New Romantics
90 articles
Japan: Quiet Life (Ariola AHAL 8010)****
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 January 1980
Glitter for industry ...
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 9 February 1980
Plenty good posin' ...
Spandau Ballet: The New Romantics — a Manifesto for the Eighties
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 13 September 1980
"INITIALLY 'mod' meant a very small group of young working class boys who, at the height of the trad boom formed a small, totally committed ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 6 December 1980
THE MINUTE I walked in the joint, I could see he was a man of distinction, a real big spender... king of the nighttime jungle, ...
Spandau Ballet: Heaven, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 31 December 1980
SPANDAU BALLET are the house band of the Blitz Kids, a collection of young peacocks who fancy themselves as this month's leaders of London's post-punk ...
Review by Jim Green, Trouser Press, February 1981
BOTH THESE records explore the musical turf of brave new pop swathed in synthesizers and studio effects. Neither is quite a paradigm of such experimentation; ...
Report and Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 7 February 1981
Go vest young man. In the studio with Spandau Ballet ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam & the Ants: Kings of the Wild Frontier (Epic NJE37033)
Review by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, April 1981
IMAGINE AN obsessive singer who calls to mind an earthbound version of glitter-era David Bowie, and a guitarist who draws from sources as diverse as ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant: Sound and Vision
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, April 1981
"Malcolm McLaren just said to me, "What do you want, Adam?" I said, "I'd like to be a household name, and have everyone know and ...
Essay by Jon Savage, The Face, April 1981
IN A CORNER OPPOSITE the entrance, Richard Young, the photographer, has set up his stall. It has a simple backdrop of white cloth – this ...
Adam & The Ants: The Ants Are Coming
Profile and Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 30 April 1981
So unplug the jukebox And do us all a favor That music's lost its taste So try another flavor — Adam and ...
Spandau Ballet, Visage: Blitz Night: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Jim Green, Trouser Press, May 1981
ARE THE futurists a spin-off of the Star Trek fanatics? Nope, they're just the newest British cultists of individuality, using make-up and dress that amalgamates ...
Spandau Ballet: Spandaus Invade America!
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
Robin Hadley and his Merrie Men take Sherwood Forest futurism to a very small but extremely chic club in New York. RICHARD GRABEL joins the ...
Duran Duran: Duran Duran (EMI)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
D'RONE D'RONE ...
Interview by Mike Stand, Smash Hits, 23 July 1981
Mike Stand gets the lowdown on electro-disco from Rusty Egan. ...
Duran Duran: Ice Cream the Body Electric!
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Teenybop takes a trite turn for the better. Paul Morley compares socks with DURAN DURAN ...
Visage: …And Their British Guru, Steve Strange
Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 27 July 1981
SOMETIMES, confides Steve Strange, weeks go by when he doesn't buy any clothes. ...
Adam & The Ants: Palladium Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, August 1981
LISTEN, SNOBS: Adam and the Ants headlined New York's Palladium Theater (3300 seats) for a legitimate reason, not just that tired old scapegoat hype. ...
Profile by Dave Schulps, Musician, August 1981
IT'S CALLED the "new romanticism," and it is to England '81 what Two-Tone ska was to England '80; that is, the year's musical craze. ...
Spandau Ballet Want You To Dance. That's All.
Report and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1981
ON THE DAY that Bobby Sands finally starved himself to death and two hours after Spandau Ballet's first ever press conference I'm in the coffee ...
Duran Duran: Duran Duran (Harvest ST12158)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1981
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND'S Duran Duran, yet another entrant in the let's-play-synth-disco-with-silly-costumes chart sweepstakes, had a recent hit with a wretchedly tedious piece of routine ass-wag called ...
ABC: A-Z Club, Bayswater, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
THE LEXICON OF LOVE ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam & the Ants: Prince Charming (Epic ARE37615)
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 5 December 1981
Adam and Ants Back as 'Prince Charming' ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Record Mirror, 19 December 1981
DURAN DURAN find life a gas in more ways than one. Eternally intrepid CHAS DE WHALLEY takes it all with a pinch of salt (or ...
Essay by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 19 December 1981
Overdressed twits taking Polaroids of one another in posey little clubs? Or the stern soapbox caterwauling of commentators who got themselves into a blue funk about everyone else's ...
