Forgotten 80s: December 2024

Sunday, 29 December 2024

SHOW #601 - "Someone stops for directions, something responds deep in our engines ..."

Prefab Sprout "Cars And Girls"
Chimes "1-2-3"

Daryl Hall and John Oates "Out Of Touch"
Sham 69 "Tell The Children"

Fleetwood Mac "Gypsy"
Chris Rea "Working On It"

Nik Kershaw "Radio Musicola"
James "Chain Mail"
Jaki Graham "Still In Love"

Level 42 "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind"

Hazell Dean "Back In My Arms (Once Again)"
Little Angels "Don't Waste My Time"

Billy Joel "Leningrad"
Kurtis Blow "The Breaks"

Human League "Boys And Girls"
John Waite "These Times Are Hard For Lovers"

Squeeze "Pulling Mussels From The Shell"
Belinda Carlisle "Love Never Dies"

Sad Cafe "Nothing Left Toulouse"
David Sylvian "Pop Song"
OMD "We Love You"

Robert Palmer "Johnny And Mary"

ABC "The Real Thing"
Transvision Vamp "Sister Moon"

This was a commemorative edition of Forgotten 80s, featuring 80s singles that didn't make the Top 40, to mark the end of 2024, and styled as a special of The Edge Of Heaven.

Sunday, 22 December 2024

SHOW #600 - "There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear ..."

Band Aid II "Do They Know It's Christmas"
Mel Smith + Kim Wilde "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"

Echo and the Bunnymen "People Are Strange"
Diana Ross "Why Do Fools Fall In Love"
Tourists "I Only Want To Be With You"

Fun Boy Three "Our Lips Are Sealed"
Martika "I Feel The Earth Move"
Dave Stewart and Colin Blunstone "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted"

Terri Wells "I'll Be Around"

The Damned "Alone Again Or"
Don McLean "Crying"

Stranglers "All Day And All Of The Night"
Barbara Jones "Just When I Needed You Most"
Rolling Stones "Harlem Shuffle"

Dexys Midnight Runners "Jackie Wilson Said"
Adeva "Respect"
Dead Or Alive "That's The Way I Like It"

Club Nouveau "Lean On Me"
Japan "I Second That Emotion"
Dollar "O L'Amour"

Shakin' Stevens "Feel The Need In Me"
Bow Wow Wow "I Want Candy"
Elvis Costello "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Bananarama "Nathan Jones"

Bad Manners "My Girl Lollipop"
Everything But The Girl "I Don't Want To Talk About It"

Annabel Lamb "Riders On The Storm"
Blancmange "The Day Before You Came"
Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones "Kiss"

Fine Young Cannibals "Ever Fallen In Love"
The Fall "Victoria"
UB40 "Many Rivers To Cross"

Sinitta "Right Back Where We Started From"
Matt Bianco "Yeh Yeh"
Simple Minds "Sign O' The Times"

Ramones "Baby I Love You"
Amazulu "Montego Bay"
Aztec Camera "Jump"

Simply Red "Money's Too Tight To Mention"

Sam Brown "Can I Get A Witness"
Boogie Box High "Jive Talkin'"

Polecats "John, I'm Only Dancing"
Bomb The Bass featuring Maureen "I Say A Little Prayer"
Madness "Sweetest Girl"

This was a special extended 600th edition which also heralded the end of the twice-per-show slot Song For Whoever; it was a styled as a Song For Whoever special, featuring cover versions that made the Top 40 in the 1980s.

Sunday, 15 December 2024

SHOW #599 - "I still don't know what you've done with me, a grown-up woman shouldn't fall so easily ..."

Abba "Lay All Your Love On Me"
Jason Donovan "When You Come Back To Me"

Duran Duran "Careless Memories"
Galaxy featuring Phil Fearon "Wait Until Tonight My Love"

Tracey Ullman "Sunglasses"
Level 42 "Micro Kid"

SONG FOR WHOEVER:
Trevor Walters "Never Let Her Slip Away"

Dire Straits "Skateaway"
Tiffany "Could've Been"

Sylvester featuring Patrick Cowley "Do You Wanna Funk"

Status Quo "Rock 'n' Roll"
Animal Nightlife "Love Is Just The Great Pretender"

Pointer Sisters "Dare Me"
Housemartins "Think For A Minute"

Cocteau Twins "Pearly Dewdrops Drops"
Paul McCartney "Once Upon A Long Ago"

The Cult "Sun King"
Tina Turner "What You Get Is What You See"

SONG FOR WHOEVER:
David Essex "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More"

Haircut 100 "Love Plus One"
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush "Don't Give Up"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Captain Sensible "One Christmas Catalogue"

Bryan Adams "Christmas Time"
Run DMC "Christmas In Hollis"

Sunday, 8 December 2024

SHOW #598 - "One thing is certainly true, there's moments for me and for you ..."

