#13 of 392. Alabama Concert History. Hundreds of people, including an 80-strong party of sailors from H.M.S. The bands that performed were: The 1975 / Bonnie Kemplay. [12] Bhangra emerged from the Balsall Heath area in the 1960s and 1970s with the addition of western musical influences to traditional Punjabi music. [302] In 1993 Whittingham and Bush formed the Different Drummer record label, which quickly grew an international roster of artists to become "the premier outlet for forward-thinking dub productions", building links with wider scenes including German and Austrian nu-jazz. RE-LIVE THE FUN OF THE 1980STHE BEST DECADE FOR MUSIC! [3] The sleeve notes to the Decca compilation emphasised that Birmingham's characteristic musical diversity was already becoming clear: "But is there a Brum sound? [34] By November they had secured a major international hit with their multi-million selling single "Go Now", which reached number 1 in the UK and number 10 in the US, and whose "soulful, agonized" vocal performance established lead singer Denny Laine as one of the most recognisable voices in British music. Van Halen. [8], This diversity and culture of experimentation has made Birmingham a fertile birthplace of new musical styles, many of which have gone on to have a global influence. [190] Ex-punks Terry & Gerry also stood outside the post-punk mainstream, marrying witty and highly political lyrics to a stripped-down skiffle-revival sound between 1984 and 1986,[191] briefly establishing a reputation as "one of England's most exciting bands of the '80s" and recording a high-profile Peel Session, but failing to break through to widespread commercial success. [195] The group's self-titled debut album mixed the influence of English pop, American soul and European dance music and met critical acclaim and some commercial success within the UK,[196] but it was their 1989 second album, The Raw & the Cooked that propelled them to international stardom, reaching number 1 in the UK, the US and Australia and producing two US number 1 singles. Birmingham music: Do you remember these Birmingham bands of the 1980s? [citation needed]. [260], By this point Napalm Death had already developed the fusion of punk and metal styles described by Bullen as their objective: "we wanted that hardcore energy meeting slowed down, primitive metal riffs, and to basically marry that to a political message". [210] By the late 1970s bhangra had become well established as a significant and distinctive cultural industry among South Asian communities both in Birmingham and in Southall in London. [159] Although only loosely connected with punk they were considered to be Birmingham's finest live band of the era[160] and built a strong local following, becoming the subject of a legendary epidemic of graffiti throughout the city and surrounding area[161] and regularly selling out Friday nights at the city's leading punk venue Barbarella's by the end of 1978. Rod Stewart Every Beat Of My Heart Tour 1986. . Mixmaster (constructive Trio) was, as his name suggests, a master of the mix, and also worked in radio. [307] Harris also released ambient and dub influenced albums under his own name in collaboration with musicians such as New York City's James Plotkin,[308] and Bill Laswell[309] and Italy's Eraldo Bernocchi. West End Bar was a major meeting place before parties, with Steve Wells and Steve Griffiths and was another important venue throughout this period of time. [319], Birmingham's Back 2 Basics marked the birth of a new minimalist strain of jungle in 1993 with their stripped-down early tracks "Back 2 Basics" and "Horns 4 '94". Tony Iommi was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath. . [54] Having had a musical childhood, with a mother who wrote songs and performed them on the piano,[55] at Cambridge Drake began himself to write and perform his own compositions. Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s was the birthplace of heavy metal music,[82][83][84] whose international success as a musical genre over subsequent decades has been rivalled only by hip-hop in the size of its global following,[85][86] and which bears many hallmarks of its Birmingham origins. [94], Critics disagree over which band can be thought of as the first true heavy metal band, with American commentators tending to favour Led Zeppelin and British commentators tending to favour Black Sabbath. The most notable act to emerge from Birmingham's garage scene was The Streets, led by the vocalist, producer and instrumentalist Mike Skinner. [242] Thank You stood out from other contemporary British R&B albums in its acknowledgment its British cultural roots and context,[243] and included the title track "Thank You", a cathartic song about surviving domestic violence that peaked at number 2 in the UK charts. [80] Their first two singles "Paper Sun" and "Hole in My Shoe" highlighted the groups instrumental virtuosity and reached the UK Top 5.