THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED?

It's a generally held view that the years 1978 - 1986 were a golden age for popular music. The initial rush of Punk having faded, young musicians everywhere took the "anyone can do it" ethos and applied it liberally. Post-Punk was born. Bands experimented, drawing influence from across genres, raiding the past and making it the future. Reggae, Soul, Jazz, Dub, Rock'n'Roll, Psychedelia, Funk, World Music - you name it. No mere copyists, these influences were taken to new places. Some bands followed the example of Electronic pioneers like Kraftwerk and took the resulting Synthpop into the charts. Bands like Gang Of Four and Public Image Limited took the bass-heavy influence of Dub and Funk, and mixed it with sheets of guitar noise. The 2-Tone scene took the influence of Ska and played it with the attack of Punk. The most important thing though was that most of these bands were trying to sound and look different from everyone else. And as the 80's dawned the age of New Pop began. Gary Numan, Adam & The Ants, The Human League, Siouxsie & The Banshees, OMD, Madness, The Specials, Duran Duran, Dexys Midnight Runners, ABC, Imagination, Soft Cell. Goths, Rude Boy and Mod revivalists, New Romantics, Metalheads, Soulboys. A riot of sound, makeup, and colour. The early to mid 80's were never boring. 

Then, according to "serious" music fans and critics everywhere, in 1985, Bob Geldof and Live Aid killed the glorious and creative age of  New Pop stone dead. Now, you can't fault Live Aid for raisng awareness and serious amounts of cash for the starving in Ethiopia. And the day was about mainstream entertainment to reach as wide an audience as possible, so that meant the biggest stars of the day - not the trendiest or "hippest". It wasn't a day about groundbreaking music. And it went down in history. But it also resurrected some flagging careers, boosted some of those who were about to become the new "rock royalty", and ushered in an era of boring, chest beating stadium rock and pop where rampant commercialism and money took precedence over creativity and passion. And made burgeoning rock stars realise they could boost their public image by loudly supporting worthy causes and hectoring their audiences about political issues (i'm looking at you, Bono). Of course, this didn't work for all of the acts who appeared that day - Adam Ant torpedoed his already fading career by insisting on playing his new (and not very good) single, rather than pulling out a pop classic from his glory years. Ultravox had their last moment in the sun before sacking the drummer and producing the worst album of their career. (I should point out that i was 9 at the time and can't remember if i watched it or not, although i have the DVD). Around the corner lay reissues of old soul classics making a return to the charts - usually on the back of a Levis advert - , the advent of "sophisti-pop" bands, who incorporated jazz, soul, and funk lite into their pop, and the dominance of Stock, Aitken & Watermans' Hit Factory production line pop. Creative death, according to some. But not young pop fans up and down the country, and in particular my 10 year old self.........