All-time Favourites

Here is the list of my all-time favourite songs of the 1980s:

1 Kim Wilde - You Came

Kim Wilde is my all-time favourite singer ever, so it will not come as a surprise to you that my all-time favourite song should be from her.

I had such a great crush on her as a teenage boy that I even dreamt of marrying her.

Anyway, this song went all the way to #3 in the UK charts on 13 August 1988.



2 Ultravox - Vienna

Ultravox was one of two bands that Midge Ure was involved in, the other one being Visage where he played the drums.

This song has the dubious honour of being runner-up for 4 weeks in April/May 1981 to Joe Dolce's Shaddup You Face, a song that it ultimately outsold.




3 Fern Kinney - Together We Are Beautiful

This song was released at the height of the disco era. It reached #1 in the UK on 15 March 1980.

Fern's vocals are kind of nasal, but it blends in with the rhythm of the bass guitar and beating of the drum machine.

Add to that a catchy melody and meaningful lyrics and it becomes a song that one never tires of listening to.



4 Adam & The Ants - Antmusic

Adam & The Ants were one of the more popular cult hero bands to emerge from the UK. Very soon after this release, Adam Ant decided to pursue a solo career,

But this remains one of the tracks that truly defined the music of the Ants.

It reached #2 for two weeks in January 1981.

If you find the drumbeats coming across very strongly, that is because the band had 2 drummers :-)



5 Susan Fassbender - Twilight Cafe

Susan Fassbender would be what some would label a "one-hit wonder".

This single was released in May 1980 and I remember first hearing it being featured on Dave Lee Travis' "A Jolly Good Show".

It only reached #21 in April 1981 in the UK charts, but the tune left a lasting impression upon me, even until today.



6 Bad Manners - Special Brew

Bad Manners was one of the more popular ska bands (the other being the Specials AKA).

This one has a very infectious tune, and I especially like the part of the song when the chorus suddenly speeds up and then slows down.

The song reached #3 in the UK charts in November 1980.



7 Wavelength - Hurry Home

Wavelength is another one of those "one-hit wonders" but as far as I am concerned, this song is the best ballad to have been released in the 1980s.

The lyrics never fail to bring a tear to my eye.

This song reached #17 in the UK charts on 21 August 1982.



8 Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well

Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson were established opera singers in their own right, but collaborated on this song, which is lifted from the soundtrack of the musical "Chess".

If you mistook this track as a song by Swedish sensation ABBA, it is understandable because it was written by Bjorn and Benny, the guys from ABBA.

It got to #1 for 4 weeks spanning December 1984/January 1985.



9 Big Country - Chance

Big Country was my favourite band, so much so that I took on the name of the lead singer Stuart Adamson as my middle name.

Their most successful hit was In A Big Country, but my own personal favourite song of theirs was this one, which reached #9 on 1 October 1983.



10 The Style Council - Long Hot Summer

Paul Weller was originally a member of the punk band trio The Jam. He disbanded them at the peak of their success in 1981, only to form The Style Council a couple of months later.

While the music of The Jam was more raw, that of The Style Council was more polished.

My all-time favourite by them is one of the two that was released on the a Paris EP. This EP reached #3 in August 1983 .

80s Vinyls

Hi ya people

I'm a guy from Singapore in my early forties who grew up on the music of the 1980s. Back then, music was released either on cassette tapes or on 7" and 12" vinyl records.

Hence the title of this blog.

I purchased quite a fair bit of records during my teenage years and had stacked them away in one of the cupboards somewhere, not giving much thought to them...

... until about a couple of weeks back. I had just seen my dentist, whose clinic is located at Novena Medical Centre. After the appointment, I took the elevator down to the ground floor of Square 2, and lo and behold, just a few metres away from the lift lobby was none other than *THE ATTIC*!!!

Yup, that's the shop that used to be located at the top floor of Lucky Plaza and was the favourite hangout of many a teenage boy (and girl) who was looking to add the latest 12" hit single to their ever-growing collection.

Anyway, I got to talking to the owner and we started reminiscing about the "good old days". I then told him about how I had given away my turntable some 15 years ago, having made the progressive switch to compact discs. He replied that there were shops still selling turntables and recommended that I checked out Sim Lim Square.

Well, I did, a couple of days back, and sure enough, there was a shop in Sim Lim Square selling turntables, and at a reasonable price of only S$280 for a Denon DP-29F!

So I decided to get one. I got it hooked up to my karaoke amplifier, and as a consequence, those long-forgotten vinyls which would otherwise not have seen the light of day, have suddenly been given a new lease of life, so to speak.

So why this blog then?

Well, first and foremost, I believe there are other like-minded people out there in the blogosphere who also feel that nothing can compare to the music of the 1980s, and this blog is a means to get us all connected.

Secondly, I am sure that we would have our own vinyl collections and this blog can serve as a forum to facilitate the borrowing ane lending, or even buying and selling of those vinyls.

I will be sharing with you guys what my vinyl collection is like, so do stay tuned :-)