Forgotten 80s

Sunday, 24 September 2023

SHOW #535 - "Oh, don't you let the lady take it all away..."

George Benson "Turn Your Love Around"
Status Quo "Marguerita Time"

Big Country "Just A Shadow"
Steven Dante "I'm Too Scared"

Pet Shop Boys "It's Alright"
Patti Labelle "Oh People"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Undertones "Girls That Don't Talk"

Level 42 "Micro Kid"
Kids from 'Fame' "Starmaker"

Aretha Franklin & Whitney Houston "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be"

Bucks Fizz "If You Can't Stand The Heat"
Thomas Dolby "Windpower"

Siouxsie and the Banshees "Happy House"
Queen "Backchat"

Agnetha Fältskog "The Heat Is On"
Curiosity Killed The Cat "Ordinary Day"

Narada "Divine Emotions"
Swansway "Soul Train"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Hue & Cry "History City"

Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait"
Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton "We've Got Tonight"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Howard Jones "Everlasting Love"

Icehouse "No Promises"
Kirsty MacColl "Free World"

Sunday, 17 September 2023

SHOW #534 - "Just heep the sheet on the loose, and keep your neck from the noose, just keep your eye on the ball and your feet in your boots..."

JoBoxers "Boxerbeat"
Human League "Mirror Man"

Sade "Paradise"
Graham Bonnet "Night Games"

The Alarm "A New South Wales"
David Essex "Me And My Girl, Nightclubbing"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Blow Monkeys "You Don't Own Me"

SOS Band "Just The Way You Like It"
Paul Young "Wonderland"

S Express "Hey Music Lover"

Roxy Music "More Than This"
Nik Kershaw "When A Heart Beats"

The Mission "Wasteland"
Black Slate "Amigo"

Kate Bush "The Sensual World"
The Beat "All Out To Get You"

Daryl Hall and John Oates "Private Eyes"
Animal Nightlife "Love Is Just The Great Pretender"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Fuzzbox "Irish Bride"

Billy Joel "All For Leyna"
A-Ha "Hunting High And Low"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
BB&Q Band "On The Beat"

Fiction Factory "Ghost Of Love"
Thompson Twins "Lies"

Sunday, 10 September 2023

SHOW #533 - "The train door was jammed but the time wasn't right..."

Hue & Cry "Looking For Linda"
David Bowie "Baal's Hymn"

The Cure "Why Can't I Be You?"
George Duke "Brazilian Love Affair"

Electric Light Orchestra "Calling America"
Jesus and Mary Chain "Blues From A Gun"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Simply Red "Sad Old Red"

Aretha Franklin "Who's Zoomin' Who"
Cutting Crew "I've Been In Love Before"

Alvin Stardust "Pretend"

Shannon "Let The Music Play"
Whitesnake "Bloody Luxury"

Level 42 "Heaven In My Hands"
Sad Cafe "My Oh My"

Visage "The Damned Don't Cry"
Nick Heyward "Blue Hat For A Blue Day"

Donna Summer "I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt"
The Truth "Confusion (Hits Us Every Time)"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Wet Wet Wet "I Can Give You Everything"

Miami Sound Machine "Bad Boy"
Squeeze "Labelled With Love"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Fine Young Cannibals "Blue"

Split Enz "History Never Repeats"
Talk Talk "Such A Shame"

Sunday, 3 September 2023

SHOW #532 - "If you want to find a hidden key, there's nothing here on me..."

Simple Minds "Kick It In"
Amii Stewart "Light My Fire (1985 Remix)"

Ryan Paris "Dolce Vita"
Two Men, A Drum Machine and a Trumpet "I’m Tired Of Getting Pushed Around"

New Order "Confusion"
A Flock Of Seagulls "Transfer Affection"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Don Henley "A Month Of Sundays"

Belinda Carlisle "World Without You"
Barbra Streisand "Woman In Love"

Duran Duran "New Moon On Monday"

Audrey Hall "Smile"
The Damned "The Shadow Of Love"

Temptations "Treat Her Like A Lady"
Japan "Cantonese Boy"

Five Star "Can't Wait Another Minute"
Housemartins "Me And The Farmer"

Bangles "Hazy Shade Of Winter"
Surface Noise "The Scratch"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Transvision Vamp "Trash City"

Alice Cooper "Bed Of Nails"
Madonna "The Look Of Love"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Frazier Chorus "Typical"

That Petrol Emotion "Genius Move"
Peter Gabriel "Red Rain"

Sunday, 27 August 2023

SHOW #531 - "Shape it up, get straight, go forward, move ahead, try to detect it, it's not too late..."

