Naff today...

[mysterygal]

seperated at birth

lol lol lol thanks Nick...I needed a good laugh so early in the morning!

 

[Salv]

Does anyone remember a brief resurgence of 40's style during the 80's?

There was a short-lived jump-blues/swing/latin revival in the UK in the early 80's with some 40's style suits being worn by several bands.

The Chevalier Brothers were probably the best of the revival bands -

and lead singer/tenor man Ray Gelato is currently a very succesful musician

Joe Jackson released an album called Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive in 1981 -

Blue Rondo a la Turk were a very stylish band who played latin-jazz and also started recording in 1981 -

Jo-Boxers dressed like pre-war miners -

My girlfriend (now my wife) and I used to go to various clubs in London in the early 80's that played a wide range of music that included jump-blues, swing, rockabilly, soul, funk and latin, and the 'look' at those clubs was definitely vintage- and retro-inspired. Zoot suits were popularised by Blue Rondo a la Turk members, and club promoters, Chris Sullivan and Christos Tolera in 1981

 

[jake_fink]

Also:

And check out Body Heat:

and Blade Runner

which weere certainly influenced by (and in the case of Body Heat, copies of) forties film noir. Even Outland had a forties influence, since it was a western in space.

Now, were any of these things any good? Blue Rondo a la Turk was, if I recall correctly.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

...but but...Tiny Tim was a reborn vaudevillian! He was trying to revive the popular music of 1890-1920! He lived in the past! He played the uke and carried it about wrapped in a (*vintage*) cardigan!

Now, Barf Alpert and the Tiajuana (insert social disease here), on the other hand...

And didn't he even wear a suit and tie? I seem to remember that he did.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Tiny Tim. Circa 1952.

 

[jamespowers]

And didn't he even wear a suit and tie? I seem to remember that he did.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Tiny Tim. Circa 1952.

Geez, what went wrong in eight or ten short years?

Regards,

J

 

[nightandthecity]

There was a short-lived jump-blues/swing/latin revival in the UK in the early 80's with some 40's style suits being worn by several bands.

The Chevalier Brothers were probably the best of the revival bands -

hey, the Chevalier Brothers were great –here’s to Ray Gelato, Britain’s only Jewish Italian R&B sax honker!

In Britain there was definitely a strong 1940s/50s fashion influence in the early 80s. I think it came from several quite different directions.

One was definitely musical. A whole new generation discovered rockabilly in the mid 70s and by the early 80s many of them had got into the roots and were discovering 30s and 40s music - hot hillbilly, swing, jump blues etc. They started wearing the clothes to go with the music. ….

…which was something that became more widespread and acceptable around this time – people would change their whole appearance to suit the style of gig. In the seventies when (British) people wore western clothes to Country gigs everyone mocked them. By the early 80s this kind of “dressing the part” was normal…...

….which also meant people were more ready to be influenced by films. For example, in the late 80s Top Gun helped start a whole vintage flight jacket boom.

Then there were the yuppies and the new money. They wanted to dress smart so they looked back to the era before mass denim, the golden age of the suit.

And the nostalgic baby boomers – now in their thirties, a bit of money to spend, got families and careers, wanting to recapture something of their lost youth – they got big on the styles they’d worn in the 50s and 60s – vintage denim, old flight jackets – and on the styles of the classic 1940s films they grew up with, such as fedoras…...

……In fact the whole vintage thing had started with the boomers in the late 60s/early 70s. Back then people had tended to mix and match it with modern clothes, but by the early 80s natural evolution meant some of them just didn’t dress modern anymore.

Then there was the simple fact of availability. Dissident youth went shopping in the charity (thrift) shops. This was encouraged by widespread youth unemployment and widespread youthful cynicism towards the fashion industry. And the charity shops still had some 40s and 50s clothing. If you wanted to look a bit different it was the obvious stuff to go for, rather than the 70s stuff.

All these things seemed to come together around the same time. It didn’t last of course, but the idea that you could be a clothing chameleon and flit across subcultures and periods was here to stay.

The shortlived 40s revival was part of a whole loosening up about clothes. This had begun in the late 60s but by the early 80s it had reached the stage where you really could dress pretty much how you liked, and change your whole style from day to day.

Hooray!!

 

[Senator Jack]

Questioned by Nightandthe City:
BTW - Jack - Herb Alpert? !HERB ALPERT????!!! yOU JOKING!! is this post-modern irony?

No joke, Night. I'm a huge fan of 60s Go-Go soundtracks - the sort of music Burt Bacharach was doing for After the Fox and Casino Royale (Herb recorded the title track for Casino) and that Lalo Schiffrin was doing for Bullitt, Murderer's Row, The Liquidator, etcetera. HA & the TJB fit very well into that category - loud, brassy, lots of twangy guitar. I'm telling you, they were a hot band. Again, you have to be a fan of 60s go-go and incidental music.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Wow! ,....

