As we swelter in the heat here in London - I started clearing some pots and troughs we had unceremoniously dumped at the end of the garden after the bulbs had finished, but even a sun-lover such as I couldn't cope with it after a couple of hours, so now I'm indoors with a cider - I thought another "mini-timeslip" might be in order.
Let us cast our minds back forty years to this week in 1985...
I was thoroughly enjoying being the "new meat" on the Cardiff gay scene, having only come out (in an explosion of glitter, as Mistress Maddie might say) the previous Autumn - and I had just been to my first-ever Gay Pride in London, where I watched Divine perform for us on a paddle-steamer going down the Thames! - the weather was pleasant (if not sweltering), Live Aid was on the telly, and A View to a Kill was in our cinemas.
And what about our charts? All present and correct in the Top Ten were Eurythmics, Mai Tai, Fine Young Cannibals, Denise LaSalle, Bruce Springsteen, Kool and the Gang, Harold Faltermeyer and (erm) Marti Webb - but at the coveted #1 slot [for the third of its four weeks at the top] was this jolly number, from a girl group that many had written-off with the end of their 70s heyday. Definitely "the song of the summer" that year!
FOUR DECADES?! Where did they go..?
I did like Sister Sledge, but this number didn’t do it for me. 40 effing years ago? Dear God! And I was already an adult --- although I didn’t much act like one.
ReplyDeleteI think the UK's penchant for "novelty songs" made it a hit - it certainly never made a dent on the charts in the US...
DeleteYes, 40 years! It was also the year of Dead or Alive You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), Dire Straits Money For Nothing, Talking Heads Road to Nowhere, Bonnie Tyler Holding Out for a Hero and Kate Bush Running Up That Hill.
Terrifying, really. Jx
I saw that they were showing the Live Aid concert on the telly this weekend; I didn't watch though. I remember Frankie by Sister Sledge, and liked it - and all the others you mention! 40 years has gone very quickly!!
ReplyDeleteSx
They have positively whooshed by! Jx
DeleteI remember Frankie! I think it was one of the songs the DJ played as I rollerskated around the school sports hall with loads of other kids, high on sweets and Tip-Top!
ReplyDeleteI bet you were a giant, even then. Jx
DeleteAs much as I love Sister Sledge and I do, I am with 'Moving with Mitchell'. It was not one of their best.
ReplyDeleteWell, tbh, they'd be hard-pushed to match the dizzy heights of Lost in Music or We Are Family, but I have very fond memories of all the queens doing the Frankie dance routine from the video! Jx
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