1.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
2.
Dance-pop
–
Dance-pop is a pop and dance subgenre that originated in the early 1980s. It is generally up-tempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable, the genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions. Dance-pop borrowed influences from other genres, which varied by producer, artist, such include contemporary R&B, house, trance, techno, new jack swing, funk, synthpop, electropop and some forms of europop. Dance-pop is a mainstream style of music and there have been numerous pop artists. As the term started to go out of fashion by the late 1970s to early 1980s, other terms were commonly used to describe disco-based music, such as post-disco, club. Dance-pop music emerged in the 1980s as a combination of dance and pop, or post-disco, Dance-pop music was usually created, composed and produced by record producers who would then hire singers to perform the songs. In the beginning of the 80s disco was an anathema to the mainstream pop, according to prominent Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Madonna had a huge role in popularizing dance music as mainstream music, utilizing her charisma, chutzpah and sex appeal. Erlewine claimed that Madonna launched dance-pop and set the standard for the genre for the two decades. The staff of Vice magazine stated that her debut album drew the blueprint for future dance-pop, in the 1980s dance-pop was closely aligned to other up-tempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG. Prominent producers in the 1980s included Stock, Aitken and Waterman, during the decade, dance-pop borrowed influences from funk, new jack swing, and contemporary R&B. Other prominent dance-pop artists and groups of the 1980s included the Pet Shop Boys, Mel and Kim, Samantha Fox, Debbie Gibson, by the 1990s, dance-pop had become a major genre in popular music. Several dance-pop groups and artists emerged during the 1990s, such as the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Backstreet Boys, during the early 1990s, dance-pop borrowed influences from house music, as well as contemporary R&B and new jack swing. Additionally, also in 1998, Cher released a song called Believe which made usage of a technological innovation of the time. An audio processor and a form of pitch modification software, Auto-Tune is commonly used as a way to correct pitch, since the late 1990s, the use of Auto-Tune processing has become a common feature of dance-pop music. Celine Dion also released a dance-pop song Thats the Way It Is by the end of 1999 and it has a moderately slow tempo but an up-beat song. At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban music. Dance-pop stars from the 1980s and 1990s such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Janet Jackson, in Madonnas case, her album Music contained elements of Euro disco, especially the successful eponymous lead single. Britney Spears album Blackout contained influences of Euro disco, the mid-to-late 2000s saw the arrival of several new dance-pop artists, including Rihanna, Kesha, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry
3.
Post-disco
–
Post-disco is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history c. Developed from the rhythm and blues sound as perfected by Parliament-Funkadelic, the side of disco, dub music techniques. Post-disco was typified by New York City music groups like D Train and Unlimited Touch who followed a more urban approach while others, like Material and ESG, a more experimental one. Post-disco was, like disco, singles-driven market controlled mostly by independent record companies that generated a cross-over chart success all through the early-to-mid 1980s, most creative control was in the hands of record producers and club DJs which was a trend that outlived the dance-pop era. Drum machines, synthesizers, sequencers were either partly or entirely dominant in a composition or mixed up with various acoustic instruments, depending on the artist. The main force in post-disco was mainly the 12 single format, the music that mostly catered to dance and urban audiences later managed to influence more popular and mainstream acts like Madonna, New Order or Pet Shop Boys. The music tended to be technology-centric, keyboard-laden, melodic, with funk-oriented bass lines, synth riffs, dub music aesthetics, and background jazzy or blues-y piano layers. For strings and brass sections, synthesizer sounds were preferred to the orchestration heard on many disco tracks. Soulful female vocals, however, remained an essence of post-disco. Bridging the so-called death of disco and the birth of house, all this early-to-mid-80s music lacks a name beyond drably functional and neutral terms like dance or club music. ”– Simon Reynolds, SPIN magazine The term post-disco was used as early as 1984 by Cadence Magazine when defining post-disco soul as disco without the loud bass-drum thump. AllMusic states that the term denotes a genre in the era between the indistinct end of disco music and the equally indistinct emergence of house music. Since disco music had been on the way of progression, it split itself into subscenes and styles like Hi-NRG, freestyle, Italo disco. The last one is associated with post-disco more than any other offshoots of post-disco. On the West Coast, especially in California, a different approach lead to a different sound, other examples of early American artists drawing from post-disco are Rick James, Change and Teena Marie. Disco in Europe remained relatively untouched by the events in the U. S. Ms 1979 Pop Muzik was a example of this. This section summary shows commercially successful records from the post-disco movement, during the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, electronic and, especially, house musicians were influenced by post-disco. Some of these musicians are, Daft Punk, a French house music group, adopted elements of post-disco, disco, another artist, Les Rythmes Digitales, released a post-disco/electro-influenced album, Darkdancer. Canadian music group Chromeo debuted in 2004 with the album Shes in Control, similar Los Angeles-based musician Dâm-Funk recorded Toeachizown, a boogie- and electro-influenced album released in 2009
4.
Columbia Records
–
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
5.
Epic Records
–
Epic Records is an American record company owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953 and it later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of musical genres, including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Historically, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Shakira, Anastacia, and Sly & the Family Stone. Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainments three main record labels, L. A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014, Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe, pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epics bright-yellow, black, and blue became a familiar trademark for many jazz. By 1960, the musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records from being overstuffed with newer artists, subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck. Also during the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records, in 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year, Epic itself launched in England around 1971. Epic was involved in a trade of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies, when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furays new band Poco would sign with Epic. Also contributing to the success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987, and the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991. In 2004, Sony merged with another powerhouse music distributor, BMG, bringing labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, in February 2009, singer and songwriter Amanda Ghost was appointed president of Epic Records. Later in the year, Sony BMG Music merged Epic and Columbias operations, Sony BMGs Legacy Recordings reissues the companys classic and catalog titles
6.
Sony Music
–
Sony Music Entertainment is an American music company owned by Sony. It is incorporated as a partnership of Sony Music Holdings Inc. through Sony Entertainment. The company was first founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, in 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. Sony Corporation bought the company in 1987 and renamed it Sony Music Entertainment in 1991, the buyout led to the dissolution of BMG, which relaunched as BMG Rights Management. Sony Music Entertainment is one of the Big Three record companies, being the second largest after Universal Music Group, in 1929, ARC was founded through a merger of several record companies. In 1934, in the midst of Great Depression, the Columbia Phonograph Company, ARC was acquired in 1938 by the Columbia Broadcasting System, which, in turn, had been formed by the Columbia Phonograph Company, but then sold off. ARC was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, RCA Victor Records executive Ted Wallerstein convinced CBS head William S. Paley to buy ARC and Paley made Wallerstein head of the newly acquired record company. The renamed company made Columbia its flagship label and Okeh its subsidiary label and this allowed ARCs leased labels Brunswick Records and Vocalion Records to revert to their former owner Warner Bros. which sold them to Decca Records. Columbia kept the Brunswick catalogue recorded from December 1931 onward on the Columbia label and he was succeeded by James Conkling as head of Columbia Records. In 1951, Columbia severed its ties with the EMI-owned record label of the same name, Okeh Records continued to be distributed by EMI on the Columbia label. Columbia founded Epic Records in 1953 and in 1956, Conkling left Columbia and he would help establish the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences before eventually becoming the first president of the newly launched Warner Bros. His successor, Goddard Lieberson began the first of two stints as head of the record company, and in 1958, Columbia founded another label, Date Records, which initially issued rockabilly music. In 1960, Columbia/CBS began negotiations with its international distributor Philips Records with the goal of starting its own global record company. Philips acquisition of US-based Mercury Records in 1961 paved the way for this, elsewhere, CBSs Mexican record company, Discos Columbia, was renamed Discos CBS by 1963. In 1964, Columbia set out acquiring record companies in countries for its CBS Records International Unit. EMI continued to distribute Epic and Okeh label material on the Columbia label in the UK until the deal with EMI expired in 1968 when CBS took over distribution. In late 1965, the Date subsidiary label was revived and this label released the first string of hits for Peaches & Herb and scored a few minor hits from various other artists. Dates biggest success was Time of the Season by the Zombies, the label was discontinued in 1970
7.
