"Cruel Summer" & Bananarama: How the New Wave Ronettes Dominated The 80s I New British Canon
As a sub-genre, girl groups have gifted us with so many moments of pop perfection. For the most part these were groups assembled by a producer for the purpose of creating chart hits with little musical input from the performers. But formed in 1981, Bananarama were different.
Spurred on by the DIY ethos of punk and the out-there fashion of the New Romantics, they hit the scene in Doc Martens, dungarees and bird-nest hair, self-possessed and spewing hits. A bevy of early covers would make way for some of the finest British pop of the 1980s - their calling card a scorching dog day confection infused with shambolic dance moves and the mother of all marimba lines. This is New British Canon and this is the Story of “Cruel Summer.”
#bananarama #80spop #musicdocumentary
Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.
Thanks also to Bananarama Fan Club and London Records for having archived a lot of this footage
00:00 Introduction
01:20 Keren Woodward, Sarah Dallin & Siobhan Fahey
04:45 The Early Singles of Bananarama
11:54 "Cruel Summer" & Being Taken Seriously
20:05 Stock Aitken Waterman, "Venus" & Their Legacy
Bibliography
Really Saying Something: Sara & Keren - Our Bananarama Story by Sara Dallin & Keren Woodward, 2020, Hutchinson London
Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones, 2020, Faber
Young Guns Go For It: Bananarama (1999) dir. Kate Meynell
Smash! - The Bananarama Story (2002) dir. Roz Edwards
"Fun Boy Three & Bananarama" by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, Jan 1982
"Meet Bananarama - Three Fun Girls With A-Peel" by Toby Goldstein, Creem, Dec 1982
"Bananarama: Q&A" by Neil Tennant, Smash Hits, Jun 1983
"Bananarama: We All Broke Down And Cried" by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, Mar 1984
"Bananarama: Mean Streaks and True Confessions" by Susan Williams, NME, Apr 1984
"A few home truths about Bananarama" by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, Aug 1985
"Bananarama: These Charming Girls" by Iman Lababedi, Creem, Dec 1986
"Who the hell do BANANARAMA think they are?" by Tom Hibbert, Q Magazine, Sep 1988
"Bananarama: Girls Together Outrageously" by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, Jul 1990
"Bananarama: Sisters Undie The Skin" by Betty Page, NME, May 1991
"The Producers" by Richard Buskin, Recording Musician, Apr 1993
"What makes a great summer pop hit?" by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, Jul 2009
"'We're like teenagers again': Bananarama peel back the years" by Liz Jones, Daily Mail, Aug 2009
"Interview With Tony Swain" by Jez Wells, Journal on the Art of Record Production, Apr 2015
"‘People wet their knickers when they find out I was in Bananarama’: the 80s trio return" by Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian, Apr 2017
"'Did you enjoy being pregnant?' - Bananarama revisit old Smash Hits questions" by Mark Savage, BBC, Apr 2017
"We Heard A Rumour… - Bananarama Interview" by uncredited, Classic Pop, Aug 2017
"Bananarama: how we made Robert De Niro's Waiting" by Jack Watkins, The Guardian, Nov 2017
"‘She can’t wear heels, she’ll be taller than me’: why I left my girl band" by Malcolm Mackenzie, The Guardian, Jan 2019
"The Number Ones: Bananarama’s “Venus”" by Tom Breihan, Stereogum, Jan 2021
"Album By Album: Bananarama" by Mark Lindores, Classic Pop, Mar 2022
"Bananarama look back: ‘The dresses were fitted with chicken wire - and totally extraordinary’" by Harriet Gibsone, The Guardian, Jul 2022
"Bananarama on gay bars, LGBTQ+ fans and the 80s: ‘Cher booted us off stage’" by Patrick Kelleher, PinkNews, Jul 2022
Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine ( / luarbeats )
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Into ( / luarbeats )
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
You can also follow me here:
Twitter: / trashtheory
Facebook: / trashtheoryyt
Or support me on Patreon:
/ trashtheory
The great thing about Trash Theory is that, even if you don't care about the band... as long as you appreciate the Genre, you're going to learn info about everything in that genre that lead up to the band that broke through... and probably what came after.
