Depeche Mode: Live on Letterman

Today I am taking a break from my weekly New Wave posts to bring you guys some exciting news:

The pioneers of the punk rock and new wave era, Depeche Mode will be performing Live on David Letterman tonight.

Quick bio: DM (short for Depeche Mode) are an English electronic band (originally an electronic and new wave band), formed in 1980 is Basildon, Essex. The original group members were Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, & Vince Clarke. Unfortunately Clarke left the band and Alan Wilder took over after they released their 1981 debut album, "Speak and Spell". Wilder also left by 1995 and Depeche Mode were officially a trio. To sum it up, they formed in 1980, went from being a group of four to a trio, and are still making records today. So far they've made and released twelve albums and their newest album, "Delta Machine", which features their new single "Heaven", is their latest project and it will be out in spring 2013. This will make it thirteen released albums.

According to http://depechemode.tumblr.com, the band will perform on "Live On Letterman" online at cbs.com and VEVO at March 11, 2013 (8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific). Afterwards, they will make a rare U.S. TV appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" that same night at 11:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS3.

Here are the links to watch the web cast. You may choose either one, although I prefer the use the first one:

http://www.cbs.com/

http://www.vevo.com/

Also, they are currently touring globally and in North America. For North American tour dates, click here:

http://depechemode.tumblr.com/post/45115180735/depeche-mode-confirms-return-to-north-america-with#_=_

I will make a second post about this band, with further information, once I start making posts of New Wave bands under the letter "D". Won't be for months yet but I will keep you updated.

Update!


For those who read my blog or follow news on Depeche Mode, thank you for watching "Live on Letterman" that night. And if you stayed up late to watch the Late Night Show with David Letterman, thanks just the same. If you missed it however, you may click the link here:

http://thequietus.com/articles/11615-depeche-mode-letterman-heaven

Be sure to buy their new album Delta Machine, on Columbia Records on March 25, 2013. I'm so excited!

ABC...or Martin Fry? Take Your Pick.

ABCDEFG, here is a post to you from me...Martin Fry and the band ABC.

Artist/Band: ABC

Genre: New Romanticism, New Wave, Synthpop, Sophisti-pop, and Pop Rock

From: Sheffield, England

Years Active: 1980-present

Label(s): EMI, PolyGram, Neutron

Band Members:

Current Members:  Martin Fry (currently)

Touring Members:  

Matt Backer - lead vocals (1980-present)

Rob Hughes - saxophone - (2008-present)

Andy Carr - bass (2008-present)

Lily Gonzalez - percussion - (2008-present)

Steve Kelly - keyboards (2008-present)

Richard Brook - drums (2009-present)

Former Members:

Mark White - guitar, keyboard (1980-1992)

Stephen Singleton - saxophone - (1980-1984)

Mark Lickley - bass - (1980-1982)

David Robinson - drums - (1980-1982)

David Palmer - drums - (1982, 2004-2009)

Alan Laramee Taylor - bass - (1982, 1985-1987)

Alan Spenner - bass - (1983, died 1991)

Andy Newmark - drums - (1983)

Fiona Russell-Powell - vocals - (1985)

David Yarritu - vocals - (1985)

Glenn Gregory - vocals - (1995-1997)

Keith Lowndes - guitar - (1995-1997)

About: ABC are an English New Wave band that released and charted with ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band currently consists of Martin Fry, although the rest of the original band members either passed away or retired. Some are touring members and one-time members, even recurring members (list of members above). They started out as a band called Vice Versa until Martin Fry interviewed them and they offered him to join their group. They released a good number of singles and albums, but went on hiatus until the late 90s and released comeback albums. The band continues to tour and their recent album from 2008 is called Traffic. 

Formation: ABC were originally a band called Vice Versa, which formed in 1977 in Sheffield, England. The members who formed the band were Stephen Singleton, Mark White and David Sydenham. They founded their own label, Neutron Records, releasing the EP called Music 4. They had a similarities to The Human League, whom they supported back in 1978. Martin Fry, who at the time wrote the fanzine, Modern Drugs, interviewed the band and shortly later, the band members of Vice Versa asked him to join the band as a synthesizer player. Fry accepted. Soon the band evolved into ABC, with Fry becoming the official lead singer.

