Jason, thanks for your info on all the countdown episodes. You typed xmas in the 1985 episode.This is Very offensive! CHRISTMAS is Dear to a lot of people.
Really enjoyed the video for "Juno & Me" - such a cute song and don't think I've heard it before.
Really was excellent to see the complete music video clip for Juno And Me from The Dugites introduced by Linda Nutter. I was hoping to see the music clip and we did. Yay. In regard to The Factory well I decided to retire to bed. I will watch later on as in no great rush. Seriously Bill, Xmas is just an abbreviation for Christmas. Plenty of people still spell Xmas that way including myself. I seriously cannot understand how you can find this offensive. You are being way too precious over this trivial matter. 🤔🙏😄
Getting three Countdowns in Week 3 of Retro Month is pretty good really, considering that we have had 14 Countdown episodes this year, and next week is looking like we'll be lucky to get one episode. Oh well.
I quite liked the three shows last night ...
COUNTDOWN February 10, 1985 (449: Kate Ceberano and Ian Cox)
Although there was a lack of live performances, I did enjoy the nostalgia of 1985 music.
COUNTDOWN May 13, 1984 (416: Molly interviews Rod Stewart)
Juno & Me by The Dugites was a stand out for me, as I haven't seen the clip before, and I distinctly remember it from that year ... it brought back memories.
COUNTDOWN June 23, 1985 (467: Sting)
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free by Sting was good, as was the interview. Brian Adams ... bleh! Walls Come Tumbling Down by Style Council ... classic! The Tears for Fears interview was great too.
Come off it Bill.
Tolerance goes both ways champ, we dont all believe in sky gods!
Good episodes, although as was the case during this period of Countdown, it was 90% music video clips.
Countdown saw itself as the MTV of Australia by the mid 80s, because we didn't get the US version and MTV Australia didn't start till the late 80s with Richard Wilkins If I recall.
Aspect ratios this week:
1st Countdown episode shown - stretched both left and right. Doesn't quite touch the watermark, but almost does.
2nd Countdown episode - stretched, doesn't touch the watermark.
3rd Countdown episode - overlaps with the watermark. Stupid!
The Factory - thankfully, this one does not seem to have been stretched at all, and aired in its original 4:3 aspect ratio.
GTK - I haven't checked yet; I'm not that interested in this one, but will take a look later on.
I set my timer last night rather than watch it live, so have only fast forwarded through it to check the aspect ratios.
Enjoyed The Factory -didn't watch it back then, a fun show and Daddo is a likeable host.How many episodes are there? Thought the idea of a feud between Bros and Brother Beyond was cute, like a couple of kittens having a fight :slightly_smiling_face:
Thats the first time i've seen the 'G' version of Imagination by Belouis Some
Am I imagining things - Thompson Twins were mentioned, from memory, during the intro of the first episode shown last night (the first show of '85), with a reference to 'Lay Your Hands' (On Me), but the video was not shown during the episode, and was not mentioned after that.
Also, going by my recording, the first episode shown was a bit shorter than usual for a Countdown episode - only 53 or 54 minutes.
Was the Thompson Twins' video cut, for whatever reason? (either by rage or on the original show that aired). I see it's not listed in the running sheet above.
Tania Lacy is very unfunny agreed!
As much as I don't love 1987 Countdown's, I'd prefer it to The Factory as at least there would be two 1987 episodes full of music rather than bland reviews on movies and so called comedy from Tania Lacey. Not to mention the ghastly bands like The Proclaimers, Bad Madonna era's of the late 80s and Straight Jacket Fits. At least the Alternative side of 1987 is still a little more 80s than 1989.
1989 is still very "eighties" to me - Collette, Proclaimers and denim jeans & jackets were very much part of my eighties experience. I enjoy The Factory and would even be happy to see retro extend to Countdown Revolution, just not Recovery or 10:30 Slot.
Aside from the difference in music style represented on the shows, Countdown through to Countdown Revolution all focused almost exclusively on studio recordings; whereas 'Recovery' and the '10:30 Slot' were all about live bands performing live in the studio/on stage. Countdown through to Countdown Revolution also focused largely on chart music, and new releases from artists who've had some overseas success, whereas Recovery was more indie/hipster-focussed stuff. These are the major differences between the eras.
A lot of people like Rock Arena, but because it tends to focus largely on one group or artist, or one style of music, for much of an episode, I find the episodes quite hit and miss. Sometimes they're good - when showing some rare videos by artists I like. At other times I think they're c r a p, e.g. that episode shown last year, or whenever it was, where half of the show was an Angels live concert recording. The Factory, in contrast, at least features a range of different artists. Yes, there is too much non-music content in between, but it gives an opportunity to show some less frequently-shown music videos/artists from the late 80s; whereas, many of the music videos shown on Countdown are quite common.
Another thing I like about The Factory is that they consistantly played chart-friendly new release videos, and a fair percentage of those were great songs that didn't quite go on to make the Kent top 100. Particularly throughout 1988 there were many like House Of Shock, Eurogliders, Divinyls, Eurythmics, a-ha, Shakespear's Sister, 'Til Tuesday and many others that I like to imagine were charting somewhere in the top 200 that we were not (and still aren't) privy to. So The Factory captures a great era for me.
The Bananarama girls should have replaced Siobhan with her sister Maire and made a cover version of "Come On Eileen"
I knew you would put the Poison cover up but they didn’t look like that in 1989, they put away their make up in 1989, so need l say more ....
When they did Countdown Revolution, they didn’t look like that at all where as when Dee Schneider Of Twisted Sister did Countdown, he at least looked like he did on the record cover.
Acid house was big. Adamski KLF Shamen & S-Express all had huge chart success in the UK. S-Express were big here too. I had the theme from S-Express and Superfly Guy.
10/2/85 was a killer! First episodes of each year blow me away. :grinning: