STRANGE FASCINATION: THE NEW ROMANTICS

AT FIRST, IT WAS A SECRET, AN ESCAPE. AT NIGHT, BELOW THE STREETS OF SOHO, UNKNOWN FACES EMERGED INTO THE LIGHT, CLAD IN EXTRAORDINARY CLOTHING, DANCING TO A FUTURISTIC SOUNDTRACK. IT WAS A NEW WORLD – AS YET, ONE WITHOUT A NAME…

SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS)

WHILE THE NEW ROMANTICS WERE STILL LARGELY A SECRET TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD, THEIR HERO WAS DREAMING UP A SOARING ROCK RECORD, A MULTI-LAYERED, DYSTOPIAN MASTERPIECE – A PERFECT SOUNDTRACK FOR THE DAWN OF THE FRIGHTENING 1980S…

POSING WITH A PURPOSE

IT’S 1983, AND A RESTYLED VICTORIAN PILE CALLED THE CAMDEN PALACE IS OFFERING THE BEST NIGHT OUT IN LONDON. MERELY A POSER’S PARADISE? BY NO MEANS – THIS IS WHERE THE WORLD’S MEDIA COME, ALL LOOKING FOR THE NEXT BIG THING. EACH WEEK, ON THESE CROWDED STAIRWAYS, CAREERS CAN BE MADE… PROVING THAT DRESSING UP TO GO TO A STEVE STRANGE CLUB REALLY CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Q+A

THE SPANDAU BALLET MAN TELLS JOHN EARLS OF KILTS AND SUITS, HITS AND HIGH GUITARS, SHARING EACH OTHER’S CLOTHES… AND WHO HAS POP STYLE TODAY

JOURNEYS TO GLORY

WITH EVERYTHING THAT WAS HAPPENING AT THE BLITZ CLUB, IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE SCENE FOUND ITS FIRST BREAKOUT SUPERSTARS. A BUNCH OF COCKNEYS WHO HADN’T BEEN TO ART COLLEGE WEREN’T PERHAPS THE MOST OBVIOUS CHOICE, BUT ONCE SPANDAU BALLET FIGURED OUT HOW TO SOUNDTRACK THE MOVEMENT, THERE WAS NO STOPPING THEM – AS GUITARIST/SAXOPHONIST STEVE NORMAN RECALLS…

KING OF THE NIGHT

STEVE STRANGE WAS, WITHOUT NECESSARILY KNOWING IT, THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE NEW ROMANTIC MOVEMENT, BUT THIS WAS JUST ONE UNINTENTIONAL OUTCOME IN A LIFE FULL OF SUCCESS, EXCESS AND DISASTER. CLASSIC POP TRACES THE EXTRAORDINARY MISADVENTURES OF THE MAN FROM SOUTH WALES WHO BECAME BOTH A LEGEND AND A LIABILITY…

Q+A

A BELOVED POP PERSONAGE SHARES HER FRANK RECOLLECTIONS OF THE EARLY NEW ROMANTIC SCENE WITH DOUGLAS MCPHERSON…

DAVID BOWIE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR BRITISH MUSIC IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 80S. THERE WAS A DECADENCE ABOUT HIM, SOMETHING DARK, SOMETHING VERY GERMAN, BUT SOMETHING VERY EXCITING

NEW ROMANTIC DIDN’T COME FROM NOWHERE. IT DREW FROM GLAM ROCK, REACTED TO PUNK, LOOKED TO THE PAST AND THE FUTURE TO SEEK A NEW INDIVIDUALITY. BUT, OF COURSE, THERE WAS ONE OVERRIDING HERO…

Q+A

HAS PRINCESS JULIA SPENT A QUIET NIGHT IN SINCE 1976? JOHN EARLS MEETS THE DJ, STYLE ICON, RELENTLESS CLUBGOER, RACONTEUR AND MUCH MORE…

POP ART

THE EARLY 80S WAS A FERTILE, CREATIVE PERIOD IN BOTH POP AND DESIGN, AND THE CHARTS WERE SUDDENLY INUNDATED WITH ARTISTS WHO UNDERSTOOD THE COMBINED POWER OF SOUND AND VISION. WITH OUTRÉ NEW SOUNDS, STYLES AND SLEEVE DESIGNS THAT FUSED THE PAST WITH THE FUTURE, SOMETHING NEW – AND ROMANTIC – WAS BORN…

Q+A

THE SINGER, ACTOR AND WRITER TELLS DOUGLAS MCPHERSON HOW HER SONGS HAVE GATHERED GREATER DEPTH AND MEANING OVER THE YEARS

