“The Bristol and Bath Pop Explosion – The 80’s”-Various Artists

Released on Limited Edition Trans Pink Vinyl (300 copies) and Limited-Edition Numbered CD (100 copies) – 7th Feb 2025 via Bristol Archive Records

There has always been a broad picture in general of the scope of music that has come out of the Bristol and Bath areas at the west/southwest end of the M4 and M5. The boys (and girls) from the region have always made a right old variety of noise! It hasn’t always been accompanied by mainstream acceptance with the resulting sales. It may surprise observers that some of that heady creativity included the more commercial end of straight up pop music and the ‘take’ that could be put on it, with the hope that acclaim and more could follow. The ‘take’ could also take the genre into new dimensions. Did it lead anywhere, or have any merit? Were they, the acts, any good? Did they get any exposure and recognition? If not, why not?

This questioning prompted the long-time music industry creative and journalist, Dave Massey and Bristol Archive Records owner, Mike Darby, to go through their extensive archive of local music and see if there was an album that could be compiled of those pop acts tracks that could be regarded as ‘lost hits’. From their archive trawl Massey and Darby uncovered pop gold. Bristol Archive has done a similar exercise with ‘lost gems’ by reggae, punk, post-punk, mod, goth and rock acts from the west and released several well researched and beautifully presented themed vinyl ‘Explosion’ compilations. Now is the time for the pop acts.

All kinds of strategies were used by acts and their managers to promote themselves. Tracks were circulated on cassette tapes in order to solicit interest from an industry drowning in pop. Some went further and actually got as far as putting out independent releases. Gigs were done in ‘unusual’ venues. Videos were made in whatever surroundings would work. These acts have stories of ‘got so close’ and ‘what might have been’. Many of the acts were seen live, reviewed and interviewed for the weekly music press by Massey and other local journalists, featured on local, and in some instances national radio, and some made it on to local and national TV. Utilising the industry contacts Massey had built up through his writing he even ended up managing a couple of them for differing periods of time.

It would see an end product for some of the musicians down the line. Several of those in or contributing to a given acts’ recordings had gone on to work or have links with major mainstream icons such as Queen, Bros, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Lisa Stansfield and Simply Red, or influential and acclaimed successful acts such as Goldfrapp, Portishead and PJ Harvey. Many of the creators of these great tunes were involved as writers, producers or session players, or new career directions led to them running their own prosperous businesses, and even down to one of their number chairing and running a local Championship level football club!

Dig a little deeper into the western region’s musical history and the acts from the area weren’t alone in ploughing a furrow into the field marked ‘80’s Pop’. It was no wonder. The ground in that decade was fertile for sowing the seeds of possible pop perennials. Even down the road in and near Bath, they had plenty of music emigres who settled there and in the West Country having seen major league national and international success. The likes of Peter Gabriel, Midge Ure and even Stranglers front-man Hugh Cornwall made their homes and mark in the area.

But the most prominent of the acts to have been born, raised and emerged from, and later lived more opulently in or near the city of Bath itself, were Tears for Fears in the 1980’s. It begged the question for Massey and Darby in their initial considerations that if Tears for Fears could ‘make it’ big, did any other pop-orientated acts from the region come through, and if so what happened to them?

Dave Massey was right in the thick of it when this West Country pop was being made in the 1980’s. He was covering this and the many genres of music in his capacity as a Bristol and West country regional correspondent. As the decade progressed, somewhat uniquely, he did so for each of the weekly music papers in turn – firstly the NME, then Sounds, followed by Melody Maker. These papers all had massive readership and circulations at the time.

In the end the 18 tracks on the CD and 11 on the vinyl editions of the compilation do the ‘talking’. They are worthy contenders to be heard on day-time radio, in a top line club, blasting out of a TV screen or from in a car with the windows wound down on a sunny summer’s day, and just listened to by any pop fan through whatever means they choose to enjoy their music.

It’s a treasure trove of glorious commercial, but savvy and sexy pop music. Get into the groove of this wonderful west of England sonic pleasure feast! “The Bristol and Bath Pop Explosion – The 80’s” is released by Bristol Archive Records on Limited Edition Trans Pink Vinyl (300 copies) and Limited-Edition Numbered CD (100 copies) on 7th Feb 2025, distributed by Shellshock and available from good retailers worldwide.

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