That’s so true. There were a few videos that I was like “ I don’t care about watching this” and instantly regretted that thought cause I learned so much information.
I feel the same way
So true! Even for genres i dont evem care about I have a great time listening to these videos
THIS! I could never quite put my finger on it. Despite believing I knew a great deal about the history of many artists featured here, without exception, I have learned something new from each video. This truly is a unique and hugely important music channel.
Great music channel
They always reminded me of the cool girls I was at school with at the time. Not the girls who thought they were cool and tried too hard, the girls who didn't give AF, but were also nice to hang around with and had a laugh but were always popular with just about everyone. I don't know why Karen thought she looked terrible in the Band Aid, I thought she looked fantastic.
I couldn't see the coffee or cigarette, what was she talking about?
@@audreymuzingo933On one shot, you could see the cigarette smoke in this video, so I'm sure it was there if you watch the original.
Way better than the 'Holler Rock' that was going around.
Mention was made of Bananarama being taken seriously. Actually, the reason I like them is because they DON'T seem to take themselves too seriously! They portray themselves as just regular girls having a bit of fun. I particularly like the way they know their own minds and stand up for what they want.
that is A LOT of make up and hair product for three people not trying to take themselves serious though
@@blueboy4244 It was the 1980s though and the 1980s was all about excess and decadence in fashion.
"I particularly like the way they know their own minds and stand up for what they want." Which is why they became part of the soulless factory-produced pop of Stock, Aiken and Waterman where their image and music was carefully controlled by a group of mulit-millionaire business men.
@@archvaldor The thing here though, Arch, is that at the time, those gentlemen were big news and everything they touched turned to gold, if not platinum. Maybe they thought they could share the fun, after all they revived the career of Donna Summer. Although I take your point and personally wouldn't have signed with them had I been a recording artist.
Was anything ever made besides mention? :D
Jennifer Saunders described them as the hardest drinking girls she’d ever met and were something of an influence on Eddie and Patsy’s character, but we’re never quite able to match their ability😁
And it didn't hurt their looks
Interesting.
@@drunvert keep dancin' and sweat it out
I heard that too. I think one was married to Dave Stewart too.
Let's not forget the super funny parody by French and Saunders - La Na Na Nee Nee Noo Noo :D
"Cruel Summer" holds a special place in my mind and heart because of its hooks and its association with the Karate Kid flick which I saw in the cinema as a kid. The 80's had that special something.
It's one of those songs that instantly brings back memories (hopefully good) of another time.
My favourite song of theirs ❤ reminds me of summer 1983 .
The 80s kinda did, it was magical, as a kid, to see the films and hear the music. As an adult you realise it was all fake, schmaltz, and fuelled by vast quantities of cocaine. Chintzy emotionally manipulative films and music made with exactly which buttons to press in mind. Not all of it, of course, but the really successful stuff, mostly. But there was still plenty of decent indie culture you can look back on and appreciate now. The 'Nanas were somewhere in the middle.
Yes!
Cruel Summer fit perfectly in the soccer (football) scene in The Karate Kid.
For three girls who had no musical background, training, etc...they sure made the most of what they had. What set them apart from other "girl groups" was their singing style. The vocals were a unison harmony(i cant think of any other group that had that unique unison vocal style). No lead singer. They surpassed Fun Boy Three and The Professionals in success who helped them start in the biz. They are still releasing albums today where other girl groups have long called it a day! The clip on Pete Waterman commenting that they "didn't want any of that Stock Aitken Waterman on their record" was the girls telling them we dont want you moulding us to sound like everyone else you have produced(the kylie's, the Jason's, the Rick Astley's). Strangest thing is that I loved the whole WOW album period of their career.
Not really sure you can say they surpassed Fun Boy Three since Terry Hall broke the group up at the height of their popularity. Loved bananarama though especially cruel summer and love in the first degree.
Uhh, they can't sing. It took 3 voices and studio help to concoct a voice. Get a life.
