1981

Overview . Events . Releases . Sessions

Notable Releases

 

Jan 8: Foetus Under Glass (ie Jim Thirlwell) releases his debut single, "OKFM"

Jan 8: The Virgin Prunes release their debut EP, "Twenty Tens"

Jan 22: New Order release "Ceremony"/"In A Lonely Place"

Jan 31: Stevo's label, Some Bizarre, relases the "Some Bizarre album". This is a roundup of various "Futurist" bands, all of whom have featured in Stevo's concert/club events or in his Futurist chart in Sounds. The bands are Illustration, Depeche Mode ("Photographic"), The The, B Movie, Jell, Blah Blah Blah, Blancmange ("Sad Days"), Soft Cell ("The Girl With The Patent Leather Face"), Neu Electric, Naked Lunch, The Fast set, and The Loved One. Talking to Sounds, Blancmange deny they're Futurists, but Depeche Mode say "OK, we're futurists. We've always been futurists... we never had anything to do with

Jan 31: The Virgin Prunes ("Red Nettle"), Cabaret Voltaire and DAF appear amogst others on the NME C81 cassette compilation.

Feb 4: United Dairies release a compilation album, "Hoisting The Black Flag", featuring The Lemon Kittens ("Funky 7"), Whitehouse, Mental Aaardvarks, David Cross, Nurse With Wound, Truth Club and Hamilton/Duarte.

Feb 15: The Lemon Kittens release their second EP, "Cake Beast"

Feb 18: UK Decay release their fourth single, "Unexpected Guest"/"Dresden", on Fresh records.

Mar 5: The Meteors release a 4-track EP, "Meteor Madness"

Mar 7: Theatre of Hate release their first LP, "He Who Dares Wins". It's an "official booteg" recorded live in Leeds.

Mar 20: Bauhaus release "Kick in the Eye" on Beggars Banquet.

Mar 26: The Cure release "Primary"/"Descent"

Mar 27: The Cramps release their "Psychedelic Jungle" LP.

Mar 30: The Birthday Party release their "Prayers on Fire" LP

Apr 3: Theatre of Hate release "Rebel Without a Brain"/"My Own Invention"

Apr 10: Modern English release their debut LP, "Mesh And Lace" on 4AD.

Apr 17: The Cure release "Faith"

Apr 30: Killing Joke release "Follow The Leaders"/"Tension".

May 8: The Cramps release "Goo Goo Muck"/"She Said"

May 11: Play Dead release their first single, "Poison Takes A Hold"/"Introduction"

May 15: Siouxsie and the Banshees release "Spellbound"/"Follow The Sun"

May 29: Echo And The Bunnymen release their second album, "Heaven Up He

Jun 2: The Lemon Kittens ("In Wooden Brackets") and The Virgin Prunes ("Third Secret") appear on an avant-garde comilation called "Perspectives and Distortions"

Jun 18: Killing Joke release their second LP, "What's This For?"

Jun 19: Siouxsie And The Banshees release their fourth album, "Ju Ju".

Jun 26: Bauhaus release "The Passion of Lovers".

Jun 27: Virgin Prunes release "In The Grey Light" EP.

Jul 16: The Meteors releasea collaboration album, "The Meteors Meet Screaming Lord Sutch"

Jul 18: You've Got Foetus On Your Breath release "Wash It All Off"/"Today I Started Slogging Again"

Jul 20: Danse Society release their debut single, "Clock"/"Continent".

Jul 21: Theatre of Hate release "Nero"/"Incinerator"

Jul 24: Siouxsie And The Banshees release "Arabian Knights"/"Supernatural Thing"

Jul 28: Einsturzende Neubauten release a double 7" pack featuring "Kalte Sterne" and 4 other songs.

Jul 31: The Birthday Party release "Release The Bats"/"Blastoff" on 4AD.

Jul 31: Modern English release "Smiles And Laughter"/"Mesh And Lace"

Aug 7: US group 45 Grave release their debut single, "Black Cross"/"Wax"

Sep 12: The Cramps release "The Crusher"/"Save It"

Sep 14: The Meteors release "The Crazed"/"Attack of the Zorch Men"

Sep 25: The Creatures (ie Siouxsie and Budgie) release a double single featuring "Mad eyed Screamer" and 4 other tracks.

Sep 25: New Order release "Everything's Gone Green"/"Procession" on 7".

Sep 30: The Virgin Prunes release "A New Form Of Beauty: 1"

Oct 3: The Cure release "Charlotte Sometimes"/"Splintered In Her Head"

Oct 3: UK Decay release "Sexual"/"Twist In The Tale"

Oct 15: Joy Division posthumously release "Still"

Oct 16: Bauhaus release "Mask", their second LP.

Oct 23: UK Decay release their debut LP, "For Madmen Only"

Nov 7: The Virgin Prunes release "A New Form Of Beauty: 2"

Nov 11: 45 Grave and Christian Death feature on an American compilation LP, "Hell Comes To Your House"

Nov 14: New Order release their first LP, "Movement", which reaches No.30 in the LP charts.

Nov 15: "Deaf", an LP by You've Got Foetus On Your Breath, is released in the UK by Rough Trade a month after its release in America.

Nov 25: Play Dead release their second single, "TV Eye"/"Final Epitaph"

Dec 2: Danse Society release a 3-track EP: "There Is No Shame In Death"/"Dolphins"/These Frayed Edges"

Dec 4: Siouxsie And the Banshees release a compilation LP of their singles to date, "Once Upon A Time: The Singles"

Dec 9: Theatre of Hate release "Do You Believe in the Westworl"/"Propaganda"

Dec 17: Xmal Deutschland release "Schwarze Welt"/"Die wolken"/"Gross stadtindianer"

Dec 12: New Order release the 12" of "Eveything's Gone Green", backed with "Cries And Whispers"/"Mesh"