Carole Tyrrell's Reviews > Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics

Sweet Dreams

Razor Blades! Safety Pins!
Big Hair! Big Shoulderpads!
There you go. The 1970’s and the 1980’s summed up in 8 words.
Or are they? There’s much more to these decades than clichés and ‘Sweet Dreams’ aims to tell the whole story. 1975-1985 was an amazingly creative period in Britain and the book shows how an ambitious band of talented, creative people took the world by storm.
The 1970’s was a grey decade with inflation at 20% and in 1979 it culminated in The Winter of Discontent. The dead couldn’t be buried, rubbish piled up in the streets and Mrs Thatcher swept to power. As the author says ‘London was very bland and conservative and locked down’. But it was about to change.
The Chameleon and the Lounge Lizard, or Bowie and Bryan Ferry, had created a loyal group of fans who liked to dress exactly like them. This dedication resulted in the NME reviewing the audience at one gig instead of the band. Some of these would become the insiders, the inner circle of what would be known as the Blitz Kids or New Romantics. They would create the music, the styles, the style bibles and above all the climate in which almost anything could be achieved with ambition and a friend’s help. After all, without help from his friends how would Bob Geldof have created ‘Do They Know its Christmas?’ and Live Aid?
It was a time of little money, of succeeding on a wing and a prayer, of second hand clothes (who remembers the joy of rummaging through Flip on a Saturday afternoon?) and above all, remembering that ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’ as the lyrics of Prince Charming stated. One interviewee said that ‘ it was self-expression through adversity.’ It was a tight little circle who operated a strict door policy at their clubs.
As the ‘80’s took off everything was suddenly in colour. Music was the driving force supported by the music press of the time and the new ‘style bibles’. ID, Smash Hits and the traditional ‘inkies’ such as NME. However, The Face and Blitz were the big ones crammed with good writers and photographers and startling layouts. But the style police were no less stringent with their staff as one Blitz insider said ‘….if you wore an unnecessarily jaunty hat then you would be laughed at for weeks, sometimes longer.’
So many classic acts came from this period: Wham! Duran Duran, Soft Cell and Depeche Mode (sometimes referred to as Casiotone Cure) cutting edge with The Eurythmics and John Foxx, OMD and the Human League as well as one hit wonders such as Roman Holiday and Joboxers. They conquered the US charts again. Pop videos were an event and often more memorable than the song. This was mercilessly lampooned in the ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ sketch ‘Nice Video, Shame About the Song.’ As the ‘80’s music scene took off Phil Oakey said ‘We laughed at the other bands learning 3 chords, we used one finger’ as the synthesiser dominated.
The tribal aspect of the decade cannot be underestimated as the author says ‘shoe gazing had a different purpose as you lived and died on the choices you made knee down.’ Antony Price suits were an obligatory item in certain pop groups wardrobe and his shop, Plaza, in the Kings Road was a minimalist magnet. The Face seemed to have a new cult every month; Hard Times, The Dirtbox, the Zoot Suit revival, Casuals, Buffalo. But there were some that were still around such as Teddy Boys and skinheads who beat up punks and New Romantics with impunity. However the last time I saw a Teddy Boy was sometime in the Noughties. He was a lone middle aged man decked out in the full uniform ambling along in my local Tesco. Everyone was staring at him as they had no idea of who he represented. The New Romantics had their revenge. It was often nasty as one interviewer was told ‘if you’re not going to dress like a woman we’re not going to treat you like a woman.’
However there was a downside to the decade. The results of some of Mrs Thatcher’s policies are mentioned; the riots and the bitter Miners Strike. In 1985 I visited Bradford and everything we saw on the way seemed to be either closed or closing down. Bradford it looked like a wasteland. There was a pub in the middle of it where, as we later discovered, the Yorkshire Ripper had found one of his victims. My companion suggested that we go in and enquire about places to stay. I demurred and we moved on. Never had The Specials 1981 ‘Ghost Town’ seemed so prophetic.
Sweet Dreams is compiled from over 400 interviews including Bowie and Ferry which include the main movers and shakers, how the scene came together, its do or die creativity and how it fell apart when the dressing up box was finally donated to charity. It’s a big book at 600 pages and I really enjoyed reading it. If you want to know about this fascinating and influential period then this is the book for you. Although some of the major players have crashed and burned, others have gone onto to have successful careers to the present day. The author, Dylan Jones, considers that there may never be another period like it and he may be right. It was a combination of many things that came together at once: ambition, talent, music, the music press, style magazines and determination. Just before I started reading Sweet Dreams there was a 2 page spread in a newspaper announcing the 2021 tours of some of the ‘80’s biggest names. OMD, The Human League, Marc Almond and Howard Jones amongst others. As Mark Ellen says ‘everyone from the early 80’s who had a hit is still touring. It shows how big the ’80’s record market was and how many people are still attached to it.’
I like to think that the decade’s spirit lives on in everyone who has a sidehustle, a little artisan business, or is knocking up a hit record or performing on Youtube. y. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is more than just a trip down Memory Lane. It’s a document of an exciting, fertile time. Recommended.
My thanks to Faber and Netgalley for providing me with an advance preview copy of this book.