The Tube

In the 1980s one serious music programme came on the scene and soon became the programme every artiste wanted to be on. The Tube aired on Channel 4 with Jools Holland and Paula Yates as the principal anchors with various contributions from the likes of Muriel Gray and Leslie Ash.

It ran from 1982 until 1987 when the programme was stopped possibly at the peak of it's power. The show was a great avenue for more of the contemporary artistes and was responsible for many first. We first saw Madonna in the UK on the Tube, we also saw bands like The Proclaimers and Frankie goes to Hollywood gain more fame and record deals after appearing on the show.

The two main characters of the Show were Jools Holland and Paula Yates. Holland was a member of the group Squeeze before he left the band in 1981 to pursue a solo career and then he branched into presenting when he landed the role in The Tube. He was a huge success on the show but was suspended for 6 weeks when he did the cardinal sin of swearing live on TV. Following his suspension he was allowed back for his slip of the tongue. Yates was a broadcaster and writer and was at the time of the show was married to Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof. Paula was more famed for her relaxed style of interviewing which put many acts at ease.

The show did launch many new acts but also gained exclusives such as interviews from U2, Ringo Starr and ZZ top amongst others and was really the show to be on particularly in the rock and pop genre. The shows popularity was based on the live performances and The Jam performed live on the first show but was equally to be there last as the band split.

The programme started with a blend of interviews, fashion and comedy and saw the appearances of many household names such as Vic Reeves and Frank Sidebottom. It would end with live performances from several bands and this proved to be a great success.

The show ending came with Jools Holland swearing incident and with it's early start in the evening this caused a flood of complaints, on the back of this and viewing figures declining the programme never got a new series and thus the programme ended.

The programme did make some one off specials and the brand name has been used on Radio and the Internet but never quite the same as it original format. The programme was ground breaking for it's production of live music but ultimately time moves on.

The Roxy

In the 1980s the UK didn't have the plethora of music channels on TV that you see now. BBC had dominated the music scene on TV with there flagship programme Top of the Pops for the chart scene and on BBC 2 it had the Old Grey whistle Test with the up and coming music and less mainstream.

Channel 4 got into the act with the popular The Tube but ITV was sadly lacking in that department. ITV did pursue with the Network chart show which was a 30 minute programme showing the latest video promo but no live artist playing on any show.

ITV went ahead with a programme called The Roxy which was a 30 minute slot each week and it debuted in June 1987 and it opened with Erasure performing 'Victim of Love'. The show was presented by David 'kid' Jensen and Kevin Sharkey. Jensen who did present on Top of the Pops and was a DJ on Radio 1 had moved over to the independent network radio and was the presenter of the Chart Show every Sunday so it seemed a natural choice to present the show. Sharkey was from Ireland and was a singer songwriter who had wrote songs for Bob  Geldof and Boney M amongst others. He had also some presenting music on TV as he presented on Irelands main station RTE Megamix programme.

The show concentrated purely on music on the chart scene and very quickly the programme started to suffer. Unfortunately, unlike top of the pops or the tube it didn't have a regular time slot and also many artistes were reluctant to travel to Newcastle for a 3 minute performance. The other programmes were based in London so it was a lot easier for artistes to go there.

The live performances then suffered as a industrial dispute took place and the result was the show was being chopped and changed in times the ratings dropped and within a year Bananarama performed the last song before the lights were turned off permanently.

The balance of power was still with BBC Top of the Pops and ITV left well alone and concentrated on other programmes.

Elton John in the 80s

Elton John illustrious career started in the late 1960s but made his mark on the charts in the 1970s with the help of his long term song writer Bernie Taupin.

He has sold over 250 million records and his single in 1997 'Candle in the Wind' as a tribute to the late Diana Princess of Wales is the best selling single ever in the UK and America. HE has numerous award ranging from Grammys, BRIT awards, Academy awards as well as being knighted for his services to Music and Charity.

The 1980s was a busy period for Elton and the decade began with 2 new releases '21 33' and 'the fox' which were recorded around the late 1970s but hit the shelves in the 1980s. The producer Chris Thomas worked on the second album and he worked with the likes of Sex Pistols and INXS amongst others.

