Babylon (1980)
directed by Franco Rosso.  Written by Franco Rosso and Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia), and shot by two-time Academy Award winner Chris Menges  (The Killing Fields), Babylon is an incendiary portrait of racial tension and police brutality set in Brixton, London. The film, anchored by Dennis Bovell’s propulsive score, is partly based on Bovell’s false imprisonment for running a Jamaican sound system, Sufferer’s Hi Fi, in the mid-70s.

We constantly hear stories and watch films about Thatcher-era Britannia from the early Punk-era to the mayhem in the football stands.  Skinheads, Suedeheads, Rudeboys, New Romantics, Yardies, Casuals and the like; diversity and culture brewing from the melting pot that is the streets of England. One group to have a major influence on culture in Britain was the first and second generation of British Jamaicans. Jamaican style and music was a crucial inspiration to working class youths of the era; early Rocksteady rhythms of the Bob Marley & the Wailers, Desmond Dekker, Derrick Morgan, Symarip and The Ethiopians, sweeping into the hearts & minds of British working-class youths. Later, Sound System culture and eventually DUB with remixes and arrangements from King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry, Scientist, Mad Professor and others were the rage. It wasn’t just cool, it was ITAL. It wasn’t just the Beatles and Bowie, it was Spliffs, Ganja, Rastafarianism; it was Black and Caribbean and unapologetic/authentic.  

Babylon was a renegade film showcasing how those sounds woven themselves into the fabric of British youth in opposition of racist pushback from ignorant conservative norms of the time. The time of filming was especially ripe in the center of racial tensions. Production headquarters were in an abandoned warehouse and most of the shoot locations in Brixton were kept under wraps from the media and general public due to the themes depicted in the film.

This is considered one of British cinemas best features and has been praised by critics including myself since its release.

I being a former Fred Perry fresh-cut at one time and growing up during heated racial tensions in NYC can fully identify and relate to the confusion, aggravation and disillusionment of the main characters. This film is independent filmmaking at its finest; made exquisite by its soundtrack provided by reggae and dub artists such as Yabby U, I-Roy, Aswad, and Dennis Bovell.

Total runtime is 95 minutes.

Highly recommended for fans of Beat Street and Coolie High.

Stay Fresh, Stay Cool, and Stay Safe out there. But, always, always keep your finger on that REWIND button.

What’ve you got to share and recommend to your fans and readers?

I went for an album that takes me back to a time I cherished as a kid in the eighties. It’s an album that influenced me a lot. It reminds me of my youth but It’s not something I grew up listening to. I am an Eighties kid but I didn’t fully experience the decade the same way some of my older peers in Valerie did. I was seven years old at the end of the decade, so I didn’t experience all that much from the Eighties, besides kids’ stuff like Chantal Goya (singer), Récré A2 (a Children’s TV program in the 70s and 80s) and Dorothée (French Children’s TV show presenter whose shows helped popularize Japanese Animation in France).

The album I picked is Neurovision by Telex. I discovered this album around the same time the Valerie Collective started, when David (aka College) was just launching his blog. At the time, the Internet wasn’t as developed as it is now. The first version of Valérie was like a moodboard where we’d post stuff we liked; stuff related to Italo Disco, film stills, photos and illustrations from the Eighties… I discovered Telex during one of my internet scavenger hunts through their song ‘Peanuts’.

They’re kind of a Belgian “Joke” band, a trio made up of Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers. Marc Moulin is very famous in Beligum, he’s a radio guy who later became a Jazzman who signed to Blue Note records. He’s also the guy who produced Lio’s first hit songs like ‘Banana Split’. They released this sophomore record in 1980, which is seen as some sort of “joke” project in which they were just messing around, although I don’t quite agree with this point of view. The album is definitely a joke with a heavy concentrate of Belgian absurdist humor. There’s a very creative aspect to it, where they’ll allow themselves to go down the wackiest routes whilst keeping the execution top-notch. Marc Moulin handles the arrangements and is an amazing pianist. Dan Lacksman handles the studio machinery and is a bloody amazing sound engineer. Michel Moers is a poet who doesn’t sing all that well but whose lyrics skillfully dance at the edge separating the absurd and the ridiculous. The album art is also fantastic and was done by an artist called Ever Meulen, who has an Eighties Clear Line style (see: Ligne Claire).

The album has this extremely tacky track called ‘Euro-vision’ that the group presented at the 1980 Eurovision contest. They entered the contest hoping to score no points but missed their goal because Portugal actually liked the song and awarded them ten points. Their performance was pure nonsense and they were really struggling to keep it together. It’s hard to be truly, completely ridiculous. They even took a photo at the end of their set with the flabbergasted audience. With that being said, the lyrics to the song weren’t all that dumb.