And didn't he even wear a suit and tie? I seem to remember that he did.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Tiny Tim. Circa 1952.

He looks like a regular guy,..............but with a tiny little miniature guitar!

Or maybe a really, really big guy with a normal sized guitar? :fing28:

 

[Lincsong]

But Mark....

"Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on multiple charges on March 16, 1988.

North, indicted on nine counts, was initially convicted of three minor counts, although the conviction was later vacated upon appeal on the grounds that North's Fifth Amendment rights may have been violated. The violation was said to be the indirect use of his testimony to Congress which had been given under a grant of immunity. Poindexter was convicted on several felony counts of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. His convictions were also overturned on appeal on similar grounds as North's. The Independent Counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh, chose not to re-try North or Poindexter."

These were overturned on appeal.[huh]

Here's one: the Camp David accords.

"
The success of Begin, Sadat, and Carter at Camp David demonstrated to other Arab states and entities that negotiations with Israel were possible — that progress results only from sustained efforts at communication and cooperation. Despite the disappointing conclusion of the 1993 Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel, and even though the 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace has not fully normalized relations with Israel, both of these significant developments had little chance of occurring without the precedent set by Camp David."

They're still killing each other over there. (maybe not Israel and Egypt. but the rest) and it was basically the U.S. giving each country $4 billion a year to behave.:eusa_doh:

 

[Baron Kurtz]

He looks like a regular guy,..............but with a tiny little miniature guitar!

Or maybe a really, really big guy with a normal sized guitar? :fing28:

Nah, really, really big guy (6 foot 6 or so) with a really really small guitar - otherwise known as a ukelele. Devout catholic and first class strange person by all accounts. RIP Tiny Tim.

A friend of my wife put out his last couple of albums. Some fine albums, at that.

No mention of Mr. Nixon in the list of 60s 70s evils, i note.

bk

 

[Salv]

Also:

...
Now, were any of these things any good? Blue Rondo a la Turk was, if I recall correctly.

Of course! Kid Creole and the Coconuts! I think the reason I forgot them was that they were American, and I was thinking about the British scene.

And I forgot Matt Bianco as well, the only one of the lot to actually have a chart hit, with their cover of Yeh, Yeh - they had a couple of ex-members of Blue Rondo a la Turk in their lineup. Blue Rondo were OK, but they started a very short-lived salsa revival, which was generally terrible - Modern Romance had a hit with the truly awful waste of vinyl that was Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey.

Also Spandau Ballet, once they moved on from frills and ruffles and kilts, started wearing 40's inspired suits, but they were part of the same London scene as Chris Sullivan and the Blue Rondo boys so that was inevitable.

hey, the Chevalier Brothers were great –here’s to Ray Gelato, Britain’s only Jewish Italian R&B sax honker!

I went to see Ray and his big band at an open-air gig last summer - what a great night! It was at a local open-air swimming pool and we went with some friends whose daughter happens to be our daughters best friend, so the kids went in for a swim while the adults settled down with a picnic and some beers. The band came on and did their swingin' thing and they were wonderful. During the intermission between sets Ray was signing CDs at the side of the stage and my wife and her friend wandered over. Now, we had seen the Chevalier Brothers a few times in the early 80's, and also seen Ray at some of the clubs we went to in the same period, but that had been over 20 years before, and he recognised my wife. After the gig he was set up by the exit signing CDs again, and I stopped to thank him for the gig, and he recognised me as well. We had a nice little chat, and he seemed very nostalgic for the slightly wilder sound of the Chevalier Brothers (his hero is Sam Butera). We'd never spoken in the 80's, just seen each other about, but the Chevaliers gigs were always in small pubs and clubs so he mus have seen us regularly turn up. The even played a gig in the only club in my small suburban town, to an audience of a few dozen.

 

[Salv]

In Britain there was definitely a strong 1940s/50s fashion influence in the early 80s. I think it came from several quite different directions.
...

The mini swing revival kicked off by soul and funk DJ Chris Hill in the mid-70s was a big influence on soul-boy fashions for years afterwards. Hill had a residency at the Goldmine in Canvey Island, Essex, and in amongst the Fatback Band, James Brown and Kool & The Gang records he started playing tunes by Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb and Benny Goodman. The regulars at the Goldmine raided their parents wardrobes and dusted down demob suits, silk crepe dresses and WW2 uniforms and wore them out to the club. 50's fashions proved more popular, and there were a couple of shops in London that catered to the discerning rockabilly-soul-boy. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood had Let It Rock in Kings Road, and there was also Acme Attractions further up the Kings Road that sold classic juke boxes and pinball machines alongside original 40s, 50s and 60s clothes. By the time I started going to funk clubs in '76 Acme was closed and Let It Rock had become Seditionaries, selling bondage clothing to punks. But, the Beaufort Market had opened on Kings Road, not far from Seditionaries, selling lots of original 40s and 50s American clothes.