Pepsi & Shirlie
–
Pepsi & Shirlie are an English pop duo group who released two albums, All Right Now in 1987 and Change in 1991. Their debut single Heartache reached No.2 in the UK Singles Chart, although most active in the 1980s, they continue to perform in the 2000s. The act comprised Helen Pepsi DeMacque and Shirlie Holliman, who had been Wham, hollimans original singing partner, Dee C. Lee, had left the group to join the Style Council. On Monday 5 January 1987, they released their debut single Heartache, Heartache also peaked at number two on the American dance charts. The follow-up single, Goodbye Stranger, produced by Fernando and Pete Hammond, subsequent singles and their debut album All Right Now, released later in the year, were commercially unsuccessful. Their tours included a concert performed in Amman, Jordan, in 1991, they returned with the album Change and its lead single Someday, a song produced by George Michael. Both the album and the single went unnoticed, not even charting in the UK, Pepsi & Shirlie returned in 2000 to record their backing vocals on Geri Halliwells UK number one hit Bag It Up. The duo also re-united for the Here & Now 10th Anniversary tour starting on 24 June 2011, in the Only Fools and Horses episode Danger UXD, Del has a box full of sex dolls. Due to their faulty valves, two of them self-inflate, Del calls them Pepsi & Shirlie. In EastEnders, Shirley Carter says to Heather Trott she wished Pepsi & Shirlie had drowned George Michael on the Club Tropicana video shoot and this is a mistake, Pepsi hadnt joined Wham. yet, she was being confused with Dee C. Lee. Alan Partridge claims in his 2011 autobiography I Partridge – We Need To Talk About Alan, All Right Now UK #69, U. S. No.133 Change Heartache UK No,2, Netherlands #2, US Dance Chart #2, Norway No. 6, Germany #8, Austria #17, France #31, US #78, Australia #49, New Zealand #9, Ireland No.3 Goodbye Stranger UK #9, Ireland #5, Switzerland #5, Belgium No. 8, Germany #31, Netherlands #28, New Zealand No.39 Cant Give Me Love UK #58, Ireland #21, Belgium #23, Netherlands No.89 All Right Now UK #50, U. S. No.66 Hightime UK No.79 Someday Brief biography at Allmusic. com Pepsie&Shirie discography
8.
George Michael
–
Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, known professionally as George Michael, was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham. He was best known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit singles such as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Last Christmas, and albums such as Faith and Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1. Up to the time of his death, Michael sold more than 115 million records worldwide and his breakthrough duo Wham. sold 28 million records between 1982 and 1986, and his debut solo album Faith sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Michael achieved seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including Careless Whisper and Praying for Time. He ranks among the best-selling British acts of all time, Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. In 2004, the Radio Academy named Michael the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004, the documentary A Different Story covered his career and personal life. Michaels first tour in 15 years, the worldwide 25 Live tour, in the early hours of 25 December 2016, Michael, aged 53, was found dead in bed at his Oxfordshire home. A coroners report attributed his death to natural causes, Michael was born in East Finchley on 25 June 1963. His father, Kyriacos Jack Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot restaurateur, had emigrated to Britain in the 1950s, Michaels mother, Lesley Angold, was an English dancer, and his maternal grandmother was Jewish. Michael spent most of his childhood in Kingsbury, London, in the home his parents soon after his birth. His older sisters are Yioda and Melanie, while he was in his early teens, the family moved to Radlett. There, Michael attended Bushey Meads School in Bushey, where he befriended his future Wham. partner Andrew Ridgeley, the two had the same career ambition of being musicians. Michael busked on the London Underground, performing such as 39 by Queen. His involvement in the business began with his working as a DJ, playing at clubs and local schools around Bushey, Stanmore. This was followed by the formation of a ska band called The Executive, with Ridgeley, Ridgeleys brother Paul, Andrew Leaver. Michael formed the duo Wham. with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981, the bands first album Fantastic reached No.1 in the UK in 1983 and produced a series of top 10 singles including Young Guns, Wham Rap. and Club Tropicana. Their second album, Make It Big, reached No.1 on the charts in the US, Michael sang on the original Band Aid recording of Do They Know Its Christmas. And donated the profits from Last Christmas/Everything She Wants to charity and he also contributed background vocals to David Cassidys 1985 hit The Last Kiss, as well as Elton Johns 1985 successes Nikita and Wrap Her Up
9.
Bushey Meads School
–
Bushey Meads School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England. The school forms part of the Bushey St James Trust, in partnership with Little Reddings Primary School, the school was founded in 1957 as Bushey Secondary Modern School. It celebrated its 50th anniversary by taking a role in the annual Bushey Carnival in 2007, basing some events on the history. The name Bushey Meads derives from the surrounding area. The site where the buildings now stand was once fields surrounding the then small village of Bushey. The school has featured in TV programs including Grange Hill. Emily Jackson - legal scholar George Michael – musician Andrew Ridgeley – musician Simon Phillips – musician
10.
Bushey
–
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow reaching elevations of 165 metres above sea level, the first written record of Bushey is an account in the Domesday Book, which describes a small agricultural village named Bissei. However, chance archaeological findings of Stone Age tools provide evidence that the area was inhabited as far back as the Palaeolithic period, the origin of the towns name is not fully known. A more modern theory is that it is derived from the Old English word bysce and Old French boisseie. Bushey Heaths story begins in the Napoleonic Wars during a food shortage. To help solve the problem, the government awarded the land to the east of Bushey to Bushey landowners to be used as farming. Whilst the original aim was to produce food, being close to a railway and up to 500 ft above sea level with beautiful, the 19th and 20th centuries marked the time of most change in Bushey, especially between 1860 and 1960. The population rose 28-fold within 200 years, from 856 in 1801, the expansion was for many reasons, one of the main ones being due to the boom in industry caused by the railway in the early 20th century. A result was that many new jobs were created in and around Watford, more housing was later built for the service families working in defence organisations in Stanmore and Northwood. The expansion eventually died down because much of the land in and it was redeveloped in 1996 and is now the Centennial Park Industrial Estate. Bushey Heath station would have been located at the intersection of Elstree Road, the highest point in the historic county of Middlesex was in Bushey Heath on the border between Hertfordshire and Middlesex at the junction of the A4140 and the A409. At 153 m above sea level, the reference was TQ152937. Before venturing through the pass, parties of travellers and merchants would form at the Boot Inn at Edgware and the Three Crowns at Bushey Heath so they didnt have to venture through the pass alone. Although one of the responsible for the attacks is rumoured to have been the notorious Dick Turpin. Bushey was an ancient civil parish, subsequently, in 1906, the Bushey Urban parish was renamed Oxhey, and the Bushey Rural parish became the parish of Bushey in the Bushey Urban District. Being located near several film studios at Elstree and Borehamwood, Bushey and Bushey Heath frequently feature as backdrops for many film, most notable is a bus scene in the Cannon and Ball film, and in the 1957 film Lucky Jim. and also the comedy series Little Britain. It has also been the set for television series, including Monty Pythons Flying Circus. This site is currently being redeveloped for residential usage, with the 1960s additions to the site having been demolished
11.
