Known Pleasures

In 1981, a yoghurt-factory worker, a window dresser, and two blokes employed by an insurance company and a bank, somehow conjured up one of the most irresistible songs of the decade. Forty years and a hundred million records later – including 35 Top 20 hits in the UK – Depeche Mode are solid-gold, electronic-rock royalty.    In this episode, we join the band for the first part of their expedition – from the sparkling pop of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ to the industrial clank of ‘People Are People’, losing members, attracting the scorn of the media, and wearing a skirt or two along the way. So, let’s speak, and spell it out for our listeners about Depeche Mode. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Known-Pleasures-131768500804116 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knownpleasurespodcast/ Twitter: @pleasuresknown  

At the legendary CBGB’s in New York in the mid 70’s, I think it’s fair to say that Blondie were outliers. Still, they took enough from the attitudes and performances of their punk contemporaries to create a style of idiosyncratic pop that made them stand out from the crowd. Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/1KQsSZDvmnpCxBu6n5Nmzg?si=vteJC5bFTjam5Q8hBH12Ng Twitter: @pleasuresknown Instagram: knownpleasurespodcast    

Hit singles: nuh. Hit albums: nuh. Unusually charismatic singer? Unforgettable visual image? Brilliant band name? Nuh. Nuh. Nuh. So why, 46 years after they formed, are we talking about Wire? Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154 might sound like the opening line of a really good poem; it is, though, the list of albums – released between 1977 and ’79 – which, despite making only the barest dent in the charts, remain among the most influential of the era. Beloved by everyone from Johnny Marr to Elastica, from REM to Henry Rollins to Sonic Youth, Wire are still, as Rolling Stone noted in 2017, ‘Punk’s ultimate cult band’.       Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/1VLiKVlWbrLbxvtAkCnGOD?si=-Oa7As9oSNWmfyNdQEz_cw  

In this episode Mark, Patrick & Graham hold a magnifying glass over Adam & The Ants. Not to set fire to them & watch them burn, but to illuminate them and watch them glow.   Vote for us:  https://australianpodcastawards.com/vote   Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/6x2LPIq9LtunoVWugVg8mn?si=l0wFQ0NcQM6zWChbHjCL9w  

Born like so many others out of 1977’s London punk scene, the Psychedelic Furs however seemed to deliberately stand out from the off. There was the name for a start - not very punk and more redolent of the despised 60s if anything,  and then there was the music. Never a huge critical or commercial favourite they nevertheless struck a chord with new wave hungry audiences around the world and continue to this day. Over the course of four albums released from 1980 to 1984 we’ll examine where the Furs went right or wrong, the hits and the misses and where they fit into post-punk rock’s rich tapestry.   Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/1URDN9AS8HshmsPjjkGgeq?si=PhUlVpf4R7mCNU5Pbe0CxA

“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly”. Known Pleasures is back with a podcast of Bladerunner proportions - one hit wonders of the new wave era. Here we explore our favourite supernova tracks of the time and ask “where are they now? does that even qualify as new wave?” and “whose idea was this again?”   Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/6PUtCDlsvXsm7RzjFkQZ9A?si=8xqvq5ZYR8WPjeYnr_fvBw

You might… know of… INXS as sinuous rock-funk exponents from the late 80s and early 90s. You might… know how…. they came to rule the world with their infectious hook laden songs. But_ did_ you_ know_ that back home in their native Australia there were plenty who saw them as just another rock band who’d graduated from the macho, 60s-influenced pub rock scene that had produced the likes of AC/DC. Well, here at Known Pleasures that really gets our goat up. INXS were not an Aus Rock band. They were a new wave band and a really good one. Spotify Play List: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/2TPpHXX1YYLGsoh6YDwV2s?si=crAOCVu2T-iObgxvHziYFQ  

When Andy, Paul and Winston took to the stage at a club in Liverpool in 1978, the small crowd assembled didn’t quite know what to expect. Especially because Winston was a tape recorder. What they wouldn’t have anticipated was that, within three or four years, this peculiar band - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - would rattle off a string of hit singles and eccentric inventive albums, placing them firmly on the frontline of the electro-pop invasion of the early to mid-80s.   Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5N5hZGmo8v289gom799R2M?si=iKm_jpCQSyizFhdF3oD10Q

If 1978 can be regarded as Year Zero for post punk, then Magazine were already wide awake when day one dawned. From 78-81 they produced four challenging albums and set the tone for the next 30 years. Episode 28 of our Known Pleasures podcast examines what made Manchester’s Magazine one of the greats.   Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1SWGj9qxomqduRKvzssYLu?si=nqItmi_8QPWZIloTF9iMDQ