When the funk scene got washed away by disco and wishy-washy jazz-funk in 1978 the hard core retro fans found other things to listen to. I got into Louis Jordan, Professor Longhair, Amos Milburn (Chicken Shack Boogie is still one of the most exciting records I own) and various honking tenor men and blues shouters, and doo-wop groups. When the swing revival started in the early 80's I felt right at home, but I had a few years when nobody understood what I was doing. I remember a New Years Eve party I went to - probably NYE 1979 so literally on the eve of the 80s - in a vintage white tux, navy-blue 40s trousers, white shirt and bow tie, and I had people laughing in my face. Aaaahhhh... happy times...

But enough nostalgia - I'm off to bed, it's 'round midnight here.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Funny as we age how things just keep flowing back- I suppose we are part of the play as we remember it and celebrate another era while someone esle latches onto the one we would rather forget. Somehow when you compare the classic dress & sounds of the 40s to the big awful 80s just doesn't seem fair though.....

 

[CWetherby]

*just remembered* I had pictures of Jon Bon Jovi ALL over my room as a teeny bopper....absolutely loved the guy, made sure I kissed him flat on the mouth every night before bed, my friends thought I was hilarious. Now it kills me thinking how much I had a crush on such a 'pretty boy'

I don't know, MysteryGal, you don't get much prettier than Duran Duran, and not only did I have the posters, I had the cute little white shoes, and went to the concert, surrounded by teenaged girls yelling, "I wanna have your baby, Nick Rhodes!!!!" Granted, I was one of the teenaged girls, but Simon Le Bon was my man..... ha ha ha ha ha

 

[jamespowers]

I don't know, MysteryGal, you don't get much prettier than Duran Duran, and not only did I have the posters, I had the cute little white shoes, and went to the concert, surrounded by teenaged girls yelling, "I wanna have your baby, Nick Rhodes!!!!" Granted, I was one of the teenaged girls, but Simon Le Bon was my man..... ha ha ha ha ha

Hey, hey! I went to their reunion concert last year. It was great. I just couldn't believe that it had been so long ago that it was new.
Duran Duran always had a certain style and at least dressed better than you see today in pop music. They still do.
Therefore, I grant you absolution for liking Duran Duran. So did/do I.

Regards,

J

 

[Salv]

Hey, hey! I went to their reunion concert last year. It was great. I just couldn't believe that it had been so long ago that it was new.
Duran Duran always had a certain style and at least dressed better than you see today in pop music. They still do.
Therefore, I grant you absolution for liking Duran Duran. So did/do I.

Regards,

J

Yes, but ... Duran Duran just ripped off every move Spandau Ballet ever made. Spandau Ballet were based in London while Duran Duran were based in Birmingham - those 100 miles made all the difference as to whether you set the styles or followed them, and Duran Duran were definitely followers.

(dons flame proof suit, and awaits the barrage...)

 

[CWetherby]

Therefore, I grant you absolution for liking Duran Duran.

Regards,

J

(Kneeling at your feet) Thank you. I can now hold my head high and go forward into my life, pardoned from my past. Whew! That's a relief! lol lol lol lol

Seriously, though, most people who find out my dirty little secret just laugh at me! But there was just something about Rio....I couldn't help myself!

It's not like some bands that it's considered socially acceptable to still like: U2, REM and others who garnered some measure of respect from critics. A Duran Duran lover is labeled right from the start. (Hence my dark glasses and fake accent.) Admittedly, it was fun to have music that my parents hated, that all my friends listened to, and included well-dressed, decent-looking fellows. Now that I think about it--I LIKED THE 80'S!!!!!!!!!

But I promise not to revisit the neon clothing and accessories--so help me!

 

["Doc" Devereux]

Seriously, though, most people who find out my dirty little secret just laugh at me! But there was just something about Rio....I couldn't help myself!

I can't laugh - I still like Robert Palmer's stuff.

 

[BellyTank]

Hey Salv and all Englanders- Morrissey

What about The Smiths/Morrissey...?
Not mentioned so far.

I did/do like them/him

Checking those armholes...

He's a sharp dressing Man...

B
T

 

[nightandthecity]

funnily enough I like the Smiths better now than I did at the time. Every time I heard him tell the world he was so miserable now I wanted to shake him and yell "pull yourself together and get a grip you miserable whinger!!" (or words to that effect)

Now when I hear those classic Smiths tracks I think they're great. Plus I go all nostalgic. Funny what a few years will do.