I always loved Bananarama's covers of "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" & "Venus" and their song "Cruel Summer" ... Also Shakespear's Sister is soooooo underrated here in the states. I love "Stay" but also their song "Hello (Turn the Radio On)"
"Hello" is the best Shakespears Sister song in my opinion, and probably also Fahey's opinion since she had lead vocals on that one.
Totally right!
Bananarama,a great band
I.Dont Care by SS is also a great song
Shakespeare's Sister are another band that had decent "indie cred" (they were huge Smiths fans and named their band after a Smiths song, with Marrs approval - although not Morrisseys, as he'd taken the phrase Shakespeare's Sister from a Virginia Woolf essay about how an equally talented sister of Shakespeare would be forgotten, and Morrissey felt like they were stealing that sentiment from him, for some weird reason, and that people might come along later and think the song was named after the band) that was forgotten when they started hitting it big. It seems to happen a lot with girl groups - Bananarama, Shakespeare's Sister, The GoGos, etc. There's probably an essay in that.
was so influenced by their fashion in the 1980's. them and sade. two entirely different looks. but both equally powerful.
The BRITs performance of “Love In The First Degree” is still a very iconic one.
Fair play - I just had them down as a bunch of pop chancers but you make a compelling case for them to be taken a little more seriously in the pantheon of british pop.
My thought exactly.
I knew there was a bit more to them because of the people who they were connected to - I knew they'd known Ari Up and Poly Styrene, and that they had some vague connections to Mick Jones. So I knew they'd had some substance at some point. But I didn't realise it was this extensive tbh. They're basically a British equivalent of The Go-Go's story - an all girl punk/alternative band who somehow ended up sugary pop chancers. Although the Gogos were more hardcore than banarama were.
"Robert De Niro's waiting, talking Italian" is easily one of the best lyrics ever written. 😅 I was born in 82 and grew up to Banarama and the likes on the radio. I absolutely love some of their songs, but I never realized how cool they were and probably still are. Thanks for the documentary!
I remember when that came out I had no clue who De Niro was!
@@aclark903 Yes, it's a very educational song! 😉I don't remember much from the time. But given that I was two years old, chances are it was my first De Niro encounter, too.
It's impressive how they're still performing and make new songs at the present.
Siobhan needs to rejoin the ladies
@@007ndc She's rejoined and left at least twice. Last I heard she'd kissed and made up with Marcella Detroit and reformed Shakespeare's Sister.
@@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs. And even released a great EP with her titled Ride Again
Cruel Summer just feels epic...at the end of it you feel like you watched a 3 hour movie, not listened to a 3 minute song.....
The greatest thing about banarama is that they are all very determined, highly intelligent, strong women who would stand toe to toe against any record exec or rep. They had their own direction, made their own choices, even if it didn't make sense to outsiders. Which is why they stood out to begin with and continue to do so now. In a way their attitudes towards life, work, and everything lead the foundations for gen z women today, and you can't do much better than that out of a music career
Loved Cruel Summer when I was a kid and I still do now. They really made some classics.
I knew Siobhan for 30 years, we were good friends and she used to drive over to see me between her work. Sadly we seemed to fall out around 2012 and not spoke to her since. She’s an incredible artist. I still miss your bacon sandwiches and coffee cake!!
“Cruel Summer” has a pretty sweet b-side called “Cruel Dub” that’s surprisingly great
As a DJ in the early 90's i came across a 12" record of only your love which had an absolute killer piano mix on it which i used at the high point of my sets for the whole of summer 1990. What a belter and what a pioneering band they were too.
They're deffo still iconic in the UK, where I am. Love their ethos of knowing what they want before going to the studio. No one takes the Mickey.
That's kinda what I thought when I read the title. They were 2 hit wonder during one summer in the US, and those barely broke top 40, and if it wasn't for heavy rotation on MTV, they wouldn't have even gotten that.
Got to party with them at Rock Island in Denver and a bit of time on the bus too. Great fun and timeless memory for me!
22:46 His frustration with the fact that they didn't want the word "love" in their song perfectly underscores what was (is) so wrong with the mainstream music industry. Any little thing that breaks the formula and he's have a conniption fit.
