5 years that changed the world

Why 1984-1989 were the years that made us

Holly Johnson has a cold, The Edge has a kidney infection, but The Krays¹ - sorry The Kemps of Spandau Ballet - have made it, along with Duran Duran, an awkward looking Bono, and a genuinely shy George Michael.

The backstage documentary about the recording of Bob Geldof’s 1984 Do They Know It’s Christmas² is a fascinating yet eerie window into the making of the now slightly contentious charity single.

There are no voiceovers, no dialogue, just clips of make-up-free pop stars wandering around in the background chatting to each other - like at the end of a school disco when the lights have gone up - eating their ginger biscuits and learning the lyrics. Reporters make notes on actual note pads, and a sound engineer chain smokes throughout.

“You can’t move for pop stars and dogs,” says Midge Ure.

At this point, these stars are big, but not big and glossy yet; they have blotchy skin and silver fillings, their accents are all still very cockney sparrow – no LA drawls here. If it weren’t for the leather trousers, this could be another episode of Grange Hill or EastEnders.

Fast forward 5 years and it’s a different story…

The original Do They Know It’s Christmas was followed by several other versions, which has inspired the release of the ‘ultimate mix’ this week, to mark the anniversary.

But say a prayer for the other ones - Kylie Minogue, Jason Minogue³ and Bros because – their 1989 version by Band Aid II has been whitewashed completely – apparently the master tapes couldn’t be found, which is highly convenient, because this version is monumentally awful.

How did it come about? Well Geldof phoned producer Pete Waterman of Stock Aitken and Waterman (we’ll get to them later) and asked him to put together a new version engaging the great and the good from the 1989 era. This made commercial sense, but it means we have the small change of Sonia, Wet Wet Wet, Cliff Richard and Big Fun assaulting our eardrums instead of the superstar supergroup of 1984.

“A contemporary version. The sound of 1989, for good or ill,” as Geldof said at the time rather ominously.

Or as Luke Goss of Bros eruditely puts it: “Drums are a bit more dancier beat.” Cheers Lukie.

However, we’re not here today to wallow in this mess, we’re here to observe the lightening difference that five years can make. Or specifically the five years between 1984 and 1989. These five years, as I’m about to prove, are the equivalent to 10 or may be even 15 normal years.

How?

Music, video, hair, baby

Look at the contrast between music, film and hair from 1984 and 1989. It’s huge.

In 1984 the hair is dry, the colours are drab, and things still carry a 70s whiff about them. By 1989, everything is cleaner, glossier, and more modern, and surprisingly close to today.

Exhibit A: Madonna: We go from Material Girl and greasy perm in 84 to Express Yourself and a slick $5m Metropolis-inspired video by 89.

Depeche Mode transformed from fresh-faced synth pop band with Master and Servant in 1984 into dark, edgy rock lords with Personal Jesus in 89.

Films like 84’s Terminator look a million miles away from Batman, which by 1989 had embraced much more advanced special effects.

It’s the same for fashion. By 1989, sleek, aspirational looks replaced the relative conservatism of 1984, all those dour unironed grey jackets from the Band Aid video are replaced with silky bomber jackets, white jeans and bold primary colours in the 89 one.

The pace of change was unlike any other before or since, so what drove it?

Tech, money and punks

We know that 1984 was a pivotal year in terms of tech. With the launch of the Apple Macintosh and the first mobile phone in the same 12 months, there was always going to be huge change. And perhaps if it had just been that, then we would have bumbled along with it, installing our home PCs and updating our mobiles wearing grey crinkly jackets, but this emerging technology didn’t happen in a silo.

It collided with globalisation, financial revolution and rampant creativity, which together gave rise to a relentless stream of groundbreaking music, fashion, art, food, media and products, all in a very short space of time.

Where did this creativity come from? Well, here’s my theory: if all these young guns making this stuff were in their 20s, then they were born in the 60s, which means that while they were gestating, they were possibly also absorbing the sex drugs and rock and roll that was happening all around them. It would be impossible not to get a creative head start from the psychedelic atmosphere and the Beatles albums that were swilling about the place while they were still in the womb.

If you then mix that with the rebellious spirit of punk in the 70s – when these people will have been coming of age – then you have them walking straight into a world open to - almost begging for - experimentation, innovation and production. Give all this to a bunch of newly minted youth, all eager to leave their mark on a world that seemed to expand with each new innovation, and you have the inevitable explosion that was the mid to late 80s.

How do you explain the travesty that is Band Aid II then, you ask

Thank you for bringing me back to this. Naturally we can lay a lot of the blame at Stock Aitken and Waterman’s mixing desks for this.

SAW were a songwriting and record production trio who created the 80s equivalent of the 60s Motown hit factory, but with even less individualism and soul. They churned out identical sounding hits – a dependable combination of catchy melodies, disco beats, and synthetic production – dominating the charts from 87 to 89 and redefining pop music for an entire generation.

As an impressionable 13-year-old, I couldn’t get enough of it; Band Aid II was the first single I ever bought.

But how could some tinny beats achieved mainly by pressing the ‘demo’ button on an Casio keyboard become so dominant?

Musical talent becomes second to image and marketability

By the late 80s, soap operas were the new religion.

Especially Australian ones. We worshipped at the alter of Neighbours, Home & Away and also home-grown soaps like EastEnders – hard to believe now, but these little TV programmes really dominated the cultural atmosphere.

This was not lost on SAW who had pound signs in their eyes the minute they spotted the mass appeal of Charlene, Scott and anyone with a blond perm hanging round Lassiters⁴. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, with their mighty fan base already good to go, were shipped over and given some tunes to sing and the floodgates opened.

It wasn’t long before we had Anita Dobson and Nick Berry from EastEnders peddling their ballads too. The lines between celebrity, brand, and musician were blurring and it was all clogging up the charts.

The moral of this story might be quite sad

The marketeers will get you in the end, commercialisation will ruin art, pop will eat itself. But today I just want you all to agree with me consider the idea that the breadth of change from 84-89 was like no other. That what someone might own, watch, or listen to in 1984 versus 1989 was drastically different. And that how we lived, worked and looked in 1989 isn’t a million miles away from how we do those things now.

Creativity might not always be able to withstand the pressures of capitalism, it might have a shorter shelf life than ever today, but if we can all agree that at least it once had a really good run, lasted 5 pivotal years, and made us the people we are now, then it’s worth continuing with it, doing our own version today in whatever small way we can.

To paraphrase Bob, don’t go to the pub tonight, give me your f*cking creativity.

Thank you to everyone who read last week’s offering ‘Rock stars and their toilet seats’. If you like the above, you might also like to read that ‘I have a problem with nostalgia’.

Have a lovely weekend.

1. Gary and Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet played Ronnie and Reggie Kray in the 1990 film about the murderous twosome (one of my favourite films)

2. Available on BBC iPlayer, great weekend watch.

3. I know Jason Donovan is technically a separate man, but at this point Kylie and Jason are more or less one entity.

4. Lassiters was the shopping and hotel complex in Erinsborough. And I’m not joking when I say anyone was called up from there to become a pop star - Mike, Henry, Paul - perhaps not Harold.