[81]. Bally Sagoo's 1994 single "Chura Liya" was the first Asian language record to enter the British mainstream top 20. [107] Black Sabbath's influence is universal throughout heavy metal and its many subgenres,[108] but their musical significance extends well beyond metal: their discovery that guitar-based music could be fundamentally alienating would lead directly to the sound of the Sex Pistols and the birth of punk;[109] and their influence would be felt by bands as diverse as the post-punk Joy Division, the avant-garde Sonic Youth,[110] the Seattle-based grunge bands Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains,[111] Californian stoner rock,[112] and even the rap of Ice-T,[109] Cypress Hill[113] and Eminem. 6,657 votes. Birmingham's culture of popular music first developed in the mid-1950s. [185], During the late 1970s and early 1980s Birmingham was the home of a "vibrant but infamously fragmented and undervalued" post-punk scene. [179] The success of their wild and snarling first single "Johnny won't go to Heaven" in 1977 saw the NME declare Rowland to be Johnny Rotton's successor as the voice of punk protest, but Rowland was already expressing dissatisfaction with punk's uniformity, complaining that "The original idea of punk was to be different and say what you wanted not just to copy everybody else". Electronic artists include Big beat musicians Bentley Rhythm Ace, Experimental music producer Enarjay 808 the Terminator and Electronica bands Electribe 101, Mistys Big Adventure and Avrocar. I think that is why Birmingham is thriving musically because you got a lot of different cultures musically, and in everyday life. [131] The founders of the reggae band Eclipse, who met at a blues party, later recalled "Blues would took place everywhere. [176] The all-male Dangerous Girls started in 1978 with a post-punk sound influenced by Public Image Ltd, perversely moving in an increasingly punk direction for their series of singles,[177] that were re-released on three compilation albums in 2001 and 2002. [183] G. B. H.'s influence helped codify the raw sound that would become known as street punk,[184] becoming a prime influence on the mid-1980s emergence of the thrash metal bands Metallica and Slayer. [15] Techno's Birmingham sound combined the established sound of Detroit techno with the influence of Birmingham's own industrial music and post-punk culture. The band has over 41 #1 country records on the Billboard charts to their credit and have sold over 75 million records, making them the most successful band in country music history. [250] The Mermaid was a run-down inner-city pub whose upstairs room would host bands that would not be booked by more commercial venues in Birmingham City Centre. Formed in 1978 out of Birmingham's Rock Against Racism action group, this fiercely political three-piece took punk's radical spirit and fused it with funk and feminism on scorching, Peel-approved 1981 debut album Playing With A Different Sex.A taboo-trashing masterclass tackling subjects ranging from domestic abuse to unsatisfactory sex, it redefined pop's possibilities . [1] By the early 1960s the city's music scene had emerged as one of the largest and most vibrant in the country; a "seething cauldron of musical activity",[2] with over 500 bands constantly exchanging members and performing regularly across a well-developed network of venues and promoters. [292], Ambient dub was born as a genre in Birmingham in 1992, when the term was used by the city's independent label Beyond Records[293] for their series of compilation albums documenting the music of the scene that had grown around the Birmingham club Oscillate. Nathan dj'd at 49er's around this time, playing everything from Prince to House and Balearic. [289] Originally a solo project of the Birmingham-born musician Tim Wright, Germ later developed into a collaboration with other musicians including trombonist Hilary Jeffrey, double-bassist Matt Miles, and producer John Dalby. Liberty's, an old nightclub in Birmingham 10. With us, you get a full instrumentation, tight harmonies, and a fun show! [282] Downwards would become one of the most important labels in world techno,[283] and the "darkly reductionist" influence of its "huge slabs of unrelentingly unchanging minimalism" would be unmistakable in the development of the later techno scenes in New York City and at the Berghain in Berlin. [153] Saxophonist Saxa was a 60-year-old Jamaican who had played with first-wave ska artists such as Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker and who was recruited to the band after being discovered playing jazz in a Handsworth pub. Although illegal acid house parties had been popping up in Birmingham before, the first proper legal all night acid party/rave was at The Hummingbird also, and was called Biology, which was a London organisation. [274] Harris' records as Lull went further into the ambient extremes of isolationism, dropping the drums and rhythm loops that characterised Scorn to focus entirely on looped tones and evolving textures, with songs drifting in and out as slow, steady progressions of tones, chimes and drones. [40] These included songs of social protest and songs of everyday life referring to places in and around the city,[6] and reflected the area's underlying native rural traditions, its industrial culture and the influence of successive waves of incomers bringing and assimilating musical traditions from elsewhere. Blondie at the Odeon, Birmingham in January 1980 Blondie, UB40, Duran Duran and many more bands played there throughout the 1980s as part of their tours. [14] At