ABC help to usher in the New Wave Era of music in 1981, utilizing highly theatrical videos and performances. They were part New Romantic and part Glam Rock, with bombast and costumes in abundance. They started out in 1980 with Martin Fry handling the vocals, Mark White on keyboards, Mark Lickley on bass, David Robinson on drums, and Stephen Singleton on saxophone. ABC produced 8 studio albums, one live collection, and 3 greatest hits collections. They were far more popular in the UK than the US, scoring twice as many Top 40 singles in the UK, 10 vs 5.
The look of the band changed almost as often people in it. Fry is the only member who managed to stick around, although David Palmer showed up in 1982 and is still with Fry today. While Tears Were Not Enough was the first single, it was the second that established them on the radio. Poison Arrow started getting radio play and the video was picked up by MTV and started rising in the charts.
ABC - Poison Arrow
Uploaded by trashfan. - Watch more music videos, in HD!
Following the time spent as New Romantics with their jaunty suits, by the time the third CD came around, ABC had moved to a more glittering and theatrical look, somewhere between glam and club. The video for Be Near Me is the epitome of the look, as you can see.
ABC-Be Near Me
Uploaded by adiis. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
I'll be honest, ABC had fallen off my radar after 1987's Alphabet City, which didn't grab me. I loved the the lead single, When Smokey Sings, one of my favorites from the band.
ABC - When Smokey Sings
Uploaded by jpdc11. - Explore more music videos.
ABC still tours today, and released a CD in 2008, a fact I was blissfully unaware of, so I have nothing to add. To catch up with ABC and Martin Fry, you can check in with the official website here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment