Rollermania: How the Bay City Rollers Sparked 1970s Hysteria
Picture the scene across Britain in 1975. Every household telly was flickering with images of five lads from Edinburgh dressed in matching tartan trousers,...
How Paul Young Conquered the Charts in 1983
Picture the scene: it is the scorching summer of nineteen eighty-three. Families across Britain are gathering around their boxy Ferguson and Pye tellys, tuning...
How Dexys Midnight Runners Dethroned the King of Pop
Picture the scene in the summer of 1982. Families across Britain are gathered around the telly, children are playing out in the street until...
How a botched throat op created Bonnie Tyler’s voice
Picture the scene back in 1977. Families across Britain were gathered around the telly, watching Top of the Pops, while on the radio, a...
Why Shakin Stevens Had To Lock Away His Christmas Classic
Picture the scene: it is late nineteen eighty-four, families across Britain are glued to the telly, and the airwaves are dominated by the ultimate...
How Simple Minds Nearly Said No To Their Biggest 80s Anthem
Picture the scene back in the winter of 1984. Across the nation, families were gathered around the telly on a Thursday night, waiting for...
Rick Astley: How One Eighties Pop Anthem Fooled the Web
Picture the scene back in nineteen eighty-seven. You flick on the telly, grab a cuppa, and suddenly a tall, fresh-faced lad with a surprisingly...
How Pet Shop Boys Created A Synth-Pop Masterpiece In New York
Picture the scene: it is the summer of 1984, and a quiet, unassuming British duo find themselves marooned in New York City. Neil Tennant...
How Eurythmics Nearly Quit Before One Synth Saved Them
Picture the scene: London, 1980. The punk explosion had burned itself out, leaving a chilly, rain-soaked vacuum in its wake. For Annie Lennox and...
George Michael: The Bus Ride That Created Careless Whisper
Picture the scene: a gloomy, drizzling Tuesday afternoon on a rattling London bus. While ordinary teenagers were staring blankly out of fogged-up windows or...
How UB40 Turned Red Red Wine Into a Reggae Legend
Picture the grey skies of industrial Birmingham back in the early nineteen-eighties, where a bunch of working-class mates gathered in local pubs to forge...
Spandau Ballet and the Lonely London Loft Behind True
Did a lonely London loft really give birth to the ultimate global soundtrack for broken hearts? Back in 1982, inside a rather damp and...
Soft Cell: How a Forgotten Northern Soul Flop Became a Smash
Picture the scene: it is the summer of 1981, rain is lashing against the living room window, and families across Britain are gathered around...
Adam and the Ants: How Stand and Deliver Conquered the Charts
Picture the scene back in the spring of 1981. Families across Britain gathered around the telly on a Thursday evening, eagerly tuning in to...
When The Specials soundtracked the burning British summer of 1981
Picture the scene. It is the scorching summer of 1981, and the television news is a relentless loop of grey concrete, billowing smoke, and...
Roxy Music: How a Lazy Studio Jam Created Glam Pop Gold
Picture the scene: it is 1975, the British telly is flickering with dreary news, and a wave of weary cynicism hangs heavy over the...
How 10cc Turned a Cheeky Joke into Pop Royalty
Picture the scene: it is late 1974, and inside Strawberry Studios in Stockport, four eccentric musical perfectionists are messing about. 10cc, known for their...
How The Sweet Dethroned David Bowie in 1973
Picture the scene in January 1973. Millions of British families sat huddled around their boxy colour telly sets, clutching a warm mug of tea,...
How Slade Turned a Joke Track Into a Christmas Number One
Picture the scene back in December 1973. British living rooms were glowing with the warm, flickering light of a boxy telly, families were arguing...
How Wings Paul McCartney Survived a Brutal Lagos Mugging
Picture the scene: Lagos, Nigeria, in the humid autumn of 1973. Fresh off the massive success of his post-Beatles career, Paul McCartney fancied recording...