Devo "Whip It"

Squeeze "Black Coffee In Bed"
Miquel Brown "So Many Men, So Little Time"

Big Bam Boo "Shooting From The Heart"
Eurythmics "Never Gonna Cry Again"
Gary Moore "Shapes Of Things"

Colour Field "Castles In The Air"

Mike Oldfield "To France"

Marillion "Uninvited Guest"
Janet Jackson "Control"

Chris Rea "I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It"

The Fixx "One Thing Leads To Another"
Suzanne Vega "Small Blue Thing"

Generation X "Dancing With Myself"

Hazell Dean "Evergreen"
Dali's Car "Judgment Is The Mirror"

Pete Shelley "Telephone Operator"
The Alarm "Sold Me Down The River"
Pretenders "Middle Of The Road"

Aztec Camera "Deep And Wide And Tall"

Outfield "Voices Of Babylon"

Scritti Politti "Sweetest Girl"
Pale Fountains "Thank You"

Deacon Blue "Chocolate Girl"

Sundays "Can't Be Sure"
Elton John "Breaking Hearts (Ain't What It Used To Be)"

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

Sunday, 20 August 2023

SHOW #530 - "In our image, let's make robots for our slaves, imagine all the time that we can save..."

Hazel O’Connor "Eighth Day"
Hue & Cry "Labour Of Love"

The Cure "The Caterpillar"
Saxon "747 (Strangers In The Night)"

Selecter "Three Minute Hero"
Brother Beyond "The Harder I Try"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Texas "Future Is Promises"

Boomtown Rats "The Elephant's Graveyard"
Level 42 "Leaving Me Now"

Debbie Gibson "We Could Be Together"

Bluebells "Will She Always Be Waiting?"
George Benson "Shiver"

Feargal Sharkey "You Little Thief"
Nolans "Attention To Me"

Huey Lewis and the News "Do You Believe In Love"
BA Robertson "Kool In The Kaftan"

Morrissey "Ouija Board, Ouija Board"
Change "A Lover's Holiday"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Living In A Box "Unique"

Mica Paris "Like Dreamers Do"
David Sylvian & Riuichi Sakamoto "Forbidden Colours"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Redskins "Keep On Keepin' On"

King Kurt "Road To Rack ’N Ruin"
The The "Slow Train To Dawn"

Sunday, 13 August 2023

SHOW #529 - "Well lick my lashes and kiss my cheeks, remember life in between the sheets..."

King "Alone Without You"
Toyah "War Boys"

De La Soul "Eye Know"
Phil Collins "I Missed Again"

Kajagoogoo "Big Apple"
Rainbow "Can't Happen Here"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Teardrop Explodes "Falling Down Around Me"

Huey Lewis and the News "Do You Believe In Love"
Alison Moyet "That Ole Devil Called Love"

Cameo "Back And Forth"

T'Pau "Valentine"
Adam Ant "Desperate But Not Serious"

Stray Cats "Stray Cat Strut"
Princess "Say I’m Your Number One"

Bros "Chocolate Box"
Associates "18 Carat Love Affair"

The Clash "The Call Up"
Alexander O'Neal "The Lovers"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
The Mission "Bridges Burning"

Fuzzbox "Love Is The Slug"
Rod Stewart "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Diana Ross "It's Never Too Late"

Shakatak "City Rhythm"
Sade "Love Is Stronger Than Pride"

Sunday, 6 August 2023

SHOW #528 - "Reaching out to meet the changes, touching every shining star..."

