Blog
Hello all and welcome to the first of Hogs 80′s Blogs. I must confess that it has been a struggle to pick (from a wide range) a topic to kick off with.
Where better to start than how my love for everything 80′s was reignited. I was living in The Land of The Long White Cloud (New Zealand to those not familiar with the term) at the time and earning a living by driving for DHL. As you can imagine with driving for up to 8 hours a day came plenty of listening to the radio, channel flicking and hearing the same ol’ stuff. Like many countries around this big world of ours N.Z. suffered from a lack of home grown talent getting the break they deserved. The most noticeable trend was a love of all things American or Canadian, this was the mid 90′s and the air waves of Lord of The Rings country were filled with Sheryl Crow, Alannis Morisette, Foo Fighters, Weezer…. you get the picture. Spattered somewhere in the middle of the bigger, commercially biased stations were those faithful to some Oz/Kiwi traditional sounds. How refreshing, something new for my ears to enjoy, although I had heard some of the Bands and Artists before (Midnight Oil, Crowded House etc) there were those that were circa 1980′s but sounded so fresh… further investigation was required and the likes of DD Smash, Dance Exponents, Th’ Dudes and Cold Chisel all became regular visitors to my turntable.
Like a modern day Indiana Jones I was feverishly searching for more hidden treasure, my bounty was of the musical variety and I discovered, on Auckland’s Queen Street, a Temple paying homage to a species being overtaken by the Digital Age….. The Vinyl Record. It was on this day that my love affair with Real Groovy Records began. I couldn’t believe my POM (a slang expression for Englishman used by Kiwis as well as Ozzies) blue eyes, row upon row of used vinyl going for a song. There were plenty of CD’s too but it was with the vinyl I began my quest for those forgotten gems and that diamond in the rough that would brighten up my day. I restricted my visits to one a month and would spend hours flicking through the vinyl, going from one generously filled shelf to the next hoping to find the next addition to my collection of yesteryear classics. The C.D. section at Real Groovy also proved be a source of hidden treasure to please any 80′s fanatic. As time went on I started to make a list of those great 80′s tracks that I didn’t purchase all those years before as a teenager.
Thanks to Bolton F.M.
A massive thanks to Kevin Gurney for allowing me to join him on his Club Tropicana show last Saturday at 96.5 Bolton F.M. It was great to be a part of a great show
Club Tropicana is broadcast on a Saturday Evening between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
80′s Project
We are planning a 80′s project and will be looking for venues all over the country to take part.
The idea is to write a travel journal and log peoples thoughts and memories of the 80′s. All those venues and individuals taking part will get a mention.
If you are interested in taking part or know of a venue that would be, please DM me at @80slgends (Twitter) with some contact details to discuss further.
The aim is to produce a book on the experience……
Hope you enjoyed my first blog
The Hog
Welcome to The Hog’s 80s Blog where your 80sLegends.com host The Hog espouses on all things 80s!
I’ll be giving my thoughts on the music, 80s T.V.and Film, the personalities, the fashion, the trends and the events that shaped the 80s, and try to make my own small contribution to the greatest decade of them all.
You can also help to make this a fun journal dedicated to the 80′s with your own contributions and comments to this blog. I would love to hear what you think about my great love of all things 80s!
Look forward to hearing from you…