The History Of Jop Part 5 aka The Kid Is Not My Son

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

A delay in the poll caused by my having some work, but finally the ship of retrospective metapop criticism sails into the waters of 1983 - Jackson the winner, Culture Club getting some serious vote-splitting, and this year the P&J poll included a BEST VIDEO section for the first time, which we might well discuss in a separate YouTube-enabled poll later (I can't get YouTube at work).

Procedural Note: I've excised "Back On The Chain Gang" by the Pretenders as it featured last time.

You only get EIGHT votes this time - use them wisely.


[Poll #819820]


The Joptimists Poll Remix for 1982:

1. Don't You Want Me (49 votes)
2. 1999 (46 votes)
3. The Message (43 votes)
4. Temptation (37 votes)
5. The Look Of Love (36 votes)
6=. Mickey (31 votes)
6=. Sexual Healing (31 votes)
8. Planet Rock (28 votes)
9. Rock The Casbah (26 votes)
10. Pass The Dutchie (24 votes)

Comments

At the time

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

A year of upheaval for me. My first term at Uni started in October, involving moving away from home for the first time. And the year can be very much split into two halves music-wise.

Big records in my life in the first half of '83 included:

McLaren's Duck Rock, Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain, Fun Boy Three and Bananarama (both together and apart - FB3's Waiting is a great pop LP), Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues (tho' I remember being disappointed by some of it) and especially Pink Floyd's The Final Cut: the girl I was in love with made me a copy of this. Plus holdovers from '82 - Scritti, Robert Wyatt, Rush, Rip Rig & Panic, Soft Cell, Haircut 100...

And then of course the summer of '83 was dominated by "Blue Monday" and the Power, Corruption & Lies LP.

Indie was therefore already important to me. This importance definitely increased after I started Uni, although I don't think being at Uni had anything at all to do with it! (Only new indie act I discovered in first term was Billy Bragg, and I would have found him via Peel anyway. And the key record for me and my future flatmate in that first term was "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes, and the subsequent 90125 album.) By Xmas '83, however, with the unveiling of the Festive 50, it was pretty clear which way the wind was blowing, thanks to two records, important then and still important now, viz:
The Smiths - "Hand In Glove"
Cocteau Twins - "Sunburst and Snowblind" EP

But as I say, Uni was not responsible for turning me on to those bands. However, being at Uni, especially doing a Music degree, did introduce me to a hell of a lot of new things OUTSIDE of pop: Steve Reich, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Webern, a lot of non-western traditional musics... and quite a lot of jazz.