Possibly Christine by Siouxie & The Banshees is the pick of the mix
Ahead of a virtual gathering of the Alleyn’s “Class of 1980” in January 2021, I have decided to share the mix tapes I made right at the end of my time at Alleyn’s School.
Rohan Candappa and Nick Wahla have asked questions for that gathering, which I answered here:
One of those questions, around “what would you do differently?” might be answered in terms of the choice of music. Or would it?
I have recently (late 2020) enjoyed replicating and sharing the mix tapes I made in the autumn of 1980, around the time I started Keele University and the mix tape I made at the end of that first term at Keele:
Those have led to some debate. Perhaps my “end of school” mix tapes will similarly cause some discussion. At the very least, I imagine they’ll spark some memories. Chart music was part of the soundtrack of many of our lives back then.
Effectively I recorded two batches right at the end of my time at Alleyn’s. One batch around the Whitsun long weekend (end of May 1980) and then another batch right at the very end – late June – mostly the weekend after the ‘A’ levels I’d guess.
Here’s a list of the first batch – the May 1980 batch:
- Messages, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
- Dance, The Lambrettas
- Breathing, Kate Bush
- I’m Alive, Electric Light Orchestra
- Teenage, UK Subs
- Let’s Go Round Again, The Average White Band
- Over You, Roxy Music
- The Bed’s Too Big Without You, The Police
- Theme From M*A*S*H, M*A*S*H
- We Are Glass, Gary Numan
Here is the list of the late June 1980 batch:
- Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime, The Korgis
- Christine, Siouxsie and the Banshees
- The Scratch, Surface Noise
- New Amsterdam, Elvis Costello
- Who Wants the World, The Stranglers
- Play the Game, Queen
- Breaking the Law, Judas Priest
- Let’s Get Serious, Jermaine Jackson
- No Doubt About It, Hot Chocolate
- Funky Town, Lipps Inc
- Crying, Don McLean
- Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please, Splodgenessabounds
Given the amount of time I spent in The Fox On The Hill in that last Alleyn’s week, the final recording on that list comes as no surprise. (Although for sure I’d have been drinking bitter, not lager). Anyway, I don’t think “Two Pints…” will make it onto my Desert Island Discs list. Frankly, I can’t see any of the above making that list. Christine’s a great track, as is New Amsterdam. There’s some good stuff, but it’s not my best mix tape, that’s for sure. I was kinda busy with other stuff at that time.
Anyway, here it is, as a playlist of YouTubes:
If I may, there’s much to like across the two mixtapes detailed above. What an excellent single mix tape this would’ve been if, maybe, Judas Priest, UK Subs, Queen, Gary Numan and one or two others had been left on the studio floor – while absolutely keeping Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, the Korgis and Siouxsie & the Banshees. x
Many thanks for your wise words, Simon. Of course, the technology now allows us to edit our playlists with reckless abandon or with considered reselection as we wish. But back then, in the tape era, once the tape had progressed for a while, heat-of-the-moment decisions and mistakes were fixed for posterity, unless we scrapped/wiped the tape. I do understand and share your reservations about some of those hasty choices of mine, but Judas Priest were the only organisation for decades to make a commercial success out of British Steel 😉