To Cut A Long Story Short
"To Cut a Long Story Short" is the debut single by the English New wave music, new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 31 October 1980. The band began recording the song before they were signed to a record label because of the interest they had generated with a debut concert for patrons of the exclusive weekly London nightclub the Blitz Kids (New Romantics), Blitz as well as a Christmas party at that establishment. After having tried other popular genres, the band had been preparing to make their debut as performers of dance music and wanted the public to associate them with the young crowd who met at the Blitz every Tuesday. They needed their guitarist/songwriter, Gary Kemp, to come up with something that they could feel confident about presenting to the top tier of the club's regulars at their first performance. By shaping their image around an exclusive club scene, Spandau Ballet piqued the interest of a television documentary filmmaker who then wanted to film the band in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet ( ) were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids (New Romantics), playing "European Dance Music" as "The Applause" for this new club culture's audience. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop and were part of the Second British Invasion of the ''Billboard'' Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. The band's classic lineup featured Gary Kemp on guitar, synthesiser and backing vocals; his brother, Martin Kemp, on bass; vocalist Tony Hadley; saxophonist Steve Norman ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Top Of The Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its history, it was broadcast on Thursday evenings on BBC One. Each show consisted of performances of some of the week's best-selling popular music records, usually excluding any tracks moving down the chart, including a rundown of that week's singles chart. This was originally the Top 20, though this varied throughout the show's history. The Top 30 was used from 1969 and the Top 40 from 1984. Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You" was the first song featured on ''TOTP'', while the Rolling Stones were the first band to perform with "I Wanna Be Your Man". Snow Patrol were the last act to play live on the weekly show when they performed their single "Chasing Cars". Status Quo (band), Status Quo made more appearances than any other artist, w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft have had a great impact on popular music. Bowie studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. He released a string of unsuccessful singles with local bands and David Bowie (1967 album), a self-titled solo album (1967) before achieving his first top-five entry on the UK singles chart with "Space Oddity" (1969). After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the alter ego Ziggy Stardust (character), Ziggy Stardust. The success of the single "Starman (song), Starman" and its album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Star ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mastertapes
''Mastertapes'' is a BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ... programme, presented by John Wilson, which discusses the making of significant rock albums. The featured artists are interviewed, in front of an audience, and perform exclusive live tracks, many of which are available on the programme's website. Each album is discussed over two half-hour programmes: the "A side" programme features the artist being interviewed by Wilson, with the "B side" programme featuring questions from the studio audience. Episodes Each episode has two parts ("Side A" and "Side B"). The "First broadcast" date refers to "Side A". Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 Series 4 Series 5 Series 6 References External links {{commons category, Mastertapes BBC ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. Since 2019, the station controller has been Mohit Bakaya. He replaced Gwyneth Williams, who had been the station controller since 2010. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM broadcast band, FM, Longwave, LW and Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it List of most-listened-to radio programs#Top stations in the United Kingdom, the UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2. BBC ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Classic Pop (magazine)
''Classic Pop'' is a monthly British music magazine published by Anthem Publishing. It launched in October 2012 with a primary focus on 1980s pop music, and carries regular features such as news, interviews and reviews. Content from the magazine has been reprinted by major news and entertainment outlets including BBC News, ''the New York Times'' and ''Rolling Stone''. ''Classic Pop'' was founded by music journalist Ian Peel, who was its original editor. Steve Harnell now serves as editor, although Peel remains involved as editor-at-large. The magazine has also featured regular contributions from veteran music critics such as John Earls, Paul Lester and Annie Zaleski. The magazine has published special one-off editions, titled ''Classic Pop Presents'', which are dedicated to a specific career or movement/time period in pop music. Background and content ''Classic Pop'' was created by music journalist Ian Peel, who felt that 1980s pop music was not receiving the recognition it ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Steve Norman
Steven Antony Norman (born 25 March 1960) is an English musician who plays tenor saxophone, guitar, percussion and other instruments, for the English New wave music, new romantic band Spandau Ballet. Biography Early years Steve Norman was born in Stepney, east London, and was considered a musical child prodigy. He started pursuing an interest in popular music as a guitarist in a Dame Alice Owen's School band called The Cut with Gary Kemp, Tony Hadley and John Keeble in 1976. The band was later named The Makers, The Gentry and then Spandau Ballet. Spandau Ballet Spandau Ballet signed with Chrysalis Records. By the third Spandau Ballet album, Norman brought percussion to the mix and introduced the tenor saxophone, which has since become his signature instrument. With Spandau Ballet, Norman toured the globe and continued to have hits throughout the 1980s. In 1985 Norman appeared with the band at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. Because of a dispute over royalties, the band split up in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Punk Rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles with stripped-down instrumentation. Punk rock lyrics often explore anti-establishment and Anti-authoritarianism, anti-authoritarian themes. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record label, independent labels. The term "punk rock" was previously used by American Music criticism, rock critics in the early 1970s to describe the mid-1960s garage bands. Certain late 1960s and early 1970s Detroit acts, such as MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges, and other bands from elsewhere created out-of-the-mainstream music that became highly influential on what was to come. Glam rock in the UK and the New York Dolls from New York ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Kingdom and later inspired many punk, post-punk and alternative rock musicians, while their clothing and hairstyles were a significant influence on the early punk fashion, punk image. The Sex Pistols' first line-up consisted of vocalist Johnny Rotten (byname of John Lydon), guitarist Steve Jones (musician), Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and bassist Glen Matlock, with Matlock replaced by Sid Vicious in early 1977. Under the management of Malcolm McLaren, the band gained widespread attention from British press after swearing live on-air during a December 1976 television interview. Their May 1977 single "God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song), God Save the Queen", which described the monarchy as a "fascist regime", was released to coincide wit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A-side And B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay, with the aim of it becoming a hit record. The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. Use of this language has largely declined in the 21st century as the music industry has transitioned away from analog recordings towards digital formats without physical sides, such as downloads and streaming. Nevertheless, some artists and labels continue to employ the terms ''A-side'' and ''B-side'' metaphorically to describe the type of content a particular release features, with ''B-side'' sometimes representing a "bonus" track or ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Single (music)
In Music industry, music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release of a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an album (LP record, LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standalone tracks or connected to an artist's album, and in the latter case would often have at least one single release before the album itself, called lead singles. The single was defined in the mid-20th century with the ''45'' (named after its speed in revolutions per minute), a type of 7-inch sized vinyl records, vinyl record containing an A-side and B-side, A-side and a B-side, i.e. one song on each side. The single format was highly influential in pop music and the early days of rock and roll, and it was the format used for jukeboxes and preferred by younger populations in the 1950s and 1960s. Singles in Digital distribution, digital form became very popular in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |