If there ever was a fashion that idolised or stood out in the 80s, then it was the jumpsuit. Originally referred to the one piece garments used by parachuters and skydivers, the one piece somehow was adopted as a common item of clothing back in the 80s.

The history of them went back to as far as the 60s believe it or not, and I guess they became popular for the general population after musicians started wearing them onstage. Examples being Devo, Freddie Mercury and The Spice Girls to name but a few.

The signature of a jumpsuit (apart from the fact it was a one piece garment), was the looseness of the clothing – think MC Hammer and his jump pants and you see what I mean. Being so loose, one size pretty much fit all.

The fashion changed somewhatover the years. First off they were bland in colour and the types of material was fairly limited. But women discovered that these jumpsuits made them look skinnier than they actually were. Wow, what a great way to hide ‘excess’ weight or flab. And then the types of jumpsuits started to increase in range.

Legs then became more in a flair style (aka the 70s) with more and more wacky, or loud colouring. The more loud the better, and even though today it may seem that people had no taste, during the 80s it was a statement. Because of only one piece, the jumpsuit was easy to accesorise with – whether it would be belts, throwovers or really loud clunky earings, nothing really did not match.

And they had their sexy era too. Low cut backs or necks were a feature in ‘formal’ wear. And the traditional one fit all stood aside for the huge number of different styles that, as a result, came on the market.

The rest they say, is history. Will they make a comeback to be as popular as 20 years ago? Not sure, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

On this day in 1981, I think the delivery of digital media changed forever – MTV started broadcasting at 12:01am.

The first music video it played was the Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star. How appropriate!

Enjoy the video:

Safety Dance was one of those one hit wonders that did go quite well in the charts worldwide. Released in 1982, the song is a protest against bouncers stopping dancers pogoing to 1980s New Wave music in clubs when Disco was dying and New Wave was up and coming. If you recall, there was a medieval theme to the music video too. How that fits in to the theme is still a loss to me.

New Wave dancing was different from Disco dancing because it was done individually instead of with partners and involved holding the torso rigid and thrashing about. This could be seen dangerous, especially if pogoers (if that’s a term) bounced into one another – accidentally or otherwise. The bouncers didn’t like pogoing so they would tell pogoers to stop or be kicked out of the club. Thus, the song is a protest and a call for freedom of expression.

Men without hats was a band from Montreal, Canada. But Safety Dance was actually filmed in England with only the band leader Ivan Doroschuk in the video. Enjoy it below:

Released in 1982, this catchy tune sung by two pairs of brothers reached #1 in the UK and the single was even nominated for a grammy. The Jamaican-British band sold over 4 million copies of the single.

The song was based on the Mighty Diamonds “Pass The Koutchie” (which was a song about cannabis), and the title was subtly altered to feature the patois “dutchie”, referring to a type of pot used for cooking. This idea is emphasised throughout the political and economic overtones throughout the song about extreme poverty and Musical Youth asking the question How does it feel when ya got no food after each verse line.

The band did release other singles, but none of them reached the heights of this one.

Enjoy the music video (and the lyrics):

I also found a live version of the song, and it’s great that live they sound the same – not sure the crowd really got into it though

From the songs listed below, see if you can pick who sang them.

Yeah, you could probably google for the answers, but let’s see how well you remember the songs from the 80s.

Iconic band (weren’t they all?) Spandau Ballet have reformed and will be touring Australia in April this year – their first visit to Oz since 1985.

The original line up will be there with Tony Hadley and Gary Kemp sharing the stage again so it will be a real blast from the past. Last October they played to over 100 000 people in the UK and from what I read, that was more tickets sold to a single concert than back in the 80s when they were so popular.

What makes the tour even better is that they are being supported by Tears For Fears.

Tour Dates and Venues (and for some reason Sydney misses out!) are:

Sat 17 April – Sandalford Winery, Caversham Perth
Mon 19 April – Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Wed 21 April – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Tue 27 April – Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Spandau Ballet played a reunion gig this week – their first in about 20 years in Dublin, Ireland.

Playing in front of around 9000 fans, all reports indicated that they put together a pretty good show in the 2 hours that they were up on stage for.

All the original guys were there, and the opening song was the classic ‘to cut a long story short’. The final song of the night was ‘true’, a song that Tony Hadley dedicated to the late Boyzone star, Stephen Gately. Stephen was a close friend of Tony’s.

Read more on the concert and check out the photos here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1220246/Spandau-Ballet-turn-clock-20-years-comeback-concert.html

The are plenty of 80s radio stations online, but I was surprised to find one here in Australia. It’s 77.4 FM on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Tried it out today and I love it. I enjoyed listening to the 80s music whilst playing the 80s flash games that can be found on the website too.

Last night I saw Human League live here in Sydney. It was my first I have seen them even though I love them. All the previous occasions they have visted I have missed them for various reasons.

Last week the venue and date were changed. Not sure why but the venue where it was at is a smaller place which I enjoy more. We arrived at 8.30pm when the support band was playing. The League werent due on until 9pm for a 2 hour set.

We got some great standing room about 4 rows from the stage in front of Phil. How great for some decent pics!!

Prior to them coming on, I was wondering what song they would play first. I t had to be something boppy but not on eof their major hits. When the concert started, I realised ‘of course!!!’ – They started with ‘The sound of the crowd’ to get everyone going.

I wish I could remember the full playlist, but I do recall the songs that went off – the first one being ‘the things that dreams are made of’. Everyone really got into it.

Also, huge crowd reactions came from ‘the lebanon’, ‘mirror man’, and ‘electric dreams’. Everyone really got into these three songs. My favourite Human League songs are ‘fascination’ and ‘love action’ which were also played.

Here are some of the shots I took with my mobile phone (not great but better than nothing)….

Joanne Catherall

Susan Anne Sulley

The Human League

Phil Oakey

Phil looked great, Susan better(!) and Joanne had put on a bit of weight but I loved the concert very much. The gig only lasted about 90 mins (was supposed to be 2 hours?) and my only criticism was that ‘louise’ and ‘darkness’ weren’t included in the playlist :-9.

That aside, I would highly recommend any 80′s fan seeing Human League live. I reckon they are getting better with age!

Peter Gabriel, yes the same guy who founded the band Genesis, went solo in the mid 70s.

His most popular work was from his 1986 album titled ‘So’. Such songs as Big Time and Sledgehammer were iconic of the 80s. Big Time topped at #8 on the Billboard top 100.

The music video had muc to live up to after Sledghammer, and he did it well with effects such as stop motion, claymation, and strata-cut animation which showed Peter leaving his small town for the big city.

Bit of trivia about the song:

Big Time was the official theme song of WWE WrestleMania 22.
Big Time was used in the trailer for the film Big.
Big Time was used in the film Spaceballs.
Big Time is featured in the Wii video game Imagine Fashion Party

Enjoy the (extended) music video here: