Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Oceans Of Fantasy


Following on from a discussion about jumpsuit pop, kicked off by my recent Kelly Marie post, we got to talking recently. Offshoots include boiler suit pop (New Musik, The Buggles) but it all began with what Red Scharlach has christened Spacefunk.

Let's think back to the late-Seventies. Dee Dee Jackson was doing it with a robot with her highly irritating Automatic Lover. Eruption had a One Way Ticket and Boney M were on a Night Flight To Venus.

Ming the Merciless collars abounded. Silvery foil all-in-ones ruled. If you were lucky you might get an elaborate head dress. We're talking Amii Stewart, No Doubt About It period Hot Chocolate, Earth, Wind & Fire, possibly the Gibson Brothers, Lipps Inc, Donna Summer and just about every other disco-oriented group in the charts. It was fantasy, pomp, over-the-top showiness looking to a vision of the future we'll never see. It was sci-fi. It was fun. I'm sure Sly Stone started it.

I'll take your suggestions for more, so in the meantime, here's Amii with the classic floor filler Knock On Wood.

8 comments:

Kolley Kibber said...

You can't omit one-hit wonders 'Slick' (nothing to do with Midge Ure) and their sublime 'Space Bass'(1978)

"...freakin' upside down at the Space Bass, everyone in town's at the Space Bass..."

Mondo said...

I think you can go back a year to '77 for the blast off. I Feel Love, Space - Magic Fly, Jean Michel Jarre, The RAH band's The Crunch. A year later Hot Gossip and Cerrone's Supernature

Mondo said...

PS - It was probably Star Wars, that kicked it all off.

Jon Peake said...

I suppose we had already had the moon landings, but I don't really remember that informing much of the of the early Seventies. So perhaps you're right, Mondo.

Mondo said...

Moon Landings - they morphed ex-mods into silver-foiled, space rockers: Bowie, Roxy and Glam etc..

Jon Peake said...

Yes of course, Mondo, how could overlook THAT

Sky Clearbrook said...

Eruption's cover of I Can't Stand The Rain is a solid gold classic of the genre. As is the Gibson Brothers' Que Sera Mi Vida.

John Medd said...

The 70s would have been a good time to own shares in Bacofoil. All the disco merchants you've mentioned would order it wholesale, together with Marc Bolan, Gary Gli**er, Steve Priest, Dave Hill et al.

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