Friday 80s Flashback for October 223, 2026

[Don't Get Me Blah] -- Another two albums offered up this week. Each one turned 40 years old this month, and they were released by music veterans: The Pretenders with Get Close and Iggy Pop with Blah Blah Blah. 

Get Close – Released on October 20, 1986, or November 4 in the US, Get Close was The Pretenders' fourth studio album. This record marked a period of transition for the band. The album itself peaked at #6 in the UK and #25 on the US Billboard 200. While not as successful as the band's previous album, 1984's Learning to Crawl, it did boast their highest-charting singles on the Mainstream Rock chart: Both "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "My Baby" were #1 hits there. "Don't Get Me Wrong" was also a top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100. Oh, and don't miss "Hymn To Her".  

Blah Blah Blah – 40 years ago, Iggy Pop released his seventh solo studio album. AllMusic refers to Blah Blah Blah as "the most calculatedly commercial album of Iggy's career." I think that's a knock on the slick production rather than the songs and performance. But, yeah, this album was Iggy's most commercially successful album, reaching #75 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart and reaching Gold status. Iggy also had a successful tour supporting this record. Prior to working on this album, Iggy had been on a four year hiatus from recording and performing. For his new record, he tapped David Bowie as the primary collaborator. "Cry For Love" was the first song I heard from this album, and it remains my favorite. Most people probably know "Real Wild Child"; it was #27 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and a top ten hit in the UK. Maybe the most fun track on here is the title track, "Blah Blah Blah", with lyrics just as applicable now as they were in 1986. 

Now, on to the music. 🎶

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Flashback #1: Get Close (October 20, 1986)

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Flashback #2: Blah Blah Blah (October 23, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for October 16, 2026

[Heavenly Crawl] -- This week, we have two debut albums that were released 40 years ago, both on October 17, 1986. They also kind of represent bookends for the whole 1980s aesthetic: dance-pop on one side and dark drone on the other.

Desert – I don't have much information about the band called I Can Crawl. Their Bandcamp page indicates they were "Formed from school friends circa 1981" in the UK. And they maintain a Facebook presence, notably touting the anniversary re-release of this debut record. But beyond that, there's precious little actual information. The album did not chart, and it had no singles released, at least not as far as I can tell. And that's all a shame, because this is an excellent example of mid-80s post-punk with its shimmering guitars, driving baselines, and a lead singer who is very much in the Peter Murphy school of frontmen. Marvelously mopey. Solidly nocturnal. Check out "And It Rains" and "Instead of Walls". 

Better Than Heaven – This was the debut studio album from American singer Stacey Q. It peaked at #59 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and #46 on the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. There were three singles from this album, the first of which – "Two of Hearts" – became a top ten single. That tune soared up to #3 on US Billboard Hot 100, #1 on US 12-inch Singles Sales (Billboard), #4 on US Dance/Disco Club Play (Billboard)[32], and #7 on the US Top 100 Singles (Cash Box) charts, to name only a few places where the song did well.  

Now, on to the music. 🎶

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Flashback #1: Desert (October 17, 1986)

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Flashback #2: Better Than Heaven (October 17, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for October 9, 2026

[Element of Psychedelic Rock] -- One of my favorite reviews of Robyn Hitchcock's work is this comment on Bandcamp's listing for Element of Light: "Some may say that the [Psychedelic Rock] genre died when Syd Barrett stopped making records, and I would point those folks to Robyn's huge catalog of work."

Element of Light is the second album by Robyn Hitchcock with his backing band, the Egyptians, but his fifth studio album overall. Released forty years ago on October 3, 1986, it received largely positive reviews. AllMusic calls it "one of his finest moments" and "a convincing argument for his talents as a pop craftsman." To the best of my research, the album did not chart in either the US or the UK. And I'm not certain any of the tracks were even released as singles. Maybe only true fans like me remember it. Though I must admit that I found the album in reverse chronological order; that means I came across it only after becoming fully obsessed with their 1988 release, Globe of Frogs. 

Enjoy: "The President" (a scathing rebuke of 1980s politics that Hitchcock re-recorded with new lyrics in 2020), "Airscape", "Never Stop Bleeding", "Lady Waters and the Hooded One", and "Raymond Chandler Evening" (an homage to the mystery novels by ... Raymond Chandler, of course).

Flashback: Element of Light (October 3, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for October 2, 2026

[The Brotherhood of Tutu's Hotel Muses] -- Well, we raced through September and have entered the first weekend of October 2026. But a bunch of great, or fondly remembered, albums were released in or near the end of September 1986. So, I'm closing out the previous month with a rare double twofer: a total of four albums on this Friday, and all of them turned 40 years old in September.

