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30 December 2013

The Great BIG 1980s Pop Lyrics Quiz - Part 1!

In the 1980s, Frankie said "Relax". The pig said 'Oink'.

After our lovely long break, listening to those rascally popstrels Duran Duran belting out Rio and other "legendary" 1980s pop sonnets in a luxury yacht anchored in the swimming pool up at the Falcon Crest mansion, we're just dying to bring you the Great BIG 1980s Pop Lyrics Quiz.

You know, the 1980s was probably the best decade for pop music ever invented. It was so swingorilliant we waited with breath absurdly bated for each porksome instalment of the Now That's What I Call Music saga, thought that Nick Heyward was pretty darned brilliant, and shed bitter tears whenever our fave choons were chewed up by our wicked cassette players.

And those lyrics! Wow, those lyrics! From Jimmy The Hoover to Pepsi and Shirley, from Splodgenessabounds to A Guy Called Gerald, the 1980s were simply awash with memorable sing-a-long moments. "Wicked", was it not?

But just how well do you remember those lyrics? Can you match a handful of lyrics to a particular song? This is what our epic four-part Great BIG 1980s Pop Lyrics Quiz is all about. We give you the lyrics, you jot down the song title - if possible without Googling or some other new-fangled nonsense, then we give the answers and a rating with the final part of the quiz, which will be posted in late January. This is not for the faint hearted. There will be eighty, yes EIGHTY lyrical posers in all (fitted with big hair and shoulder pads as standard). This quiz is the best innovation since the C5. See how you do - GO FOR IT! - if you dare...

And whilst you're here, if you have any memories you care to share of 1980s pop epics and what they and their lyrics meant/mean to you, please feel free to do so in the comments.

We're agog with anticipation.

Still here? OK then, matey boots...

1) "You're a slave to fashion and your life is full of passion..."

2) "Stay with me, let loving start..."

3) "Qua qua fa diddily qua qua..."

4) "All the teachers in the pub, passing round the ready-rub..."

5) " Get your booty on the floor tonight, make my day..."

6) " Sound and caring, help the helpless, but always remain ultimately selfish..."

7) If we are what we eat, you're my kind of meat..."

8) "Given that you pay the price, we can keep you young and tender..."

 The legendary Michael Jackson. Billie Jean was not his lover.

9) Peaceful revolution let the perfect wave surround me..."

10) "It's wrong to wish on space hardware..."

11) "Easy girls and late nights, cigarettes and love bites..."

12) "Is it real or is it synthesized? Baby, I'm hypnotized..."

13) "Who do you want me to be to make you sleep with me?"

14) "Baby look at me and tell me what you see, you ain't seen the best of me yet, give me time I'll make you forget the rest..."

15) "In my imagination there is no hesitation, we walk together hand in hand..."

16) "On days like this, in times like these - I feel an animal deep inside..."

17) "I still find it so hard to say what I mean to say, but I'm quite sure that you'll tell me just how I should feel today..."

18) "Jack and Jill went up the hill to have a little fun. Stupid Jill forgot her pill and now they have a son..."

19) "And the public gets what the public wants..."

20) "It's not the way you lead me by the hand into the bedroom..."

Some truly memorable 1980s lyrics from The Art Of Noise here. All together now: "Dum dum dum tra-la-tra-la-tra-la-la". Look out for the next instalment of this quiz - it's gonna be nearly as raunchy as Haircut One Hundred, more satisfying than nouvelle cuisine, more stirring than a power nap... "Does heaven wait, all heavenly, over the next horizon?"

23 December 2013

Here Comes Christmas!

 Memories! A Now That's What I Call Music Volume 5 cassette, £7-99 from Woollies in 1985. A snip! 

We were fair hornswoggled here at '80s Actual Towers to realise that Chrimbo was on yonder horizon again, and that somebody had made a clock out of a Now That's What I Call Music Volume 5 cassette case from 1985! Love it!

"You can almost hear time ticking away..." as Go West once sang. This little beauty has got a lovely clunking tick to it.

Now is the time to give '80s-themed gifts, and look back on memories from that most golden of decades... the glorious deelyboppers debut of 1982, for instance, or Anneka Rice being flunked by a dwyle in 1987... such happy, happy days! 

Talking of 80s-themed gifts, we were dead chuffed to receive a Mr Tea mug (a spoof on the A Team's Mr T) and a "Hello, Is It Tea You're Looking For?" mug - an affectionate (we thinks) spoof of Lionel Richie's rather excellent 1983 song lyrics. We're so chuffed we're dancing on the ceiling.

Well, tis the season to get George out of the cupboard. George? you ask. Yus, we reply - George the bear who was rescued from being thrown out at a charity shop by Andrew, who was doing some voluntary work there a couple of years ago. George is incredibly cuddly and lovable, but has the regrettable habit of bursting into Last Christmas whenever his "TRY ME!" (very enticing!) foot is squeezed. Never mind. we love 'im anyway!

George luxuriates on a 1980s candlewick bedspread. It's not exactly Club Tropicana, but it's the best we can do.

Coming soon, we have the first part of our BIG 1980s Lyrics Quiz ("qua qua fa diddily qua qua") and a look at the making of the first series of the highly esteemed kids' telly show Press Gang in 1988 (first broadcast in early 1989).

Have a lovely Christmas. We hope you get all your heart desires. And remember... more is more.

xxxxxx