Watford
–
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated 17 miles northwest of central London and inside the circumference of the M25 motorway. It is not to be confused with Watford, Northamptonshire which is 55 miles to the north, the town developed on the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey until the 16th century. During the 12th century a charter was granted allowing a market, the town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century and this was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove. Two brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century, Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford, along with Stevenage, to be its major sub-regional centre. Several head offices are based in Watford, both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference took place at The Grove. Watford was created as a district under the Local Government Act 1894. The borough had 90,301 inhabitants at the time of the 2011 census, the borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District. Watford Borough Council is the authority with the Mayor of Watford as its head, one of only 18 directly elected mayors in England. Dorothy Thornhill has been the mayor since the elected system was set up in May 2002 and is both the first Liberal Democrat and the first female directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. Watford elects one Member of Parliament for the Watford constituency, prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885 the area was part of the three-seat constituency of Hertfordshire. There is evidence of some limited prehistoric occupation around the Watford area, with a few Celtic and Roman finds, watfords High Street follows the line of this route on the northern side of the ford. The town was located on the first dry ground above the edges of the River Colne. The name Watford may have arisen from the Old English for waet, or wath, St Albans Abbey claimed rights to the manor of Cashio, which included Watford, dating from a grant by King Offa in AD793. The name Watford is first mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1007, where Watforda is one of the marking the boundary of Oxanhaege. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when area was part of St Albans Abbeys manor of cashio. In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here, the town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century and this was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove
12.
Ska
–
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and it is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off-beat. Ska developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Prince Buster, Clement Coxsone Dodd, some suggest ska dates to earlier times, however. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods, later it became popular with many skinheads. There are multiple theories about the origins of the word ska, ernest Ranglin claimed that the term was coined by musicians to refer to the skat. skat. skat. Ranglin asserted that the difference between R&B and ska beats is that the former goes chink-ka and the latter goes ka-chink, a further theory is that it derives from Johnsons word skavoovie, with which he was known to greet his friends. Jackie Mittoo insisted that the called the rhythm Staya Staya. Dominos rhythm, accentuating the offbeat as in the song Be My Guest, was a particular influence, to meet the demand for that music, entrepreneurs such as Prince Buster, Coxsone Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems. Drums kept 4/4 time and the drum was accented on the third beat of each 4-triplet phrase. The snare would play side stick and accent the third beat of each 4-triplet phrase, the upstroke sound can also be found in other Caribbean forms of music, such as mento and calypso. One theory about the origin of ska is that Prince Buster created it during the recording session for his new record label Wild Bells. The session was financed by Duke Reid, who was supposed to get half of the songs to release, the guitar began emphasizing the second and fourth beats in the bar, giving rise to the new sound. The drums were taken from traditional Jamaican drumming and marching styles, to create the ska beat, Prince Buster essentially flipped the R&B shuffle beat, stressing the offbeats with the help of the guitar. The first ska recordings were created at facilities such as Studio One and WIRL Records in Kingston, Jamaica with producers such as Dodd, Reid, Prince Buster, and Edward Seaga. Until Jamaica ratified the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and this created a large number of cover songs and reinterpretations. One such cover was Millie Smalls version of the R&B/shuffle tune, Smalls rhythmically similar version, released in 1964, was Jamaicas first commercially successful international hit. With over seven million copies sold, it one of the best selling reggae/ska songs of all time. The Wailers covered The Beatles And I Love Her, and radically reinterpreted Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone and they also created their own versions of Latin-influenced music from artists such as Mongo Santamaria
13.
Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
–
Wham Rap. is the debut single by British pop duo Wham. on Innervision Records, released in 1982. It was written by Wham. members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, the explicitly political song flew in the face of the conventional British left-wing who were talking about the Right to work at the time. The chorus asked the question Do you enjoy what you do, which brought about the bracketed section of the title. The video depicted Michael and Ridgeley in their leather jackets, combining their moody image with a bright and it subsequently reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart, the second of four hits from Wham. s debut album Fantastic. Uncharacteristically for Wham. the Unsocial Mix of the song contains multiple repetitions of the words damn, bullshit, shit. All versions include dont need this crap and these lines were included to illustrate the bands then rebellious image, and future songs by Wham. would mostly refrain from using this type of language. Both the Social Mix and the Fantastic album version have different verses to the Unsocial Mix, however, only the album version has appeared on CD. A new remix of the song was made in 1986, combining some of the Unsocial Mix with the album version. Rap 86, was released on their American and Japanese album Music from the Edge of Heaven, the original version of the song was used for the 1985 film drama Perfect from James Bridges, with John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis. All tracks written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, all tracks written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley
14.
BBC Radio 1
–
Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7,00 pm, including electronic dance, hip hop, rock, indie or interviews. It was launched in 1967 to meet the demand for music generated by radio stations. Recently, the BBC claimed that it targets the 15–29 age group. BBC Radio 1 started 24-hour broadcasting on 1 May 1991, Radio 1 was established in 1967 as a successor to the BBC Light Programme, which had broadcast popular music and other entertainment since 1945. Radio 1 was conceived as a response to the popularity of offshore pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London. Radio 1 was launched at 7,00 am on Saturday 30 September 1967. The first words on Radio 1 – after a countdown by the Controller of Radios 1 and 2, Robin Scott, welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1. This was the first use of US-style jingles on BBC radio, the first complete record played on Radio 1 was Flowers in the Rain by The Move. The second single was Massachusetts by The Bee Gees, the breakfast show remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedule, with every change of breakfast show presenter exciting considerable media interest. Despite this, it gained massive audiences, becoming the most listened to station in the world with audiences of over 10 million claimed for some of its shows, in the early-mid-1970s Radio 1 presenters were rarely out of the British tabloids, thanks to the Publicity Departments high-profile work. Alan Freemans Saturday Rock Show was voted Best Radio Show 5 years running by readers of a music publication. In his last few months as controller, Johnny Beerling commissioned a handful of new shows that in some set the tone for what was to come under Matthew Bannister. One of these Loudnproud was the UKs first national radio series aimed at a gay audience, far from being a parting quirk, the show was a surprise hit and led to the networks first coverage of the large outdoor Gay Pride event in 1994. Bannister took the reins fully in October 1993 and his aim was to rid the station of its Smashie and Nicey image and make it appeal to the under 25s. Although originally launched as a station, by the early 1990s. Many listeners rebelled as the first new DJs to be introduced represented a crossover from other parts of the BBC with Emma Freud, Evans was a popular but controversial presenter who was eventually sacked in 1997 after he demanded to present the breakfast show for only four days per week. Evans was replaced from 17 February 1997 by Mark and Lard – Mark Radcliffe and they were replaced by Zoë Ball and Kevin Greening eight months later in October 1997, with Greening moving on and leaving Ball as solo presenter. Documentaries like John Peels Lost in Music which looked at the influence that the use of drugs have had over popular musicians received critical acclaim but were slated inside Broadcasting House, later in the 1990s the Britpop boom declined, and manufactured chart pop came to dominate the charts
15.