The album also has two tracks that I really love. There’s ‘My Time’, which is an Ann Steel cover song. It’s very Synthpop, the arrangements are great and Moers puts on a great performance. Then there’s ‘Plus de Distance’, which is a completely absurd, neo-romantic Synthpop track about airports. It’s one of my go-to songs. It’s tacky but cool. It’s so well done, that the tacky side doesn’t come off as ridiculous.

This is part of the reason why I wanted to bring up Telex. These guys were off the rails but put were doing it extremely well. They would leave the beaten tracks with their musical background and weren’t tied down by musical labels.

Their albums Wonderful World and Looney Tunes were somewhat foundational to the New Beat sound, this short-lasting Belgian music style that marked the clubs of the era. It’s a style somewhere between Hip-hop and early techno, hardcore and Gabber. Telex was somewhat swept up by the movement. By simply fooling around, they ended up innovating and laying the foundation for a number of music genres.

Legend has it that New Beat came from a mistake, that it came from a DJ accidentally spinning a 12” LP at 33Rpm. The movement only lasted a few years. Near the end, everyone was sampling one another. New Beat is basically the same sound sampled a thousand times over. It made no sense, but it didn’t matter.

How does this whacky sense of humor translate, forty years later?

That’s the thing. It’s hard to figure out which parts were tongue-in-cheek. It’s the same deal with Lio. ‘Banana Split’ works because it’s super catchy. For a song meant for radio airplay, it’s really well composed and put together. However, lyrics are pretty salacious, especially when you consider that it’s a 16-year-old singing them. It’s very borderline. It’s a joke, but it’s very well produced. That’s what Telex is.

It may be a joke, but it’s super well done and it’s got a lot of Synth sounds that you still hear nowadays in Synthwave and Synthpop. Even in modern productions like Cléa Vincent, you can hear Telex-like gimmicks such as Jazzy, Moog-esque touches and liquid, resonant sound textures.

There’s a tacky side to Synthwave that artists more or less own up to. We’re borrowing from the Eighties, one of the richest but also one of the worst musical eras, creativity-wise. One of our neighbours played some Jeanne Mas at a quarantine balcony party recently, for example. Her music is tacky, but her songs have some amazing synth sounds that everyone still uses in Synthwave: Fairlight, Jupiter…

Going back to the Valerie collective, do you remember what you were initially after when you started the blog?

I can’t speak for David, and he’s the one who launched the blog. For me, it was the Italian producers like Moroder that fascinated me. John Carpenter’s films came up a lot, too. I remember Valérie being heavily soundtrack-oriented. The goal was to dig up obscure, outdated and occasionally tacky stuff. I remember someone bringing up the credit sequence to Buckaroo Banzai, for example. It’s quite simply the worst movie scene of all time. It’s ridiculous, it’s extremely tacky, but the music is awesome!

Speaking of which, can you tell me a bit about the Hollywood films and series you grew up on?

This is going to sound basic, but the first film that really left an impression on me was Back to the Future II. My friend has loads of VHS tapes, but he only had the second movie in his collection. I watched that film so many times. There was also Quantum Leap, this series by Donald P. Bellisario about this time traveller who needs to take people’s place in order to influence history and return to his era. The guy used all of these silly tricks to replace people and he had this hologram guiding him around that only he could see. Like everyone else, I was also into Star Wars, too. My dad used to watch Miami Vice a lot, which ended up leaving quite an impression on me, especially the flamingos, the parrots and the sailboard in the opening sequence. I came back to it pretty late and started watching it again around the time we started Valérie, which is when I realized how groundbreaking the writing and the music were for its time.

Could it be where the ‘neon’ aspect of Valerie came from?

Actually, we were never really into that aesthetic. Alex Burkart from The Zonders, who is our graphic designer, was probably more into that kind of thing. I think he might have gotten that reference through the world video games. We were more inspired by photos. Stuff like Venice Beach, Florida, architecture…

Lastly, have you got any news or projects to share with your fans and readers?

Lately, I’ve been using my time to finalize some unreleased club-oriented tracks that I’ve been playing at my last few shows. I also got some new hardware and exploring some more Ambient sounds. We recently did this show at La Gaîté Lyrique (Paris) with David (College) for the French premiere of Rise of the Synths. I had prepared a few soundtrack/ambient oriented pieces for the occasion with my new setup, and I’d like these tracks to have a life of their own. The reason why I felt like talking about Telex is also that I’m thinking about going down a more ‘simple’ route. I want to move away from the hassle of production and getting clean sounds and focus on the purely creative side of things. That’s where I’m at right now.

