Tag Archives: the 80s

Stereogum recaps: Mark Mothersbaugh was born legally blind. It wasn’t until he was in second grade that he was finally diagnosed with myopia and got his first pair of glasses. In a new animated video made for Google Play, the DEVO member narrates how his discovery of the world led him to want to become an artist. Then, he recounts …

Jimmy Somerville’s disco tribute album Homage will be released on Tuesday and today we get the first production video. I interviewed Somerville back in November and you can check out a great fan video from album’s glorious first single, Travesty.

Via BBC News: Steve Strange, lead singer of 1980s pop band Visage, has died aged 55 following a heart attack, his record label says. The Welsh New Romantic icon – best known for the hit Fade To Grey – died in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Record label boss Marc Green said his “family, band members and friends are all …

Quite the odd turn at the end. Naughty language!

Motown legend Jimmy Ruffin, whose 1980 smash Hold On To My Love helped usher out an era of gay nightlife, has died at the age of 78. Via the Detroit Free Press: Ruffin, whose poignant “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” is regarded by many as one of Motown’s greatest works, died Monday afternoon in a Las Vegas hospital. A Mississippi …

From Visage frontman Steve Strange: Founding fathers of the New Romantics and pioneers of the 80s sound Visage, return with a new album “Orchestral” in Winter 2014. In March 2014 Visage were asked to perform at the closing ceremony of the World Ski Jumping Championships in Prague. Sensing an opportunity for grandeur, Steve Strange – the illustrious leader of Visage …

I recently had the privilege of speaking with groundbreaking dance artist Jimmy Somerville about his new album and his history as one of the loudest and proudest gay artists.  JMG: Hi, Jimmy! Let’s start with today and work backwards. Tell us about your coming album, Homage, and its first single, Travesty, which made its worldwide debut on my site last …

Noted activist and former Clinton White House aide David Mixner made a startling revelation during the premiere of his show here in New York City. Via the Daily Beast: It is the morning after. We are speaking about Mixner’s emotional on-stage confession—unelicited by anyone but himself—Monday night to the assisted suicides he oversaw of friends dying of AIDS in the …

Via the New York Times: In his 1988 memoir, Donald T. Regan, a former chief of staff for President Ronald Reagan, revealed what he called the administration’s “most closely guarded secret.” He said an astrologer had set the time for summit meetings, presidential debates, Reagan’s 1985 cancer surgery, State of the Union addresses and much more. Without an O.K. from …

The first new album in 15 years from former Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson is streaming in full today at the Guardian. I’m really digging it. Ordering details and tour info is here.

Via Rolling Stone: While we were working on our list of the 100 best singles of 1984, Boy George popped by the Rolling Stone offices and offered his thoughts on a few of our selections. Watch the “Karma Chameleon” (Number 22!) singer remember hits like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” – “It was so American and so rousing!” – …

Via Digital Spy: Holly Johnson has unveiled the music video for new song In and Out of Love. The track is the lead single from Europa, Johnson’s first album in 14 years. The video has been directed by Chris Shepherd and produced by Alex Bedford. The follow-up to 1999’s Soulstream coincides with the 30th anniversary of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s …

The Guardian has a review: When Kate Bush got her £3,000 record deal from EMI at 16, she used some of it to pay for dance classes with the legendary choreographer Lindsay Kemp. In last night’s The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill (BBC 4), a documentary about the singer-songwriter broadcast on the near-eve of her first tour in …

Via the Randy Report: Fans of classic 70s and 80s pop/rock/dance music – mark your calendars! On July 2, 2014, The GRAMMY Museum will unveil its latest temporary exhibition, Donna Summer: Four Seasons of Love. Located on the Museum’s fourth floor, the exhibition will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic career of 5-time Grammy Award-winner Donna Summer. This …

Former Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson releases his first solo album in 14 years in September. From the press materials about the first single: The digital EP, featuring one of the final remixes by Frankie Knuckles (and Eric Kupper), is out July 27 alongside a limited-edition coloured vinyl the week before. Surrounding the launch of ‘Europa’, the Frankie …

JMG reader Dave Evans has compiled an hour of gay-related news reports that aired in the 1980s. Among the topics: hate crimes, housing rights, HIV/AIDS, immigration rights, pride parades, Barney Frank, Ronald Reagan, the 20th anniversary of Stonewall, the NAMES Project,  and rather interestingly, Houston’s 1985 battle for LGBT rights. PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: Compilations of gay news in the 1970s …

Former Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman (and JMG reader!) Holly Johnson will launch his first-ever solo tour in October. The October tour will mark the 30th anniversary of the release of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s 3x platinum debut album ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ which reached number 1 in October 1984. The album release followed the group’s controversial debut single ‘Relax’, …