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Saturday Night Retro

On this 93RD edition of my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ I take you back to a wild and crazy life that I like to refer to as the Fall of 1986. I was a young 19-year-old USAF Airman (one-stripe) at the time living and working in the United Kingdom at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. During the work week I analyzed KC-135A Stratotanker aircraft maintenance data for the 11TH Strategic Group. After work during the week I took in the British radio and television pop culture via the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. During the weekends I enjoyed discovering the free nation. Cirencester, Swindon, Oxford, and London were frequent getaways. Shopping and music were common themes. Music concerts were frequent at The Apollo in Oxford and London’s famed Hammersmith Odeon.

This week I continue ‘The Awesome ’80s In August International Dance Party’ with a memorable act from the Fall of 1986. Celebrating their 30TH anniversary in existence it’s the English HI-NRG dance act known as Dead Or Alive. Fronted by Pete Burns (who celebrates his 51ST birthday next week) they scored their biggest smash ever 25 years ago this Summer in 1985. You may remember “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. They followed-up that anthem with a second hit that was nearly as huge and memorable – “Brand New Lover”. It’s a track that I memorized all of the words to way back then, and even today I could sing it Karaoke style at the drop of a glowstick. It’s one of the greatest dance songs of its style ever made in my lifetime. Let’s kick this thing into HI-NRG ! 

By Chris M. Day

I'm almost 56 years old. I've been online for 30 years - starting with my own dial-up bulletin board system in 1993 - and continuing with AOL, my own dot.com web site, Myspace, WordPress, Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook.