WIAA: Alyson, oh Alyson…?
ALYSON: Yep, still here WIAA, just not in the right headspace for blogging at the moment. Being a bit of a worrywart (understatement) I’m not sleeping very well. All down to what you would call First World problems, but try telling your head that at 3am.
WIAA: Sorry to hear that Alyson. Maybe a bit of light blogging would help.
ALYSON: You know what WIAA, I was just thinking that myself, so good on you for giving me a nudge. Maybe better to do a bit of blogging during the night, than fail miserably in getting some shut-eye (whoever devised counting sheep as an effective technique obviously wasn’t a worrywart). Also, the blogging community is always really supportive, so don’t think my lovely followers will judge me too harshly on whatever I come up with.
WIAA: Damn straight Alyson. Go for it.
ALYSON: Something I’ve been doing to while away the wee small hours, is read books on rock and pop nostalgia, and I have three by my bedside at the moment. I’ve discovered so many new bits and pieces hitherto unknown to me, so maybe worth sharing them with you WIAA, and whoever else drops by here.
WIAA: Ah, I see another David Hepworth book there and I know you’ve shared some of his other works here before, so you must enjoy what he does.
ALYSON: I certainly do and as a writer I think he is exceptional. More words have been added to my “new words notebook” from his books than from any others of late. He doesn’t set out to be pretentiously clever, so when he uses a phrase like “a phalanx of fruggers” it describes a scene perfectly. (Essentially people dancing in formation, but soooo much more.)
WIAA: That’s a good title for his book Alyson, a fine play on words, and of course the subtitle says it all: How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America.
ALYSON: It’s a great summing up of just what happened, starting with the British Invasion of 1964, led by the Beatles, and ending with the events of 1983 when a second British Invasion took place spearheaded by bands like Culture Club. Did you know WIAA, that in July 1983, there were 18 British-originated singles in the American Top 40? That was even more than the 14 back in June 1965 after Beatlemania had taken hold. All because of MTV apparently, where British music videos reigned supreme. For the record, here is a clip of that first live performance by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, followed by Culture Club with their Karma Chameleon video. How things changed in just under a couple of decades. Such times.
That’s all for this time folks – just wanted to dip my toe back in the water and my blog usually does a good job of chivvying me up. I will return to my three favourite new books next time and pick something a bit more meaty to write about. Amazed considering my lack of sleep I got this far really but had to be done. Please bear with me.
Until next time…
I Want To Hold Your Hand Lyrics
(Song by John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Oh yeah, I’ll tell you something
I think you’ll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
Oh please, say to me
You’ll let me be your man
And please, say to me
You’ll let me hold your hand
You’ll let me hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
And when I touch you I feel happy
Inside
It’s such a feeling that my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
Yeah, you got that something
I think you’ll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
And when I touch you I feel happy
Inside
It’s such a feeling that my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
Yeah, you got that something
I think you’ll understand
When I feel that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
What's It All About? 
Hope things start to look up and sleep becomes a bit easier for you soon, Alyson. For years now, I’ve gone to sleep with one ear plugged into music. When I wake up in the night, I switch to one of my favourite radio shows on BBC Sounds. It helps calm my mind and divert the intrusive thoughts, but I know it won’t work for everyone.
Just added your three books to my investigate list.
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Thanks for the tip Rol. Yes, one of my techniques is to have the radio on softly in the background, acting as white noise really. I can still work out what some of the songs are though. We’re a right bunch of poor sleepers around here – is there a correlation I wonder.
All three books I enjoyed although Sweet Dreams is very lengthy, and lots of talking heads in book form really. I am realising now how little I knew about any of it when I started this blog. But I suppose that was the point of it – “What’s It All About?”
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Looks like WordPress is having a problem with commenters names. JC is having the same problem
Just finished reading Remain in Love by Chris Frantz of Talking Heads which I will blog about shortly.
CC
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Oh heck you’re right CC. I can see the names but not on the public site. Hope they can fix it.
Wouldn’t have known the name Chris Frantz actually but sounds like you enjoyed his book.
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It seems by Saturday the names reappeared – thank goodness.
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“How a few skinny Brits with bad teeth rocked America.” That’s maybe the best subtitle ever.
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It is a great subtitle Neil, although I did think it might offend my American followers by first drawing attention to the original phrase and then turning it around to our advantage! Obviously not.
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Sorry to hear you’ve not been sleeping, Alyson. Fingers crossed reading ‘Sweet Dreams’ will bring you sweet dreams of your own. Ernie
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Thanks Ernie, hopefully just temporary. As for Sweet Dreams, you would have thought it would work wonders, but alas no, very small print and lots packed into each page from various contributors so got to read it in short bursts. Definitely tells the story of a certain tribe through the years ‘83 to ‘85 though.
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From this side of the Atlantic, you might want to consider “Rock Me On The Water” by Ron Brownstein. Brownstein, normally a political journalist, chronicles the change that took place in Southern California starting in the mid 60s. He shares stories of Music, Film and Politics; describing how the ‘younger’ generation’ of the day was coming of age.. An interesting ‘look back’ at a time that many of us took for granted not knowing the significance of the change that was taking place.
