80s Empire
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80s music, 80s style, 80s life. By Huw Collingbourne - writer of novels and programming books, one-time magazine columnist, occasionally editor and publisher, aikido sensei, online educator, and software developer.
80s Empire
2y ago
They're back! Well, Three out of four are, anyhow. Bucks Fizz have reunited (though they've dropped the Bucks and are now calling themselves The Fizz) and are recording their first album for 30 years. Original members Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston and Mike Nolan are joined by Bobby McVay to make up the reformed quartet. This is the first single release. What do you think ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
Gender Bending in the 1980s! If you've read my 80s Murder Mystery novels, you may wonder why Brigitte's pronouns keep changing. Here's an insight ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
If you want a good 80s fix may I humbly suggest my three 80s Murder Mysteries. The narrator of these novels is a pop music journalist (just like I was) in the early 1980s. In fact, I've done my best to describe the music scene, the clubs of early 80s London exactly as I experienced them - plus a few murders! If you want a fun 80s read, give them a try!
More info here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MQYB837 ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
This week in 1983 I went to a gym in Covent Garden to do a photo feature on Jay Aston from Buck's Fizz. I only mention that because it gives me an excuse to show you one of the photos I took ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
Rewind The 80s Music Festival, promises three UK festivals for summer 2020. Tickets for all festivals go on sale at 10am on Thursday 30th January 2020 via the official festival website www.rewindfestival.com.
Rewind Scotland will celebrate its 10-year-anniversary at Scone Palace in Perth from Friday 17th – Sunday 19th July 2020. On Friday 31st July 2020, Rewind North returns to Capesthorne Hall in Macclesfield and concludes on Sunday 2nd August 2020. Rewind South will round up the 80s summer celebrating everything 80s at Temples Island Meadows in Henley-on-Thames from Friday 14th – 16th Augu ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
The BBC has put together a nice collection of celebrities behaving badly. Although bad behaviour wasn’t confined to the 1980s, that decade did give us some classic examples. I won’t give the game away, but if you head over to the BBC site you can watch some classic examples of celebs screwing up (and being slagged off by viewers) from the likes of Captain Sensible, Joe Cocker, New Kids On The Block, Feargal Sharkey and the ever-popular phone-in with Matt Bianco. And just in case that isn’t enough, here are a few more ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
Why was the 80s pop magazine, Flexipop!, seized by the police? And why was hard-rock singer, Zodiac Mindwarp, working in a Flexipop! basement room? Here's the lowdown from someone who was there at the time ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
My latest video explains how I went aboyut doing interviews in the 80s. This includes some audio clips from interviews I did with Adam Ant and Sheen Easton.
  ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
Ah, the glamour! The celebrities! The music! The nightclubs!
So what was it really like to be a pop music journalist in the days of the New Romantics? I've just started a new YouTube channel that will explain everything. If you've read any of my '80s Murder Mysteries' novels, these videos will explain some of the real-life background. Be sure to subscribe so that you will receive notification whenever I post some new videos. Here are the first three ..read more
80s Empire
2y ago
One of the joys of being a pop journalist in the early '80s was being given promotional items by record companies. Often these were rather boring singles or albums. The ones that were really fun, though, were the picture disks. My favourite picture disk of all was this one to promote Divine’s Walk Like A Man.
Supposedly in the shape of men’s underpants, this featured Divine trying to rip the trunks off a hunky young man (according to the credits on the disc, Divine’s ‘playmate’ was Scott McCray). Anyway, this is one of my most treasured items of early '80s pop junk.
And here’s the song it ..read more