1980

Overview . Events . Releases . Sessions

Notable Events

• Jan 8: Joy Division's gig tonight at the University of London Union is reviewed by Chris Bohn, who says: "Joy Division are masters of this gothic gloom..."
• Jan 20: Siouxsie comes third in the NME reader's poll for "Best Female Singer" (first was Kate Bush, second was Debbie Harry).
• Jan 24: Adam and the Ants split, with all the group bar Adam going on to form Bow Wow Wow
• Feb 4: The Lemon Kittens split, leaving only Karl Blake and Danielle Dax.
• Feb 16: The Boys Next Door become The Birthday Party and move to England, releasing one last single as Boys Next Door, "Riddle House".
• Feb 17: Bauhaus get a half-page article in Sounds, who say: "Whatever it is that these Phantoms of the Teenage Opera have got, it's worth checking out".
• Mar 2: Joy Division are voted 8th "Best New Band" in the Sounds Reader's Poll
• Mar 19: The Virgin Prunes support U2 at Acklam Hall and are reviewed by Dave McCulllough of Sounds, who says they are: "part glam-rock, part punk-shock, part pure innovatory outrage... a swathing, scything music form thart is Banshees-like but less staid, less sslef-consciously new and stylistically uninhibited".
• April 1: Einsturzende Neubauten make their live debut in Berlin.
• April 28: Joy Division film the video for "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in a disused rehearsal studio in Manchester.
• May 18: Ian Curtis of Joy Division hangs himself in his old house in Macclesfield.
• May 25: Bauhaus are reviewed in Sounds by Phil Sutcliffe, who says "The band... have an aggressively weird stage act using lots of make-up, freak hairstyles and darkness cut by strobes, back-lighting and a floodlight occasionally fired at the audience."
• Jun 29: The Birthday Party make their UK debut at The Rock Garden.
• Jul 29: New Order make their live debut at the Beach Club in Manchester, playing a purely instrumental set.
• Jul 29: The Face, a new style/music magazine, has its debut issue, featuring Toyah, The Human League, Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ultravox, Peteer Gabriel and Pink Floyd.
• Aug 14: The Gun Club get a few paragraphs write up in the new Slash magazine.
• Aug 27: Danse Crazy, later to become Danse Society, play their debut gig at the Royal Hotel in Sheffield.
• September: Play Dead form in Oxford
• Sep 13: The Futurama Festival in Leeds features Soft CCell, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Echo & the Bunnymen, Wasted Youth, Clock DVA, Altered Images and Danse Crazy.
• Sep 14: Stevo, the DJ at Billy's Club and general provider of the soundtrack to the new scene brewing in the electric underground has his current Top 20 records published in Sounds under the heading "Futurist Playlist". Top tracks are "Isolation by Joy Division, "I Die You Die" by Gary Numan, "Ashes to Ashes" by Bowie, "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" by Bauhaus and "Fireside Favourites" by Fad Gadget. Also featured are Modern English, Pere Ubu, Throbbing Gristle and the Human League.
• Oct 8: The Birthday Party play with DAF at The Moonlight Club whilst UK Decay play with The Dead Kennedys at the Music Machine (both in London)
• Nov 5: Bauhaus' debut album, "In the Flat Field" is slammed by Dave McCullough in Sounds, who says: "It features a lead singer who writes bad poetry... and a band behind him who combine to mistake the youth-club version of Joy Division for Mountain". In the NME, Andy Gill also slams it, calling it "doom for doom's sake. And in Sounds, Andy Gill slams Telegram Sam in the singles reviews.
• Nov 5: The Sisters of Mercy's debut single, "Damage Done"/"Watch" is reviewed by Robbi Millar in Sounds: "...sometimes I wonder if Ian Curtis knew what he was letting the world in for when he died for us. Certainly the Joy Division circus hasn't left us yet and its impressions grow increasingly gloomy by the day"
• Nov 28: Stevo, self-styled "Futurist DJ", puts on an event at the Scala Cinema with Richard Strange, Naked Lunch, Soft Cell and Blancmange.
• December: Play Dead begin recording their first single at Hallmark studios
• December: UK Decay record "Unexpected Guest" at Southern Studios
• Dec 2: Flexi-Pop magazine makes its debut.
• Dec 5: Killing Joke play with Theatre of Hate at the Cedar Ballroom in Birmingham.
• Dec 13: Duran Duran get a two page article in Sounds, despite not having released a single yet. Talking of Spandau Ballet, Nick Rhodes says: "We're not trying to move away from that scene, the main chunk of our audience in Birmingham is those people, but we're not tied to it as Spandau obviously are. When people come and see us we'd much rather that they dance and have a good time rather than dress up in the clothes and just look, which a lot of them do." Andy Taylor chimes in "It's phenomenal. Friday night down the club (the Rum Runner) there' 600 of them. That's a lot of poseurs for Birmingham." John taylor says: "One of the best points Spandau made, which we certainly agree with, that's the whole good time thing. The last thing in the world we're ever going to sing about is bad times. There are already too many bands doing that.... I think it (the band's approach to music) can pick up on the teenybop market.. We're definitely aiming towards a mass market...".
• Dec 31: In the Sounds reader's poll, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is voted No.2 in Singles of the Year (no.1 was "C30 C60 C90 Go!" by Bow Wow Wow, no.3 was "Going Underground by the Jam, No. 7 was "Holiday in Cambodia" by the Dead Kennedys, no.10 was "Staring at the rude Boys" by the Ruts). "Closer" is voted No.4 in the Albums of the Year (No.1 was the Talking Heads "Remain in Light", "Crocodiles" by Echo and the Bunnymen was No.10).