Young Guns (Go for It)
–
Young Guns is a song by British pop duo Wham. which was released in 1982 on Innervision Records. It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo and it helped that the producer of Top of the Pops had seen them previously on another programme, Saturday Superstore. The song entered the chart initially at number 73, went up to number 48, then dropped to number 52 and their appearance on Top of the Pops broke the record wide open and on the following Monday the distribution centre received some thirty thousand orders. This sent the record to number 24 before eventually peaking at number 3 in November 1982, George wrote the song about a teenage lads worry that his best friend was getting too committed to a girl when he should have been enjoying his youth and the single life. Aspect of the song, as featured in the title, on Top of the Pops, George mimed the vocals to his Wham. partner Andrew Ridgeley, who acted the part of the teenage bridegroom-in-waiting. They were flanked by backing singers Dee C. Lee and Shirlie Holliman, the original recording does not feature the voices of Lee and Holliman but that of singer Lynda Haynes. All tracks written by George Michael, going for It is an instrumental version of Young Guns
16.
Top of the Pops
–
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, except for a period on Fridays in mid-1973 before being again moved to Fridays in 1996. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that weeks best-selling popular music artists, additionally, there was a special edition of the programme on Christmas Day, featuring some of the best-selling singles of the year. With its high viewing figures the show became a significant part of British popular culture, although the weekly show was cancelled in 2006, the Christmas special has continued. It also survives as Top of the Pops 2, which began in 1994, in the 1990s, the shows format was sold to several foreign broadcasters in the form of a franchise package, and at one point various versions of the show were shown in nearly 100 countries. Editions of the programme from the 1970s are being repeated on most Thursdays and Fridays on BBC Four, Top of the Pops was created by BBC producer Johnnie Stewart, inspired by the popular Teen and Twenty Disc Club which aired on Radio Luxembourg. It was first aired in 1964 and was based on the Top 20. By 1970 the Top 30 was being used and the show was extended from 30 to 45 minutes duration, the show was also now shown in colour following the BBC1 upgrade in November 1969. A switch to the Top 40 was made in 1984, the show saw many changes through the decades, in style, design, fashion and taste. It periodically had some aspect of its sequence, logo and theme tune, format, or set design altered in some way. The programme had several executive producers during its run, in charge of the production of the show. When Stewart left the show in 1973, after nearly 10 years in charge, both Stewart and Nash made brief returns to the show as producer after they left, in 1976 and 1981 respectively. Stewart devised the rules which governed how the show would operate, the programme would end with the number one record. The show would include the highest new entry and the highest climber on the charts, tracks could be featured in consecutive weeks in different formats. For example, if a song was played over the chart countdown or the closing credits, when the programmes format changed in November 2003, it concentrated increasingly on the top 10. Later, during the BBC Two era, the top 20 was regarded as the main point, with the exception made for up. Singles from below the top 40 were shown if the band were up, if a single being performed was below the top 40, just the words New Entry were shown and not the chart position. Top of the Pops was first broadcast on Wednesday,1 January 1964 at 6,35 pm and it was produced in Studio A on Dickenson Road in Rusholme, Manchester
17.
Shirlie Holliman
–
Shirlie Holliman, is an English former pop singer, who found fame in the 1980s with Wham. and as part of the duo Pepsi & Shirlie. Shirlie Holliman was one of five children born and raised on an estate in Bushey. Holliman was never a member of what became Wham. Lee, was paid on a per performance basis as a backing singer, after Lee left to join The Style Council and later marry its lead singer Paul Weller, she was replaced by Pepsi DeMacque, and this duo performed on all the Wham. During their Wham. career, Holliman and DeMacque decided to form their own act, the duo with DeMacque went on hiatus in 1989, but briefly returned in 2000 to record backing vocals on the UK number one Geri Halliwell hit Bag It Up. The duo also re-united to perform for the Here and Now 10th Anniversary tour which kicked off on 24 June 2011, Holliman married Spandau Ballet bassist and singer Martin Kemp, and retired from steady performing after the birth of her daughter. Holliman had met Kemp through mutual friends in the theatre in 1980, and they went on to have two children, daughter Harley Moon Kemp, and son Roman Kemp. Holliman and daughter Harley had brief roles together in the Spice Girls video Mama, Holliman then went to work managing Aegean, a business associated with music and entertainment production
18.
Paul Weller
–
John William Paul Weller, Jr. is an English singer, songwriter, musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/new wave/mod revival band The Jam and he had further success with the blue-eyed soul music of The Style Council, before establishing himself as a solo artist in 1991. Despite widespread critical recognition as a singer, lyricist, and guitarist, Weller has remained a national, rather than international, star and he is also the principal figure of the 1970s and 1980s mod revival, and is often referred to as The Modfather. The Daily Telegraph said of Weller, Apart from David Bowie, its hard to think of any British solo artist whos had as varied, long-lasting, the BBC described Weller in 2007 as one of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years. In 2012, he was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles Sgt, peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life. He has received four Brit Awards, winning the award for Best British Male twice, Weller was born on 25 May 1958 in Woking, Surrey, England, to John and Ann Weller. Although born John William Weller, he known as Paul by his parents. His father worked as a driver and a builder and his mother was a part-time cleaner. Weller started his education at Maybury County First School in 1963 and his love of music began with The Beatles, then The Who and Small Faces. By the time Weller was eleven and moving up to Sheerwater County Secondary school, music was the biggest part of his life, Wellers musical vocation was confirmed after seeing Status Quo in concert in 1972. He formed the first incarnation of The Jam in the year, playing bass guitar with his best friends Steve Brookes. Wellers father, acting as their manager, began booking the band into local working mens clubs, Brookes left the band in 1976, and Weller and Foxton decided they would swap guitar roles, with Weller now the guitarist. The Jams first single, In the City took them into the UK Top 40 in May 1977, the increasing popularity of their blend of Wellers barbed lyrics with pop melodies eventually led to their first number one single, Going Underground, in March 1980. They became the band other than the Beatles to perform both sides of the same single on one edition of Top of the Pops. The Jam even had two singles, Thats Entertainment and Just Who Is the 5 OClock Hero, the Jam still hold the record for the best-selling import-only singles in the UK charts. Their final single, Beat Surrender, became their fourth UK chart topper and their farewell concerts at Wembley Arena were multiple sell-outs, their final concert took place at the Brighton Centre on 11 December 1982. At the beginning of 1983, Weller teamed up with keyboard player Mick Talbot to form a new group called The Style Council, Weller brought in Steve White to play drums, as well as singer Dee C. Lee, who had previously been a singer with Wham
19.
