115 posts
At the forefront of the synthwave movement, Carpenter Brut mines 80s influences and concept albums. “I’m not trying to reinvent anything,” he insists. “I just want to make the music…
One Hit Wonder: Pebbles – Girlfriend
Pebbles has had six real surnames in her eventful life, so probably one of the more astute things she ever did was giving herself an easily recognisable pseudonym when launching…
Next-Level Thinking: Level 42 interview
Inspired as a youngster by the jazz greats, Mark King soon reinvented bass playing and took Level 42 into the upper echelons of the pop charts with an irresistibly funky…
Classic Album: Massive Attack – Blue Lines
A dance album you couldn’t dance to, a club classic for when the clubs closed – Massive Attack’s Blue Lines truly redefined notions of artist, group and genre. Classic Pop explores the amorphous 1991…
The Lowdown: ABBA
Sweden’s fab four got their big break at Eurovision in 1974 and went on to dominate the global pop landscape for the following eight years, shifting hundreds of millions of…
Coming Around Again: 60s resurgence in the 80s
Proving that form is temporary yet class is permanent, a whole host of major 60s acts had an unexpected career resurgence as bona fide chart stars in the 80s. Written…
Lost & Found: Shalamar – Three For Love
Shalamar were still two years away from a life-defining period of huge hit singles and innovative dance moves, but their 1980 album Three For Love set them on their way.…
One Hit Wonders: Adrian Gurvitz – Classic
You have to admire the nerve of any lyricist who claims that the words ‘classic’, ‘attic’ and ‘addict’ rhyme, but veteran rocker Adrian Gurvitz had the songwriting gravitas to do…
Pledging their Allegiance: Swing Out Sister interview
They broke the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic with the sophisti-pop smash hit Breakout in 1986. Now, as Classic Pop finds out, Swing Out Sister are back with a new album…
Classic Album: Electronic – Electronic
Redefining the concept of the supergroup, Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner shook off the shackles of being at the forefront of two of the most significant bands of the 80s…