There is a reason they (Stock, Aitken, Waterman) were called "The Hit Factory", with emphasis on *factory*. They had an assembly line approach and they were tooled up to do one thing, one way. Like Henry Ford saying "you can have any color as long as it is black", SAW songs could be about anything as long as it was "love". Having done a bit of songwriting myself, that interview clip just plain *hurts* to watch. I look forward to being challenged, to doing different things, and trying new things with every project. I'd get so bored if it was the same thing every time. Clearly, and sadly, that isn't Waterman's philosophy.
@@dyacktman More like the Shit Factory!.... I'll see myself out....
@@dyacktmanWell grandpa Wankerman of Warrington was uneducated and didn't know much about music writing, he was more a blagger. Its pathetic how he was recently asked how proud he felt by a Kylie box set, a white haired dodderimg old codger who had next to nowt to do with its creation. That's like someone asking me if I felt proud that the coffee company I work at sold a load of machines in a different market. Yeah, that was completely by me, sure granddad, sure
@@dyacktman Yet the KLF were positively inspired with SAW's song writing philosophy.
I think his comment was a touch ironic but as above they knew how to make hits fast and there just wasn't pop songs that were not about love. PWL did a surprising amount of credible remixes and productions, its worth looking some up as everyone just remembers them for Kylie, BR, Sonya etc which were shamelessly methodical in sound and arrangement etc and they filled the charts but they def did a lot of more underground club stuff. With hindsight I like Waterman and wish he'd been on tv more since Pop Idol as he's relatively real and credible. Instead we get Cheryl Cole
When you’re young, it all seem like a wonderfully magic, organic happenstance. Hence why finding a special band feels like gnostic knowledge and something to keep secret. As we get older, it’s so fascinating to see all the cultural, industrial, and personal forces that spawned these scenes.
emanating from within, touching and matching the zeitgeist
i smiled all the way through this video. Brought back such fond memories of them and their music growing up in Australia. Cruel Summer, Robert DeNiro and Shy Boy were my introduction to the Bananies and they have never left my music collection. I still play their tracks to this day and i'm 53
I always thought The Chantoozies were the Australian equivalent of Bananarama. Of course they had different influences and did things differently, but often their sound was fairly similar.
@@Dave_Sisson they had more members and a full band as well.
Hell yea! Same here!
Thank you for this video and for pointing out the influence Bananarama had on the Spice Girls, Madonna and Girls Aloud! The impact Bananarama had on pop music is so often overlooked and they are not acknowledged enough for what they achieved.
I remember hearing the song Venus as a kid growing up in New York and it still brings back memories 😊
the marimba and digital drum crash of cruel summer is so ageless. this song has been on my mix tapes/CDs, mp3s, and spotify playlists since its inception
Bananarama was fantastic because they didn't take themselves so seriously. Their cropped messy and spikey hair fit in with big and punky hair of 80s. They were part of the British invasion that rocked in 80s. I loved punk and nuwave. Cruel Summer is a classic.
You think you know everything about a band and your man connects them to an Arch Enemy track from 12 years ago. Absolute legend of a channel. Cheers.
Cruel Summer reminds me of early 80s night in college, that’s the first time I heard it. Growing up without MTV and bad radio reception I was mostly exposed to music through friends and family who had more money to buy music, could put video music shows into VHS, or had a lot of radio stations to choose from. A mix of geography and being lower middle class.
my first exposure to Bananarama was Shy Boy back in 82. my cousins would rent TOTP in VHS and i happened to saw the music TV of the song for the first time and they blew me away. hmm. i was 7 then. i think my first crush was all the girls in Bananarama. lol
I don't mean this as an insult, but if you didn't have money to buy music you were working class, and should have a sort of pride of being it.
@@ginemginem Class is genetic with a social component. A lower class person could win the lottery and still be lower class, no matter what they spent their fortune on. A wealthy aristocrat could lose every penny, but would remain upper class. From cradle to grave you have the same genetic class.
Venus was one of those songs I grew to loathe as it was everywhere in the 80s. However, with the passing of time, I'll gladly listen to it. One Bananarama song I liked that didn't get much airplay is Wild Life.
