WELCOME

@ClassicPopMag Three years into the decade and, for

THE STORY OF 1983

IN 1983 THE CHARTS WERE ALIVE WITH SOME OF THE MOST EFFERVESCENT POP EVER PRODUCED. CLASSIC POP REMEMBERS A TRULY VINTAGE YEAR FOR MUSIC…

Everybody Come On

BEFORE 1983 FEW PEOPLE IN AMERICA – LET ALONE THE WORLD – HAD HEARD OF MADONNA CICCONE. BUT THAT WAS SOON TO CHANGE…

SPEAKING IN TONGUES TALKING HEADS

NEW YORK’S ART-ROCK PIONEERS FINALLY COMPLETE THEIR TRANSITION TO PURE FUNK, AND REACH COMMERCIAL PEAKS WITH ONE OF THEIR MOST EXPANSIVE, FULLY-REALISED AND DANCEABLE RECORDS

NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

AFTER A FEW YEARS OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT, A BLEACHED-BLONDE BOWIE RETURNED IN 1983 WITH LET'S DANCE AND ACHIEVED GREATER GLOBAL FAME THAN EVER BEFORE. CLASSIC POP CHARTS THE MOMENT DAVID BOWIE ASCENDED TO SUPERSTARDOM…

OUT OF SYNG

RELEASING A WORLDWIDE SMASH AND BECOMING THE BIGGEST BAND ON THE PLANET WOULD BRING INSTANT GRATIFICATION TO MOST ARTISTS, BUT FOR STING, ANDY SUMMERS AND STEWART COPELAND, THREE WAS MOST CERTAINLY NOT THE MAGIC NUMBER…

SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER DURAN DURAN

AFTER SAILING THEIR WAY TO SUPERSTARDOM WITH RIO, DURAN DURAN’S THIRD ALBUM SAW THEM THREATENED WITH BECOMING VICTIMS OF THEIR OWN SUCCESS. IN DANGER OF BEING OVEREXPOSED, THE FIVEPIECE SAVED THEIR REPUTATIONS – AND THEIR MONEY – BY SPENDING THE YEAR ABROAD…

THE POWER AND THE GLORY

POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES MARKED THE MOMENT WHEN NEW ORDER FINALLY COMPLETED THE TRANSFORMATION FROM JOY DIVISION. IN THIS INTERVIEW FROM 2020, SYNTH-POP’S GOLDEN COUPLE, STEPHEN MORRIS AND GILLIAN GILBERT, TOGETHER FOR OVER 40 YEARS, TOLD CLASSIC POP THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LANDMARK ALBUM.

GILBERT’S GUIDE?

Stephen Morris’ memoir Fast Forward about his New

MORE POWER, MORE CORRUPTION

2020’s boxset of Power, Corruption & Lies was

ANOTHER OTHER TWO?

During New Order’s breaks in the 90s, Stephen

COLOUR BY NUMBERS CULTURE CLUB

THEY WERE ONE OF THE MOST COLOURFUL ACTS OF THE DECADE, YET THE VIBRANCY AND MELODIES OF CULTURE CLUB’S SECOND OPUS BELIED THE HEARTACHE AND TENSIONS THAT INSPIRED IT – WITH THEIR FLAMBOYANT FRONTMAN’S SPOTLIGHT SHINING A LITTLE TOO BRIGHTLY FOR HIS BANDMATES…

POP ART

BY 1983, MANY CLASSIC POP ARTISTS OF THE 80S WERE SETTLING INTO THE MAINSTREAM, PERFECTING THEIR SOUND USING BOLD AND BRAVE VISUALS TO PACKAGE WHAT WOULD BECOME SOME OF THE BEST ALBUMS OF THEIR CAREERS

SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS) EURYTHMICS

STIFLED AND FRUSTRATED BY THEIR TIME IN THE TOURISTS, DAVE STEWART AND ANNIE LENNOX PACKED THEIR BAGS TO FORM EURYTHMICS. WITH A NEW SOUND AND A NEW IMAGE, THEIR SECOND ALBUM BROUGHT THEM SUCCESS BEYOND THEIR WILDEST DREAMS…

SHY BOY

IN THE 40 YEARS SINCE TOO SHY BECAME A SMASH, NICK BEGGS HAS PLAYED WITH ABC, BELINDA CARLISLE AND HOWARD JONES, AS WELL AS BEING A DISTINCTIVE BASS PRESENCE IN PROG WITH STEVEN WILSON, STEVE HACKETT AND HIS OWN BANDS, THE MUTE GODS AND TRIFECTA. DESPITE THE PAIN OF THEIR TIME TOGETHER, NICK TELLS CLASSIC POP HE KNOWS HE’LL ALWAYS BE ASSOCIATED WITH KAJAGOOGOO…

Paul Young VIVA NO PARLEZ

IT’S 40 YEARS SINCE PAUL YOUNG’S BLUE-EYED-SOUL POP CLASSIC NO PARLEZ SAILED TO UK NO.1. IN THIS ARCHIVE INTERVIEW, HE TELLS CLASSIC POP ABOUT HIS CAREER AND HOW HE SWAPS ONE HAT FOR ANOTHER AS A MEMBER OF A TEX-MEX BAND…