The Style Council
–
The band enabled Weller to take a more soulful direction with his music. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Wellers then-wife, other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also collaborated with the group. As with Wellers previous band, most of the London-based groups hits were in their homeland, the band was also very successful in Australia and New Zealand during the 1980s, with multiple hit singles and albums. The band was founded in early 1983 by Paul Weller and initially consisted only of himself and Mick Talbot, who Weller said he chose because he shares my hatred of the rock myth, the band showed a diversity of musical styles. Singles Speak Like a Child, the funk of Money-Go-Round. Near the end of 1983, these songs were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, the Dutch version was heavily imported to the United Kingdom. In 1984, the single My Ever Changing Moods, backed with the Hammond organ instrumental Micks Company, the song remains Wellers greatest success in the US, while the group reached the peak of its success in the UK with the 1985 album Our Favourite Shop. The band played in New York City in May,1984, the record featured The Style Council and a number of other performers, notably Jimmy Ruffin and Junior Giscombe. In spite of the political content, it picked up BBC Radio 1 airplay and was performed on Top of the Pops. The Style Council took a more political approach than The Jam in their lyrics. The Lodgers, and Come To Milton Keynes being deliberate attacks on middle England, during this period, Weller was also instrumental in the formation of Red Wedge with Billy Bragg. He later said that this began to detract from the music, I think after a while that overshadowed the music a bit. However, Confessions of a Pop Group, released a year later and this led to the bands record label Polydor rejecting their final album, which was influenced by the house scene. In 1989 members of The Style Council went under the name of King Truman to release a single on Acid Jazz titled Like A Gun and this was unknown to Polydor, and the single was pulled from the shops three days prior to release. Acid Jazz founder Eddie Piller said The pair offered to make a single for my new label, Talbot and Weller took pseudonyms Truman King and Elliott Arnold. The Style Council broke up in 1989, about the breakup, Paul Weller said, Its something we should have done two or three years ago. We created some music in our time, the effects of which wont be appreciated for some time. After the split, Weller embarked on a solo career
20.
Bad Boys (Wham! song)
–
Bad Boys was a song by British pop duo Wham. which was a hit in 1983. It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo, the song was an energetic but endearing tale of a rebellious teenage lads struggle against his parents who are concerned about his late-night activities. It was the single to be taken from Wham. s debut album, Fantastic. At the time, Wham. was projecting a hard, politically motivated image, with Bad Boys one of a number of projecting a stance of mood and youthful independence. The single was released in the United States, peaking at number 60. It was the duos first time on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, George quickly denounced Bad Boys as a song he hated, stating it was like an albatross round my neck. The song was omitted from the 1997 compilation album If You Were There. All tracks written by George Michael
21.
Club Tropicana
–
Club Tropicana is a song by British pop duo Wham. Released in 1983 on Innervision Records and it was written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The song was a departure from Wham. s previous singles. Club Tropicana, however, was a satire of the boom for cheap package holidays for younger and it was specifically seen in the UK as a swipe at the very popular Club 18-30 scheme. They were also seen relaxing by a pool and sipping cocktails, a twist in the sexual tension between the two men and two women was revealed at the end, when it turned out that Michael and Ridgeley were airline pilots and Dee and Shirlie were stewardesses. The song was released in July 1983 and peaked at #4 in the UK and it was the fourth and final single to be taken from the album Fantastic. Wham. then achieved four UK #1 singles before splitting at their height in 1986, the song is also included in the Japanese release of Twenty Five. The B-side, Blue, is a semi-instrumental dub track of higher quality than is expected for B-side material. It in fact appeared as a track on the Japanese pic disc version of the album. The studio version of the song has not appeared on CD except for a 3 CD single in Japan and it was also overlooked for the 25th Anniversary rerelease of The Final, even though this version claimed to be accurate to the original release
22.
Duran Duran
–
Duran Duran are an English new wave and synthpop band formed in Birmingham in 1978. The band grew from alternative sensations in 1982 to mainstream pop stars by 1984, by the end of the decade, membership and music style changes challenged the band before a resurgence in the early 1990s. The group were a band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. They have placed 14 singles in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, when they first emerged, they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet. Soon they would shed this image, using fashion and marketing to build a more refined and they were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The video age catapulted Duran Duran into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV, many of their videos were shot on 35 mm film, which gave a much more polished look than was standard at the time. They also collaborated with film directors to take the quality a step further. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their stadium shows. These five members featured the most commercially successful line-up, the reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the bands fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the once again in mid-2006, and guitarist Dom Brown has since been working with the band as a session player. John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, England in 1978, at the club they were doing jobs such as John working the door and with Nick deejaying for £10 a night. They began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue, There were many nearby nightclubs, and the one significant one, where bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash played gigs, was called Barbarellas. They would go on to name the band after a character from Barbarella, the character, played by Milo OShea, is named Dr. Durand Durand. The bands first singer was Stephen Duffy, Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, Rhodes and Duffy. Colley was the original bass player, as John Taylor was the guitarist at this point. This was the first complete line-up of the band played live shows. For drums and percussion, a drum machine belonging to Rhodes was used. Colley left the prior to the addition of Andy Taylor
23.
Culture Club
–
Culture Club are an English band that was formed in 1981. The band comprised Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and they are considered one of the most representative and influential groups of the 1980s. Culture Club sold more than 50 million records worldwide, including 7 million records awards RIAA certificate in the United States, Boy Georges androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of the public and the media. The group, supporters of the pop genre, made numerous forays into reggae. Their second album, Colour by Numbers, sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and it appeared on Rolling Stone magazines list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s and is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Ten of their singles reached the US Top 40, where they are associated with the Second British Invasion of British new wave groups that became popular in the US due to the music channel MTV. Culture Clubs music combines Bnritish new wave and American soul with Jamaican reggae and also other styles such as calypso, salsa, in 1984, Culture Club won Brit Awards for Best British Group, Best British Single, and the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. They were nominated the year for the Grammy Award for Pop Vocal by Group or Duo. The band were nominated for a Canadian Juno Award for International Album of the Year. Time is included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fames list of 500 songs that shaped rock, in 1981, Blitz Club regular Boy George occasionally sang with the group Bow Wow Wow under the stage name Lieutenant Lush. After his tenure with the group ended, George decided to start his own band and enlisted bassist Mikey Craig, drummer Jon Moss, and finally guitarist Roy Hay. Realising they had an Irish gay man as the singer, a black Briton on bass, an Anglo-Saxon on guitar and keyboards. The group recorded demos, which were paid for by EMI Records, the band released two singles in May and June 1982, White Boy and Im Afraid of Me, though both failed to chart. In August the single Mystery Boy was released in Japan, in September of that year, the group released their third single, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, a reggae-influenced number, which became one of their biggest hits. The song went to No.1 in the UK in late 1982 and became a smash, peaking at No.1 in over a dozen countries. The bands 1982 debut on Top of the Pops created tabloid headlines, magazines began to feature George prominently on their covers. The bands debut album, Kissing to Be Clever was released in October 1982, Ill Tumble 4 Ya also became a Top Ten hit in the US and in Canada. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since The Beatles to have three Top Ten hits in America from a debut album
24.
