gestured as if they were going to sit back down before carrying on dancing once the staff had passed. Later in the concert, most people — myself included — stood up and danced in front of our seats until the end of the concert. I rationalised that as we (and others) had paid nearly £200 for a pair of tickets, the security staff were fighting a losing battle.

Then on Monday this week, I read of Elton John taking exception to precisely these actions by security staff at his concert in Gloucester on Sunday. Publicly chastising someone for doing their job seems harsh, though surely a balance has to be struck between safety concerns and the right of all guests to enjoy themselves. But on reflection, I’ve slightly reassessed my stance, especially regarding the time when all those who were able to stand and dance in front of their seats did so.

At the time of writing, Elton John is 68 years old. Saturday's concert mainly focussed on his 1970s output. His landmark album 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' (from which he played seven songs) was released in 1973. If you were, say, 20 years old back in 1973, bought the album, became a fan and had followed Elton John ever since; you would now be over 60 years old too. My point here is that while Elton John rightly thanked those fans for their years of loyal support; he ignored the reality that a number of them were not the youngest or fittest at the gig. Some were clearly in their late sixties or older. They could not stand up or dance, and may well have had their view obscured.

A friend of mine, for demonstrable medical reasons, is also unable to stand at gigs. He phones venues in advance of smaller-scale, all-standing events to request a bar stool and a space near the front where he can see the action. As far as I know, his wish is always granted. So although this approach at larger, outdoor gigs would be a logistical nightmare, I do think that seating, positioning, pricing and other considerations, not to mention the attitude of the headline act, do need to show more sensitivity towards the needs and rights of enjoyment of any artist's ageing fanbase.

Living by numbers

It's been a while since I last posted an update regarding my quest to find all the 80s UK number ones on 7" and 12", though it's also been a good while since I bought any vinyl. I became slightly disillusioned after quite a few records arrived in less than perfectly playable condition. But then last week I came back to my hobby, hit my usual sites for buying vinyl online (not only number ones) and before very long, I was significantly poorer. I had what you might call "a bit of a splurge".

Among my most recent purchases - including some lovely picture discs by Kirsty MacColl (They Don't Know from 1979), Human League (Mirror Man from 1982), Paul McCartney and The Frog Chorus (We All Stand Together from 1984 ... I couldn't resist) and a much-coveted Band Aid Do They Know It's Christmas shaped picture disc (the 'One Year On' reissue from 1985) - I looked at how many 80s chart-topping 12-inches I still needed. Below are a few of my recent acquisitions.

All of these 12-inches are replacements for other copies that skip. I was pleased that every record in this batch plays perfectly - so my quest is moving closer to its conclusion. Of the 190 UK number ones of the 1980s, a total of 146 were issued on 12-inch in the UK. I now need just 17 to have all 146. I've cleaned all the dodgy ones (to no avail, in most cases). If all my 'skippy' ones played through without a hitch, I'd now only be looking for about nine remaining records. But I got myself into this hobby and I'm going to see it through until the bitter end!

And that bitter end may yet prove rather costly. Ignoring the annoying reality that a great many 80s 12-inches are simply the 7-inch version on a larger disc, most 12-inches can be bought for up to a fiver each - so that's not a problem. But there are at least two that are hideously expensive whenever and wherever I look: ABBA's The Winner Takes It All from 1980 and Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger (Special European Edition) from 1982. So if you or anyone you know has a copy of these records and is willing to part with them for a sensible sum - give me a shout!

In the meantime, if you'd like to hear some of these vintage 12-inches and other chart-topping 80s classics, you can listen to my 'Number Ones of the 80s' radio show via the apps on only80s.co.uk every Friday night from 11pm (UK time). Alternatively, you can search for the only80s page on Facebook and tune in via the 'Listen Here' function. That's my other hobby - and if you'd like to leave me a message with your 80s memories, stories and/or favourite tracks, I'd love to hear from you and include your comments and tracks in the show.  

Lessons from chart history

Having now collected all the 1980s UK number ones on 7" vinyl, I'm also almost at the end of my new quest to find all the available 12" number ones of the decade too. This is a slightly different challenge, given that my research via the website Discogs reveals that of the 190 number ones, only 146 were issued in the UK on 12" format. Allowing for the handful I have that are not in perfectly playable condition, I now need about 30 records to complete this list.

As mentioned in a previous post, collecting to a historical list (rather than personal taste or any other criterion), throws up interesting and, in some cases, frustrating issues. The fact that Jive Bunny jumps all over two of his 12"s just as badly as he does on five copies of the one 7" is probably just bad luck. But the staggering number of cases where the 12" version of a song is simply the 7" mix on a larger record is very frustrating. Still, where the collecting's concerned - I've started so I'll finish!

Obviously the music itself is also interesting - and again, not merely in terms of one's own taste or memories from the time. A decade of chart-toppers stands as a record of cultural trends, and the 80s went through many of them. A friend remarked that the 80s was the era of the power ballad; others have said it was the era of the saxophone solo in mainstream pop records. But in terms of the trends or movements these records represented, my revisionist view would be as follows:

Tail-end of disco and punk
Beginnings of synth-pop and the New Romantics
Reggae, classic 80s pop (Culture Club, UB40 Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Madonna)
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Power ballads and charity records
TV and film tie-ins
House music from the clubs
Stock Aitken Waterman

Of course, there were the one-offs that don't fit into those categories. The single below deserves a special mention:

The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis (1988)

The Timelords were essentially the duo the KLF in disguise. This effort aimed to show how easy it was to get to number one. The initiative succeeded, is documented in the band's book The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way) and has apparently spawned hits for artists that came in the decades that followed.

If you like 80s music and you're interested in sharing your memories and comments, please visit my dedicated Number Ones of the 80s Facebook page and listen to my one-hour radio show of the same name via the Listen Live section (using the Tunein or Pure Connect apps) at www.only80s.co.uk or also on Facebook every Thursday from 9pm (GMT). Please let me know what you think of the show. Thanks very much.