Cavalcade for December 8
1980 (image by Laura Fedele for FUV)
It's a deep December of "The Best of FUV," digging into the riches of our library for hidden gems. My focus for tonight's "Cavalcade" at 6 p.m. is on one pivotal year in music: 1980.
That today's date is December 8 should resonate with music fans, but rather than dwelling on the loss of John Lennon on this day in 1980, I'll paint a sound portrait of the music landscape that welcomed him back in after a long hiatus. That year was a rare transition moment of a by-then well-established rock and pop world that was about to move into another epoch entirely.
Career-peak arena rock, progressive, and singer-songwriter artists and bands felt the push-pull dynamic with new influences from disco, punk, reggae, electronic, and world music forms. In the decade that followed, many of these fused seamlessly, others clashed hilariously, but in 1980, the individual ingredients in their undiluted form fully stocked the cupboard.
It was the kind of year when Grace Jones would cover a cut from the just-released debut album by The Pretenders. Daryl Hall teamed not only with partner John Oates for a huge album of their collaborative career, but also with guitar whiz Robert Fripp for Sacred Songs. Brian Eno's hand is at work in the Talking Heads masterpiece Remain in Light, and on David Bowie's Berlin-era postscript LP, Scary Monsters. Beefy power-pop by fan faves Squeeze, Rockpile, Graham Parker, and Joan Jett kept radio lively; still the main gatekeeper medium for new music, and the magic world I stepped into that year, at this station.
"Cavalcade," Sundays from 6-9 p.m, on 90.7FM, streaming online, and in the Archives after broadcast.