Albums:

The Lexicon of Love
Beauty Stab
How to Be a Zillionaire!
Alphabet City
Up
Absolutely
Abracadabra
Skyscraping
The Lexicon of Live
Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC
Traffic

Singles: 

"Tears Are Not Enough" - UK Top 20 - 1981

"Poison Arrow" - The Lexicon of Love - 1982

"The Look of Love (Part One)" - The Lexicon of Love - 1982

"All of My Heart" - The Lexicon of Love - 1982

"That Was Then But This is Now" - Beauty Stab - 1983

"S.O.S." - Beauty Stab - 1983

"Be Near Me" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985

"(How to Be a) Millionaire" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985

"Vanity Kills" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985

"Ocean Blue" - How To Be A Zillionaire! - 1985

"When Smokey Sings" - Alphabet City - 1987

"The Night You Murdered Love" - Alphabet City - 1987

"King Without a Crown" - Alphabet City - 1987
"One Better World" - Up - 1989
"The Real Thing" - Up - 1989
"The Look of Love '90" - "Absolutely (greatest hits compilation)" - 1990
"Love Conquers All" - Abracadabra - 1991
"Say It" - Abracadabra - 1991
"Rolling Sevens" - Skyscraping - 1997
"Skyscraping" - Skyscraping - 1997
"Stranger Things" - Skyscraping - 1997
"Peace and Tranquility" - Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC - 2001
"Blame" - Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC - 2001
"The Very First Time" - Traffic - 2008
"Ride" - Traffic - 2008

If you wish to read more about the band and Martin Fry, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_(band)

To check out their website for a primary source, click here:

http://abcmartinfry.com/ABC.html

Other: "The track "So Hip It Hurts" from the album How To Be a Zillionaire was featured in the 1986 film Tough Guys and Fiona Russell Powell, who joined the group from that same album was part of the original line-up of the pre ABC band, Vice Versa." She chickened out of the band's first live gig and the frontman job went to Martin Fry."  - Wikipedia.

Here is a commercial (advert if you're British) for the album The Lexicon of Love:

And here is the music video for "The Look of Love":

*Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, and www.abcmartinfry.com*

A-ha: The "Take on Me" Guys

This week's post is brought to you by the letter A, as in A-ha.

Artist/Band: A-ha

Genre: New Wave, pop rock, synthpop

From: Oslo, Norway

Years Active: 1982-2010, 2011 (Information may change later down the line)

Label(s): Warner Bros, Warner Music Group, Polydor, Universal Music Group

Band Members: 

Morten Harket - Vocals
Magne Furuholmen - Keyboards
Pål Waaktaar - Guitars

About: A-ha was a Norwegian pop band who formed in Oslo in 1982 by Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, and Pål Waaktaar. They became famous during the mid 1980s when musician and producer, John Ratcliff discovered them and they became globally successful years on-wards. What got them to their fame musically was the release of their debut album, Hunting High and Low in 1985, which featured the number one tracks "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." The album peaked at #1 in Norway, #2 in the U.K. and #15 in the U.S. Billboard album chart. It even earned the band a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist, even though they didn't win the award. On the other hand, Hunting High and Low continued to be a huge selling album in the U.K. in 1986. After three more albums, however,  In 1994, Memorial Beach, their fifth album failed to be as successful as their earlier ones, the band went on a hiatus. Four years later, following a performance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, A-ha returned to the studio to record their sixth album, Minor Earth Major Sky, which didn't get released until 2000. It paid off though because it became #1 in Norway and resulted in a new tour. Their seventh studio album, Lifelines, was released in 2002, and their eighth album, Analogue, in 2005, earned a Silver in the U.K. - their most successful album over there since the 1990 release of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. On June 19, 2009, they worked on and released their ninth album, Food of the Mountain, which charted #2 in Norway, #5 in the U.K., and earned a Silver there and a Platinum in Germany. By October 15 of that same year, the band announced that they would officially split after the 2010 Ending on a High Note tour. Thousands of fans from 40 different countries (on six continents - according to Wiki) went to see A-ah live for one more show.