Sacred Heart Hotel – I have not found a specific release date for this debut album from Dublin-based indie band, The Stars of Heaven. AOTY cites simply September 1986, as do several other sources. Maybe that lack of specificity is related to this album's obscureness. It was one of only two albums released by The Stars of Heaven; they split up in 1990, two years after their sophomore, and last, studio LP. The Stars of Heaven received airplay from John Peel, and Sacred Heart Hotel reached #11 on the UK Indie Chart (but failed to chart in the US). Still, when John Peel is interested in a band, they bear checking out. And listening to this album almost borders on an act of self care. Highlights include "Folksong" and "Talk About It Now".

Throwing Muses – The eponymous debut album from Throwing Muses, released on September 20, 1986, was a powerful collision of punk energy and mercurial mood swings. Critically lauded – well, except for a C rating from The Village Voice – the album had one single, "Soul Soldier", but no real chart activity. Still, it did get traction on college campuses and it launched a relatively successful, or at least productive, career for the band on UK label 4AD. Definitely check out "Hate My Way", the third track on this record. 

Tutu – A tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, this was around the 59th or so studio album that the legendary Miles Davis released. It was near the end of his life (he passed in September 1991), but not the end of his career. He still had a few albums left in him. Tutu has been called one of the worst albums by Davis. That might be due to Davis' heavy use of synths, sequencers, and drum machines. And he even played most of the instruments on the album, even the digital ones. Despite early critical reviews, Tutu went on to be considered a pivotal and defining jazz album of the 1980s. Whatever one thinks of the accompaniment, which might sound dated today, these pieces provided space in which Miles Davis could really improvise. Check out "Tomass" and "Backyard Ritual" and make your own decision. 

Brotherhood – The fourth studio album from New Order, Brotherhood cemented the band's standing as post-punk and dance floor giants. The songs are a mix of post-punk and electronic styles that received largely positive reviews. The album reached #9 pm the UK Albums, #1 on UK Independent Albums, and #117 on the US Billboard 200 charts. "Bizarre Love Triangle" turned out to be the band's breakout single, even though it didn't crack the top 40 of either the UK Singles Chart or the US Billboard Hot 100; at least, not until after a new mix was released in 1994. "State of the Nation" – a CD only track – was the band's 12th single, and it peaked at #30 on UK Singles Chart, #1 on UK Indie Singles, #4 on US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, and #18 on US Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales. 

That's enough words. Let's get to the music. 🎶

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Flashback #1: Sacred Heart Hotel (September 1986)

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Flashback #2: Throwing Muses (September 20, 1986)

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Flashback #3: Tutu (September 29, 1986)

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Flashback #4: Brotherhood (September 29, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for September 25, 2026

[Friendly Coil] -- I'm ending the fourth week of September 2026 with a pair of albums that were not commercially successful, but are critical and cult darlings. 

Filigree & Shadow – This double LP was the second release from the 4AD collective known as This Mortal Coil. They are considered a collective rather than a band because it was a loose grouping of the label's guest musicians and vocalists. Of the 25 tracks on this release, a full 13 are instrumental. And most of the tracks are obscure covers. Supposedly, the four sides are intended to flow together, each side being a whole and complete offering. (Note: If that is true, and I can find no citation for it, listening to either the YouTube playlist or the CD will not create that experience. For the former, advertisements will interrupt the flow; in the latter case, the whole album fits on a single CD so it's all one, sonic entity.) Filigree & Shadow peaked at #2 on the UK Independent Music chart. The album was not released in the US, so stateside fans had to snag import copies. I was fortunate because one of my colleagues in Holmes Hall at PSU did just that. At least, I count myself fortunate, because I'm a fan of experimental dream pop, especially when it's kind of pretentious, or comes across as trying to be. 