Thumbnail photo by @onedaystranger

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Starring Chuck Norris, Karen Carlson and Lee Van Cleef. It was directed by Eric Karson and written by Paul Aaron and Leigh Chapman. It was filmed in Los Angeles, California and released on August 14, 1980. It is notable for its inventive use of ‘voice over’ effects to portray the inner life of Chuck Norris’s character, Scott James. This was actor Richard Norton’s (China O’Brien series, Blood of Heroes, Lady Dragon, Rage and Honor 2) film debut.
 
Years before the phrase “domestic terrorism” was a household phrase or quick youtube clickbait video, a group of filmmakers took it upon themselves to create the Martial Arts cult classic and possibly the best ninja film ever made in the States.

Scott James was raised by his adoptive Japanese father alongside his half-brother Seikuro in the ways of Ninjitsu without all that Naruto melodrama. After Scott surpasses his brother in all tests Seikuro lashes out against his brother and is disowned by their father and cast out. From then on – “He is no longer your brother, he is your enemy”.

Flash forward to the present day (late 70’s or 1980) Scott is now a retired World Karate Champion and after an evening at a dance party, he meets a young dancer and escorts her home where they are attacked by burglars. Scott quickly defeats them and is shocked to discover that they are not burglars but ninjas. But, ninjas don’t exist anymore except for the only two left – him and his brother.

After a series of assassinations and acts of terror, it has become common knowledge in Covert circles that there is a secret training camp where soldiers are being kidnapped and forced into prison camps where they are trained in the ways of the ninja and radicalized if not forced into acts of terrorism under threats to their families and loved ones.
 

Considered the best of the NINJA craze as well the first to bring the ninja into American Pop Culture. The Octagon is responsible for spawning numerous copycat films, merchandise explosions and the rise in sales of Jika-tabi shoes and the appearance of cheap kitana swords over fireplaces and mantles throughout the 1980’s. If it were not for The Octagon there would be no Sho Kosugi, Micheal Dudikoff, David Bradley; there would be no mania over ninjas in video games like Shinobi, Ninja Gaidan, Stryder and there would be no Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and no Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe. Ninja toys, uniforms and schools popped up all across the Country if not the Western Hemisphere. Common people could name weapons and articles of clothing just by sight alone. It was a treasure hunt to venture into your cities Chinatown to seek out gear like Nunchuks, Sai’s, Swords, Grappling Hooks, Shurikens (Yes, you could buy actual Shurikens back in the day) and literature.

The Octagon stands alone among other films in its genre because of its tone, subject matter and lack of self-deprecation, It’s an actual film. The use of voice over delivered with an echo effect gives the film an almost ethereal tension as Chuck Norris’ character battles his own emotions and demons ; should he kill his brother or not.

In the meantime – don’t lose hope, don’t fear the reaper, and don’t dishonor your families or your home and whatever you do… Don’t ever take your fingers off the Rewind Button.

What inspired you to create a documentary about the synthwave scene?

I get this question lately a lot, I assume people find it weird to do a documentary about a niche underground movement, but it just came very naturally to me. I’ve always been interested in music, I played (very badly) guitar when I was a teenager, and I grew up with the 90s MTV, my own visual universe it’s heavily influenced by music videos narrative. My previous documentary titled “Trovadores” (“Trobadours” in english) was a portrait of the underground figure in it’s relationship with its own town. So for me, it’s kind of a natural path to follow.

But for synthwave, it just came by surprise. Three years ago, Ricardo Baeza, a street photographer friend of mine send me a track for putting in a promo I was doing for his “Urbacide” project. I click on the first link and I hear this intro from Cobra (the movie) when Cobretti enters the supermarket and say “I don’t deal with psychos, I put them away”. Then I listen to this cheesy synths and look at the title of the video: “Cobretti” – 80s Stallone. I was like WTF is that? As a 90s grunge guy I felt pure rejection towards it, but as a filmmaker the visuals kept my attention. I didn’t pay too much attention then, but I was at that time working on a screenplay for a feature film, i needed to change the focus, and music is very important for me when I’m writing, it puts you in some particular mood. So a few days later I went back to 80s stallone and related videos, and I started to build a playlist to write along. After two weeks I was sold to this music.