Ultravox: Rage In Eden (Chrysalis)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, January 1982
HEIL! HEIL! WE'RE THE VOXIES ...
David Sylvian, Japan: David Sylvian: Melancholy Baby
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
MELANCHOLY PROPS up his head and whispers, half to himself and half to me... ...
The Human League: Dare (Virgin V2192)
Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1982
LAST YEAR'S fracturing of the Human League into two camps held more promise than the usual band breakup. For two albums the original League displayed ...
Blue Rondo A La Turk: Southgate Royalty, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
1/ WHAT IS not news is that I had a hell of a time. ...
Culture Club: The Boy's Own Club
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
PAUL MORLEY MEETS A BOY CALLED GEORGE — FORMER MODEL, BOW WOW WOW SINGER AND NOW FOUNDER OF A NEW MUSICAL EXPERIENCE, THE CULTURE CLUB. ...
The Human League: Human League: Palladium, New York NY
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 May 1982
Haughty culture ...
Interview by Betty Page, Noise!, 24 June 1982
EVERY OTHER individual who burst forth from neo-legendary club The Blitz as aspiring popster or artist/designer/photographer has now almost been forgiven the cardinal sin of ...
David Sylvian: The Face Interview
Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, October 1982
David Sylvian had agreed to do only three interviews when he returned to England from a month's stay in Japan. The first was for the ...
Culture Club: Kissing To Be Clever (Virgin V2232)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 9 October 1982
The lust patrol ...
Duran Duran: OH! You Pretty Things From Planet Earth
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, January 1983
WE JOURNALISTS like to believe our opinions are graven in stone. Let's face it, in the global scheme of things, the relative power of a ...
Culture Club: Kissing To Be Clever (Epic/Virgin)
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, February 1983
JUST WHEN you thought the last thing you needed was another washed-out attempt at dance music, along comes Culture Club to smash all your preconceptions ...
Malcolm McLaren: The Mud Club, London
Live Review by Neil Tennant, Smash Hits, 3 February 1983
ALL THE OLD dances are coming back, you know. ...
Culture Club: Kissing To Be Clever (Virgin)
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, March 1983
"What some people don't realize is that a lot of normal people are buying our record, like housewives." — George Alan O'Dowd ...
ABC, Culture Club, The Thompson Twins, Yazoo: New Romantics: Sweat & Ice
Report and Interview by Roy Trakin, Musician, March 1983
THE NEW BRITISH DANCE ROMANTICS: ABC, THOMPSON TWINS, YAZ, CULTURE CLUB ...
Adam & The Ants: Where's Your Head At, Adam Ant?
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, March 1983
THE ROOM WAS full of balloons. A bouquet of balloons, sold nowadays like helium-filled, high-tech clusters that cling to the ceiling. A bundle of mail ...
Spandau Ballet: True or waltz? — Spandau Ballet: True (Chrysalis CDL1403)
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 5 March 1983
YOUNG MEN AT C&A SPECIAL! ...
Culture Club: Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool
Live Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 9 April 1983
The Boy in the band ...
A Flock of Seagulls: A Flock Of Seagulls: Listen (Jive HIP4)
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 30 April 1983
Pigeon English ...
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 12 May 1983
You sent them. We opened them and sorted out the best. The mail sacks were ferried round to the band's London hotel. Dave Rimmer did ...
Culture Clubbing With George And The Boys
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, June 1983
Suddenly...Mount Rushmore had changed! ...
Ultravox: The Half-Dozen or so Moods of Ultravox
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, July 1983
ONSTAGE, THE amazing Ultravox. Right in front, on the edge of the area called the pit — not, unfortunately, in my honor — myself and ...
Duran Duran: The Man From D.U.R.A.N. D.U.R.A.N.
Interview by Annene Kaye, Creem, July 1983
WOOF WOOF ...
Spandau Ballet: True (Chrysalis)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1983
I USED TO think Spandau Ballet bit the boot. The band's first two albums seemed little more than gussied-up disco, a rip-off of various cultures, ...
Duran Duran: That Was The Week That Was
Report and Interview by Neil Tennant, Smash Hits, 4 August 1983
The week when Duran Duran got mobbed, met the Royals and hit the headlines every time they moved. Neil Tennant was never far behind them. ...
