The prettier one, always in the background...

With the sad news that co-founder member of one of my personal fave 80s synth-pop bands Blancmange Stephen Luscombe has ascended that neon-lit, dry-ice-and-poppers-shrouded stairway to the great "Some Bizzare" stage on Fabulon - let's wallow [and I need very little prompting to delve into my 1980s heyday, bien sûr] in just a few of the band's most memorable musical moments, shall we?

[Don't tell John-John, but I prefer their cover version to Abba's original!]

RIP, Stephen.

Could we get any more 80s if we tried..?

A mini-timeslip, dear reader! We're gone into warp drive and find ourselves in a long-forgotten world - 1982: the year of of the Falklands War, E.T., the SDP, CND, AIDS and the IRA.

In the news headlines in December forty-one years ago: the re-opening of the Spain-Gibraltar border after more than a decade, the murder of 17 people and wounding of dozens more by terrorist splinter group the INLA in the bombing of the Droppin Well disco in Ballykelly, the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, the closure (with the loss of 1200 jobs) of the Round Oak Steelworks in Dudley after 125 years, and we bade a fond farewell to the wonderful Marty Feldman [NB and Nicki Minaj was born]. In our cinemas: Gandhi; The Plague Dogs; Tron. On telly: the famous Only Fools and Horses episode involving a priceless chandelier; The Snowman; and the final public performance by ABBA on The Late, Late Breakfast Show.

And in our charts this week in 1982? Just in time for the usual "Xmas novelty hit" season, Renee and Renato's cheesy Save Your Love had just rocketed to the #1 slot (where it would remain until the New Year). Also present and correct were (last week's incumbents) The Jam, Culture Club, Shakin'-bloody-Stevens, Madness, Lionel Ritchie, Human League, Wham, Modern Romance and that duet between David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

Just departing the Top Ten, however, was this eternal house favourite here at Dolores Delargo Towers:

You keep me running round and round
Well, that's alright with me
Up and down, I'm up the wall
I'm up the bloody tree

That's alright with me
Yeah, that's alright with me
Well, it feels alright to me
Yeah, it looks alright to me

And I'm so tall, I'm so tall
You raise me and then you let me fall
And I'm so small, I'm so small
Wrap me around your finger, see me fall

You keep me running round and round
Well, that's alright with me
Nothing, nothing, nothing's gonna
Step in my way

Living on the ceiling
No more room down there
Things fall into place
You get the joke, fall into place

And I'm so tall, I'm so tall
You raise me and then you let me fall
And I'm so small, I'm so small
Wrap me around your finger, see me fall
Here we go

You keep me running round and round
Well, that's alright with me
Up and down, I'm up the wall
I'm up the bloody tree

Hiding from your questions
Questions you won't ask
Why am I up the tree, you say
Why are you down there, I say

And I'm so tall, I'm so tall
You raise me and then you let me fall
And I'm so small, I'm so small
Wrap me around your finger, see me fall
Hey

Faboo! But so very, very long ago...

Sob.

It's time for another pick of the newer music that I have stumbled across on my sojourn across the interwebs...

Opening this particular mish-mash, we bid a very welcome back to one of my fave bands of the early 80s, the quirky and superb Blancmange:


A little noisy stuff is in order next methinks, courtesy of Panic! At The Disco:


Here at Dolores Delargo Towers we have always had a thing about buccaneers. And now, thanks to the delightful Mike over at Pop Trash Addicts, we are alerted to an apparent "internet sensation" - Cosmo Jarvis and his Gay Pirates!

Next up the return of that faboo quirky cult dance act Hercules and Love affair with their latest mix...



And now, a pairing made in gay heaven! The magnificent Billie Ray Martin and that massive Italian superstar Hard Ton:

But to finish, I have to add a heap of campness that - to coin a phrase - is "gayer than Liberace and Elton John in a pink Mini"! For none other than the gorgeous Dana International has re-joined the Eurovision throng, singing Israel's official entry this year...

[Thanks, John-John]