So glad to see this, they are such an underrated pop group and much better than the slick but formulaic SAW stuff suggests. The full album version of Hotline to Heaven is my favourite.
I used to think the chorus lyrics to "Rough Justice" included the line "Milions dying in the street" which sounds truly apocalyptic, and for such a catchy song...actually it's "Children starving in the street"
Aside from Cruel Summer, Rough Justice and Trick of the Night are my favs❤❤❤
i loved the fact that they were so unpretentious and fun. Robert de Niros Waiting is a favourite of mine.
If you want to follow the lineage of the "Shakespeare's Sister" reference all the way back see Virgina Woolfe's "A Room of One's Own."
Great job. It's amazing how when you play those super old first tracks, you can almost immediately identify those voices 'Hey, that sounds like Bananarama'. I will admit that it wasn't until maybe 15 years ago I was in the car and heard the 1969 version of 'Venus'. It sounded so crisp and fresh, I totally thought it was a remake of the Bananarama version, couldn't believe it was the original from 1969, hats off to them.
I’m pretty sure the early Ministry single All Day was an attempt to halfway rip off of Cruel Summer with the mention of the hot sun and marimba riff One of the reasons I think that song is so enduring is because it really can musically emulate the feel of rising heat with the synth arrangement. Even though it’s British, I kinda consider that song a example of an aesthetic I call “California Gothic” that can make sunshine seem ominous
This is a great documentary! Thx for taking me back to the 80s.😊
Ohhh… NOW it makes so much sense! Sitting in Melbourne as a young teen getting into the Cure, New Order, Siouxsie, Depeche Mode etc I always had Bananarama as my guilty pleasure. I always knew there was something very different about them but couldn’t put my finger on it. Great episode, thanks!
As a DJ in NY I broke Ai Mie Mwana in the college dance scene at its release, picking up the single at one of the several record shops in Greenwich Village that brought over imports, that song rocked and pounded, and kept the people on the floor when I first mixed it in. I kept it in my mix sets for years from day 1. People were coming asking me what that was that I just played. Those record shops were awesome, I was one of the first to break tracks like Blue Monday, Nowhere Girl in the NY area.. I know I was one the first to break Blue Monday because I walked into Bleeker Bobs the day they got it and it blew me away, I played it that night at a little gig at NYU and BOOM. Great times Great music.. Thank u Banarama, Cruel Summer is one of my all time favs.
I Heard a Rumour is still so good
I remember buying their first album and playing it over and over before they became a ‘hit’ here in the US. My roommate hadn’t heard of them, and wouldn’t listen to it. A year later, she had bought the album herself and was loving it. I reminded her that I knew of them way way before and how she ‘Pooh-poohed’ my taste in music earlier! Howard Jones was another case like this too! Loved Bananarama!!! In fact, it was through them that I learned about Fun Boy Three!
Thanks for the walk down Memory Lane...I lived in London up to 1983 and then moved on to LA. Bananarama's hair and fashion is exactly how I remember those days.
These women totally defined my 80s experience in being carefree, fun and fitting right into our 80s house party soundtrack. Great stuff, they had something special and unique, were super cute and just seemed like the coolest girls. Throw in some B-52s, Smiths, Missing Persons, Pretenders, X, Plasmatics and that was our feel of the early to mid 80s. I really miss this kind of pop music, it simply doesn't exist anymore, at at least not with the same ethos and feel.
I found myself smiling through this, and as someone who isn't known for smiling, that makes me sure I liked it. Favourite track? Most of what they've done!
So glad you made this video, and covered the subject well - Bananarama endured so much sexism (for 1 being women and 2 not being "professionals" - such a double bind) and have been misunderstood for far too long. I wonder as well if the "shambling" indie bands of the late 80s owe something to them as well.
I teach kids in elementary 1st and 2nd grade English, an I always play for them “it ain’t what you do is the way that you do it” when I explained to them the importance of self expression and imagination.
I had the pleasure of working in the same building as Bob Woodward in 1984 in Bristol which was Karen's Father. In the staff room during a tea break I asked him if its true his daughter is one of the singers in Bananarama. He proudly told me she is and spoke with great pride of his daughter. He was a lovely man. I always thought Karen was the best looking of the 3.
