These Are My Salad Days: Spandau Ballet On YouTube

Posted in Music, Retrovirus, Video |

“No, the set for ‘Union Of The Snake’ is that way.”

“Communication”
Yes! The classic 80s video featuring “acting!” In this case, Tony Hadley is some kind of James Bond character, only armed with a 35 mm camera instead of a gun. And like Bond, he is also betrayed by a woman, one who looks startlingly similar to Susan Ann Sulley from The Human League.

“True”
In the interest of full disclosure, I need to confess to my avid worship of GQ magazine in the early-to-mid-80s. When this video came out, I could not imagine a group of classier, more fashionably dressed guys than Spandau Ballet. And Tony Hadley’s suave crooning was just the icing on the cake. At the time, I thought the band’s coatdresses were the pinnacle of men’s fashion. Now, I am mortally humiliated that I ever thought that. I sort of resent this song for being so popular, especially at school dances and weddings, because any appeal it had for me has practically shriveled up completely.

“Gold”
More coatdresses show up here, along with paisley scarves, nods to Goldfinger, Pepe Le Moko, and. . . colonialism? I also love this song without shame. And I think Steve Norman is wearing spats.

“Only When You Leave”
For as good as this song is, the video is pretty boring, save for lots of leather, shoulder pads, and the apparently inseparable Kemp brothers. Did they have their own sibling language as children?

The Kemp brothers wish they could
forget that one night in Bangkok.

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