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Hi Damian – Thanks very much for that recommendation as I’ve looked for it online, and see it covers the Laurel Canyon scene of which I am so fond. You are so right about us not often realising the significance of change until much later in life, as at the time we were just far too busy living through it. My books are all by Brits and told from a British perspective so not sure how you’d find them but knowing how you did live through the 1st British Invasion I think you’d like David Hepworth’s book.
I also see that Rock Me On The Water is a song by Jackson Browne – it’s a really great sounding one too.
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I really must remember that superb phrase “a phalanx of fruggers”, brilliant. Although not sure when I would be likely to use it…. And more books to check out – always good to get these recommendations, thank you.
But onto far more important issues – really hope you can get yourself some quality sleep and find some good coping strategies (keep trying the “filing cabinet”!)
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Ha ha, yes that phrase was in a previous book but I’ve never forgotten it – doubt if I’ll ever find a use for it but I now know exactly what both words mean, so you never know! Sweet Dreams covers the period 1975-85 so does cover a lot of punk/post-punk too but as I said above, it’s an intense read so got to attack it in short bursts.
As for the sleep, I’m really struggling with it and tonight I think it’s going to be really warm too. Am working on solutions and will drop you an email soon. Thanks for the advice as ever.
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I enjoyed your “light blogging” here, Alyson. I love that term, so well done WIAA. Sorry about your insomnia. Isn’t it nice to have a blog as a useful outlet for your energies? I hadn’t realized about the second British Invasion, although looking back to 1983 it’s obvious that musicians on your side of the pond were delivering the goods more consistently than my country(wo)men. It’s too bad an earlier Culture Club song wasn’t released in ’83, so you could have compared “I Want To Hold Your Hand” with “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” On a related note, my favorite Culture Club song is “Time.” One of the best singles from that era. I see they’re going out on tour again. Based on live clips I saw from a recent tour, Boy George’s voice has not held up. Too bad, because he had a fantastic voice in his prime.
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Hi Rich – thanks for dropping by.
Yes, I’m not myself at the moment it must be said so sorry I’ve not had time to visit your FYF series of late. As for 1983, it really was the year of the 2nd British Invasion with Duran Duran, Culture Club, Spandau Ballet etc doing really well – all to do the high production value videos they were making at the time shown on this new fangled thing called MTV. The CC video above is not that impressive in that it was shot in the south of England and definitely not the Mississippi but the videos by Duran Duran certainly were something else. I agree with you about Time – one of my favourites too. As artists get older the voice definitely goes a bit.
As for the 2nd British Invasion it was all over by 1985 by which time we had Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince and Springsteen filling your Billboard chart. The flouncy Brits were history!
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Hey Alyson, I’ll join the chorus hoping for your return to restfull sleep (hopefully resolved by now). Upon seeing the picture with the 3 books, I felt Sweet Dreams had promise as a good read on the story of the New Romantics. However, reading some of the comments and additional reviews online lead me to believe it might not hold up that promise. Oh well (shrugs), maybe you’ll blog more about it and let us know your thoughts. One comment I read was that it was more about clubs and the “scene” than it was about the music. At 600+ pages, that would probably be a hard pass for me. I do have a book called “I Want My MTV” by Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks that shows good promise. It is just a collection for interview quotes from artists, VJs, producers, etc strewn together in a thematic narrative. I read one of similar structure called “Nothin But a Good Time” about the 80s hard rock scene (i.e hair metal) and it was great fun. Hope “I Want My MTV” is more of the same.
Saw Rich’s comment and your response about Time (Clock of the Heart) by CC. I’m in the same boat with you and him–probably my favorite track by the band. Such a great single.
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Thanks for dropping by with this long comment! Yes Sweet Dreams a very long book so hard going. Thanks for your recommendation and yes, Time by CC is one of their best.
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Hey Aly, I hear you’re not very well, so just wanted to wish you a speedy recovery. Hope you’re back blogging again soon. Much love, Jez
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Thanks Jez. Sadly I think my blogging days are over for some time. One day perhaps.
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Hello Alyson, I’ve been dropping by periodically since your last post but haven’t for a couple of weeks as life here was severely limiting my blog reading (my commenting even more so). I was very sorry to read the last comment from Jez and your reply, indicating that things have been more not less challenging for you. Whilst it would be lovely to read new posts from you in the future, I hope you’re currently able to focus on your recovery and making progress, even if small steps at a time. That’s more important than anything else right now. Sending best wishes and good vibes your way.
And, not just to be controversial, I never cared much for Culture Club but The Martyr Mantras album that Boy George recorded as Jesus Loves You is one of my all-time favourites, an underrated classic!
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Surprise! I’m finally back with a reply to your comment three and a half months down the line. I’ve been in hospital for nearly 4 months but officially discharged today so hoping there will be no relapse and I continue to get better. I will probably write about it all in due course but breaking myself in gently with replying to comments that came in when I was out of action.
Can’t say I’ve ever heard of the Martyr Mantras album so will have to seek it out. I’ve always had a soft spot for George right from the beginning – he really was one of a kind and was so comfortable being interviewed when many of his contemporaries found it really difficult.
Thanks for thinking of me and for the good wishes.
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Hi Alyson. I see, from some comments below, that you’ve been having health issues. I hope you’re feeling better. Sending you best wishes. Neil
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Hi Neil – yes indeed I’ve been out of action for around 5 months now so the blog had to go into hibernation. I’m home now though and breaking myself in gently with replying to comments. Hoping to get back to adding new content soon.
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