It's a very apposite timeslip moment again...
We've been kidnapped by the She-Wolves of the Wasteland and transported back to the wilds of 1988 - the year of Section 28; of the "Free Nelson Mandela" concert; of the Piper Alpha and Lockerbie disasters; of perestroika, when the cracks really began to show across the Soviet Bloc; of Bush vs Dukakis; and the year that Adele, Al-Qaeda and Internet Chat were born (and look how - ahem - far we have come since).
In the news in April twenty-nine years ago: plans were revealed for a huge development involving Britain's biggest commercial tower block at Canary Wharf in East London; Soviet forces committed to withdraw from Afghanistan; Kuwait Airways Flight 422 was hijacked, leading to a sixteen-day international stand-off; Nazi war criminal "Ivan the Terrible" (Ivan Demjanjuk) was sentenced to death in Israel; and in the ascendant were Sonny Bono (elected mayor of Palm Springs, California), Slime Dion (who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland) and The Last Emperor (which won nine Oscars), but we bade a sad farewell to that camp comedy legend Kenneth Williams. In our cinemas were Wall Street, Flowers in the Attic and 3 Men and a Baby. On telly: the controversial documentary Death on the Rock, Ben Elton's Friday Night Live and the last-ever episode of (the original series of) Crossroads.
And in our charts this week in 1988? S-Express had barn-stormed their way to Number 1, knocking Pet Shop Boys' Heart from its perch, closely followed by Hazell Dean, Danny Wilson (who???), Natalie Cole, Climie Fisher, George Michael, Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac.
However, also present... in this week when our favourite pop-tastic girl band Bananarama announced their comeback as the original threesome, we re-visit their Top Ten hit from the charts all those years ago. How appropriate that it is I Want You Back [the girls' first hit after the departure of Siobhan]!
The room has suddenly grown cold
And outside in the street it's raining
You packed your bags and said good-bye
You took my heart without explaining.
How could you go?
How could you go?
We had a love most people never know.
Stop
Before you break my heart!
I want you back
Don't care what I have to do
I want you back
I want you back
Gotta get it through to you
I want you back
If I can make you see only you can fill the need in me
If you walk away you'll regret it someday
Please
Stay!
This room is full of memories
And shadows of the past remind me
Of all the love I gave in vain
And all the hurt I feel inside me.
I want you back
I want you back
We had a love most people never know.
Stop
Before you break my heart!
I want you back
Don't care what I have to do
I want you back
I want you back
Gotta get it through to you
I want you back
We had a love most people never know
Stop
Before you break my heart!
Indeed.
Bananarama on Wikipedia
When it started up, it seemed like, hmmm, nice enough, bland little toe tapper. But then the girls exploded into White Motown Glamour and it all came rushing back.
ReplyDeleteWith Bananarama, it always does... Jx
DeleteFunny, I was just looking at an ad for their come-back in one of my magazine. You honestly wouldn't be able to pick them out of a line-up as being Bananarama - especially Sioban. Waaay to much work done. Rather than looking younger, she just looks like shes been in a rather serious fire. I'll scan a copy an send it to you ;-). Hils x
ReplyDeleteThe perils of plastic surgery! Jx
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