This article was in a book I got as a present along with some cassettes back in Christmas 1984 As the book was part of a Sony promotion it isn't surprising that the emphasis is on the Sony Tape range. Although the book was labelled as being £3.95, in practice it was given away with packs of Sony tape. It was quite heavily advertised, featuring in the December Issue of Smash Hits magazine. It is certainly an interesting snapshot of Pop Music back in 1984 (despite the name there isn't much Rock in it). Elton John is in the "Evergreens" section while Wham are portrayed as one of the latest bands. Madonna doesn't even get a mention. I am not aware that they ever did any other years. A different advert is in the Woolworths Christmas Special Smash Hits magazine. To add to the mysteries of cassette tapes there are four different adverts from rival tape manufacturers in that. I will post them in the media section. I wonder how many millions of tapes Woolworths used to sell each Christmas. It is not surprising that they went bankrupt when thing started to move online just after they became increasing focused on Media sales. Those adverts came from Brian McCloskey's amazing Smash Hits archive on flickr. If you have any interest in 1980s UK pop then it is well worth a look. https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/collections/72157622124067234/ Happy Christmas everyone
Yes. If you are a fan here is the article about them from the book. A couple of years ago I saw Holly Johnson when he headlined at Lets Rock Southampton. He put on a great show.
I watched the Bands Reunited Show on YouTube a few weeks ago. Most of us in the US were under the assumption a few of them had died in the late 80's and I've never seen them tour here in the last 25 years, that album was huge when it broke in the 80's but like a lot of new wave bands they fell off the earth and we never heard what happened to them.
Here is a picture of Holly from the concert back in 2016 It appears that like so many bands FGTH weren't talking to each other after three years of fame https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Johnson Another group who played at Lets Rock was 3/4 of Bucks Fizz, who until they started using the name "The Fizz" had to be billed as "Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston formerly of Bucks Fizz" as they don't have the right to use the Bucks Fizz name. Back to Holly, he had a couple of top five hits in 1989 then, as Wikipedia, shows didn't trouble the charts again. You have to admire people like Madonna and Kylie who mange to keep reinventing themselves and stay relevant. I suppose it is easier when you only have to answer to yourself.