But as filmmaker, what I really found interesting, was the lack of documentation. Three years ago you googled “synthwave” and there was almost nothing to look for in terms of “story”, blank page. And I looked at the number of plays on youtube, bandcamp and so much comments and engagement in the community, that I thought it was more than just a deep web revival trend. And so much mystery and not knowing anything about the artists (faceless, no interviews on video, no pics, etc…) had more appealing to me. I started to look closely to it and tried to document myself. So I started to email some artists, just in case, and three years later here we are.

Who was the first synthwave artist you followed?

Dance with the Dead, MN84 and 80s Stallone.

What is your favorite synthwave album?

It’s complicated to just pick one, but it’ll probably be “Turbulence” from MN84, as it was the first synthwave album that really grab my attention as a whole. I used to listen a lot in my car and it definitely was a turning point for me in really paying attention to this music seriously. Another of my favs are “Secret diary” by College, “Near Dark” by DWTD and “Calico Noir” by OGRE.

The list of artists you are interviewing is quite expansive. I’m sure it becomes easier and easier to get interviews as the project gains steam, but was it difficult at first?

We’re very proud about our lineup. But at the beginning it was really hard to get them because of the aversion some of them have to media. They prefer to let the music talk, and I understand that’s a huge part of the scene personality, the kind of “anonymous” thing. So I had to build some trust, some confidence. I was very concerned to be considered as a newcomer that wanted to cannibalize their work. I really love this music, I just want to make the world more aware of it. But for the most part, all the artists have been very open, honest, respectful to our idea and have quickly engaged in the project. I’m very thankful for that.

Of course, after the first lineup announcement, it became much easier to involve more artists.

Is this your first time creating a documentary?

No, it’s my second feature documentary.  My previous feature documentary titled “Trovadores” (“Trobadours” in english) was a portrait of the underground figure in it’s relationship with its own town. https://youtu.be/RZH63Iv4NkE

Rise of the Synths appears to be a highly stylized experience, blending narrative and documentary. Why choose to create a documentary in this way?

I just don’t like regular on-camera interview types of documentaries. If you’re doing some kind of journalistic approach it’s fine and it’s a safe path to follow. But I don’t do that. I like to try to bring out the inner world of the artists I’m documenting. And sometimes you just need to watch and let it roll. The fiction part came also very naturally. I felt the film needed this cinematic approach and some kind of element that serve as nexus between all of the artists and their own worlds and places. We needed to find a common semantic to all of them, regardless of the language they speak. This music is inspired by late 70s and 80s pop culture, so an anti-hero was an obvious choice. A tough guy, lonely, with a mission: so we created the “Synth Rider” character, the watcher of the Master’s legacy. He’s a metaphor of the grassroot movement, created naturally over a decade through the internet.

Will any retro films be influencing the look of the Rise of the Synths? Which ones?

The list would be endless. “Thief”, “Blade Runner”, “Mad Max”, “Driver”, “Live and die in L.A.”, “The hitcher”, to name a few. But if I had to pick visually one of my main influences for this documentary, I’ll say a mix of Michael Mann and Tony Scott.

The perks on the Kickstarter are awesome! If you were a fan, and not a director, what perk would you sign up for?

“Master” is an amazing perk. If I had to go lower, “Connor” and “Cobretti” are some of my favs. But if I had to pick one, and I was just a fan, I’ll say: wait to see the artists bundles of your favorite artists in our lineup, it’s going to be a very unique thing, a rare opportunity to grab some of their stuff. one of the things I love about this documentary is that the artists are so engaged in the making, they know how hard it’s been for us to try to fund it, and they’re helping us all the way they can. And they’re offering some amazing one-time only things, that will probably will never be able to get otherwise. We have for example two artists that are going to offer their last copy of one of their albums (signed), something that they own because there’s no other physical copy in the world. We’re very lucky.

As the Graphic Novel Editor at NRW, I have to ask. What will the comic book perk entail?

We want to make a very unique thing. it’s on development, but basically it’s the Synth Rider’s story; his adventures in an epic 80s world, protecting the Master’s legacy.

We have been lucky enough to work with David Lopez (who has worked in DC and Marvel) on the draws for the Synth Rider’s poster we’re offering in the perks. We want to continue to work with him in the comic book, and he proposed a suitable narrator, but it’s too early to say more about this. But as all thing involved in this project, we want this to kick ass.

Where do you see the synthwave scene going in the future?