the forefront of this development were The Specials, who were formed and based in nearby Coventry, but who came to prominence on the Birmingham music scene in 1978, holding a weekly residency at the Golden Eagle pub on Hill Street and playing as a support act for visiting punk acts playing in Birmingham. [334] The architectural critic Owen Hatherley has also linked the scene to Birmingham's unique recent history, as the booming economy and futuristic rebuilding of the postwar era gave way to the economic collapse and melancholic cityscape of the 1980s. Rod Stewart - vocals. [223] In 1969 they became the first Gospel Group to be recorded by a major record company when their classic and now extremely rare album Oh Happy Day was recorded by Cyril Stapleton for PYE Records. In early 1980, the band bring their demo tapes to Paul & Michael Berrow, who run the Rum Runner night club. [23] Instead the city's music was characterised by a "rampant eclecticism",[6] its style ranging from traditional blues, rock and roll and rhythm and blues through to folk, folk rock, psychedelia and soul,[23] with its influence extending into the 1970s and beyond. Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues worked for that company and it is one of the reasons why he introduced that instrument in the band, giving its very typical sound. [268] Its influence would also extend well beyond the extreme metal and hardcore subcultures: its extensive radio airplay from John Peel saw it reach the indie Top 10[269] and the textures of its "unrelenting, intense sound" would attract the attention of exponents of wider experimental musical styles such as ambient music and free jazz. [41] The group's 1962 record Ceilidh at the Crown was the first live folk club recording ever to be released, and in 1965 they were the first group outside the United States to record a Bob Dylan song, when their cover of "The Times They Are a-Changin'" reached the UK top 50. It was an important early meeting place, introducing key figures to seminal influences such as the late 1960s Californian band the United States of America. "[333], Birmingham's divergence from the national mainstream was partly driven by the city's inherently eclectic musical culture. [50] Born on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, she brought up from the age of 7 in the Brookfields area of Handsworth. Alan, Andy, Martin and Dave started their career in Basildon. [154] The earliest were the Swell Maps, formed in 1972 by brothers Epic Soundtracks and Nikki Sudden, inspired by T. Rex, The Stooges and Can. Now it has become a day for the unsigned of all genres and was brought back to life in 2013 as unsigned acts decided it was time for them to do a day of their own. It's all perception and reality, which are completely different"[331] The American National Public Radio described Trish Keenan as "an ambassador between the parallel worlds of what happened and what might have been", noting that she was "interested in memory less for nostalgic reasons and more for the world and lives it distorted and rewrote. The club night Sensateria ran from 1984 to 1994 in various Birmingham venues playing psychedelic and experimental music by artists such as Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa. This list of famous Birmingham musiciansincludes both bands and solo artists, as well as many singers/groupsof indie and underground status. Cover Band from Montgomery, AL (39 miles from Alabama) Lisa & The E-Lusion is Alabama's number one rated band through gigmasters, and one of the Southeast's most requested cover bands!! [322] Most significant was the track "Dred Bass", released in 1994 by Asend & Ultravibe under the name Dead Dred, which managed to be highly innovative while remaining focused on the essence of jungle; its backwards bassline and skittering snare sound "constituted a landmark in jungle's development into a rhythmic psychedelia"[323] and established the ultra-heavy bass sound that would dominate jungle for the next two years "as complex and intelligent as any drum 'n' bass track ever made". He looked brilliant."[199]. [225] The Majestic Singers were instrumental in developing the culture of Gospel music nationwide, promoting the formation groups in London, Manchester and Aberdeen as well as Birmingham. [280] Most closely identified with the city's Downwards Records label and its local producers Regis, Surgeon and Female, Birmingham techno's characteristic hard, fast and uncompromising style was influenced as much by the local industrial music scene that developed around Mick Harris of Napalm Death and Martyn Bates of Eyeless in Gaza as it was by the pioneers of American techno. [9] This and its 1967 Winwood-written follow up "I'm a Man" were top 10 hits on both sides of the Atlantic[9] selling over a million copies and adding a huge fanbase in America to their existing European popularity. Performs: Worldwide. [2] The New Musical Express calculated that in 1964 there were over 500 groups operating within the city. [65] Georgia in 1980 Rapid Eye Movement was made up of Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills. "[225] In 1978 the Irish recording engineer Les Moir first heard the "astonishingly accomplished" work of lead singer Maxine Simpson and