1884? Jesus. Are you a vampire?
@@SluttChops lol, typo error. I shall correct it now
I hope this isn't the only mention for 'Stay' in NBC. Such an interesting hit single, it's more than worth its own episode.
The synth bass line in Venus absolutely slaps. Interesting how they shopped around for the producer to get that sound. It really worked.
It Ain't What You Do & He Was Really Saying Something are both classics ! Hope 2023 isn't a cruel summer ! ☀️
Fun Boy Three ❤
such a nice video! As a longtime Bananarama fan I really appreciated it, because it contains anecdotes I knew nothing about! 🙂 My fave Bananarama track is not a single, it is featured in True Confessions and it is called Dance With A Stranger
"Cheers Then" is s classic but sadly noone else thinks so Their other non singles such as "Dance With A Stranger" and "In A Perfect World" are gems! 💠
Really Saying Something and the collaboration with the artists from 2Tone movement are joyful. Even when the girls have associated with Stock Aitken and Waterman they produced some really good pop gems (Robert de Niro), the Shocking Blue cover, etc. They are composers and play guitar, piano etc (Siobhan is a producer too). This makes difference. Of course, they were dragged into the pop bulshit that almost destroyed another gifted musicians like Pete Burns, the German band Propaganda, Art of Noise, OMD. I would say it's a side effect of the excessiveness of the 80s. Compared to these days pop music, all these "something cheesy", but talented artists are pure gold
@Ignatius1972, i know! Today's pop is the worst garbage, i've ever heard in my life!!!
@@brandonpage7087 that's what my dad said in 1977 😂
Awesome trip through the past and catchy, conscious hits of Bananarama. I recall most of these singles and how they resonated through radio and video, especially early MTV. Thanks for the deep dive.
Love Cruel Summer and their rendition of Venus!
That version of Venus is strange. Venus is referred to as both a woman and man in the vocals, if I'm hearing correctly...
@@youthofyesterdayrecordsVenus as a boy? Hmm.
Bananrama were fantastic!Great songs with great memories.Good times!
Love in the first degree is timeless!
The Banana girls put out a lot of good music that didn't get enough radio play, especially in America. One of my favorites was Really saying something. Love them
Happy memories of hearing this on the radio in the 80s
Keren - Since 1982... Nuff said...
This was so brilliant. Thank you for highlighting the originality, fun & influence of Bananarama. I'm off to paint my nail red & backcomb my hair 😄
Right behind you with my Caboodles of makeup and my hair crimper 😜
Glad they're still around doin their thang. Seems they managed to figure out how to do what they want in the industry for the most part. That's impressive by itself, the length of their tenure notwithstanding.
I love Bananarama, and this was fantastic as usual. Trash Theory really might be the best at telling great short stories about music. BTW Cheers Then was my favorite track by them and its sad that it's failure deterred them from releasing ballads. Trick of the Night changed that a bit.
Another brilliant critique and I could comment away like a proper whopper all day long with you about endless issues here but bottom line is you are gifting me a review of the finest days of my life and I can't thank you enough for giving me more validation to my audio company. Best wishes 🙏 🇬🇧 🎧
Wonderful documentary of my favourite group since I have been 7 years old. Now 44 I still enjoy their joyous tunes. Altough I thought I knew everything about the band's history there were some new things for me in your film. I loved the well cited musical references. Great job! Best regards from Germany!
To me, Cruel Summer is the summer anthem of all time. BTW, my favorite song from them was I Heard A Rumour.
So... what was the rumor?
I love the song Love Truth & Honesty.
Awesome video. They have had so many classic hits, I love them all... but Cruel Summer still tops the pile.
Loved this band and the great times I had while listening to their music =) Thanx for this video
I loved them giving Ace of Base a shoutout...they have a better version more true to their own style but even the one that's more true to the Bananarama original is good, too. Ace of Base is a surprisingly deep rabbit hole to go down if you want to make a video on that. Three siblings and their siblings and a friend manage to become one of Sweden's biggest bands ever and in less than ten years they seem to be an afterthought. Why? So many reasons I can't even begin stating here! 0_0
Ace of Base have a very weird backstory
i think ace of base's nazi history is probably why they're not spoken about anymore. good fucking riddance.