Chris Rea "Let's Dance"
Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants To Run The World"

George Benson "Feel Like Makin' Love"
Dramatis featuring Gary Numan "Love Needs No Disguise"

Kool and the Gang "Take It To The Top"
Bon Jovi "Living In Sin"

SONG FOR WHOEVER:
Irene Cara "Thunder In My Heart"

Echo and the Bunnymen "The Killing Moon"
Mary Jane Girls "All Night Long"

Culture Club "It's A Miracle"

Princess "After The Love Has Gone"
Roxy Music "More Than This"

Stranglers "Skin Deep"
Joyce Sims "All & All"

Communards "Tomorrow"
ABC "SOS"

Heart "Who Will You Run To"
Ultravox "Slow Motion"

SONG FOR WHOEVER:
Even As We Speak "Bizarre Love Triangle"

Imagination "Just An Illusion"
Aztec Camera "How Men Are"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Dollar "Ring Ring"

London Boys "My Love"
Dooleys "Body Language"

Sunday, 1 December 2024

SHOW #597 - "I hid my yo-yo in the garden, I can't hide you from the government ..."

Kate Bush "Cloudbusting"
Bauhaus "She's In Parties"

Electronic "Getting Away With It"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Christine"

Gwen Guthrie "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent"
Depeche Mode "Love In Itself"

SONG FOR WHOEVER:
Thomas Lang "Me And Mrs Jones"

Whitesnake "Fool For Your Loving"
China Crisis "Wishful Thinking"

All About Eve "December"

Blue Zoo "Cry Boy Cry"
Rod Stewart "Sweet Surrender"

Human League "Mirror Man"
Five Star "Love Take Over"

Orange Juice "Rip It Up"
Electribe 101 "Tell Me When The Fever Ended"

Haysi Fantayzee "Shiny Shiny"
The Cult "Revolution"

SONG FOR WHOEVER:
Terry, Blair and Anouchka "Love Will Keep Us Together"

Jody Watley "Looking For A New Love"
Spandau Ballet "Round And Round"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Associates "Take Me To The Girl"

Pretenders "My Baby"
The Alarm "The Deceiver"

Forgotten 80s

This show is the successor to Q The 80s, which was a cult programme I was privileged to host on Q Radio across the UK from September 2010 to May 2013. When the radio station was discontinued by its parent company, I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to continue the programme as Forgotten 80s by Absolute 80s, and the first edition aired on Sunday 26th May 2013. It's a two-hour show and we start at 9pm.

The show features the underplayed and the almost completely forgotten hits of the 80s, with the intention of rehabilitating the music of a decade that too many people are quick to scorn. Naturally, on a radio station that plays 80s music 24 hours a day, one is preaching somewhat to the converted, but nevertheless we do like to go that little step further. At least half of the songs on each edition of the show are requested by the audience.

The purpose of this blog is to act as a no-frills archive for the show's weekly setlists for people to visit after broadcast. No other material will appear on it. Below you will also find links to archives on Spotify of Song For Whoever, Flaunt The Imperfection, Calling America, Journeys To Glory, Didn't We Almost Have It All, When Will I Be Famous and The Nobody's Diary; the seven features we have run on the show that have allowed us to play thousands of songs from outside the UK Top 40, as well as album tracks.
In October 2017, we introduced the Last Orders Sequence to end the programme each week, which featured three tracks that hold some kind of connection, and were always taken from audience submissions. This ended in December 2021 and was replaced in January 2022 by The Edge Of Heaven, which features three singles that peaked on the chart outside the UK Top 40, all chosen by the audience.

Absolute 80s is available on DAB+ nationwide in stereo; on the Rayo app downloadable for free from your app store; on your smart speaker ("play Absolute 80s"); and via the Listen Live button on the official website. It has 1,700,000 listeners a week (RAJAR Q3 2024).

From Sunday 5th February 2017, we introduced a Listen Again facility for the show via a Forgotten 80s section on the free Absolute Radio app for smartphone and tablet. New editions of the show will appear on the app shortly after broadcast.

On Sunday 13th September 2015, during the 121st edition of the show, our hashtag - #forgotten80s - trended on Twitter for the first time at a ranking of 8. On Sunday 15th January 2017, during the 190th edition of the show, the hashtag was at number 1 in the trending charts across the UK for the first time. It went on to trend at number 1 for four consecutive weeks. The show trends in at least the Top 20 on Twitter every Sunday evening.

In December 2019, a special edition of the show helped commemorate Absolute 80s' tenth birthday.

On the 5th April 2020, following the imposition of Covid restrictions, the show deviated from its "one request per two songs" format to become an All Request show, and remained so even after Covid restrictions were eased.

In January 2023 the show reached its 500th edition, and the show celebrated its 10th anniversary on 28th May 2023, building up to the occasion with ten special shows that each featured music from just one different year of the 80s.

On August 1st 2023, a non-stop Forgotten 80s radio station was launched by Absolute Radio as part of its Premium portfolio, allowing subscribers to listen 24 hours a day commercial-free, and with the facility to skip songs. All information is on the Absolute 80s website (link further down this column), including terms and conditions.

In December 2024, the show reached its 600th edition.