Fantastic (Wham! album)
–
Fantastic is the debut studio album by British pop duo Wham. It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and it included the previously released singles Young Guns, Wham. Club Tropicana was also released as a single, as was Club Fantastic Megamix, in the U. S. this album was originally released as the group WHAM. U. K. due to a conflict with a U. S. group with the same name, the album also features a hidden track, which is included in the final 20 seconds of Young Guns. All tracks written by George Michael, except where noted, the track listing of the first edition of the CD and the original cassette tape feature three bonus tracks interspersed within the original track listing, consisting of instrumental remixes. This track listing was used for the 1998 reissue of the CD. All tracks written by George Michael, except where noted
25.
Shuttlecock
–
A shuttlecock is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. The name is from the Victorian times, when Badminton was first discovered and it has an open conical shape, the cone is formed from 16 or so overlapping feathers, usually goose or duck, embedded into a rounded cork base. The cork is covered with thin leather, to ensure that shuttlecocks rotate consistently, only feathers from the birds left wings are used. The shuttlecocks shape makes it extremely aerodynamically stable, regardless of initial orientation, it will turn to fly cork first, and remain in the cork-first orientation. The name shuttlecock is frequently shortened to shuttle, the feathers are brittle, shuttlecocks break easily and often need to be replaced several times during a game. For this reason, synthetic shuttlecocks have been developed that replace the feathers with a plastic skirt, players often refer to synthetic shuttlecocks as plastics and feathered shuttlecocks as feathers. Feather shuttles need to be properly humidified for at least 4 hours prior to play in order to fly the distance at the proper speed. Properly humidified feathers flex during play, enhancing the speed change. Dry feathers are brittle and break easily, causing the shuttle to wobble, saturated feathers are mushy, making the feather cone narrow too much when strongly hit, which causes the shuttle to fly overly far and fast. Humidification boxes are used, but a simple moist sponge inserted in the feather end of the closed shuttle tube will work nicely. Water should never touch the cork of the shuttle, shuttles are tested prior to play to make sure they fly true and at the proper speed, and cover the proper distance. Different weights of shuttles are used to compensate for atmospheric conditions. Both humidity and height above sea level affect shuttle flight, the cost of good quality feathers is similar to that of good quality plastics, but plastics are far more durable, typically lasting many matches without any impairment to their flight. Shuttles are easily damaged and should be replaced every three or four games, and sooner if they are damaged and do not fly straight and this interferes with the game, as the impairment on the flight of the shuttle may misdirect the direction of the shuttlecock. Most experienced and skillful players greatly prefer feathers, and serious tournaments or leagues are played using feather shuttlecocks of the highest quality. Experienced players generally prefer the feel of feathered shuttlecocks and assert that they are able to control the flight of feathers better than that of plastics, in Asia, where feather shuttlecocks are more affordable than in Europe and North America, plastic shuttlecocks are hardly used at all. The playing characteristics of plastics and feathers are substantially different, plastics fly more slowly on initial impact, but slow down less towards the end of their flight. While feathers tend to drop straight down on a shot, plastics never quite return to a straight drop
26.
Club Fantastic Megamix
–
Club Fantastic Megamix was a single released by Wham. in 1983, and was the last single release for the duo on Innervision Records. It was approved by Mark Dean, the manager of Innervision Records, the single was released three months after Wham. had begun proceedings to leave the label, and was disapproved of by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The single, which consisted of a mix of the tracks A Ray of Sunshine, Love Machine, the only reason why the Club Fantastic Megamix was able to be released was because the songs had already been released. Prior to a song being released a publisher has the right to grant the first license of a tune of which he holds the copyright. Because those three songs had already released to the public, the songwriter was unable to prevent the record company from creating this second release
27.
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
–
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is a song by the British duo Wham. First released as a single in the UK on 14 May 1984 and it became their first UK and US number one hit. It was written and produced by George Michael, the single was certified Platinum in the US, which at the time commemorated sales of over two million copies. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nations 13th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV and it was also ranked number 28 on VH1s 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s. With the release of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, they re-emerged with wider smiles, more clothing. Its one of tracks that gets rid of a lot of your own personal influences. Id done a demo at home that just had a bass line, usually, I write the record in my head, I know what all the parts are going to be and I sing them to all our musicians. We actually did it as a rehearsal and we used a Linn drum because the drummer was late, and it was such a good track that we kept it. The song also went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, the UK sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, with photography by Trevor Key. The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan and it showcases the band performing for an audience of mostly teenagers at Brixton Academy in South London. The band was wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirt designs that said CHOOSE LIFE, Michael was also seen in luminous gloves, which he later bemoaned as the clip of him always picked out by advertisers whenever Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go went on to a compilation album. An advertisement is tacked onto the end of the video with the text GO-GO BUY IT. thank you appearing on a black screen, all tracks written by George Michael. Note, The US7 single has identical track listing and it was also released as a CD single in 1999 List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1984 Song review from AllMusic
28.
Careless Whisper
–
Careless Whisper is a song by English singer-songwriter George Michael. It was released on 24 July 1984, by Epic Records in the United Kingdom, Japan and other countries, the song was George Michaels first solo single, although he was still performing in Wham. at the time. The song features a prominent saxophone riff, and has covered by a number of artists since its first release. It was released as a single and became a commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic and on both sides of the Pacific. It reached number one in nearly 25 countries, selling six million copies worldwide – two million of them in the United States. Unlike most of the other Wham. singles, it was co-written by Andrew Ridgeley, the two had written it together as developing artists three years earlier in Watford, England. The song went through at least two rounds of production, the first was during a trip Michael made to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he went to work with producer Jerry Wexler at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Michael was unhappy with the version that was produced and decided to re-record and produce the song himself. The version Wexler produced, was released later in the year, as a B-side Special Version on 12 in the UK, the record label Innervision were going to put out the Jerry Wexler version of Careless Whisper after the Club Fantastic Megamix as far back as 1983. He couldnt do anything about the Club Fantastic Megamix because it was already released material and he said, We knew how big that song could be so it was necessary to upset a few people to stop it. The officially released single, a sentimental ballad with a saxophone solo by Steve Gregory, was issued in August 1984. Within two weeks, it was at one, ending a nine-week run at the top for Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The song also topped the charts in 25 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit Wham, spending three weeks at the top in America, the song was later named Billboards number-one song of 1985. He went on to say, It disappoints me that you can write a lyric very flippantly—and not a particularly good lyric—and it can mean so much to so many people. The official music video shows the guilt felt by a man over an affair and it was filmed on location in Miami, Florida, in 1984 and features such locales as Coconut Grove and Watson Island. The final part of the video shows Michael leaning out of a balcony at the last floor of Miamis Grove Towers. The Wexler production of the song has a music video using some of the same footage as the official release. All tracks written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, note, The Extended Mix is identical to the album version from Make It Big
29.