@@mj.l one member fell in with a group later found to have white supremacist ties. He credits music with leading him out of that dark place and has not been associated with the group since his teens or very early twenties at the latest. He and his then-girlfriend were in Thailand during the Boxing Day tsunami and stayed to provide humanitarian aid and assistance.
For your information, swedish biggest band is ABBA followed by Roxette.
Another great episode, thanks a lot. I grew up with Banarama thwy were for me part of the fabric of the 80's sound and I do think they stood alone, always resisting the mainstream, to their credit. So many of their songs take me back to better times, the 80's.
I was born in '86, but as a 90's kid i was exposed to 80's hits thanks to MTV and other music channels, so the Venus video was played regularly, i was amazed by the awesome tune and the beautiful girls, love it!!
Their shambolic attitude is what makes them so endearing.
The synths and drum machines in Venus are so 80s, I love it!
One of my favorite bands of the period!
They've had so many great songs, I couldn't pick just one! I really can't. I will say that first song I heard from them was "Really Sayin' Something", which was played pretty heavily on Mtv, along with "It Ain't What You Do". I have been a fan for such a long time and have every album. Thanks for this tribute to them!
Thank you for this one. Bananarama rule!
❤😂
... plus I had almost forgotten the wonderful Bluebells.
@@fugazi_ and Northern Town track et al, what a decade to be a teenager! #TheSmiths #TheCure #Echo_Bunnymen. 🏴🎧🇬🇧☘️🎤
I really liked bananarama. I went off them from Venus and SAW onwards but the earlier ramshackle approach was unique and never been repeated. After them it returned to business as usual, sex, glossy and very few characters.
I honestly genuinely love their cover of the reggae song “Cairo”, too
The 2 hits they had are an amazing timeless classics!
I don't know where you 're getting this "2 hits" from when they actually had 10 top-ten hits plus 15 more top-forty hits in the UK.
So you're a US Billboard chart stan, eh?
I don't know how you keep making these great videos, but i am very thankful. What a Joy to watch. Thanks
Brilliant video. I loved cruel summer when it was out. Your research is top notch.
Whenever I've heard an old favorite and wondered: "I wonder what that band was about?"... You always have the best answer 😎
Thanks for sharing. I remember reading about Bananarama around '83 here in the States and hoping they'd make it big here. I was glad when "Cruel Summer" was a hit the next year. By far, my favorite Bananarama song. And, yes, that's a classic marimba line. I like the guitar work during the break, too. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
Cruel Summer is perfection.
Sure is
It kinda is undeniable
I effing love bananarama and the blestenstion remix of it. What a jam! Im a big rock guy and Aussie hip hop but this song is something special
I loved them when I was a teenager. Had all their tapes.
Keren never looked dreadful. (As she said at the band aid session) My word those girls were hot. Still are.
I love your ‘80s content, especially New Wave! Thank you!
m8! Thank you for another banger! "Cruel Summer" is transcendent, and your retrospective makes me wish that Bananarama had transcended along with their song.
This is a fun retrospective! Bananarama helped shape the 80's music cool vibe energy. As an aside: "We Are the World" is a bit better than "Do They Know It's Christmas"
I grew up on their Stock Aitken Waterman era material and I still love Love in the First Degree. Most of their older material is unfamiliar to me, though their performance of Cruel Summer seems oddly familiar. Looks like I've more digging to do through their old discography!
Always had a real liking for Robert De Niro's Waiting.
I loved how cute they were without being overly sexual. I have put Cruel Summer on beach mixes since 2013.
80’s cuteness!
This song always warms me up in the best way.
Had to Google the word 'Tamla'. A Motown record label.
Yet another Rodney On The Roq song that becomes a national smash months later like Toni Basils Mickey or Nena's 99 luft balloons. To this day, Rodney Bingenheimer remains pops best tastemaker for the last 45 years🎉🎉❤❤🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
“Some of the finest British pop of the 80s”. Exactly!
I heard a rumour is a Very Underrated Pop Gem