It's 1985 and you've been dumped... what music?

[thekumquat]

Welcome back to little_details!
I'd actually tried to post this in May 2017, but the Dreamwidth version wasn't yet open. As it happens, while I finished the story in question (only really of interest to Antonia Forest fans), I'd still appreciate answers:

"I'm writing a story which for various reasons is between April and June 1985, in England. A 17-year-old boy who generally takes himself way too seriously and has just been dumped, wants to put on some loud music to express his feelings. Rock, punk, not disco - any song that would be available via reasonably mainstream means at that time.

If the timeframe were more flexible, the obvious song would be Joan Jett & the Blackhearts "I hate myself for Loving You", but that came out in 1988. Queen's "Friends will be Friends" would do, but again that's 1986. Ideas?

If anyone happens to know *when* in 1985 that Jimmy Somerville left Bronski Beat to join the Communards, that would also be helpful.

Hoping the DW version of this community takes off!"

Comments

[theladyscribe]

One thing to remember here is that CDs were not very common yet, and this 17-year-old boy was probably listening to either vinyl records or cassettes, both of which make it difficult to listen to a single track! So rather than a single song, I'd go for a full album or at least half of one. Taking a look at the top albums of 1984 (to account for access lag) and 1985, you've got your pick of the following (among many others):
Purple Rain, Prince
The Smiths, The Smiths
Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen
Songs from the Big Chair, Tears for Fears

[azurelunatic]

I'm looking at 1984 and a little earlier to make sure it doesn't go past 1985. Also because as a (USA, 1990s) teenager, my ability to acquire music was mostly taping off the radio and getting albums used, so if I was feeling like hearing a specific song, either I would have had to have the presence of mind to tape it or I would already have to have the album. Either way that implies some kind of foresight and access, unless the dumping was far enough in the past that he could have gone to a music store or taped off the radio about it.

Total Eclipse of the Heart might be too torchy for some guys, but it's super satisfying to sing along with.

Love Stinks is nicely shouty.

Tainted Love is a little more appropriate for someone who is doing the dumping, but came out comfortably in 1981.

[melannen]

So glad to see this comm show up again!!

I will echo the people above and say that putting on a specific song wasn't super likely (unless he was playing it himself...) Putting on a mixtape that was relevant to the relationship or putting on the radio and fixating on a song that just happened to come on and resonate both seem more in-period, though an album would also work.

There are websites that have all the radio charts for the UK historically - looking at the UK charts for May 1985 I would have him tape "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Jimmy Nail off the radio.

(Also, Wikipedia said he left in "summer" 1985. That might be as specific as you get, since it looks like they weren't really recording or touring at the time, so it might have been a sort of gradual process; it looks like the last time he was on stage with them was September 1984.)

[altamira16]

One of the things that did become available in the early 1980s was the cassette single. These were inexpensive cassettes that only had a few songs on them.

Then we end up down the rabbit hole of "Was this song ever available on a cassette single?"

Elton John's "Sad Songs" would have been available by this time, but I have no clue if it was ever available as a cassette single.

[topaz_eyes]

The Police's "Synchronicity" was released in 1983; "King of Pain" still would have been popular on the radio.

Edit to add: Sting had recently broken up with his wife in 1983 so a few songs from the album might resonate with the character. ("Every Breath You Take")

[gentlyepigrams]

I lived in the UK from 1982 to 1984, (ages 14 to 17). As a teenager, when I got into a funk and wanted to listen to the same song over and over, I generally did so with a 12" single on vinyl.

If you find an album and song with the right vibe, and other suggestions here are good, consider checking the discography of the band to find a 12" single of one of the songs on the album.

[full_metal_ox]

What, no nominations yet for Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”(released in June 1980)? That one’s as angsty as it gets, a bleak razor-edged January wind both musically and lyrically—and already an epitaph at the time of its release. The original version was the A-side of a vinyl single, which your forlorn young man could easily play ad nauseam.

[fairyniamh]

Because you seem to be going for an Angry Vibe. Cure, Metallica, Queen (may be British, but we still loved them... and honestly, most of us didn't care where the band was from, as long as we could head bang to it.) AC/DC, Whitesnake, Guns and Roses, I think Twisted Sister was 90s... Meatloaf... yes, I child of the 80s who listened to all kinds of music. Note the Child, my teen years were the 90s. Remembering what I snooped in big brother's cassettes.

[ilthit]

Reminder though that a character in 1985 could listen to music from ANY time before that. How about My Man Is Gone Now by Nina Simone, that stabs you in the heart across all decades. Or if it isn't a man, there's also I Get Along Very Well Without You, Nina's rendition is from 1969. But then, maybe that sad vibe isn't quite what you want.

[cnoocy]

I realize I'm answering late, but if you want verisimilitude, when this happened to me at around this time and around this age, my song for it was "Please Do Not Go" by the Violent Femmes off their self-titled 1983 debut. It's an American record, so it may have been technically an import, but "Blister in the Sun" was a big enough deal that I would expect it to be available in record stores or through the grapevine.