Wham! The Eighties are 支援する in fashion and labelled the coolest music １０年間 ever

Having long felt わずかに embarrassed about my misspent 激しく揺する chick 青年, no one was more surprised than I by a 最近の 投票 の中で today's 十代の少年少女s 宣言するing the Eighties to be the coolest musical １０年間 ever.

Surely some mistake, I thought, as I ライフル銃／探して盗むd through a motley collection of vinyl encompassing everything from Depeche 方式, the Human League, Eurythmics and Simple Minds, to Soft 独房, the Bangles, and Curiosity Killed The Cat.

Scroll 負かす／撃墜する for more...

In an age when everything went, "冷静な／正味の" was not the word for it. "Diverse", certainly. "Daring", "wild", "OTT", "strange but true" - all of the above.

But "冷静な／正味の" - with its connotations of calmly self-保証するd stylishness, its mocking, butter-wouldn't-melt 姿勢, might be 押し進めるing it. Most of us who were young, 解放する／自由な and 選び出す／独身 during the Eighties have long since stashed away Eighties things - we all had howlers in our wardrobes, not to について言及する the outlandish mess we made of our hair.

For many, the thought of revisiting the 時代 which, にもかかわらず monumental pop and 激しく揺する milestones the likes of 禁止（する）d 援助（する） and Live 援助（する）, gave us Rick Astley, John Cougar Mellencamp's Jack And Diane, and Jacko's spangled glove, might seem excruciating in the extreme.

I should have seen it coming. Since Suggs from Madness, on whom I once had an enormous 鎮圧する, joined Virgin 無線で通信する and has 証明するd one of the 駅／配置する's most popular DJs ever, a 十分な-blown Eighties 復活 was always on the cards.

Thrilled by Suggsy's success, Virgin 敏速に 雇うd another big-指名する Eighties frontman, golden-発言する／表明するd Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, to 現在の Party Classics, and committed 排除的 daily airtime to popular Eighties 攻撃する，衝突するs. Its に引き続いて has 証明するd phenomenal.

But did those of us who 現実に lived through that 時代 have anything like as good a time as mythology 示唆するs? I'll say! I would also 投機・賭ける that we felt pretty 冷静な／正味の at the time - にもかかわらず 観察者／傍聴者s from その後の １０年間s who might have us feel いっそう少なく so.

支援する in the day, as young 'uns like to say nowadays, I was a skinny, denim-覆う？ twentysomething Bowie and Bolan fan, fresh from college, thrilled to have landed a 職業 in the art department of one of the hippest 記録，記録的な／記録する labels in the land.

Chrysalis, who 誇るd a roster brimming with 指名するs the likes of Blondie, Ultravox, Fun Boy Three, the Specials, Pat Benatar, Billy Idol, Leo Sayer and of course Spandau, was based in a square off the middle of London's Oxford Street.

Scroll 負かす／撃墜する for more...

Looking 支援する, it's a wonder any work was ever 達成するd, given the 高さs to which we partied. Every lunchtime in the Lamb And 旗, drinking with whichever 禁止（する）d happened to be in that day. Every night a 開始する，打ち上げる, gig, club, party.

I once woke up in a cupboard under the stairs on a Sunday morning, to find the late, lovely singer Kirsty MacColl asleep half in, half out of the door. Having partied ourselves senseless on white ワイン and beer in 昇進／宣伝s the previous Friday night, it must have seemed the obvious place to retire to.

With an endless stream of artists in and out of the building - Beatles 生産者 George ツバメ also 占領するd offices there - it was 必然的な that we'd find ourselves part of the same mix.

It was Paul Young who 申し込む／申し出d to 支払う／賃金 the girls a 続けざまに猛撃する for every 衣料品 we threw from the cab we were 株ing as we pelted 負かす／撃墜する the Westway に向かって a Bonnie Raitt gig in Shepherd's Bush.

"We will if you will," was the taunting retort, その結果 he stripped naked, 投げつけるd the lot out of the 勝利，勝つd ow and 需要・要求するd £20. It cost us 二塁打 to get the cab to turn around and return to retrieve his 着せる／賦与するs afterwards - but it was 価値（がある） it to see his 直面する.

Things hotted up when I moved to Channel 4 to co-現在の a 週刊誌 激しく揺する and pop magazine show, Earsay, where I first met Ozzy Osbourne and 棒 Stewart. A year or so later, by now a fully-育てる／巣立つd 激しく揺する and pop writer for the Daily Mail, I 設立する myself kidnapped in Los Angeles by the pair.

株ing a downer on the British 圧力（をかける） at the time, they decided to take a 人質. 井戸／弁護士席 it wasn't that bad a 地階, food was 来たるべき, and it only took me four days to learn to play pool.

In New York, I 株d an apartment with La Toya Jackson, ate steak 挟むs made by her brother Jermaine, and was able to vouch for the fact that, contrary to 共謀 theories, she and brother Michael were NOT the same person.

驚くべき／特命の／臨時の experiences became everyday occurrences: sailing 負かす／撃墜する the Danube with Queen in the hydrofoil belonging to Mikhail Gorbachev - the man who gave Moscow its first McDonald's - to 先触れ（する） the first 業績／成果 by a Western 激しく揺する 禁止（する）d behind the アイロンをかける Curtain, then just still in place.