Here is the LP track listing for sides A, B, C, and D: 

• A1 Velvet Belly
• A2 The Jeweller
• A3 Ivy And Neet
• A4 Meniscus
• A5 Tears
• A6 Tarantula
  
  
• B1 My Father
• B2 Come Here My Love
• B3 At First, And Then
• B4 Strength Of Strings
• B5 Morning Glory
  
  
• C1 Inch-Blue
• C2 I Want To Live
• C3 Mama K(1)
• C4 Filigree & Shadow
• C5 Firebrothers
• C6 Thaïs(1)
• C7 I Must Have Been Blind
• C8 A Heart Of Glass
  
  
• D1 Alone
• D2 Mama K(2)
• D3 The Horizon Bleeds And Sucks Its Thumb
• D4 Drugs
• D5 Red Rain
• D6 Thaïs(2)

Friends – The debut album from London-based The Bolshoi, Friends hit record shops in late September 1986. This record boasts The Bolshoi's two best-known songs: "Sunday Morning" and "A Way" (alternatively written as "Away" on some releases). That latter song got buried on the UK Singles chart at #100, but it did chart, so that's something. Friends did get a US release, and the band expanded their touring to include the states, but it seems that neither the album nor the singles charted here. It is kind of difficult to nail down the style of The Bolshoi. They are usually categorized as post-punk or gothic rock, and sometimes lumped in generally as new wave. Think ... The Cure, but with a sneer. (I recently read that, if this album came out today, streaming algorithms would basically add it to your queue if you liked The Cure). 

Now, on to the music. 🎶

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Flashback #1: Filigree & Shadow (September 22, 1986)

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Flashback #2: Friends (September 22, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for September 18, 2026

[Expressive] -- Forty years ago this week, we were blessed with Express, the sophomore release from Love and Rockets. Love and Rockets, if you recall, was three former members of Bauhaus (essentially, Bauhaus minus vocalist Peter Murphy and moved two years forward in time, as this band had formed in 1985). This new album continued the work of their previous release, but also found Love and Rockets starting to distance themselves from the sound and style of Bauhaus. They still had atmospheric guitars and a certain goth elegance, but they were also leaning more into pop melodies and sensibilities. 

Express peaked at #72 on the US Billboard 200. Of the three singles from this album – "Kundalini Express", "Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)", and "All in My Mind" – only the latter charted. "All in My Mind" reached #49 on the US Mainstream Rock Chart. "An American Dream", which appears on all versions of Express, was never released as a single. That's a mistake, in my opinion, as its dreamy + trippy arrangement, acoustic guitars, soaring vocals, and choir perfectly capture the mixed emotions of the mid-1980s. 

Oh, and note that Love and Rocket's cover of "Ball of Confusion" is often associated with this album. However, it appears only on the 2001 reissue in an extended remix. See, it was originally released as a single before their debut album, Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven. But the new mix of the cover just didn't fit on the reissue of that record. 

This week's embedded YouTube playlist features the track listing for the original LP release. So, there's only 8 tracks. The various releases in 1986 – LP, CD, and cassette – all had varying track listings with 8, 9, or 11 tracks. The 2001 remastered issue had 15 total tracks, basically incorporating everything that had been previously released with a few bonus tracks, like the USA mix of "Ball of Confusion". 

Flashback: Express (September 15, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!

Friday 80s Flashback for September 11, 2026

[A Sporting Choice] -- The Summer of 1986 closed out with several big ticket albums, none of which I'm highlighting this week. No, instead I've selected The Sport of Kings, the eighth studio album from Canadian hard rock trio, Triumph. Most sources indicate The Sport of Kings was released on September 11, 1986, though Triumph's own FB page indicated a release date of September 9 just a few years ago. The bottom line is that, as of this week, The Sport of Kings is 40 years old, so it is fair game for an 80s Flashback.

This album differs from others I've featured in that it was a critical failure but a commercial success (several of this year's Flashbacks had the opposite condition). And because both critics and hardcore Triumph fans panned the album, there is a general sense, or a misremembering, that The Sport of Kings failed on all fronts. But it peaked at #51 on the Canada Top Albums/CDs and #33 on the US Billboard 200 charts, had Platinum sales in Canada, and boasted the band's biggest hit to date, with "Somebody's Out There" (a song I love) hitting #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Tears in the Rain", reached #23 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. 

The Sport of Kings is often ranked as one of Triumph's worst albums, but it is one that I come back to regularly. True, it does not have the crunch or progressive aspects of the band's earlier releases. And it is also true that The Sport of Kings very much reflects the trends of commercial radio and evolving AOR in the middle of the 1980s. But the singles are well crafted, the album is well produced, and some of the non-single tracks, like "In the Middle of the Night" and "If Only", are the complete package of instrumentation, vocals, emotion, and storytelling. At least in my opinion. 

"If only I could change your heart

With just a simple song

If only I could stop the world

From turning out all wrong...

...There would be hope for me and you

If only wishes would come true."

Flashback: The Sport of Kings (September 11, 1986)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

See you in seven!