Hard to say, I’m just a filmmaker who fell in love with this music. So, as a filmmaker what I could say, is that a lot of this composers are talented to score feature films. I’ll love to get more scores like “Drive”, “Maniac” “Lost River” or “It follows”. But as a scene, I don’t know, it has evolved a lot since it started, you can hardly keep up with so many new music being uploaded everyday, and the quality rise is unquestionable. I’ll say that some of these bands (that put vocals in their music) could reach some mainstream attention, but I doubt it’ll become mainstream as a whole. It’s a weird music for this modern world, and that’s part of its appeal. I’ll love to hear more of this on the radio, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. But just as a note, some months ago I was shooting a video for an urban art festival, and one of the painters was listening to “Lazerhawk”, I just went to him and said: “Do you like synthwave?”, and he look at me like “wtf are you talking about?”, “it’s Lazerhawk”, I said, and he goes: “Oh, I don’t know the name, I found it in youtube. I just fucking love this shit.”. So I feel it’s reaching far away now.

What is one thing you would like our readers to know if they are on the fence about contributing to the Kickstarter campaign?  

Just look at the teaser: it’s just a 2 min. dream of a truly devoted team. And it’s just a teaser shoot on what we had at our reach, so expect something incredible if we make it happen with an adequate funding. This music is passion, there’s no middle point: you love it or you hate it. If you love it, don’t overthink: help us to make it happen, because otherwise a project like this one it’s hardly going to happen anytime soon.

If I had to put something on the table: there’s some iconic names from the late 70s and the 80s that are aware of the project and are willing to be involved if the film is fully funded and goes in production. For a lot of reasons we can’t unveil the names, but you should trust us if I said: you’ll not be disappointed. If people knew, we’ll probably be 50% funded at this point.

We think this scene and this music, and it’s relationship with film (it all comes together) is something deep that deserves more attention. Artists should be labeled as artists, composers, not like a 80s parody jokes. This music from a filmmaking point of view is a blessing. The world deserves to know that, and its real history. In the late 70s some folks created the seed that decades later came to that sound.

You can check out the Kickstarter here and follow the project on Twitter here. 

Watch Teaser

This Month In Retro is a monthly article where we look back on the current month as it happened during the 1980’s.  Learn, reminisce, and stay retro.

In film:

The Elephant Man premiered to tremendous success, both critically and commercially. As far as David Lynch films go, this is the least Lynchian. It’s still an excellent film that Lynch detractors even tend to like. It stars John Hurt and tells the story of Joseph Merrick (named John in the film), a freak show attraction with a deformed body. The cruelty of the average person he encounters is absolutely heartbreaking.

Fade to Black was also released in October of 1980.  This is a film that is underappreciated and overlooked. The protagonist is a disturbed young man with an obsession with cinema. He spends every spare moment at the movie theater or watching films in his bedroom. He idolizes the characters he sees and incorporates their phrases and mannerisms into his own life. This gradually pushes into some pretty transgressive territory as he drinks the blood of a dead prostitute (because Dracula) and kills a man while in a noir gangster costume (because White Heat).

It’s like Guy Debord and Jean Beaudrillard saw Scream and decided to have a baby.

In music:

October of 1980 saw the release of two really incredible (though in many ways opposite) albums, Remain in Light by Talking Heads and The River by Bruce Springsteen. The latter shows the Boss refining his craft and tackling the sort of themes found in previous albums with more maturity. The music on The River reflects a greater pop sensibility, slightly departing from the darker mood of the aptly titled Darkness on the Edge of Town. The double LP manages to consistently deliver well-written songs, with some standouts being the beautiful title track and “Hungry Heart”, a song Springsteen had originally written for the Ramones.

Remain in Light is noteworthy for the risks it took and the success with which it landed its ambition. It frequently appears on best of lists for both the 1980’s and all time.  The composition and production of the album is pretty unique, which is to be expected with the eccentric kind of genius that accompanies both David Byrne and Brian Eno. The instrumentals were based on loops and samples, which is fairly redundant at this point. A lot of genres are built on that principle, but in 1980 we didn’t have FL Studio, Reason, or i7 processors. This was groundbreaking.

Aerosmith also released a greatest hits album in 1980. Try not to think about that too much.

Billboard #1 Song of September 1980: “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen

In comics:

Lex Luthor fell in love with a woman named Angela Blake who briefly made him turn good. Kudos to DC for including a bald-headed woman. These retrospectives are realing making me question Lex Luthor’s dedication to evildoing. They got married, but then it wound up being a plan somehow to get Superman. Pre-Crisis DC doesn’t always make sense.

Reid Fleming: World’s Toughest Milkman was self-published by David Boswell. It was later picked up by major distributors. The first volume has never gone out of print and has become a cult hit. The series is bizarre and playful, taking full advantage of comic book hysterics to tremendous effect.

