Into the Groove By Justin Lewis: The advice Michael Jackson gave Queen that got them a US
Into the Groove By Justin Lewis (Elliott & Thompson, £16.99)
Named after one of Madonna’s more grievously pathetic singles, Into The Groove is a history of 1980s pop music, something the world probably needs more than it realises.
Justin Lewis is an old hand at this sort of lucky-dip trivia book, and here he is studying pop’s silliest decade, the decade of Wham!, of Prince and Michael Jackson, of Bruce Springsteen’s more bombastic albums, of Madness’s many number ones, of Ultravox and undone bow-ties, of Renée and Renato’s ‘Save Your Love’ and some songs that were even worse (‘I’ve Never Been To Me’ by Charlene comes immediately to mind.)
Like much of the music it describes (though not ‘I’ve Never Been To Me’ by Charlene) it’s almost indecently entertaining.
Lewis starts at the very start of 1980, when Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ was number one, and I find I can still whistle David Gilmour’s limpid guitar solo forty-five years later. Michael Jackson is outlining his plans for the 1980s in Billboard magazine, with films and concept albums lined up. But it won’t be for a while. ‘One thing I hate is overexposure,’ he says. Good luck with that, Michael.
Madness stage an afternoon concert at the Hammersmith Odeon for under-sixteens, which is adjudged such a success that they embark on a national tour of matinee gigs for their young fans. Tickets cost £1.
Paul McCartney records ‘coming Up’ entirely by himself, and in New York, John Lennon hears it on a car radio. ‘F*** a pig! It’s Paul!’ Is his reasoned assessment. It’s enough to tempt and motivate Lennon back into a recording studio for the first time since 1975.
In Hartford, Connecticut, Queen add ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ to their live act, on the suggestion of Michael Jackson, who asked why they weren’t playing it. Later it will become the group’s second US number one single.
In the US still, Ronald Reagan is elected their fortieth President. In the UK, Stiff Records release a vinyl record called The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan, on which both sides of the vinyl are completely blank.
Don’t Stop Me Now: Another One Bites The Dust was Queen’s 2nd No.1 in America
A Star Wars cash-in single, ‘What Can You Get a Wookie for Christmas?’, reaches number 69 in the US. But singing lead on the B-side, ‘R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas’, is the little-known Jon Bon Jovi. It’s his recording debut. ‘Living on a Prayer’, says Lewis, ‘is six long years away.’
Duran Duran enjoy their third hit ‘Girls on Film’, whose video, directed by Godley and Creme, features ‘writhing, wrestling women’ and is the first ever X-rated video. It will be shown in clubs but never on television.
In November 1981, Haircut One Hundred have a hit with ‘Favourite Shirt’. Songwriter and lead haircut Nick Heyward used to work in advertising, and designed the Ready Brek cereal packet. In an album track called ‘Love Got Me in Triangles’, they are believed to be the first band ever to cite Toblerones in song.
Joan Jett’s ‘I Love Rock ’n Roll’ reaches number one in America, but it’s not a Jett song. She saw a teenybop group called Arrows perform it on children’s TV in Britain in 1975, liked the song, bought it and took it back to the US with her. Presumably she added the huge crunching metal riffs a bit later.
It’s all like this: 300-odd pages of stories, anecdotes, fascinating facts and notable events. When it ends in December 1989 you’re exhausted, but not in a bad way as Lewis writes well and lovingly on this ridiculous decade.