29th December

1983: With the possible outlier exception of Peebles you knew where the line was drawn in 1983, Christmas Day's four followed by an overcrowded gantry comprising Gary Davies, Adrian John, Peter Powell, Richard Skinner and Tommy Vance, lined up like the world's least saleable boy band. JoBoxers do their thing amid a carpet of balloons and what sounds like steady bursting resultant, but there's still plenty left to rain down upon the Thompson Twins, Alannah playing air castanets, Joe on one finger keyboard stabs. We've seen how keen Robert Smith was on accurate miming and for The Cure's elevation to pop's big time he's inventing entirely new chord shapes, all good practice for when he changed his top and popped across the studio to guest with then employees Siouxsie & The Banshees, Siouxsie herself shrinkwrapped for the occasion. "Heard of Men Without Hats? These are women with hats!" Thanks, Adrian. It's a wonder how your name isn't more gloried. Only half of The Belle Stars are titfered even after that. Spandau Ballet spent their earnings on smart suits, "one of the big names to emerge in '84" - surely he's already emerged? - Howard Jones on special tinsel-wrapped mental chains. The Style Council may not benefit from Steve White's cyclical bongos work necessarily but it gives Mick Talbot the chance to show off his MIDI banjo. Just the one huge hit of the year still to go, Culture Club hiring as harmonica and brilliantly awkward dancing a man dressed as a NYC cop, maybe a portent of things to come.