I am 51 and have been on the radio since 1990. You can email me via the Absolute 80s website and follow me on Bluesky.

Thanks for visiting the blog!
Matthew Rudd
#forgotten80s

Forgotten 80s on Spotify!

There are seven principal archives on Spotify which all feature music played on Forgotten 80s. The Nobody's Diary was a feature of Forgotten 80s from the show's inception in May 2013 to August 2014. Here we featured artists who would never make the UK Top 40, despite attaining a lower position in the charts at least once. Every song played was chosen by the audience. The Nobody's Diary was revived in January 2025. The archive for The Nobody's Diary, is on Spotify. We endeavoured to add both featured tracks each week, subject to availability, and in reviving the feature, intend to do so again. Over time, a number of tracks once thereon have since been withdrawn. Song For Whoever is a feature which we ran on Forgotten 80s from January to December 2024. Here we played cover versions, released in the 1980s, of high profile songs. Both tracks were selected by an individual listener each week. The archive for Song For Whoever is also on Spotify. We endeavoured to add both featured tracks each week, subject to availability. The Blogger widget will only display a maximum of 100 songs; further songs were added to the archive on Spotify itself after this limit was reached in December 2024. Flaunt The Imperfection is a feature which ran on Forgotten 80s from January 2022 to December 2023. Here we played album tracks of studio or soundtrack albums of the 1980s that were not released as singles in the UK. Both tracks were selected by an individual listener each week. The archive for Flaunt The Imperfection is on Spotify. We endeavoured to add both featured tracks each week, subject to availability. Two album tracks by Freeez in succession were featured when founder and lead singer John Rocca appeared as a guest contributor. The Blogger widget will only display a maximum of 100 songs; further songs were added to the archive on Spotify itself after this limit was reached in January 2023. Calling America was a feature which we ran on Forgotten 80s from January 2020 to December 2021. Here we played tracks which were entering or climbing the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the USA in the week of broadcast from two different years of the 1980s. We pledged to not play any track that made the Top 40 in the UK, nor any which has been on the show previously in any preceding feature below. The archive for Calling America is on Spotify. We endeavoured to add both featured tracks each week, subject to availability. The Blogger widget will only display a maximum of 100 songs; further songs were added to the archive on Spotify itself once this limit was reached in December 2020. Journeys To Glory was a feature that ran on Forgotten 80s from January 2018 to December 2019. Here we played tracks from albums of the 1980s on the anniversary of their entering the UK album chart. We considered studio and soundtrack albums only, as they contained material original at the time. We played either non-Top 40 single releases or tracks only released as part of the album. The archive for Journeys To Glory, is also on Spotify. We endeavoured to add both featured tracks each week, subject to availability. The Blogger widget will only display a maximum of 100 songs; further songs were added each week once this limit was reached in January 2019. Didn't We Almost Have It All? was a feature that ran on Forgotten 80s from May 2015 to December 2017. Here we featured songs from the charts counted down on the show prior to Forgotten 80s, the Absolute 80s Chart, which would never get higher than 41. Every song played was chosen by the audience. The archive for Didn't We Almost Have It All?, is also on Spotify. The Blogger widget will only display a maximum of 100 songs; further songs were added to the archive on Spotify itself since this limit was reached in the summer of 2017. When Will I Be Famous? was a feature that ran on Forgotten 80s from August 2014 to May 2015. Here we featured unsuccessful early releases by artists who would later go on to stardom. Every song played was chosen by the audience. The archive for When Will I Be Famous?, is also on Spotify. Via these seven features, we have played on the show more than 1,500 tracks that were not Top 40 hits in the UK. We have further associate archive playlists, collating as many of the songs as possible that reached a certain chart position in the 80s, relating to birthday editions of either the show or the radio station. To explore these archived lists further, search for matthewjrudd on Spotify.

Forgotten 80s requests

Requests can be sent via the official Absolute 80s Facebook page, using the thread opened shortly before the beginning of each show; using the hashtag #forgotten80s via Bluesky and/or the social media formerly called Twitter; or via matthew.rudd@absoluteradio.co.uk. Messages via the website or Rayo app will also appear in my email inbox.
Guidelines for your requests:

- no act from the previous week can be repeated (but a solo artist from a featured group can - eg, if Ultravox were on last week, a Midge Ure solo record is eligible for the next week) - this rule is often relaxed for special editions

- a track must have had a 30-show gap before it can be played again (you can use the search function on this blog to assist you) - this rule is often relaxed for special editions

- all regular requests must be for Top 40 hits of the 80s, with a peak chart position attained between January 1st 1980 and December 31st 1989 (the link above for the Official Chart Archive can assist you with this)

To request for The Nobody's Diary, you must send by email four choices of singles of the 80s by acts for whom a place from 41 downwards was the best chart position they ever attained, from which two will be selected, and to request for The Edge Of Heaven, you must send by email four choices of singles of the 80s that peaked on the chart outside the Top 40 (this time by any artist at all, no restrictions), from which three will be selected (the link above for the Official Chart Archive can assist you with both of these). Only emailed submissions will be considered