And so, the 1980's started. The first number 1 record of the 80's in the UK was a hangover from Christmas '79. Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) stayed as the number 1 UK single from 15 December 1979 until Chrissie Hynd and her Pretenders knocked it off on 19 January 1980.

Setting the tone for the rest of the 80's, there were some brilliant number 1 records. Three tracks from Blondie, Atomic, Call Me and The Tide Is High spent their share of the year at the top. Also reaching the elusive holy grail were stand out tracks from David Bowie (Ashes To Ashes), Dexy's Midnight Runners (Geno) and two massive smashes from The Jam - the double A side Going Underground and Dreams Of Children along with Start!

Towards the end of the year, John Lennon scored the first of his three posthumous number 1 records with (Just Like) Starting Over before the novelty record to end all novelty records took the number 1 Christmas plaudits. I can't even bring myself to write the name of it...

Three Talking Heads singles from the 80's

If there ever was a missing link between the 60's and the 80's then Talking Heads could just be it. Born out of the late 70's post punk movement they moved on from the naked simplicity of the original punk movement to come up with some fantastical imagining. Starting in 1980 with:

Once in a Lifetime

Letting the days go by... perhaps I didn't get this when it was first released? This seminal 80's single was written by David Byrne and Brian Eno and is taken from Talking Heads 1980' album, Remain in Light it is reported that Byrne and Eno came up with the Lyrics after hearing a preacher heard on the car radio whilst driving through New York.

Road To Nowhere

Road To Nowhere was a single from Talking Heads 1985 album Little Creatures. It reached number 6 in the UK singles chart.

And She Was

Talking Heads - And She Was

And She Was is Talking Heads second single from 1985, again taken from Little Creatures. Writer David Byrne wrote the song about a girl taking LSD in a field close by a drinks factory in Baltimore Maryland where he spent part of his childhood. It reached number 17 in the UK singles chart.

I bought this as a 7" single on 7 March 1986 near the end of its run in the UK singles charts (via my usual supplier!)

Talking Heads are:

David Byrne, Chris Franz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth.

Question, Who won the FA Cup in 1980?

Answer, Sir Trevor Brooking, or just Trev as he was known then.  Easy.  Do you remember it?  I do, he stooped to conquer after only a few minutes, on the left hand goal as you watch on telly.  I think though that Arsenal had had just about enough of the FA Cup by this stage.

This was after all, their 3rd consecutive Final, having lost to Ipswich and Roger Osborne in 78, and having memorably defeated Man Utd in 1979 - you must remember Alan Sunderland's winning goal with seconds to spare, only seconds after Utd had pulled it back to 2-2...

And in this season's semi, Arsenal had taken 4 games to defeat Liverpool, finally running out 1-0 winners after the 3rd replay at Highfield Rd.  West Ham had needed just the one replay to see off Everton at Elland Rd.

Just briefly looking at the earlier rounds, we saw an almighty shock in the 3rd round when Leicester City, then of the 1st Division were beaten by Harlow Town.  There was another shock with Wigan beating Chelsea, also in the 3rd round.