Forgotten 80s: January 2023

Sunday, 29 January 2023

SHOW #501 - "Top coat, top hat, and I don't worry 'cause my wallet's fat..."

ZZ Top "Sharp Dressed Man"
Lionel Richie "Ballerina Girl"

China Crisis "King In A Catholic Style"
Public Enemy "Bring The Noise"

Elton John "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That"
Fields of the Nephilim "Psychonaut"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
H20 "Sundays Are Blue"

Visage "Mind Of A Toy"
Genesis "Mama"

Pet Shop Boys "Suburbia"

New Edition "Mr Telephone Man"
Adam Ant "Friend Or Foe"

Go West "Call Me"
Bomb The Bass featuring Lorraine "Don't Make Me Wait"

Susan Fassbender "Twilight Cafe"
Soft Cell "Where The Heart Is"

Sheena Easton "One Man Woman"
Ward Brothers "Cross That Bridge"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Lotus Eaters "Put Your Touch On Love"

Malcolm McLaren "Madam Butterfly"
Roxy Music "Oh Yeah (On The Radio)"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Chris Rea "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat"

Quarterflash "Harden My Heart"
Paul Simon "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes"

Sunday, 22 January 2023

SHOW #500 - "One of the crowd, it felt so safe, I never felt alone, together every day and night when you and me were young..."

Bananarama "Cheers Then"
Echo and the Bunnymen "A Promise"

Shakin' Stevens "Jezebel"
The Smiths "Hand In Glove"
A-Ha "Take On Me (Original)"

Kate Bush "Wuthering Heights (1986 Vocal)"
Big Country "Harvest Home"
Gary Numan "My Dying Machine"

Siouxsie and the Banshees "Melt"
OMD "Red Frame White Light"

Simple Minds "I Travel"
Queen "Is This The World We Created...?"

Bucks Fizz "You And Your Heart So Blue"
Spandau Ballet "Be Free With Your Love"

Prince "I Would Die 4 U"
Eurythmics "Julia"

Duran Duran "Friends Of Mine"
Madonna "Everybody"

UB40 "I've Got Mine"
The Cure "Let's Go To Bed"

Kim Wilde "Dancing In The Dark"
Ultravox "Passing Strangers"

Level 42 "Starchild"
Madness "Take It Or Leave It"
Depeche Mode "Little 15"

This was a special 500th edition which counted down the 25 most played artists in the show's history.

Sunday, 15 January 2023

SHOW #499 - "One day, I'm gonna write a poem and a letter, one day, I'm gonna get the faculty together..."

David Bowie "Blue Jean"
Starsound "Stars On 45 Vol 2"

Simply Red "It's Only Love"
Kon Kan "I Beg Your Pardon"

Mike and the Mechanics "Silent Running"
Thompson Twins "Watching"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
George Michael "Look At Your Hands"

Bill Wyman "(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star"
Tanita Tikaram "Twist In My Sobriety"

Bangles "If She Knew What She Wants"

Saxon "Wheels Of Steel"
Gary Numan "Sister Surprise"

The Smiths "Bigmouth Strikes Again"
Samantha Fox "Love House"

Human League "Being Boiled"
Prince "Anotherloverholenyohead"

Howard Jones "Look Mama"
Dr Hook "Better Love Next Time"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Richard Marx "Real World"

Dire Straits "Skateaway"
Erasure "Ship Of Fools"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Faith Brothers "The Country Of The Blind"

Scritti Politti "Asylums In Jerusalem"
Talk Talk "Such A Shame"

Sunday, 8 January 2023

SHOW #498 - "They used to be rough, they used to be tough, but now they're keeping cool..."

Specials "Rude Buoys Outa Jail"
Eurythmics "Who's That Girl"

Amazulu "Excitable"
Level 42 "Micro Kid"

Bananarama "Love, Truth And Honesty"
OMD "So In Love"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
King "I Cringed, I Died, I Felt Hot"

Boomtown Rats "Someone’s Looking At You"
Donna Summer "State Of Independence"

Murray Head "One Night In Bangkok"

Darling Buds "Hit The Ground"
Siouxsie and the Banshees "Fireworks"

Duran Duran "Union Of The Snake"
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians "What I Am"

Dan Hartman "I Can Dream About You"
Bucks Fizz "London Town"

Guns n Roses "Patience"
Kate Bush "Sat In Your Lap"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
The Alarm "Hallowed Ground"

King Kurt "Destination Zululand"
Spandau Ballet "Round And Round"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Tom Tom Club "Genius Of Love"

Toto Coelo "Dracula's Tango (Sucker For Your Love)"
Shriekback "Lined Up"

Sunday, 1 January 2023

SHOW #497 - "I've been funny, I've been cool with the lines, ain't that the way love's supposed to be?"

Rick Springfield "Jessie's Girl"
Helen Terry "Stuttering"
The Cars "Heartbeat City"

Gary Numan "America"
Captain Sensible "There Are More Snakes Than Ladders"
Perfect Day "Liberty Town"

Robert Palmer "Simply Irresistible"
The Look "Feeding Time"

Stevie Nicks "Long Way To Go"
Big Country "Hold The Heart"

Prince "I Wanna Be Your Lover"
In Tua Nua "All I Wanted"
Buggles "Elstree"

XTC "Mayor Of Simpleton"
Merry Clayton "Yes"
Diamond Head "Out Of Phase"

Simple Minds "Sweat In Bullet"
Jermaine Jackson & Pia Zadora "When The Rain Begins To Fall"
10,000 Maniacs "Trouble Me"

The Smiths "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"
Galaxy featuring Phil Fearon "Fantasy Real"

Cyndi Lauper "All Through The Night"
Reid "Lovin' On The Side"

Shakatak "Watching You"
Big Sound Authority "A Bad Town"
Van Morrison "Have I Told You Lately"

This was a commemorative edition of Forgotten 80s, featuring 80s singles that didn't make the Top 40, to mark the start of 2023, and styled as a special of The Edge Of Heaven.

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 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 six 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. A feature began in 2024 called Song For Whoever, focusing on cover versions of the 1980s, and there is an active archive running on Spotify.

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.

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

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. 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 on Spotify. We endeavoured to add both featured tracks each week, subject to availability. 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 are being 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. 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 archive for The Nobody's Diary, 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 Song For Whoever, you must send by email four choices of cover versions recorded in the 80s, 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, from which three will be selected (the link above for the Official Chart Archive can assist you with this). Only emailed submissions will be considered