A follow up album 'Jump Up' was released and featured the single hit 'empty garden' but again it made no great shapes in the charts. However, 1983 saw the release of the album 'too low for zero'  and it featured two hit singles 'I'm still standing' and 'I guess that's why they call it the blues' which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica. This was followed up by the release of 'Breaking Hearts' which featured 'Passengers' and 'sad songs say so much'.

The next album was 'Ice on fire' which featured the classic song 'Nikita' with a video promo produced by Ken Russell. He also did a lot of charity work and one of his passions was AIDS research and he collaborated with Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder for 'that's what friends are for'

He also starred in the Live Aid concert in 1985 at Wembley and song his old songs from the 1970s and sang with Kiki Dee for the perennial favourite 'don't go breaking my heart'.

Not content with music and his charity work he found time to run a football club. He took over Watford in the 1970s and invested large sums of money to see the club rise from the fourth division to the first division culminating in a FA cup final appearance in 1984 which they lost to Everton. He eventually sold the club in 1987 and remained as a President of the club.

During the 1980s he released 9 studio albums with four going top ten with 'sleeping with the past' reaching number one in the UK. Four of his albums reached the top 10 in America with '21 33' the top achiever at number 13. He released a staggering 41 singles during the 1980s as singles, EP and live releases. Seven of those singles reached the top 10 in the UK with 'Nikita' reaching the highest at number 3. In America 6 reached the top 10 with 1988 offering 'I don't wanna go on with you like
that'.
 

Thrash Metal Slayer

Slayer are a well known thrash metal band that formed in America in 1981 by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman. They are widely regarded as one of the four horseman of Thrash Metal along with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

They rose to fame slowly and by 1986 the release of 'Reign off blood' tapped them into the wider market with lyrics on items such as religion and serial killers. King and Hanneman enlisted the help of Tom Araya and Dave Lombardo and there unique fast double bass drumming coupled with there alternate picking style on guitar found new fans who were used to the more conventional style of Metal and a new genre style was formed.

As with most bands they started as a cover band and were soon spotted by Brian Slagel who offered them a contract with Metal Blade Records. They self financed there debut album 'Show no Mercy' and it quickly became a underground hit reaching a sales figure of 40,000 worldwide.

The popularity led them to release an EP 'Haunting the Chapel' which had a more dark thrash style which laid the footprint for them and many others to follow. Around this time Kerry King played with Megadeth but not committing himself fully he left the band and thus a long running feud began between the two factions.

In 1985 the second album 'Hell Waits' was a great success on the back of the first album but success worldwide was to follow. They left the record label to go with Def Jam Records with Simmons and Rubin at the helm, there sound became a more crisp, shorter clearer sound. The album was 'Reign in Blood' and there first offering suffered some controversy as Def Jam distributor Columbia Records refused to release the album due to graphic artwork on the album, the album was distributed by Geffen and entered the billboard charts which was a major breakthrough.

The band embarked on a tour in Europe and America and soon a fourth album followed. A much more slower tempo album 'South of Heaven' was there most successful commercial release at the time but it did receive mixed responses from the media and public alike. Towards the end of the 1980s the band went into the studio to try and get back to basics and they released 'Seasons in the Abyss' which was released on Def American records following Rubins decision to leave Def Jam following creative differences. The album was a great success and saw a return to form with the album going top 40 in America.

The band continued its success in the 1990s and beyond and famously in June 2010 played a concert with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax on the same bill in Poland and Bulgaria. True legends of the Metal scene.

In terms of the 1980s the band released 5 studio albums with two top 30 albums in the UK with 'Seasons in the Abyss' peaking at number 18. They only released four singles with 'Raining Blood' reaching number 64 in the UK charts as the only notable entry.

RIP Metal God Jeff Hanneman

The news filtered through today that Grammy award winning Guitarist Jeff Hanneman had died aged 49 of Liver failure after an unfortunate incident with a Spider bite that went too long untreated.

Jeff was the founding member of Heavy Metal group Slayer a band he formed in 1981 but the breakthrough commercially took a few years when they unleashed the infamous songs 'Angel of Death' and 'Raining Blood'.

A true metal icon and will be sorely missed.