Culture Club: Soft Rock Beats Beneath Culture Club's Wild Image
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 30 August 1983
NEW YORK — The cover of Culture Club's first album, Kissing to Be Clever, featured lead singer Boy George in all his glory: glistening red ...
A Flock of Seagulls: A Flock Of Seagulls: Listen (Arista)
Review by John Swenson, Creem, September 1983
THERE ARE two ways to look at seagulls. You could take the testimony of ancient mariners, who know more about the subject than you'd probably ...
Culture Club, Helen Terry: Helen Terry: Hellenic Culture
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
CULTURE CLUB'S 'BOLSHIE' MEMBER — HELEN TERRY — LETS RIP ...
Live Review by Max Bell, The Times, 27 September 1983
SUCCESS STORIES abound in the fickle pop world, but the rise of Culture Club is genuinely deserved. The band and their androgynous singer Boy George ...
Culture Club: If It's Thursday It Must Be Munich
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 29 September 1983
'DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME' HAS BEEN NUMBER ONE IN 23 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, "AND IF YOU'RE A WORLD-WIDE ACT, YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL ...
Culture Club: Colour By Numbers (Virgin)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
TOP OF THE LOOKING CLASS ...
Marilyn: Gentle Men Prefer Blonds
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 5 November 1983
Friend of the stars MARILYN expounds on the delights of Chanel No. 5 and pink lipstick to Helen FitzGerald ...
Interview by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 10 December 1983
"1983 FOR me has been a nightmare..." asserts Steve Strange, a presumably ashen visage hidden by a delicate ivory foundation and shocking pink lipstick. ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 December 1983
Prince or showgirl? Paul Morley tussles with Marilyn on a soft sofa and wonders if the seduction of pop has a more explicit meaning. ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant: from Punk Reject to Prince Charming
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, The History of Rock, 1984
AS THE '70S DREW TO A CLOSE, the British pop scene seemed distinctively lacking in glamour. Punk rock had made way for a ‘new wave’ ...
Spandau Ballet: UP, UP and Away
Interview by Annene Kaye, Creem, May 1984
IF WE WEREN'T "AROUND," WHAT WOULD BE? ...
Spandau Ballet: Parade (Chrysalis/ Reformation CDL 1473)
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 30 June 1984
BLAND SPANDS ...
Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, July 1984
Pausing only to change from one outrageous outfit to the next, PHILIP SALLON has hosted a mad whirl of parties that unite youth tribes in ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Boy On Fire
Interview by Lesley White, The Face, December 1984
The friendly but frozen smile of Boy George has been served up, like a cake fresh from the refrigerator, all over the media. It has ...
Culture Club: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Max Bell, The Times, 20 December 1984
OF ALL THE SUPERGROUPS currently vying for public attention Culture Club and their lead singer Boy George seem the most vulnerable. The title of their ...
Culture Club: Waking Up With The House On Fire (Epic)
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, January 1985
NOBODY HAS ever accused Culture Club of having too much depth. For them, frivolity is its own reward, and there's more than enough meaning in ...
Culture Club: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 17 January 1985
"THIS SONG — first of all it's a great song," George titters, something like this: aha-haha-huyuk. "Second, it's called 'The Medal Song'." ...
Depeche Mode: Private Lives: The Depeche Mode Story, Pt. 2 – Martin Gore, The Decadent Boy
Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 11 May 1985
In the second part of our exclusive Depeche Mode series Martin Gore talks about his steady progression from milkmaid to bank clerk to popstar in ...
Marilyn: Despite Straight Lines (Mercury)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 29 June 1985
Praying for sunshine ...
Book Review by Tony Fletcher, Jamming!, November 1985
THE TITLE says it all. There are those of us who have, over the years, battled on our own territory desperately hoping that the downward ...
Culture Club: From Luxury To Heartache (Virgin C2380)
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 5 April 1986
THE BOY has a new Mireille Mathieu haircut, a conscience and an album that, on first hearing, is soothing in the extreme. But the aural ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George's Nightmare
Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1986
A SPECIAL REPORT ON THE FALLEN POP IDOL'S BOUT WITH HIS DRUG ADDICTION ...
