Bookended by Cats: October 2026

Friday, October 23, 2026

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. 🎶

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

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

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, October 16, 2026

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. 🎶

Flashback #1: Desert (October 17, 1986)

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

See you in seven!

Friday, October 9, 2026

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)

See you in seven!

Friday, October 2, 2026

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. 🎶

Flashback #1: Sacred Heart Hotel (September 1986)