THE MASTER PLAN

WITHOUT MIDGE URE AND RUSTY EGAN, MOST OF THIS WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. THEY CREATED VISAGE, THE ULTIMATE FACES OF NEW ROMANTIC, ENLISTING STEVE STRANGE AND MESHING HIS BOLD IMAGERY WITH BRAVE, EXPERIMENTAL MUSICIANSHIP. HOW DID THEY DO IT? “SELF-BELIEF,” SAYS EGAN; “NAIVETY AND GUT INSTINCT,” COUNTERS URE. CLASSIC POP QUIZZES THIS REMARKABLE PAIR TO FIND OUT HOW THEY MANAGED TO PULL IT OFF…

DURAN DURAN

BEFORE THE SILK SUITS, YACHTS AND BLOCKBUSTER VIDEOS SAILED INTO VIEW, DURAN DURAN’S EPONYMOUS DEBUT SAW THEM AT THEIR MOST EXPERIMENTAL – AN INNATE POP SENSIBILITY MELDED WITH ART-SCHOOL SYNTHS, PUNK ANGST AND DANCEFLOOR-FRIENDLY GROOVES…

ALL I WANTED WAS TO CREATE A HAVEN FOR ALL THESE INDIVIDUALS WHERE THEY COULD BE FREE TO BE THEMSELVES WITHOUT THE THREAT OF TROUBLE FROM THOSE WHO DIDN’T GET IT

AT THE TAIL-END OF THE 70S A GROUP OF YOUNG OUTSIDERS SOUGHT REFUGE FROM LONDON’S MEAN STREETS AT A SUCCESSION OF SELF-PROMOTED CLUB NIGHTS. THIS – IN THEIR OWN WORDS – IS HOW IT REALLY WENT DOWN…

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VISAGE

WHERE WOULD THE NEW ROMANTIC MOVEMENT HAVE BEEN WITHOUT VISAGE… OR VICE VERSA? THE BAND’S SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM WAS THE RESULT OF AN ALMOST SUPERGROUP-LIKE MEETING OF TALENTED INDIVIDUALS. AIMING TO FORGE A NEW BRAND OF ELECTRO-DISCO VIA CHILLY, BOMBASTIC SYNTHS AND GLAM ROCK GUITARS, THEY DREW UPON EVERYTHING FROM EUROPEAN FILM NOIR TO SPAGHETTI WESTERNS AND COSSACK CHOIRS…

SOUNDS OF THE SCENE – 4O ESSENTIAL TRACKS

FROM SPANDAU AND VISAGE TO TELEX, ENO, SOFT CELL, GINA X, CAN, SPACE AND – HONESTLY – THE SWEET, WE RECREATE THE PLAYLIST YOU’D HEAR DURING THE MOST CRAZILY-DRESSED AND UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT OF YOUR WEST END CLUBBING LIFE…

Q+A

LONG BEFORE THEN JERICO, A YOUNG MARK SHAW WAS JUST ANOTHER FACE IN THE QUEUE AT BILLY’S AND BLITZ. JOHN EARLS HEARS HIS INSIDER’S STORIES…

GENTLEMEN TAKE POLAROIDS

THOUGH JAPAN HAD NO CONNECTION TO THE ORIGINAL NEW ROMANTICS, THEIR BREAKTHROUGH ALBUM OF LATE 1980 WAS HAILED BY THE PRESS AS A MASTERPIECE OF THE SO-CALLED MOVEMENT. HOWEVER, THEIR SUCCESS HID A MURMURING DISCONTENT WITHIN THE GROUP…

Q+A

What’s your most vivid memory of making Gentlemen Take

THE LAST DANCE

VISAGE BAND MEMBER STEVE BARNACLE TALKS ABOUT THE NEW ROMANTIC ICON AND INNOVATOR STEVE STRANGE AND RECALLS THE CREATION OF THE FINAL VISAGE ALBUM, DEMONS TO DIAMONDS…

DEMONS TO DIAMONDS

“It’s been a long time since Visage took on a rock-based

IN THEIR OWN IMAGE

THE BRAVE NEW SOUNDS BRANDISHED A BOLD AND ECLECTIC SPECTRUM OF STYLES TO MATCH. CLUB KIDS WERE KEY IN CREATING THEIR OWN EXTRAORDINARY AND INFLUENTIAL IMAGERY, AND BEFORE LONG SO-CALLED NEW ROMANTIC LOOKS WOULD FLOURISH FROM CLUB TO THE HIGH STREET…

Q+A

THE INFLUENTIAL DESIGNER WHO LENT HER STYLE TO EVERYONE FROM DAVID BOWIE AND STEVE STRANGE DOWNWARDS TELLS HER TALE TO JULIE BURNS…

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

ST. VALENTINE’S BAL L , THE PEOPLE’S PALACE, 1981