On Tour: 

1986-87: Hunting High and Low World Tour in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan
1988-89: Stay On These Roads Tour in Europe, Japan and South America
1991: Walk Under the Sun, Dance Under the Moon Tour in South America and East of the Sun, West of the Moon Tour in Europe
1993-94: Memorial Beach Tour in Europe, Russia, South Africa and Lebanon
2000-01: Minor Earth Major Sky Tour in Japan, Russia, and Europe
2002-04: Lifelines Tour in Europe, Brazil and Russia
2005-07: Analogue/Greatest Hits Tour in Europe, Russia, USA, Senegal, and Chile
2008-09: Foot of the Mountain Tour in Europe, South America, Japan and Russia
2010: Ending on a High Note Tour in Europe, USA, Canada, South America, Japan, and Russia

Albums:

1985: Hunting High and Low - Warner Bros. Records
1986: Scoundrel Days - Warner Bros. Records
1988: Stay on These Roads - Warner Bros. Records
1990: East of the Sun, West of the Moon - Warner Bros. Records
1993: Memorial Beach - Warner Bros. Records
2000: Minor Earth Major Sky - Warner Music Group
2002: Lifelines - Warner Music Group
2005: Analogue - Universal Music Group
2009: Foot of the Mountain - Universal Music Group

Other: Did you know that the song "Take on Me" was used as background music for modern TV shows, such as the Simpsons and Family Guy? The music video was even spoofed by MamaTails before his YouTube Poop video, "The Faces of Amy Rose DX" was removed from YouTube. The video featured a scene where Amy Rose tried to reach out for Sonic the Hedgehog, who didn't want to marry her.


Here is the original music video of "Take on Me":

*Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, and 4shared.*

20/20: The Power Pop Band Who Just Made It

It's time for my first post of Underground Alley. Let's start off with an forgotten/obscure American band called 20/20. They originally were a power pop band from the 70s (mod punk rock/disco era).

Artist/Band: 20/20

Genre: Power pop

From: Hollywood California

Years Active: 1977-1983, reunited in the mid-1990s until the mid 2000s

Label(s): Portrait Records, Mainway Records, Enigma Records, Oglio Records, Bomp! Records

Band Members/Instrument Position/Years Active:

Steve Allen - guitar, vocals

Ron Flynt - bass, vocals
Chris Silagyi - keyboards - 1977-1981
Mike Gallo - drums - 1977-1979
Joel Turrisi - drums - 1979-1981
Dean Korth - drums - 1981-1983
Bill Belknap - drums - 1983-1984, 1995-2005
Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley - From Tulsa, Oklahoma. (In need of more research.)

In the studio:

While they were recording their debut album, Mike was let go from the band (not sure why). They replaced him with a studio drummer to finish to rest of that album (how lame :/) and for their second one, Look Out, they hired Joel Turrisi. For the third album, Sex Trap, however, Turrisi was replaced by Dean Korth. 20/20 then split up by 1979 in the end.

To sum it up, the three main reasons this band isn't well remembered are:

A. They didn't release enough singles or albums.
B. The band broke up at least twice.
C. The drummers were continuously replaced.

Life after break up:

Ron Flynt : Moved to Austin, Texas to open his own recording studio called Jumping Dog Studio & headlined the 2005 Austin music festival with a newly released CD under the Zip record label, featuring the song "Mary's World".

Steve Allen: Moved to Nashville, Tennessee and continued to write and record music at Blue Planet Studio.

Bill Belknap: Musician at Long Branch Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Chris Silagyi: Became a record producer.

Joel Turrisi: Became an actor for VFG Productions/Panaview in Hollywood, CA and works in other parts of the film and music industry.

Mike Gallo: Formed the bands RadioMusic and Two Moons, signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell.

He evem started his own label, Two Moons, same name as the band he once formed. He is now a recording artist and songwriter at home and is also focused on labeling and publishing.

Dean Korth: Recently became a drummer for the group "The Catalina Scramblers" in Santa Cruz, CA.

Now it's time for the part you've all been waiting for: the list of albums and singles!