Marc Almond, Soft Cell, The The: The Bizzare Adventures of Stevo
Interview by Paul Sexton, Select, February 1991
Bank managers chase after him, record company chiefs live in fear of him trashing their offices, but STEVO somehow manages to survive, along with one of the most ...
Interview by David A. Keeps, Details, April 1993
Duran Duran spent one half of the '80s as international pop playboys and the other half surviving the experience. Will success spoil them again? David ...
Boy George: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 15 January 1994
"IT'S NICE to be appreciated on your own manor," croaks George, choked up at the waves of love crashing over him, "cos there was a ...
The Human League: Don't you want them? Maybe
Profile and Interview by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 15 July 2001
Sheffield synth-pop trio the Human League haven't always had it easy, but they've never given up. Simon Price met them as they prepare to stage ...
Duran Duran: The Singles 81-85
Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, May 2003
DURAN DURAN were, of course, the original band who wanted to combine the Sex Pistols with Chic. Taking their name from a character in the ...
Duran Duran: How I Discovered Duran Duran. Or Did They Discover Me?
Memoir by Beverley Glick, beverleyglick.com, 2005
In the third extract from my memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life in the Pop World of the Eighties, I tell the story of my ...
Bill Nelson: My Bizarre Double Life In The Pop World Of The Eighties
Memoir by Beverley Glick, beverleyglick.com, 2005
After a small ripple of public demand, I'm going to start posting a series of extracts from my unpublished memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life ...
Spandau Ballet's Bible: How I Played My Part in Inventing the New Romantics
Memoir by Beverley Glick, beverleyglick.com, 2005
Here is the second extract from my memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life in the Pop World of the Eighties. It is September 1980 and, ...
Depeche Mode: The Day I Met Four Terrified Teenagers Called Depeche Mode
Memoir by Beverley Glick, beverleyglick.com, 2005
In the fourth extract from my Eighties memoir, another brand-new pop group gets interviewed by Sounds' Betty Page, who is fast establishing herself as the go-to ...
Soft Cell: The Day Soft Cell Saved Me From The Dance For Perfection
Memoir by Beverley Glick, beverleyglick.com, 2005
In the fifth extract from my memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life in the Pop World of the Eighties, I recall my first meeting with ...
Spandau Ballet: The return of Spandau Ballet
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 27 September 2009
The band behind 'Gold', 'True' and 'Chant No 1', Tony Hadley and the Kemp brothers put their differences aside for reunion. ...
Coil, Throbbing Gristle: This Mortal Coil: A Final Report on Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson
Retrospective by Mark Dery, Thought Catalog, 29 November 2010
Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, who in the '80s pioneered the industrial aesthetic with the band Throbbing Gristle, died in his sleep at his home in Bangkok ...
Seona Dancing: The Day I Met A Sensitive Artiste Called Ricky Gervais…
Retrospective by Beverley Glick, Rock's Backpages, 19 March 2012
IN MAY 1983, when I was assistant editor of Record Mirror, my good friend (the late) Gill Smith asked if I would interview a new ...
Duran Duran: The day I discussed the meaning of life with Simon Le Bon
Memoir by Beverley Glick, Rock's Backpages, 13 April 2012
MY RELATIONSHIP with Simon Le Bon began back in December 1980, when I was a rookie writer for Sounds and visited the Rum Runner club ...
Duran Duran: Looking Back to Planet Earth and Beyond: Five Decades of Duran Duran
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Classic Pop, December 2012
Please, please tell me now! As John Taylor publishes his autobiography, In The Pleasure Groove: Love, Death & Duran Duran, Wyndham Wallace accompanies him through ...
Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s: V&A, London
Review by Nicky Charlish, Culture Wars, 21 December 2013
WHEN WE LOOK at a product of physical design – a building, say – we don't usually think about the influences which went into its ...
Retrospective and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 30 August 2014
Spandau Ballet had it all – monster hits, screaming girls, ludicrous hair and kilts. Then they spent 20 years fighting over cash. It wasn't until ...
Review and Interview by Steve Pafford, MOJO, 17 July 2017
Long-promised 3-CD set of Antmusic: 20 chart singles from five record labels, key album and BBC session tracks, plus 24 unreleased demos and alternate takes, ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 17 February 2020
Behind the New Romantic mask, he remains an old romantic at heart ...
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