October was released in October 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. The album received mixed reviews and limited radio play. It debuted at number 11 in the UK, but sold poorly elsewhere. The single ” Gloria ” was U2’s first song to have its music video played on MTV ,…
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The band’s next single was ” Just Can’t Get Enough “. The synth-pop single became the band’s first UK top ten hit. The video is the only one to feature Vince Clarke. Depeche Mode’s debut album, Speak & Spell , was released in October 1981 and peaked at number ten…
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As a quartet, New Order subsequently re-recorded “Ceremony”, which was released as a twelve-inch single in September 1981.
The band faced several challenges in writing their second album, October . On an American leg of the Boy Tour, Bono’s briefcase containing in-progress lyrics and musical ideas was lost backstage during a March 1981 performance at a nightclub in Portland, Oregon . The band had limited time to write…
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In May 1981, PiL appeared in New York at The Ritz , playing from behind a projection screen. Lydon, Levene and Jeanette Lee were joined by a new drummer, 60-year-old jazz player Sam Ulano, who had been recruited for the gig from a bar, having apparently never heard the band…
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released in February 1981. It reached number 57 in the UK charts.
New Order visited New York City again in 1981, where the band were introduced to post-disco , freestyle , and electro . To cheer themselves up, the band started listening to Italian disco while Morris taught himself drum programming . The singles that followed, ” Everything’s Gone Green ” and…
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(released in 1981) with the song “Photographic”, later re-recorded for their debut album Speak & Spell .
In late 1981, the band placed an anonymous ad in Melody Maker looking for another musician: “Name band, synthesise, must be under twenty-one.”
An early permutation of the band formed in 1981 under the name From Eden. Members included Clint Mansell , Adam Mole, Chris Fradgley, Malcolm Treece and Miles Hunt (Treece and Hunt later formed the Wonder Stuff ). From Eden recruited Graham Crabb from Kit-Form Colossus to replace Hunt on drums…
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