証言，証人／目撃するing 緊張s rise when Culture Club's Boy George failed to show in time for his 単独の at the 記録，記録的な／記録するing of the 禁止（する）d 援助（する） 選び出す／独身 Do They Know It's Christmas, only to descend at the 11th hour and 配達する a faultlessly haunting 業績／成果.

Not long afterwards, I was the 新聞記者／雑誌記者 the then 全世界の superstar 運ぶ／漁獲高d off his 前線 doorstep to 自白する to the world that he was a ヘロイン （麻薬）常用者 with "only a few weeks left to live". The story made 前線 page headlines in the Daily Mail. He later immortalised me in his musical タブー, as a reviled hackcharacter who broke the story of his 中毒, にもかかわらず having 招待するd me in to do it.

In Montreux on Lake Geneva, at the 年次の 激しく揺する festival, anything went and everything did. Anyone who took themselves too 本気で was ruthlessly punished.

When Morten Harket, singer of Norwegian 禁止（する）d A-ha, 辞退するd to party and went off to dinner 単独の with a 容積／容量 of Nietzsche for company, we こそこそ動くd 支援する to the hotel, collected potted 工場／植物s from every 床に打ち倒す, and 輸送（する）d them 経由で the 解除する to create a Norwegian 支持を得ようと努めるd outside his bedroom door.

We later tried dangling him upside 負かす／撃墜する from a fifth-床に打ち倒す window - Michael Hutchence of INXS had 持つ／拘留する of the other 脚.

In the Montreux Palace 負かす／撃墜する the road, where Queen's John 助祭 辞退するd to play ball, we blagged a pass-重要な to his room and 除去するd every 選び出す／独身 thing from it that wasn't nailed 負かす／撃墜する. When he returned late that night, he opened his door to find that even his 二塁打 bed was 行方不明の.

Scroll 負かす／撃墜する for more...

But it was Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Ped who （機の）カム off worse that year: so "laked" (inebriated) on シャンペン酒 that he couldn't even say it, we 開始する，打ち上げるd him in a 列／漕ぐ／騒動ing boat on to Lake Geneva at dusk. A 速く descending もや made it impossible to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する his どの辺に, and the スイスの 救助（する） services had to be called in. At a party on a paddle steamer later that night, Phil Collins tore us off a （土地などの）細長い一片 for a いたずら too far which could have had 致命的な consequences.

While frivolous and flimsy 追跡s, this was the 肉親，親類d of rockstar behaviour defining a carefree 時代 which was all about fun, about not giving a hoot for what anybody thought. Never before, and nowhere 近づく since, have there been such 初めの styles, sounds and 露骨な／あからさまの mischief.

There were dozens of sub-cultures - ska, mods, hip-hoppers - every one of them as vibrant as the next. No one took themselves too 本気で - we thought nothing of dressing to emulate the images in Duran Duran and Cyndi Lauper ビデオs (who'd even think of doing that now?)

We 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be Tina Turner and look like Madonna. Michael Jackson did Thriller, and was still 冷静な／正味の. Prince did Purple Rain, and wasn't yet.

You could 表明する yourself any way you liked, and no one put you 負かす／撃墜する for doing so. Across the board, things were fresh and exciting. There were 広大な／多数の／重要な, innocent movies (Footloose, 最高の，を越す Gun, 支援する To The 未来), MTV still played music ビデオs, and there was just enough 科学（工学）技術 to go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

As for big things happening in the world: music does tend either to 反応する or to kick against, and should not be underestimated for that. Compared to the Nineties onwards, the Eighties were a time of 衝突. While Reagan was in the White House and America was never having it so good, a confrontational Thatcher gave us the Falklands and the 鉱夫s to worry about. There was a 詐欺師 distinction between '有産国' and 'have-nots', and in the City it was almost 冷静な／正味の to flaunt fabulous wealth. 力／強力にする 控訴s and を締めるs were all the 激怒（する）.

Unlike today's いっそう少なく 騒然とした times, music 反映するd that polarisation. Musicians could 抗議する without 恐れる of ridicule (Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, the Pogues - even U2 and the Boomtown ネズミs). They could wear their hearts on their sleeves (the Smiths, New Order, Annie Lennox), and be commended for their 残虐な honesty.

At the other extreme, they could buy into the frivolity and the what's-in-it-for-me feel of the Eighties (Wham!, Kylie, Bananarama, Kim Wilde). Could anyone get away with those haircuts, kilts or Adam Ant outfits today?

By comparison, today's music scene seems 大部分は 地位，任命する-modern, apolitical and unwilling to commit itself. The prevalence of knowing, blokey pop (Kooks, 殺し屋s, Kaiser 長，指導者s, 北極の Monkeys et al) may be musically sound, but it is not 正確に／まさに challenging the system or, for that 事柄, anything much else.

Perhaps it is this that today's 十代の少年少女s 行方不明になる. Perhaps, subconsciously, they lament the fact that the 同時代の music scene, driven by the internet and downloads, is too introspective to engage with the 問題／発行するs of the day.

If, mind you, there are any: what's to 激怒（する） ag ainst while both New 労働 and the 保守的なs 法廷，裁判所 boringly 安全な middle ground? And why aren't any pop musicians really grappling with 全世界の warming or the war on terror?

In a nutshell: Eighties music was いっそう少なく self-conscious on almost every level - political, emotional, stylistic. It engaged young people in the world around them in a way today's music mostly fails to do. Life and music, by 必然的な comparison, seem ineffably boring now.