1981 – Think Bensonium

Day 454: Twilight, Electric Light Orchestra

Roderick Benson — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 23:00:34 +0000

This song is pretty technofunky and captures very much the music of the 80s. I still remember so clearly when this album came out. My brother bought the album for me on vinyl and I literally played this song over and over for about a week. At the time I was off school with shingles and I remember sitting on the sofa in our house which was 55 Gurney Street Seaforth Australia looking out at the glorious views of Sydney middle harbour while listening to Time, the ELO album which contained this song.

Yet there was another song on the Time album called “21^st century man”. A line from that song that also stood out to me was: “I wish I was back in 1981” (the year I was actually listening to the song). I remember at the time wondering what my life would be like in the 21^st century and to be frank, I now realise this line would turn out to be prophetic, at least in relation to my life. When I compare the simplicity of the 20^th century; without the knowledge of global warming, the constant battle with computers and passwords, the tribalism of social media, the success of right wing political parties despite the continued dramatic growth in wealth inequality, or the bullying woke cancel culture of the left, it is hard not to pine for those distant days when life just seemed to be so much easier to negotiate in so many ways.

Day 441: Tainted Love, Soft Cell

Roderick Benson — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 23:00:48 +0000

Time for a trip down memory lane with this 80s rock classic. Tainted love first appeared on the Australian radio airwaves in 1981. At the time a good friend and mine were avid listeners of the Sydney radio station 2SM and this station used to produce a top 100 chart which consisted of a piece of A5 paper in different colours with a list of songs that were in the charts that week. Both of use had a great little collection of these A5 lists but sadly over the years I lost mine. I don’t think my friend ever liked this song although hearing it again after so many years did fill me with delight

Day 383: Jukebox Hero, Foreigner

Roderick Benson — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 23:00:16 +0000

I remember when Foreigner 4 was released. I was 15 at the time. My friend Robert really liked the album and this was one of the hits on this album that was played regularly on Sydney radio stations. Sadly this live version is not nearly as good as the album version with some quite “on the vocal chords” singing (don’t try this sort of thing at home). This song also brings back a memory of me visiting the UK where I stayed with my Aunty and Uncle in their little place in Peckham. Their house was located over the top of my Uncle’s service station as my Uncle was a car mechanic. Unbeknown to me, this would be the last time I would see my cousin Michael as tragically he was killed in a car accident in 1988. This was doubly tragic because my Uncle John had a very, very good and close relationship with my cousin Michael and after my cousin’s death John was never really the same again.

Day 375: It must be love, Madness

Roderick Benson — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 23:00:31 +0000

Well this band is well overdue to make its first appearance on Covid Island Discs. This song reminds me of happier times in sunny Australia in the 1980s. I had a really good friend who was very into Madness and introduced me to their songs. “It must be love” is probably Madness’ most famous song but they certainly have some other great hits which might make an appearance in Covid Island Discs before the UK finally comes out of its Covid-19 lockdown.

Day 351: All those years ago, George Harrison

Roderick Benson — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:00:39 +0000

OK kicking off week 51 I think it is time for another George Harrison song. This song is quite touching as George looks back on the Beatle years and sings about his love for John Lennon who he “always looked up to.” Sadly, like John, he is no longer with us.

Day 340: Jenny, Tommy Tutone

Roderick Benson — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:56 +0000

So yesterday I cited the song “Rikki Don’t lose that number” by Steely Dan and that song reminded me of this famous one hit wonder by the band Tommy Tutone. I think the chorus of this song is quite clever with the girl’s telephone number plastered all over it: 8675309. I always wondered whether there was some poor person in the world who was the owner of that phone number and consequently around the time this song was a hit (1981) got tons of prank phone calls from young rockers who liked to listen to the top 100 charts on their little tranny radios.

Day 306: Be good Johnny, Men at Work

Roderick Benson — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Men at work are probably known in most countries as a one hit wonder band with their most famous song being Down Under (Covid Island Discs day 30).

However in Australia they did have other hits, and this was one of them.

Day 293: History never Repeats, Split Enz

Roderick Benson — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

So as I write these words the USA state capital has just been stormed by pro-Trump supporters trying to organise a coup to prevent Joe Biden from being certified as the 46^th president of the United States. A good German friend of mine wrote the following on my Facebook page:

It’s not over, and this is symbolic. The Munich Beer Hall putsch was the first (and neither the first, nor the most significant) sign of the young Weimar Republic being in trouble. Security forces and parts of the army colluded. Why was there no police, no national guard in Washington? Because they collude.

In response to his comment, this song came to mind as it obviously reflects the hope of I have for the USA. All I can say is the world would be a safer place is DJ Trump was not a free man.

Day 271: Angel of the Morning, Juice Newton

Roderick Benson — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Another very beautiful song from the 1980s. I beginning to think that perhaps the 80s was one of the best decade for contemporary music or perhaps, more likely, it was just my formative years when I was developing my musical taste and collecting lots of albums.

Day 261: Our lips are sealed, The Go, Go’s

Roderick Benson — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Another song from my school days. This classic came out in 1981 when I was in year 9. In those days my best mate Robert and I used to collect special top 50 song list sheets from the radio station 2SM and they were all in different colours. Pretty cool memories. I reckon if I had held onto them they might even be worth something these days but sadly my Mum threw out most of the stuff I left back at their place when they moved because by that time I had relocated permanently to the UK.