In film:

The mostly forgettable, though enjoyable, Phobia premiered in theaters. It stars the guy that played Starsky in Starsky and Hutch and was directed by John Huston. Time for a bold statement: John Huston is responsible for film noir as we understand it today. Decades earlier he made The Maltese Falcon and The Asphalt Jungle, as well as the not noir though still excellent The African Queen. Noir may have originated much earlier than the 80’s, but it winds up having an influence on 80’s film in a lot of surprising little ways throughout the decade. There’s a good reason that most movies with a predominately synthwave soundtrack have noticeable noir influences.

 Ever hear of Tom Hanks? He made his feature film debut in (of all things) a slasher flick called He Knows Your Alone. And though I want so badly for this to be a Santa Claus themed slasher film (and therefor the second Santa Claus themed slasher film of 1980), it is simply a Halloween­­-inspired without much worth note. Tom Hanks will of course pop up in films throughout the 80’s, but they tend to have more whimsy than this one.

In music:

Solid Gold premiered with host Dionne Warwick. This show, which ran for much of the decade, had a very 70’s-esque aesthetic at times. And then the hair of just about every dancer reminds you how 80’s it truly was.  Solid Gold has reached an interesting point of reference in pop culture where it is recognized in parody by more people than have probably ever seen the show.

The Dead Kennedys made their debut with Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, a blistering punk album clocking in at just above 30 minutes. This album established everything that the band would come to represent: sardonic lyrics that combined radical political thought with a youthful charisma. It’s what makes songs like “Holiday in Cambodia” powerful when thought about and wicked fun when moshed to.

Billboard #1 Song of September 1980: “Upside Down” by Diana Ross, which I definitely want a vaporwave version of now. Please and thank you!

In comic books:

In the realm of DC comics, Lex Luthor deactivates all nuclear weapons on earth, repairs the ozone layer, and helps Superman fight some aliens. Seriously. That’s pretty much more overall good than any superhero has accomplished. Don’t worry though, this Good Guy Lex thing is temporary. In a separate comic, Batman winds up severely drugged and is being seriousy psychologically broken down by Professor Milo. This issue has some pretty stellar cover art.

In film:

Xanadu was released. Interestingly enough, the soundtrack of the film performed much better commercially than the movie itself. Which is surprising considering it’s a film about a Greek muse taking human form and building a roller rink. The only premise nearly that good since then has been Rubber.

Births: Chris Pine, aka the James T. Kirk who isn’t Shatner. Macaulay Culkin, famous for being that blonde kid from every movie in the 90’s.

In music:

The first ever Monsters of Rock festival is held in England. Notable performers at the festival include Rainbow, April Wine, Scorpions, and Judas Priest.

The Heatwave festival was held at Bowmanville, Ontario. Out of every festival I’ve ever read about, including Woodstock, Heatwave is the one I most wish I could have attended. The list of bands was just insane: The Pretenders, the B-52’s, Talking Heads, and Elvis Costello. The Clash was scheduled to perform at the festival but cancelled at the last minute.

In addition to that amazing festival, four albums that would be important to the emerging New Wave music scene were released. Siouxie and the Banshees released Kaleidoscope. The Cars released Panorama. The B-52’s  released Wild Planet. Finally, Killing Joke debuted with their self-titled album.

Births: Vanessa Carlton, anybody who says they don’t love “A Thousand Miles” is a liar.

Billboard #1 Song of August 1980: “Magic” by Olivia Newton-John

In comics:

Marvel – Former villain Mesmero decides to give up crime, instead focusing on his love of Broadway productions. He offers Spider-man a large sum of money to make appearances in his play, but Spidey declines. Mesmero ends up using his powers of hypnosis on a harsh critic who Peter Parker has to save, lest the tragedy that befell Gwen Stacy repeats itself.

DC – Dr. Alchemy attempts to use the Philosopher’s Stone to turn the Flash into a cloud. Yep. That’s the best use he can come up with.  Green Arrow decides to resign from the Justice League. Bummer. He does manage to save the day first, despite not using what is clearly the most logical arrow to use.

In television:

The soap opera Texas premiered. Though it only lasted two years, it managed to have over 600 episodes.

Deaths: Tex Avery, creator of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, dies at age 72.

In lieu of the July 1980 article, here are some quick facts about it:

1.     Bjorn Borg beat John McEnroe in tennis. Here’s a fun fact- Bjorn Borg was the basis of the character Richie Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums.

2.      Ronald Reagan received the nomination to be the Republican candidate for President. Due to a large amount of influence from Christian political groups, the Republican Party dropped its support of the Equal Rights Amendment. This marked the beginning of a general shift towards conservative policies in America.