1983 TOP 20 SINGLES

1983 ANNOUNCED THE ARRIVAL OF MADONNA, HOWARD JONES, CYNDI LAUPER, WHAM! AND BANANARAMA, WHILE SPANDAU, DURAN AND EURYTHMICS BROKE BIG. CLASSIC POP SURVEYS THE FRUITS OF A TRULY BOUNTIFUL YEAR FOR SINGLES TO WHITTLE IT DOWN TO JUST 20…

SHE’S SO UNUSUAL CYNDI LAUPER

SHE EMERGED AS THE FUN-LOVING QUEEN OF QUIRKY POP, FAMED FOR HER WACKY OUTFITS AND CRAZY-COLOURED HAIR, BUT CYNDI LAUPER’S DEBUT ALBUM REVEALED HER TO BE SO MUCH MORE THAN HER PUBLIC PERSONA HINTED AT

NOW & THEN

NOW THAT ’ SW HAT I C ALLM USIC! WA S M ANYPEOPLE’ SI NTRODUCTIONTOC HART M USICW HENTHEYW EREY OUNG. C LASSICPOPTRACESTHESTORY O FTHEBIGD ADDYO FA LLC OMPILAT I ONSERIES. . .

TOP 15 POP COMPILATIONS

NOW THAT’S WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT! CLASSIC POP COMPILES A BEST OF COUNTDOWN OF THE BEST OF COMPILATIONS... EVER

FANTASTIC WHAM!

SPEEDOS, SHUTTLECOCKS AND EXUBERANT, LIFE-AFFIRMING TUNES – WHEN GEORGE MICHAEL AND ANDREW RIDGELEY EXPLODED ONTO THE SCENE WITH THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, THE POP WORLD DIDN’T QUITE KNOW WHAT HAD HIT IT

LIVING THE HIGH LIFE

IN THIS 2018 INTERVIEW, MARTYN WARE LEADS US INTO TEMPTATION AS HE TELLS THE STORY OF THE LUXURY GAP

THE HURTING TEARS FOR FEARS

BEFORE SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR, 1983’S THE HURTING INTRODUCED THE WORLD TO A BAND THAT BLENDED BLEAK MUSINGS ON THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA WITH A RAZOR-SHARP SYNTH-POP INSTINCT AND HIGH-END PRODUCTION VALUES. THE RESULT: A CLASSIC…

ZANG TUUM TUMB

RECORD LABEL PROFILE

ART OF NOISE

TREVOR HORN AND PAUL MORLEY JOINED THREE OF HORN’S REGULAR COLLABORATORS – GARY LANGAN, JJ JECZALIK AND ANNE DUDLEY – TO FORM AVANT-GARDE EXPERIMENTALISTS ART OF NOISE. THE BAND BECAME ZTT’S FIRST SIGNING IN 1983…

PROPAGANDA

THE GERMAN SYNTH-POP COMBO – RALF DÖRPER, ANDREAS THEIN, SUSANNE FREYTAG AND, LATER, CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN AND MICHAEL MERTENS, WERE THE SECOND BAND TO JOIN ZTT. JOURNALIST CHRIS BOHN, WHO WORKED AT THE NME, HAD CHAMPIONED THE BAND’S MUSIC TO PAUL MORLEY AND THEY WERE SIGNED IN 1983.

808 STATE

TAKING THEIR NAME FROM THE ROLAND TR-808 DRUM MACHINE, THE MANCUNIAN ELECTRO KINGS CAPTURED THE UNDERGROUND RAVE ETHOS AND TURNED IT INTO OVERGROUND CHART SUCCESS. THEY SIGNED TO ZTT IN 1990.

Q&A TOM BAILEY

PREVIOUSLY A CULT PROPOSITION ACROSS THE ALBUMS A PRODUCT OF… AND SET, US HIT IN THE NAME OF LOVE INSPIRED TOM BAILEY TO TRANSFORM THOMPSON TWINS FROM A SEVEN-PIECE CULT COLLECTIVE INTO A STREAMLINED POP TRIO FEATURING ALANNAH CURRIE AND JOE LEEWAY ON 1983 CLASSIC QUICK STEP & SIDE KICK. TOM REFLECTS ON THE PRICE OF HARD WORK AND WHY HE’S EAGER TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME ON HIS RETURN TO POP.

CLASS OF ’83 BEST OF THE REST

WITH SPACE AT A PREMIUM AND SO MUCH MAGIC TO COVER, WE FELT IT PRUDENT TO GIVE KUDOS TO SOME OF THE OTHER REMARKABLE LONG-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR – MANY OF THEM DESERVING A FAR MORE GENEROUS PORTION OF THE SPOTLIGHT…

CLASSIC POP MOMENT

DURANMANIA GOES GLOBA L 12 NOVEMBER 1983 1983