Freedom (Wham! song)
–
Freedom is a hit song by British pop duo Wham. It became the second number one hit on the UK Singles Chart. It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo, Wham. had already enjoyed a successful 1984 by the time Freedom was released in August of the year. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go had given them their first UK number one and had reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. George had then gone to one with a solo single. Then after, Wham. had their second American number one song with Everything She Wants, Freedom was number one in the UK for three weeks, and featured on the album Make It Big, which was issued at the same time. Unusually for the time, it was released in mono sound, Freedom was the 10th biggest-selling single of 1984. This song also reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in September 1985, the music video, coinciding with the 1985 US release, features the band touring around Beijing, China. The melody of the song was used by George Michael as an introduction to his song, Faith, all tracks written by George Michael. Note Long Version is mislabeled as Long Mix
30.
Last Christmas
–
Last Christmas is a song by English pop duo Wham. Released on Epic Records in 1984, on a double A-side with Everything She Wants, originally written and produced by George Michael, it has been covered by many artists since its original release. Wham. and the other big act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood. However, the Band Aid project helmed by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Wham. s offering peaked at number two for much of the period, although Georges involvement in Band Aid meant that Wham. still had an input. Subsequently donated all of their Last Christmas/Everything She Wants royalties to the Ethiopian famine. The song gradually sold in Japan and became the single that did not reach that countrys top 10 chart, selling more than 600,000 copies. In 2009, the song re-entered the Spanish Lista de Canciones at number 9, in 2013, it was the most streamed single on Christmas Day according to Spotify. In Germany, the song is the most successful Christmas single of all time, having spent 124 weeks on the German Singles Chart and it has charted every year since 1997. In January 2008, the fell from number 4 to number 64 there. In the Netherlands, the song never reached number one, peaking at number 2 in January 1985, in the Dutch Singles Top 100, the song has now entered on 16 different occasions, including every year since 2006. Its highest position after 1984 was number 5, in the Dutch Mega Top 50, the song re-appeared in 1997,2000,2007,2008, and 2013. In the United States, the song has also re-entered the Billboard Holiday Songs Chart on a regular basis, the song debuted at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart dated January 7,2017. It becomes clear early on that the character of Ridgeleys girlfriend was previously in a relationship with Michael, and she can easily be spotted throughout the video by the fact that shes usually wearing red, but everyone else is wearing more muted colors. There is a flashback to Last Christmas showing Michaels character presenting her with a jewelled brooch. In the present time, Ridgeley is wearing the brooch, suggesting that the girl gave the gift to her new love after she. Interestingly, when the girl wears the brooch from Michaels character, it is right side up, on numerous occasions, Michael presents a thoughtful expression, suggesting his conflicting emotions. Her seeming indifference to Ridgeleys open displays of affection makes the viewer wonder if Ridgeleys heart is the next to be broken. However, at the end of the video, everyone leaves properly paired off so perhaps it is suggested that Michael has worked out his confusion and now realizes he is after all with the right girl
31.
Everything She Wants
–
Everything She Wants is a million-selling Gold-certified hit single by British pop duo Wham. Originally released in 1984 on Columbia Records on a double A-side with Last Christmas and it was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo, becoming their third consecutive million-selling number one hit in the United States. Upon release, Last Christmas took the majority of the attention, however, the presence of an equally-billed flip side meant that radio stations had something else to play once Last Christmas had lost its topicality. A five-minute song, Everything She Wants is written from the angle of a man being disillusioned by the demands of his partner. The presence of the Band Aid project meant that the double A-side peaked at two in the UK Singles Chart, although in the process it became the biggest-selling record not to get to number one. However, in the USA, the song did reach the summit of the Billboard Hot 100, Wham. would go on to have two more number-one hits in the UK before splitting at their height in 1986. Although Michael bemoaned much of Wham. s material as he began his career, Everything She Wants remained a song of which he was proud. Furthermore, Michael remarked in an interview that Everything She Wants is his favourite Wham. song, in 1996, the song was performed at the MTV Unplugged concert. In 1997, the song was remixed and re-released as Everything She Wants 97 for the greatest hits album The Best of Wham, Everything She Wants was used as a sample on Foxy Browns I Cant from her sophomore album, Chyna Doll, in 1999. The a cappella group Naturally 7 sampled Everything She Wants on their 2011 song Life Goes On, the song features in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V as part of the radio station Non Stop Pop FM. The song was mentioned in a landmark 1998 sampling copyright decision in the case of Santrayll v. Burrell. Leisure concluded that MC Hammer had sampled music by another rap group, the Legend admitted to sampling Wham. s Everything She Wants and not disclosing the sampled works when filing for copyright registration. The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan, all tracks written by George Michael. Also released in an edition with a 1985 calendar Note
32.
Do They Know It's Christmas?
–
Is a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded in a day on 25 November 1984 by Band Aid. It held this title until 1997 when it was overtaken by Elton Johns Candle in the Wind 1997, the original version of Do They Know Its Christmas. Has sold 3.79 million copies in the UK to date, the song was also a major success around the world, reaching number one in thirteen other countries outside the UK. In the US, the single short of the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100 due to a lack of airplay. Worldwide the single had sold 11.7 million copies by 1989, Geldofs cautious hope was that the single would raise £70,000 for Ethiopia, but in the event Do They Know Its Christmas. Raised £8 million within twelve months of release, the song also led to various spin-off charity events, such as Comic Relief, and the Live Aid concert which would take place seven months later in July 1985. Was re-recorded three times, in 1989,2004, and 2014, all the re-recordings were also charity records, the 1989 and 2004 versions also provide money for famine relief, while the 2014 version was used to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa. All three of these versions reached number one in the UK, and the 2004 version of the song was also a UK million seller. The song was inspired by a series of reports that Michael Buerk made for BBC television news programmes, the Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and his wife, television presenter Paula Yates, watched the report broadcast on 23 October 1984 and were deeply affected by it. On 2 November Yates travelled from the home in London to the Tyne Tees studio in Newcastle upon Tyne where she was presenting the weekly live music show The Tube. Among the acts performing on that weeks programme were Ultravox, promoting their greatest hits album The Collection, ultravoxs front man Midge Ure happened to be chatting to Yates in the dressing room after the show when Geldof called her. On discovering that she was with Ure, an old friend of Geldofs, he asked to speak to Ure, following their meeting, Geldof immediately set about recruiting other well known musicians to participate on the record. Geldof said, I then rang Sting and he said, yeah, count me in, the same day I was passing by this antique shop and who is standing in there but Gary Kemp, just about to go off on tour to Japan. He said he was mad for it as well and to wait 10 days till they got back in the country, I thought, Christ, we have got the real top boys here, all the big names in pop are suddenly ready and willing to do this. I knew then that we were off, and I just decided to go for all the rest of the faces and started to ring everyone up, asking them to do it. Geldof and Ures biggest problem was to be able to come up with a song that could be recorded and released in time for Christmas, Geldof came to Ures house the next day and together they worked on the tune with Geldof on his acoustic guitar. Midge, reliable as ever, sent down this tune which is the sort of Christmassy bit at the end and we married the two together
33.
