1982

Beginnings

The musical Cats begins its 18 year run on Broadway.

The first compact discs appear in music stores in Japan.

The following bands formed in 1982:

A-ha

Alien Sex Fiend

American Music Club

Chumbawamba

Cinderella

Concrete Blonde

Corrosion Of Conformity

Dio

Everything But The Girl

Faith No More

James

Kajagoogoo

Painters and Dockers

The Pogues

Primal Scream

Pseudo Echo

Public Enemy

Sade

Sigue Sigue Sputnik

Skinny Puppy

The Smiths

Stryper

They Might Be Giants

TISM

Die Toten Hosen

W.A.S.P.

The Weather Girls

Wet Wet Wet

In 1982 the following debut albums were released:

Pelican West - Haircut One Hundred

Asia - Asia

Rhythm of Youth - Men Without Hats

Branigan - Laura Branigan

The Golden Age of Wireless - Thomas Dolby

Sonic Youth - Sonic Youth

A Flock of Seagulls - A Flock of Seagulls

Pictures at Eleven - Robert Plant

Billy Idol - Billy Idol

The Party's Over - Talk Talk

I Can't Stand Still - Don Henley

Upstairs at Eric's - Yazoo

Under the Blade - Twisted Sister

Janet Jackson - Janet Jackson

Lionel Richie - Lionel Richie

Friend or Foe - Adam Ant

Kissing to Be Clever - Culture Club

Word of Mouth - Toni Basil

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

Finally we make it to the Americas with this effervescent pop ditty from Wisconsin's own Violent Femmes. Discovered the year before busking outside a Pretenders concert they were asked by the band to open the show that night. The rest is, as they say, history. Gordon Gano managed to crystallise the sound of teenagerhood with his lyrics and vocal style. On a side note, bassist Brian Ritchie now owns and runs a tea shop in Hobart.

Middles

Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a live bat thrown at him during a performance in Des Moines, Iowa. He thought it was rubber.

In 1982 the following albums were released:

Picture This - Huey Lewis and the News

8th Wonder - The Sugarhill Gang

English Settlement - XTC

Beautiful Vision - Van Morrison

The Blue Mask - Lou Reed

Mechanix - UFO

Nick the Knife - Nick Lowe

Set - Thompson Twins

Hex Enduction Hour - The Fall

Five Miles Out - Mike Oldfield

Alligator Woman - Cameo

Success Hasn't Spoiled me Yet - Rick Springfield

The Blurred Crusade - The Church

The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden

Always on My Mind - Willie Nelson

The Anvil - Visage

Blackout - Scorpions

Diamond - Spandau Ballet

Walk Among Us - Misfits

Toto IV - Toto

Jump Up! - Elton John

American Fool - John Cougar

Diver Down - Van Halen

Iron Fist - Motorhead

Tug of War - Paul McCartney

Angst in My Pants - Sparks

Circus Animals - Cold Chisel

Time and Tide - Split Enz

White Eagle - Tangerine Dream

After the Snow - Modern English

Pornography - The Cure

Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch - Frank Zappa

Junkyard - The Birthday Party

Combat Rock - The Clash

Hot Space - Queen

Now and Forever - Air Supply

One on One - Cheap Trick

Private Audition - Heart

Sweets from a Stranger - Squeeze

Chicago 16 - Chicage

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Nothing to Fear - Oingo Boingo

Before I Forget- Jon Lord

Eye in the Sky - The Alan Parsons Project

Imperial bedroom - Elvis Costello and the Attractions

The Envoy - Warren Zevon

Jump To It - Aretha Franklin

Revelations - Killing Joke

Screaming for Vengeance - Judas Priest

Under the Big Black Sun - X

Vacation - The Go-Go's

Zipper Catches Skin - Alice Cooper

Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood & The Destroyers

Music for a New Society - John Cale

Rock in a Hard Place - Aerosmith

Too-Rye-Ay - Dexy's Midnight Runners

V Deep - The Boomtown Rats

Primitive Man - Icehouse

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel

The Dreaming - Kate Bush

New Gold Dream - Simple Minds

Love Over Gold - Dire Straits

The Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel

Forever Now - The Psychedelic Furs

A Broken Frame - Depeche Mode

Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen

The Adventures of Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash

I, Assassin - Gary Numan

Madness, Money & Music - Sheena Easton

UB44 - UB40

Zombie Birdhouse - Iggy Pop

H2O - Hall & Oates

The Rise & Fall - Madness

Quartet - Ultravox

1999 - Prince

Get Nervous - Pat Benatar

Midnight Love - Marvin Gaye

Shabooh Shoobah - INXS

The Sky's Gone Out - Bauhaus

Strawberries - The Damned

Wild Things Run Fast - Joni Mitchell

Hello, I Must Be Going! - Phil Colins

A Kiss in the Dreamhouse - Siouxsie and the Banshees

Gone Troppo - George Harrison

Living My Life - Grace Jones

Showtime! The J. Geils Band

Thriller - Michael Jackson

Identity Crisis - Sweet

It's Alright (I See Rainbows) - Yoko Ono

Killer on the Rampage - Eddy Grant

Oh, No! It's Devo - Devo

Plastic Surgery Disasters - Dead Kennedys

Saints & Sinners - Whitesnake

White Heat - Dusty Springfield


Always more popular with critics than they were with the record buying public, this single marked not only their highest chart success, but the last time they would bother the chart for roughly a decade.

Endings

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company gives its final performance at the Adelphi Theatre after more than 110 years.

Ronnie James Dio plays his final show with Black Sabbath.

The following acts disbanded in 1982:

ABBA

Adam and the Ants

Blondie

Captain Beefheart

The Doobie Brothers

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

The Jam

Japan

The Knack

The Only Ones

The Shirelles

The Slits

Squeeze

The Teardrop Explodes

The Who

The following artists died in 1982:

Tommy Tucker

Alex Harvey

Thelonius Monk

John Belushi

Randy Rhoads

Carl Orff

James Honeyman-Scott

Joe Tex

The following final albums were released in 1982:

The Gift - The Jam

Shoot Out The Lights - Richard and Linda Thompson

Avalon - Roxy Music

The Hunter - Blondie

It's Hard - The Who

Ice Cream for Crow - Captain Beefheart

Paul Weller is, quite rightly, well known in the British music press as The Modfather. This swan song from his starting act The Jam swings like a classic Stax soul number. Paul is still around and recording some of the best music of his long career.