List of Singles:

Side-A:

1. "Giving It All" - 1978
2. "Tell Me Why" - 1979
3. "Cheri" - 1979
4. "Strange Side of Love" - 1981

Side-B:

1. "Under the Freeway" (B-Side of  "Giving It All" - 1978)
2. "Yellow Pills" (B-Side of  "Tell Me Why" - 1979)
3. "Backyard Guys" (B-Side of "Cheri" - 1979)
4. "People in Your Life"/Child's Play" (B-Side of  "Strange Side of Love" - 1981)

List of Albums:

1. 20/20 - 1979 - Portrait Records
2. Look Out! - 1981 - Portrait Records
3. Sex Trap - 1982 - Mainway Records
4. Sex Trap - 1983 - Enigma Records 
5. 20/20/Look Out! - 1995 - Oglio Records (remastered 2-in-1 CD reissue, rare find nowadays)
6. 4 Day Tornado - 1995 - Oglio Records
7. Interstate - 1998 - Oglio Records
8. Sex Trap (Japanese Release) - 1999 - Includes "Best of Your Life"

*The 1983 Enigma release of Sex Trap is the wider distribution reissue, which features remixes of the title track and "Fast Car" and the song "Please Please (Listen to Me)" was replaced with a track called "Jack's Got a Problem."

List of the band's recordings that were featured on compilations:

1. 1978: "Giving it All" - The Best of Bomp Volume One (Bomp! Records)
2. 1979: "Drive" - Waves Anthology Vol. 1 (Bomp! Records)
3. 1993: "Song of the Universe" - Yellow Pills Volume One (Big Deal Records)
4. 1993: "Giving it All" and "Yellow Pills" - Shake It Up! - American Power Pop II (1978-80) (Rhino Records)
5. 1995: "Remember the Lightning" - Into the Anxious 80's (Risky Business)
6. 1996: "Drive", "Screaming", and "Under the Freeway" - The Roots of Powerpop (Bomp! Records)
7. 1997: "Day After Day" Come and Get It: A Tribute to Badfinger (Copper Records)

Here is an example of a song from the LP Look Out!:

And an example of a song from the Sex Trap album:

Fun fact: They performed on American Bandstand at least once and Chris Silagyi's sister, Denise (whose YouTube username is djsmontanes) went to see the band  perform live in the late 70s/early 80. "My husband refused to dance when they did their set, so I had to dance with my sister." Denise said in a comment to the video "20/20 - Tonight We Fly". "The camera guys would not shoot us cuz we were the same sex! I was so pissed." Dick Clark let them dance together to avoid and controversy but it was not allowed to be shown on TV. You can look for the comment here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSAO6aOwDRU

*Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon.com and opinions based on what I've learned from reading these sources.*

List of 80s New Wave Groups in ABC Order

This week's post consists of a list of all the popular artists and bands of the New Wave era, starting with the letter A. Because there are so many artists/bands listed, I will be posting separate lists from A to Z from time to time. Each week I will cover an artist or group once, for reviewing an album each week gets pretty boring. I may do reviews on albums for later posts if I run out of things TO post, but for now, without anymore hesitation, here is the list for 0-9 and A:

0. 20/20

1. a-ha 

2. ABC

3. Adam and the Ants/Adam Ant (solo)

4. The Adventures

5. Afraid of Mice

6. After the Fire

7 .The Alarm

8. Marc Almond

9. Alphaville

10.Altered Images

11.And One

12.Aneka

13.Animal Nightlife

14.Animotion

15.Any Trouble

16.Arcadia

17.The Armoury Show

18.Art of Noise

19.The Assembly

20.Associates

21.Azra

22.Aztec Camera

Expect to find these artists sometime soon. New post every Monday!

Welcome to Underground Alley

Welcome to my new blog! This site will be featuring the music of the late 1970s through the late 1980s of the  following genres:

1. Power Pop
2. Mod Punk
3. New Wave
4. Synthpop (Vocal and Instrumental)
5. Classic Indie
6. Jangle Pop

Most artists and groups will be from (so far):

1. The U.S.
2. The U.K.
3. Norway
4. Australia

5. Most posts will either be from CDs, mp3s and YouTube video and sometimes from vinyl and cassette sources. From time to time I will make fan-made compilations and compose synth demos to post on here for you to check out. My main influences for making this blog are Depeche Mode and MPMsoundtracks. I hope you enjoy this dark, yet epic site as I will have fun making it.