3.     The Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, Russia.

4.     AC/DC release Back in Black, the second highest selling album of all time. Also, how did I not know until now that AC/DC is an Australian band?

5.     Caddyshack premiers in theaters.

In film:

John Travolta was fresh off the heels of the extremely successful Saturday Night Fever and Grease when he starred in the film Urban Cowboy. This film was to late 70’s / early 80’s country what Fever was to disco. While it doesn’t have the surprising grittiness of that film, it is one of the more serious PG movies out there.

The Blues Brothers, arguably the best film based on an SNL skit, was released. The film is so enduringly popular that many people are familiar with scenes or moments from it without having actually seen it. It has become engrained in the zeitgeist. It was the 10th highest grossing film of the year, despite the fact that its initial release was somewhat limited due to concerns by executives. 

In music:

The Sony Walkman was released in North America in June of 1980. The device itself would go on to become iconic and represent the decade. Despite the initial disdain that listening to headphones in public encouraged, the idea of allowing music to be something completely privately enjoyed regardless of location is huge. No matter where you were, you were now able to create your own world, populated by just, your music, and the judgmental people on the subway.

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News? Their debut album, which Patrick Bateman finds a little too new wave, was released on June 25, 1980. Though the album does not have the unbelievably amazing (and yes I’m being sarcastic, but also kind of not sarcastic at all) tracks “Hip to be Square” or “The Power of Love” that brought the band massive success later in their career, but it is a solid release in its own right.

Billboard #1 Song of June 1980: “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc.

In television:

CNN, the very same news network that brought you this:

…on the same day that Net Neutrality and the internet was freaking out over THE DRESS WAS BLUE AND BLACK GET OVER YOURSELF, was first broadcast on June 1st of 1980. I wonder what Larry King is up to right now.

Later in the month, The David Letterman Show premiered. This isn’t the Letterman show you might be thinking of. This was the daytime precursor to his later decades-spanning nighttime hosting streak. The show was edgier than most daytime audiences were accustomed to, earning Letterman the respect of critics at the expense of viewers.

In film:

Which Star Wars film is your favorite and why is it Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back?  The Empire Strikes Back was a phenomenal success. It was so profitable that George Lucas distributed $5 million dollars worth of bonuses to the employees who worked on the film. It was the highest grossing film of 1980, more than doubling the second place film.

The first Friday the 13th film was released. While not as well-crafted as John Carpenter’s Halloween, Friday the 13th has proved to be nearly as influential and iconographic.  The film was made with a budget of just $550,000 and made over 108 times that at the box office. Fun fact: the hockey mask does not appear in this film or the sequel. You’ll need to watch Part III for that pop culture phenomenon.

Finally, to close out an excellent month of film, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining was released. This is one of the best films ever made. The film is a masterstroke by a filmmaker at his best, reveling in a pervasive sense of dread and isolation. I get chills every single time this film is on. If you don’t like horror movies, you probably still like The Shining. Yeah. It’s that good.

In music:

The B-52’s, a favorite of mine, scored their first Billboard Top 100 hit with “Rock Lobster”, a song that perfectly straddles new wave, surf rock and novelty.  Peter Criss quit Kiss. Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” is banned in South Africa. That makes me wonder about playing parts 1 and 3.

Deaths: Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis commits suicide. If you don’t listen to Joy Division, now is a good time to start. 

In literature:

Two noteworthy novels were published in May 1980. The first was John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, a debut novel published eleven years after Toole’s suicide. Michael Chrichton published Congo. The film rights for the novel were purchased before the novel was even finished. The film, by the way, is excellent. But you should have probably figured that out since it has Tim Curry and Bruce Campbell.

In television:

Henry Winkler, after years, finally becomes the top billing cast member of Happy Days following an exit by Ron Howard and Donny Most. After literally jumping the shark three years earlier, the Fonz was finally the captain of a sinking ship. After five hilarious seasons, the original cast of SNL has their final episode. Regardless of what all the cool kids say, the show is still great.

In video games:

This might not seem like such a big deal but Pac-Man was released. This game is currently or was at one time the highest grossing video game across multiple platforms. It is completely and totally ubiquitous. We even have it on our site! (link) The game also introduced the first instance of a mascot character, appealed to a large number of female gamers, originated the idea of power-ups, and featured cutscenes. Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, received little recognition or acknowledgement for creating something that was, and I’m not being hyperbolic, one of the most important pieces of entertainment in the past century.

In film:

Where the Buffalo Roam was released. Despite having an excellent soundtrack, using the life of a very interesting man as a basis, and starring Bill Murray, the film surprisingly falls flat and is a mess more often than not.