pianist Steve Thompson, subsequently recording the 1979 album Free at Last, which would prove groundbreaking for UK Gospel music. [226], During the 1980s the West Midlands lay at the centre of the development of a recognisably British soul style as a series of locally inflected contemporary R&B artists emerged from the area. [251] Justin Broadrick later remembered: "it was really just a shitty pub in a really shitty area, which just meant that you could get away with a lot more. Until Circle Studios opened its 3,000-square-foot (280m2) facility in 2007, aside from private studios in the hands of UB40 and Ocean Colour Scene and smaller studios such as Artisan Audio, there was no high-end recording studio operating in Birmingham. Birmingham band Duran Duran - who had formed in 1978 - came in with a demo tape and the Berr. Sadly, many of the venues from those days have since climbed the stairway to heaven. Artist Active Genre & Styles; 13Ghosts: 2000s . [194], The most successful of Birmingham's eclectic soul- and jazz-influenced post-punks were Fine Young Cannibals, established in 1984 by two former members of The Beat guitarist Andy Cox and bassist David Steele who recruited Sparkhill-born former punk Roland Gift as a vocalist. [61], Virtually unknown at his death, Drake has since become one of the greatest examples of an artist achieving posthumous fame and influence. The last concert at Birmingham NEC was on January 15, 2023. ", which entered nationwide consciousness as sixteen-year-old West Bromwich-born Janice Nicholls gave her verdict on the week's singles in Spin-a-Disc in her broad Black Country accent. This band specializes in 80's dance, Motown, top 40, Old School Funk, Rock-n-roll, and hi. [301], Rockers Hi-Fi was formed in 1991 by the former punk Richard "DJ Dick" Whittingham and former rock & roller Glyn Bush,[302] who'd both fallen under the influence of Jamaican dub pioneers King Tubby and Lee "Scratch" Perry in the Birmingham club scene of the mid 1980s. [336] The term Retro-futurism was first applied to music by Brian Duffy, who used it to refer to the music of Stylophonic, which he established with Robert Shaw of Swan's Way in 1984 and whose performances involved 15 analogue synthesisers sequenced live on stage "We were kind of doing this mix of Kraftwerk, The Walker Brothers and Marc Bolan it was synthesiser glam rock"[337], Pram were the scene's first major group, forming in 1988,[338] with their early sound being limited to vocals and an accompanying theremin. Birmingham's current music venues large and small include Symphony Hall at the ICC, The National Indoor Arena, O2 Academy Birmingham, the National Exhibition Centre, The CBSO Centre, The Glee Club, The Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire, The Yardbird, mac (Midlands Arts Centre) at Cannon Hill Park, The Custard Factory, the Drum Arts Centre, The Jam House, and pub and bar venues including The Rainbow (Digbeth), The Bull's Head (in the suburb of Moseley), The Cross (Moseley), the Ceol Castle (Moseley), the Hare and Hounds (Kings Heath), Scruffy Murphy's, the Jug of Ale, The Queen's Arms (city centre), a branch of Barfly and the Hibernian. [153] Like The Specials, the members of The Beat had varied backgrounds: Dave Wakeling, David Steele and Andy Cox had originally formed a punk band; St. Kitts-born drummer Everett Morton had a background in reggae and had drummed for Joan Armatrading, vocalist Ranking Roger had played drums with a Birmingham punk band as well as toasting over Birmingham sound systems. The M-80s strive for an AUTHENTIC performance of your favorite '80s tunes. [180] By 1978, in an early sign of the uncompromising eccentricity of Rowland's later career, the Killjoys were inspiring the hatred of punk audiences by performing Bobby Darin covers and country and western music at punk venues like London's 100 Club. [17] In 1957 he formed Danny King and the Dukes with Clint Warwick, performing rhythm and blues covers in local clubs and cinemas. Punch Records, in the Custard Factory, run street dance and DJ training courses. [38] The show was best known for its catchphrase "Oi'll give it foive! [42] Campbell also ran the Jug o' Punch Folk Song Club, originally at The Crown in Station Street, but later at the Digbeth Civic Hall on Thursday nights. [132] The result was a free exchange of influence and support between the sound systems of the city's Jamaican-influenced musical culture and local bands of all races and genres,[133] with particularly close relationships growing between the city's reggae and punk scenes. [86][116], Birmingham's booming post-war economy made it the main area alongside London for the settlement of West Indian immigrants from 1948 and throughout the 1950s. When I returned, I was surprised to find that Nick Drake was becoming famous. [154], Misspent Youth (band) formed in 1975, influenced of the New York Dolls and The Stooges but remaining heavily indebted to glam-rock. [128] Notable Birmingham sound systems whose reputations extended beyond the city included Quaker City, which was founded in 1965;[129] Duke Alloy, which was founded in 1966 and featured the toaster Astro who later became part of UB40;[130] and Wassifa, which featured Macka B, the most influential British toaster of the 