The Durutti Column - in d, 1980

"It's a delicate, looping guitar composition with subtle reverb, evoking a sense of introspection. Interestingly, it's an alternate mix of another track on the album called "Sketch for Winter."

The Cure - play for today, 1980

"one of their most loved deeper cuts, ‘Play For Today’ a favourite for so many, the liquid, chiming guitar of Robert Smith as distinctive as his pleading vocals."

The Durutti Column - sketch for summer, 1980

"Sketch For Summer remains an otherworldly gem and Lips That Would Kiss still beguiles the listener."

Mike Oldfield - wonderful land cover, 1980

"English musician Mike Oldfield covered "Wonderful Land" on his 1980 Virgin Records album, QE2. Oldfield's version was also released as a single and as the B-side for his "Sheba" single; in some countries, "Wonderful Land" was the A-side. The Shadows later covered one of Oldfield's songs, "Moonlight Shadow"."

Demis Roussos - lost in love, 1980

"Asteroid 279226 Demisroussos, discovered by Russian amateur astronomer Timur Krjačko at the Zelenchukskaya Station in 2009, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 14 May 2014 (MPC 88407)."

America - survival, 1980

"essentially, the album picks up where Silent Letter left off, meaning that it's a set of pleasant soft pop, but it's slicker and slighter than its predecessor."

Bruce Springsteen - the river, 1980

"The 2012 biography Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin includes an interview with Springsteen's sister Ginny, in which she plainly states that the song is a precise description of her early life with her husband Mickey, to whom she is still married. In his 2016 autobiography Springsteen confirmed that he wrote the song as a tribute to his sister and his brother-in-law."

Fischer Z - so long, 1980

"While studying clinical psychology and working in psychiatric clinics, John Watts formed Fischer-Z with Stephen Skolnik in 1977. The first performances took place in English punk clubs and the first Fischer-Z album, Word Salad, was released in 1979 on United Artists Records, in parallel with The Buzzcocks and The Stranglers."

The Sound - night versus day, 1980

"Even in Simon Reynolds’ superlative study of the post-punk era that is Rip it Up and Start Again, The Sound are mentioned in passing just the once, and it’s only in reference to the wave of groups who emerged from the breakthrough success of Joy Division."

Genesis - heathaze, 1980

"the guy is a legitimate giant of music and in centuries to come will be talked of like the great western classical composers of history are in this era."

The Durutti Column - requiem for a father, 1980

"When you think of 80s Manchester you tend to imagine the dark post-punk synths of Joy Division and the proto-acid-rave music of the Happy Mondays. Not the instrumental etherealism of The Durutti Column. Largely the project of the composer, guitarist, synthesiser programmer and arranger Vini Reilly, The Durutti Column was one of the first acts signed to Tony Wilson’s Factory Records label in 1978. Recorded over a period of a week, their 1980 debut instrumental album The Return of The Durutti Column is probably the best place to start with their music. After the producer Martin Hannet spent two days doing nothing but creating noise tracks on the synthesiser whilst Vini sat pissed in a chair shouting at Martin and occasionally playing some notes on the guitar, the pair stumbled across the bird noises that form the first twenty seconds of The Return‘s opening track, Sketch for Summer. Probably the band’s most famous song, Sketch for Summer is a winding soundscape that combines Vini’s ambient jazz guitar arpeggios with Martin’s darker electronic synth beats. It’s ridiculously dreamy and the kind of song you want to preserve exclusively for long hazy days in the sun. It also only took two run-throughs and 5 minutes to produce, a monumental and, arguably crazy, feat. Later tracks on the LP liked Requiem for a Father and Conduct are chant-like and transcendental. Conduct in particular continually repeats the same cosmic refrain, slowly introducing an array of percussion instruments until gently petering out after five minutes."

The Durutti Column - sketch for summer live, 1980

"The Return of the Durutti Column is the debut studio album by English band The Durutti Column. It was released in January 1980, through record label Factory."

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - enola gay, 1980

"The lyric to the song reflects on the decision to use the bomb and asks the listener to consider whether the bombings were necessary ("It shouldn't ever have to end this way"). The phrase "Is mother proud of Little Boy today?", is an allusion to both the nickname of the uranium bomb and pilot Paul Tibbets naming the aircraft after his mother. The phrase, "It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been", refers to the time of detonation over Hiroshima at 8:15 am JST; as many timepieces were "frozen" by the effects of the blast, it becomes "the time that it's always been". It is identified as an "anti-war" track, although McCluskey stated he "wasn't really politically motivated to write the song", which was informed by a fascination with World War II bombers. He hoped it "conveyed an ambivalence about whether it was the right or the wrong thing to do."