Birth: Channing Tatum

Death: One of the most skilled manipulators of tone and mood in film, Alfred Hitchcock.

In music:

A member of the New Jersey State Assembly motions to have Bruce Springsteen’s masterpiece “Born to Run” named New Jersey’s official state song. Despite the fact that the song is beautiful and nearly perfect beginning to end, like all great Springsteen tunes it doesn’t always paint the best picture of the state.

The 1980 Juno Awards took place in April of 1980. The Best Canadian Album Award was, surprisingly, not given to Rush, but we can all rest easy because they gave it to Anne Murray. Meanwhile, Best International Album was given to Supertramp for Breakfast in America.

In literature:

As the reigning Graphic Novel Editor of NRW, each This Month In Retro will include information on the comics of the era. The Bronze Age of Comics is often underrated, and it really marked the point where comics had the same aspirations of highbrow literature. As such, I will make no distinction between “literature” and “comics” because that is asinine and pointless. Comics are literature.

In Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #203, Peter Parker and his friends go to the local cinema to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture (because Peter is a nerd, remember?). Peter ends up having to help his good friend Dazzler fight the unsettling villain Lightmaster. You have no idea how bad I wish his name was Day Man.

Death: Jean-Paul Sartre, author of Nausea and one of the leading philosophers of existentialism.

In television:

The critically acclaimed docudrama Death of a Princess was aired. The TV special tells the tragedy of Saudi Princess Misha’al. The princess and her lover were executed for alleged adultery. Though it was critically well received, it did receive political repercussions in both the US and UK and the networks that aired it were pressured to censor it. The lead actress was also blacklisted from film roles in her native Egypt.

On a more positive note, The Gentle Touch premiered on BBC.

The series is notable for being the first British television series to feature a female police officer as the primary character. Yay!

In sports:

Wayne Gretzky breaks the record for assists with 103. You are probably imaging him being well into his career at this point. Remember, this is 1980. The Great One was still just a teenager in 1980, also scoring 50 goals in one season as of April 1980.

Miscellaneous:

Post-It Notes were first sold to the public. Holy smokes, I just realized a pre-post-it world ever existed.

In Film:

Fun fact: I love Loretta Lynn. Really old country might be as far removed synthwave as possible, but I eat that stuff up. March of 1980 gave us the Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter starring Sissy Spacek. The film was a huge success that garnered a tremendous amount of critical praise. If you aren’t familiar with Lynn’s music, I strongly encourage you to check out “Fist City”, a song that was banned from radio at the time of its release due to the violence of the lyrics. That’s right, the country song had lyrics deemed too violent for people to hear.

Speaking of Danny Elfman, Forbidden Zone was also released this month. While Danny Elfman is most well known today for his compositions and film scores, he was formerly a member of The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo. The film, which is based on the band’s performances, marks the band’s transition from the earlier baroque/cabaret recordings to their new wave sound.

In Music:

Patti Smith and the MC5 each released one of my all time favorite albums with Horses and Kick Out the Jams. The punk powercouple of Patti Smith and MC5 guitarist Fred Smith got married in March of 1980. Unlike a lot of celebrity / musician relationships, they lasted until Fred Smith’s untimely death in 1994. Interestingly enough, their son is married to Meg White, formerly of the White Stripes.

In Literature:

As a slight change from the typical focus on traditional books, this month I am going to focus on comic book history exclusively. I will be mixing the two in the future. Spider-Man teams up with the Punisher and later prevents him from murdering a drug dealer in Amazing Spider-Man #202. Things got a little more intense over in the DC Universe in Batman Vol. 1 #321. The Joker celebrated his birthday by kidnapping Robin, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and Catwoman and creating what he calls the “Victim-Go-Round”. It is all of a sudden hitting me why there needs to be a future article on retro comics. Anyway, the caped crusader ends up saving his friends (of course). The issue is also notable for being the first instance of what would become a recurring Joker motif of a “Bang” flag coming out of a gun, only to be followed an actual gunshot. That sounds convoluted; just look at the picture.

In Television:

In 1977 the world was treated to the television film My Mom’s Having a Baby. Three years later, in March of 1980, the world was given its sequel, a film with a title unrivaled since. I am talking about the television film Where Do Teenagers Come From? It actually received a good degree of criticism for depicting sex education during daytime programming hours. How scandalous.

In Sports:

On March 14, 1980 twenty-two members of the United States Olympic team died in a plane crash. Also, due to the conflict between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced a boycott of the Moscow Olympics.