Michael McDonald "Sweet Freedom"
Shalamar "I Can Make You Feel Good"

David Bowie "Fashion"
Wonder Stuff "Who Wants To Be The Disco King"

Cool Notes "Spend The Night"
Modern Romance "Queen Of The Rapping Scene"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Bananarama "State I’m In"

Jaki Graham "Step Right Up"
Dire Straits "Private Investigations"

Pepsi & Shirlie "Heartache"

Iron Maiden "Aces High"
Gary Numan "This Is Love"

XTC "Generals And Majors"
Jermaine Stewart "Say It Again"

Human League "The Lebanon"
Beggar & Co "Mule (Chant No.2)"

Kym Mazelle "Got To Get You Back"
The Cure "The Hanging Garden"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Stephen TinTin Duffy "Believe In Me"

Dollar "Videotheque"
Genesis "In Too Deep"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Billy Ocean "Mystery Lady"

Altered Images "Change Of Heart"
The Cult "Spiritwalker"

Sunday, 30 July 2023

SHOW #527 - "Get back up, party down, there's so many good ones still around..."

Robbie Nevil "C'est La Vie"
Style Council "Long Hot Summer"

Echo and the Bunnymen "Lips Like Sugar"
Barbara Dickson "January February"

Culture Club "It's A Miracle"
Al Jarreau "Mornin'"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Nick Heyward "When It Started To Begin"

Kim Wilde "The Second Time"
David Essex "Silver Dream Machine"

Howard Jones "No-One Is To Blame"

Roxy Music "Same Old Scene"
Sybil "Don't Make Me Over"

Pretenders "Talk Of The Town"
Christians "Born Again"

Paul Hardcastle "Don’t Waste My Time"
Europe "Rock The Night"

Daryl Hall and John Oates "Kiss On My List"
Tina Turner "Let's Stay Together"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Alison Moyet "Honey For The Bees"

Housemartins "There's Always Something There To Remind Me"
Madonna "Dear Jessie"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
Fleetwood Mac "Can't Go Back"

Hue & Cry "Sweet Invisibility"
Talk Talk "Living In Another World"

Sunday, 23 July 2023

SHOW #526 - "Make my feelings known towards you, turn my heart inside and out for you now..."

Queen "Breakthru"
Amii Stewart "Knock On Wood - 85 Remix"

JoBoxers "Just Got Lucky"
Sinitta "GTO"

All About Eve "Every Angel"
Marillion "Heart Of Lothian"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Paula Abdul "State Of Attraction"

Liza Minnelli "Losing My Mind"
Go West "Goodbye Girl"

Paul McCartney "Take It Away"

Sigue Sigue Sputnik "21st Century Boy"
Jacksons "Lovely One"

Big Audio Dynamite "E=MC²"
Beatmasters featuring PP Arnold "Burn It Up"

Windjammer "Tossing And Turning"
Fun Boy Three "Our Lips Are Sealed"

Secret Affair "My World"
Japan "I Second That Emotion"

FLAUNT THE IMPERFECTION:
Inner City "Paradise"

OMD "Messages"
Jan Hammer "Crockett's Theme"

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN:
B-52s "Give Me Back My Man"

Cardiacs "Is This The Life"
Heaven 17 "Let Me Go"

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 Calling America, Journeys To Glory, Didn't We Almost Have It All, When Will I Be Famous and The Nobody's Diary; the five features we have run on the show that have allowed us to play hundreds of songs from outside the UK Top 40, as well as album tracks. A feature began in 2022 called Flaunt The Imperfection, focusing on album tracks 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 nationwide on DAB digital radio; on Freesat (channel 726), Sky Digital (channel 0144) and Virgin Media (channel 951); on the Absolute Radio mobile and tablet 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 Q2 2023).

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 with adverts 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 50 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 six principal archives on Spotify which all feature music played on Forgotten 80s. Flaunt The Imperfection is a feature which began on Forgotten 80s in January 2022. Here we play album tracks of studio or soundtrack albums of the 1980s that were not released as singles in the UK. Both tracks are selected by an individual listener each week. The archive for Flaunt The Imperfection is on Spotify. We endeavour 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. Currently there are 196 songs on there. 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 endeavour 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. Currently there are 192 songs on there. 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. Currently there are 245 songs on there. 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. Currently there are 78 songs on there. 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. Currently there are 80 songs on there. Via these six features, we have played on the show more than 1,000 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; via Twitter, using the hashtag #forgotten80s; or via email at matthew.rudd@absoluteradio.co.uk/the #forgotten80s page at absolute80s.com

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 Flaunt The Imperfection, you must send by email four choices of album tracks of 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