4O ESSENTIAL SINGLES

HI-GLOSS SYNTH-POP, THE EARLY RUMBLINGS OF INDIE, AVANT-GARDE 45S… EVEN BRUTALIST TECHNO: ALL BASES WERE COVERED IN 365 DAYS OF FRENZIED MUSICAL CREATIVITY. HERE, WE CURATE AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING PLAYLIST INTENDED TO RE-ANIMATE THE AIRWAVES, DANCEFLOORS AND BEDSITS OF 1981…

Re-living such a mindblowing year for pop music may have been by far the most fun we’ve had since lockdowns began, but it quickly made us aware that any attempt to try and play off the creativity that bubbled up throughout such a fertile 365-day period would be foolhardy. So, fair’s fair – instead, we decided to play DJ and curate a playlist of 40 of our favourite tracks released during the year. Of course, that meant plenty of synth-pop and new wave, New Romantic fl amboyance and mainstream pop, but it goes far beyond that. If we were to paint a genuine picture of 1981 – a year excited by brand new technology and budding genres, while simultaneously crushed by unemployment, recession and, eventually, rioting – there was much more listening to do.

With this issue’s selection, we tuned in to the times via both the airwaves and the underground. While our intention is to highlight the panorama of excellence that was on show that year, it also meant mining deep below the charts – and that meant plenty of arguments that Zoom-ed on into the early hours.

As always, rules needed to be put in place. Firstly, due to a catalogue of now-classic albums, we restricted ourselves to one track per band, so as to avoid certain super-productive groups hogging all the limelight. Next, any single released that year was up for consideration, even if it arose from an album that had been released the previous year [controversial, it’s true, but entirely put in place so that Once In A Lifetime made the cut – Ed].

So whether blaring out of the windows of Ford Cortinas, ghettoblasted from bedrooms, or shaking everyone’s ribs in clubland, these are the sounds of the people in 1981, up and down the UK.

O1 COMPUTER LOVE

KRAFTWERK 

While all around them others exploited their once-alien sound, sweetened kosmische motifs rebounding from all the corners of the scene that mattered, eight albums in, Düsseldorf’s finest were only just gaining commercial impetus. Their English language refresh of Das Model, re-released as a double-A with Computer Love, was a UK No.1. Yet more pilfering came in 2005, when Coldplay were granted permission to nick the melody for their single Talk, after a grovelling letter from Chris Martin.

KIM WILDE’S KIDS IN AMERICA WAS SO PROPULSIVE, HIP AND FULL OF ENERGY, IT ALMOST EXUDED SPARKS. ITS THREE MINUTES OF GLOSSY, CANDY-COOL POP WENT HURTLING CHARTWARD

O2 THE “SWEETEST GIRL”

SCRITTI POLITTI 

Full metamorphosis for most bands happens subtly and over time, but when Green Gartside decided to leave his former noisy politico self behind for the hissing hi-hats of an 808 and a more cultured musical vision, it was an abrupt about-face. It was also a great day for pop; by 1985 we had Cupid & Psyche 85 and its sophisticated, candied centrepiece The Word Girl. Chosen to open NME’s legendary C81 compilation, The “Sweetest Girl” didn’t trouble the charts but has since risen to acclaim.

O3 KIDS IN AMERICA

KIM WILDE 

Kim Wilde’s modish new wave debut, authored by brother Ricky with lyrics by famous rock’n’rolling father Marty, sold so fast – 60,000 copies a day – that she was accused of cheating. Propulsive, hip, and so charged with energy it almost exuded sparks, Wilde’s three minutes of glossy, candy-cool pop went hurtling chartward, teeming with hooks. Landing at No.2 in the UK, its rise scuppered by a double-denimed Shakin’ Stevens, it crowded European dancefloors and beyond – plus, the actual kids in America liked it, making it a US No.25.