Queen (band)
–
Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, before forming Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had played together in a band named Smile. Freddie Mercury was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with elaborate stage. Mercury joined the band in 1970, suggested Queen as a new band name, John Deacon was recruited before the band recorded their eponymous debut album in 1973. The latter featured Bohemian Rhapsody, which stayed at one in the UK for nine weeks. The bands 1977 album News of the World contained We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions, by the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. Their performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert has been ranked among the greatest in history by various music publications. In 1991, Mercury died of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, since then, May and Taylor have performed under the name of Queen with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert as vocalists on several tours. The band have released a total of 18 number-one albums,18 number-one singles, estimates of their record sales generally range from 150 million to 300 million records, making them one of the worlds best-selling music artists. Queen received the Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1990 and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at Londons Imperial College, may placed an advertisement on a college notice board for a Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type drummer, Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffell became friends with Farrokh Bulsara, Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keen fan of Smile. In 1970, after Staffell left to join the band Humpy Bong, the band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the bands chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and they recorded four of their own songs, Liar, Keep Yourself Alive, The Night Comes Down and Jesus, for a demo tape, no record companies were interested. It was also around this time Freddie changed his surname to Mercury, inspired by the line Mother Mercury, on 2 July 1971, Queen played their first show in the classic line-up of Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon at a Surrey college outside London. Having attended art college, Mercury also designed Queens logo, called the Queen crest, the logo combines the zodiac signs of all four members, two lions for Leo, a crab for Cancer, and two fairies for Virgo. The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, the crab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, There is also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix. The whole symbol bears a resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
34.
Freddie Mercury
–
Freddie Mercury was a British singer, songwriter and record producer, known as the lead vocalist and co-principal songwriter of the rock band Queen. He also became known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range, Mercury wrote and composed numerous hits for Queen, occasionally served as a producer and guest musician for other artists, and concurrently led a solo career while performing with Queen. Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, in 1992 Mercury was posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and had a tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium, London. In 2002, he was placed at number 58 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Mercury was born in the British protectorate of Sultanate of Zanzibar, East Africa. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar in southern Gujarat, as Parsis, Mercury and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion. The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office and he had a younger sister, Kashmira. Mercury spent most of his childhood in India and began taking lessons at the age of seven. In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peters School, at the age of 12, he formed a school band, The Hectics, and covered rock and roll artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard. The only music he listened to, and played, was Western pop music, a friend from the time recalls that he had an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano. It was also at St. Peters where he began to call himself Freddie, at the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, in which thousands of Arabs and Indians were killed. The family moved into a house at 22 Gladstone Avenue, Feltham, Middlesex. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London where he studied art and he ultimately earned a diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, later using these skills to design the Queen heraldic arms. A British citizen at birth, Mercury remained so for the rest of his life, following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London with girlfriend Mary Austin. He also held a job at Heathrow Airport, friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man who showed a great deal of interest in music. In 1969 he joined the Liverpool-based band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage and he lived briefly in a flat above the Liverpool pub, The Dovedale Towers. When this band failed to take off, he joined a band called Sour Milk Sea. However, by early 1970 this group had broken up as well, in April 1970 Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had previously been in a band called Smile
35.
Lindsay Anderson
–
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was a British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for his 1968 film if. which won the Palme dOr at Cannes Film Festival and was Malcolm McDowells cinematic debut. He is also notable, though not an actor, for playing a minor role in the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire. Malcolm McDowell produced a 2007 documentary about his experiences with Lindsay Anderson, of Scottish parentage, Anderson was the son of a British Army officer. After graduating, Anderson worked for the year of World War II as a cryptographer for the Intelligence Corps. Anderson assisted in nailing the Red flag to the roof of the Junior Officers mess in Annan Parbat, in August 1945, the colonel did not approve, he recalled a decade later, but no disciplinary action was taken against them. In a 1956 polemical article, Stand Up, Stand Up for Sight and Sound, he attacked contemporary critical practices, …The denial of the critics moral responsibility is specific, but only at the cost of sacrificing his dignity. This was the belief that the British cinema must break away from its class-bound attitudes and he had already begun to make films himself, starting in 1948 with Meet the Pioneers, a documentary about a conveyor-bet factory. Along with Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson, and others, he secured funding from a variety of sources, Andersons film met with mixed reviews at the time, and was not a commercial success. Anderson is perhaps best remembered as a filmmaker for his Mick Travis trilogy, all of which star Malcolm McDowell as the title character, a satire on public schools, O Lucky Man. In 1981, Anderson played the role of the Master of Caius College at Cambridge University in the film Chariots of Fire. Anderson developed an acquaintance from 1950 with John Ford, which led to what has come to be regarded as one of the books on that director. Based on half a dozen meetings over more than two decades, and a study of the mans work, the book has been described as One of the best books published by a film-maker on a film-maker. In 1985, producer Martin Lewis invited Anderson to chronicle Wham. s visit to China, the visit by Western pop artists. He admitted in his diary on 31 March 1985, to having no interest in Wham. or China, in 1986, he was a member of the jury at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival. Anderson was also a significant British theatre director, every year, the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam gives an acclaimed filmmaker the chance to screen his or her personal Top 10 favorite films. Gavin Lamberts memoir, Mainly About Lindsay Anderson, in which he claimed that Anderson repressed his homosexuality, was seen as a betrayal by his other friends. In November 2006 Malcolm McDowell told The Independent, I know that he was in love with Richard Harris the star of Andersons first feature, I am sure that it was the same with me and Albert Finney and the rest
36.
Live Aid
–
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert held on 13 July 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the jukebox, the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in countries, such as the Soviet Union, Japan, Austria, Australia. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, the 1985 Live Aid concert was conceived as a follow-on to the successful charity single Do They Know Its Christmas. Which was also the brainchild of Geldof and Ure, in October 1984, images of millions of people starving to death in Ethiopia were shown in the UK in Michael Buerks BBC News reports on the 1984 famine. Bob Geldof saw the report, and called Midge Ure from Ultravox, in the hope of raising money for famine relief. Geldof then contacted colleagues in the industry and persuaded them to record the single under the title Band Aid for free. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, Geldof then set his sights on staging a huge concert to raise further funds. The idea to stage a charity concert to raise funds for Ethiopia originally came from Boy George. George and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss had taken part in the recording of Do They Know Its Christmas, and in December 1984 Culture Club were undertaking a tour of the UK, which culminated in six nights at Wembley Arena. George was so overcome by the occasion he told Geldof that they should consider organising a benefit concert and its a logical progression from the record, but the point is you dont just talk about it, you go ahead and do it. It was clear from the interview that Geldof had already had the idea to hold a dual venue concert and how the concerts should be structured, The show should be as big as is humanly possible. Theres no point just 5,000 fans turning up at Wembley, we need to have Wembley linked with Madison Square Gardens and it would be great for Duran to play three or four numbers at Wembley and then flick to Madison Square where Springsteen would be playing. While hes on, the Wembley stage could be ready for the next British act like the Thompsons or whoever. In that way lots of acts could be featured and the rights, tickets. Its not an idea, and certainly one worth exploiting. Among those involved in organising Live Aid were Harvey Goldsmith, who was responsible for the Wembley Stadium concert, and Bill Graham, the concert grew in scope, as more acts were added on both sides of the Atlantic