1980s. [314] In 1992 he founded Metalheadz with fellow Birmingham-born DJ Kemistry[315] and the following year released "Angel", the track which marked the start of the demise of the dark sound he had earlier epitomised, incorporating samples from Brian Eno and David Byrne and becoming the first track to successfully take hardcore in a more musical direction without losing its essence. "[220], The Singing Stewarts, a family of five brothers and three sisters who moved to Handsworth from Trinidad in 1961, were the first Gospel group to make an impact in Britain. [251] The final characteristic of what would become the grindcore style was added when Mick Harris replaced Ratledge on drums in November 1985, introducing the fast 64th notes on the bass drum that became known as the blast beat. [299] The group most closely associated with the club was Higher Intelligence Agency, established at Oscillate by its founder Bobby Bird in May 1992 to improvise live tracks between records, releasing their first track on Beyond's first compilation Ambient Dub Volume 1. [134] A close-knit core community of musicians emerged, combining varied musical influences with a commitment to a common goal. The reason: all the city's groups, including those heard on this LP, are striving to achieve some degree of individuality. [298], Oscillate was more about live electronic music performances than DJs playing records and it quickly became the centre of a network of producers and other musical collaborators. [33], The Moody Blues were also originally primarily an R&B band, formed in May 1964 with musicians from other Birmingham bands including El Riot & the Rebels, Denny and the Diplomats, Danny King and the Dukes and Gerry Levene and the Avengers. [citation needed], Notable dance music record labels include Network Records (of Altern8 fame), Different Drummer, Urban Dubz Records, Badger Promotions, Jibbering Records, Iron Man, Earko, FHT[1] and Munchbreak Records. [146] The Specials first attracted wider attention after standing in for The Clash at Barbarella's on Cumberland Street,[146] and in 1979 established their own 2 Tone Records label to record their first single, "Gangsters", which quickly became an underground hit[147] and started a run of seven consecutive top 10 hits culminating in 1981's "Ghost Town". [114], Also crucial to the emergence of heavy metal as an international phenomenon were Judas Priest,[115] who moved beyond the early sound of the metal genre in the later 1970s, combining the doom-laden gothic feel of Black Sabbath with the fast, riff-based sound of Led Zeppelin, while adding their own distinctive two-guitar cutting edge. By Dave Freak. [135] Birmingham bands were showing the influence of Jamaican music as early as 1968, when Locomotive had a minor UK hit with the ska single "Rudi's in Love",[136] and, by 1969, ska nights at Birmingham City Centre clubs were attracting early skinheads dressed in tonic suits and loafers,[137], Birmingham's first major home-grown reggae band was Steel Pulse,[138] who formed in Handsworth Wood in 1975[139] from a group of musicians who had been playing dub plates since the age of 15 and 16. Pictures of Birmingham Gigs in the Early 1980s. Starting at. [90] The industrial basis of Birmingham society in the 1960s and 1970s was also significant: early heavy metal artists described the mechanical monotony of industrial life, the bleakness of the post-war urban environment and the pulsating sound of factory machinery as influences on the sound they developed,[91] and Black Sabbath's use of loosely stringed down-tuned guitars and power chords partly resulted from lead guitarist Tony Iommi's loss of the ends of two fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident with a sheet metal cutting machine. From: $3500. [148] With its eerie wailing noises, stabbing brass, doom-laden middle eastern musical motifs and dub-style breaks laid over a loping reggae beat, "Ghost Town" marked the birth of the tradition of sinister-sounding British pop that would later lead to the rise of trip hop and dubstep. [300] In 1993 they released their debut album Colourform and began to take their experimental live act around the country. [231] In 1986 she released her debut album Women Hold Up Half the Sky, which had an unusually strong gospel influence for a 1980s soul record and was to prove both a critical and commercial success. [106] Paranoid also marked Black Sabbath's commercial breakthrough, reaching number 1 in the UK album charts and number 8 in the US. [2] By 1967 Lynne was clearly the band's leader, shaping its sound and direction and writing its original material. The New Dance Sound of Detroit that first identified techno as a distinct musical genre, also being responsible for giving the genre its name,[276] and his Network Records label, based in Stratford House in Birmingham's Camp Hill, that would be instrumental in introducing Detroit techno to British and European audiences over the following years. [citation needed], Also nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2006 were Guillemots, the multinational band led by the Moseley and Bromsgrove raised singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Fyfe Dangerfield. Scorpions / Mama's Boys Jan 24, 1984 Uploaded by Dickslexic66.