— Alex Kadis
I'm on Twitter quite a bit (@PaulMargach, gimme a follow!) and I recently began participating in a challenge called #PopInjustice. Every day, we post a single that somehow missed the UK Top 40 and then moan about how moronic the British public were for spurning said record in favour of some giant pile of flaming crap from The Firm or Bombalurina. Of course, it's easy to bemoan a beloved flop but there are more factors at play than simply blaming a bunch of dumbass consumers and their lousy taste in music. Some records fail due to poor or nonexistent marketing, others because a lack of budget behind them. Some because of bad reviews, others because of pop stars refusing to play the game. And some just slip through the cracks.
This issue of Smash Hits includes a feature in Bitz about once-big pop acts that had disappeared but were back (BACK!). "Being a pop star," the piece begins, "is a lot like being the pilot of an interstellar vehicle that's a-whistlin' its way through the galaxies and byways of outer space, is it not?" The intro goes on to describe the pop life as reaching the heavens before slipping into a black hole, never to be heard from again. But some manage to climb their way out of ver hole and the Hits was determined to celebrate them all! "Returning" are Marc Almond, Dead or Alive, Europe, Billy Mackenzie, Spandau Ballet, Midge Ure and Nick Heyward. All had once enjoyed pop success (Almond, Mackenzie, Ure and Heyward with Soft Cell, The Associates, Ultravox and Haircut One Hundred respectively) but their fortunes had begun to dry up more recently. Of this lot, only Almond would enjoy a sustained return to the charts while the rest would return to the black hole from which they crawled out of. Or something.
I was a bit hard on Nick the last time he came up in this space (let me just say that I wrote it in haste at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea just prior to taking a lengthy trip back to Canada for a visit and my lack of consideration clearly shows; I'll be revising it at some point in the future) despite the fact that I've long been fond of Haircut One Hundred and "Love Plus One" in particular. But being only four or five years old back in their Pelican West heyday, I wouldn't discover them until much later. It was only in 1988 that I started to become aware of Heyward and it was all because of Smash Hits.
"You're My World" is practically the definition of the term 'radio friendly' but I never heard it at the time. I would be starting school in Billericay, Essex in September so perhaps I missed Heyward's "comeback" record playing during the day. He also appeared on Wogan at around this time but we were a family still trying to work out English culture and what happened to be on the telly (my parents gravitated first towards sitcoms like Square Deal and No Frills). If he did happen to pop up on Saturday pop-centred show Going Live, I wouldn't have seen it since my parents were determined to spend as many weekends away from our sad little Basildon hovel as possible. In effect, this was a single that existed only on the pages of Smash Hits — even though I was still a fortnight away from discovering the magazine at all. (My real introduction to Nick would be in reviews of the sadly overlooked I Love You Avenue album and in a future Single of the Fortnight that I'll be getting to before long)
"You're My World" doesn't crop up on any of Heyward's compilations which makes me wonder if he has a low opinion of his work from this time. While the eccentricities of his Haircut One Hundred material have been ironed out, this is still the work of an exceptional craftsman. The early eighties for many songwriters had been about mixing indie curios with jazz and funk influences and his resulted in the rise of acts such as Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout. By the end of the decade, much of this quirky pop had transformed into smooth sophisti-pop with groups like Breathe and Johnny Hates Jazz and Living in a Box dulling what had come before. Heyward still looked to sixties pop for inspiration while also adding touches of synth-pop and even a sly bit of Stock Aitken Waterman to keep things current (those generic backing vocals on the chorus are straight out of the SAW playbook, though they were also being used by the Pet Shop Boys).
The single slipped by this young Canadian who had just arrived in the UK and hadn't yet begun to explore the charts. As for everyone else, there may be all sorts of reasons they chose to take a pass on "You're My World". But we all missed out. Great singles by gifted songwriters don't come along all the time. We would have to wait until the next time Nick Heyward would be back (BACK!).
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Level 42: "Heaven in My Hands"
A consistent chart act coming off their biggest album, it probably seemed like the good times were only going to continue for the jazz funksters, especially with this being best single they'd ever release. Little did they know it was beginning to wind down. "Heaven in My Hands" got snapped up by loyal Level 42 fans but neutrals weren't having it and it quickly slid down the charts. Considering the abundance of pop hooks, strong metal influence and a nice horn section, you'd think they were open for business to as many listeners as possible. (Even Bros bassist Craig Logan constantly bringing up his idol Mark King in interviews didn't help them reach a new audience; though, in fairness, "Ken" was the one that no one paid any attention to) All over the place in 1987, it's possible that people had had enough of them a year later but, yet again, they were the ones missing out. The black hole of pop beckoned.
No comments:
Post a Comment