When the BBC website ran a poll on great disabled Britons, he came second only to Stephen Hawking. That’s how loved and admired was the geezer from Upminster. So how does his music stack up after all these years? Has our trawl through the Ian Dury back catalogue left us thinking what a waste, or was it as good as cheddar cheese and pickle, a Vincent motorsickle or slap and tickle? Spotify Playlist Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7uXGJG3bDGq4xcAP6qRsQz?si=rljXylSjQ16QnhptiPh8_w

In this special episode we discuss the New Wave Bandwagon Jumpers. Be it a post punk appropriation by genuine fans, a dabble in the New Wave by former wave makers or an opportunists opportunity to sell records. We went in hard and found our top ten recording artists who dared to try their hand at new music in the early eighties. Our bandwagons are in a circle. Let the gunfire commence.

If the Tears For Fears story ended after their first album we would gladly induct them into our own Post Punk Hall Of Fame, no hesitation. But in 1985, they went out to rule the world with well crafted, hook laden pop songs that America fell 'Head Over Heels' for and MTV heralded them as one of the bands at the forefront of the 2nd British Invasion. So, after that first album do Tears For Fears qualify as a New Wave band, and indeed does it really matter? Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/4OEEf5tBTEVZ6PNXKgHoyP?si=PPKXo9kxSbyejQjBCLBbag

It’s fairly safe to say there’s never been another Australian band, before or since, like The Birthday Party. While it would be unfair to blame these Boys Next Door entirely for the subsequent invention of Goth, they were most certainly grave-side when the body was being exhumed. We give you the lowdown on the wild ride of how St Nick got his start – and more. Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/0U30jUbhcAxsvjaK2mR5oT?si=lYYdxhwGSmqN47fdcHmTiw

When talk turns to legendary bass players of the punk and post punk era, one name always surfaces near the top: JJ Burnell of The Stranglers. We caught up with the Euroman himself ahead of their 2020 Australian tour.   People Are The Enemy Interview: http://peoplearetheenemy.libsyn.com/people-are-the-enemy-episode-104?fbclid=IwAR1rcBC-g_eUj8hGXlDBs12boxxl8jS3J5Fu8g3q5Hincs9yO2HG96lrol0  

At first glance, The Cars might seem an unlikely choice for a post-punk dissection, but they’re just as much a part of the US conversation as Blondie, Talking Heads and Devo. So, put the top down, your pedal to the metal and take a spin with The Cars. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20wz3mYLp8xwxhV0pEpOQX?si=9I4-Nfb_QaKI-81mVYkbxg  

Ever wondered what the best 5 albums of the post-punk era were, as defined by three self-appointed experts? Well, wonder no more as we’ve got you covered.

Gang of Four were at the forefront of post punk and no one did more to influence the sound of post punk guitar in particular, than Andy Gill. We spoke with Andy before he toured Australia in 2020 in one of his last recorded interviews.

When their single Vienna reached #2 in the UK charts in February 1981 Ultravox became popstars overnight, but overnight had been a long time coming. In the 7 years since their formation, shedding a lead singer on their travels, they’d evolved from New York Dolls and Velvet Underground wannabes to become standard bearers for innovative, sometimes epic electronic pop. They were never the darlings of the music press but has the passage of time been kind to Ultravox  and where do they stand now in the world of post-punk ROckwrok?   Spotify Playlist link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6PU75VpIehjRO896922Uhh?si=5b_rJJ6QQnS_-XpQzOs_Gw  

I had no idea what a mod was. I didn’t know about Lambretta scooters, Chelsea boots or cashmere jumpers. So when I first laid eyes on The Jam I was confused. Where is the spikey hair, the ripped t-shirts, the bondage trousers and the safety pins? Who was this well-dressed trio in Union Jacks playing music like The Who on speed? In this podcast we discuss their six studio albums from when they were Absolute Beginners all the way to their final parting ‘Gift’ to the world. Seeing the Jam say farewell was easily the Bitterest Pill I’ve Ever Had To Swallow. Spotify Playlist Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1uLLtYSs31jEN5NljbpaCt?si=vmPRlDJyRRmqnBwJXNjMIw

Were The Stranglers an ageing punk band who Got A Grip On Themselves before turning Golden Brown, or just a bunch of brass-necked bovver boys with a yen for karating their way into trouble? Are they punk, post punk or are they just…The Stranglers? Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1230971434/playlist/6KIehdHVAKygkExz42zRgQ?si=dJcn7vn2SOmsnshYIADeqA