After The Noise
Everything Is Equal
Sunday 08 February 2026
Lonnie Gordon – Happening All Over Again (1990)
I’m on the night shift, and here I am watching a Stock Aitken & Waterman at the BBC programme. This song comes on and it takes me straight back.
I loved this when it first came out. Proper pop single. And I had no idea at the time it was a Stock Aitken & Waterman production. They were much maligned back then, but they absolutely nailed that sound. Motown for the late 80s and early 90s.
It brings back memories of early 1990, working in a factory. Ciba-Geigy. Different life entirely.
I love these At the BBC shows. Just a gentle, nostalgic trip down memory lane. Nothing wrong with that at all.
I’m sitting at work now. “Work”, in inverted commas. It’s quiet. I’m barely doing anything. Drinking herbal tea, watching music on the telly. It’s been a difficult week or so, and this suddenly feels like the right thing to do.
A listening log entry from a quiet night shift.
That hits the spot.
Samantha Fox – Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now (1987)
Toe-tapping little ditty from the former Page Three model who had her pop moment in the late 80s. I don’t just remember her for Page Three, though. I remember that chaotic Brit Awards in 1989, co-hosting with Mick Fleetwood. Classic television. Everything that could go wrong did.
There was a time when people said 80s music sounded dated. I used to agree with that. Now I don’t hear it like that at all. Funny how that changes.
There’s a lot of energy in these records. Stock Aitken and Waterman churned them out at an incredible rate. We used to call them “Stuffed Apricot and Watermelon” when we were kids. Jolly japes.
Watching this on Top of the Pops now. She’s holding the mic out to the audience, even though it’s clearly mimed. Ripped jeans, big smiles, pure pop theatre.
I’m sitting here in the middle of the night, tapping my feet. Back when this came out, I was eighteen and probably grumbling. “It’s not The Smiths. It’s not New Order.” But the truth is, I’ve always loved pop music. Always will.
And Stock Aitken and Waterman did some fantastic stuff.
Not a bad way to get through a night shift. Herbal tea and unapologetic pop.
Cliff Richard – I Just Don’t Have the Heart (1989)
Cliff got the Stock Aitken and Waterman treatment as well. Must have been pushing fifty at the time. Still looked about twenty, mind you. He always did.
I love this song. There he is on the screen, surrounded by young dancers, just getting on with it. No self-consciousness. No apology. Just Cliff doing what Cliff does.
He didn’t have loads of hits in the 80s, so what did he do? Picked up the SAW phone, like everyone else. Donna Summer did the same. Suddenly he’s back in the Top 10. Number three. His fifty-seventh UK Top 10 single. Not bad going at all.
This performance is from a show I barely remember: Saturday Matters. Mind you, I was living the dream washing dishes in a Bavarian hotel when this came out.
Debbie Harry, Judas Priest, The Three Degrees, Gloria Gaynor — all worked with SAW at some point. So did two of my absolute faves: Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Dead or Alive.
My toes are tapping again. I thought tonight’s shift would drag, but herbal tea and Stock Aitken and Waterman have sorted that out nicely.
There’s something brilliant about seeing a man pushing fifty, dancing around and not caring. Back then, you were supposed to be finished at forty. Properly finished. Acts like Cliff, and the Stones, quietly changed that. Made it acceptable to keep going. To still move, still perform, still enjoy it.
A sterling effort.
Bananarama – Venus (1986)
Another act who clearly rang the Stock Aitken and Waterman hotline when the hits started to dry up in the mid-80s. Instant results.
I always liked a bit of Bananarama. Two of them still going now, but this is the original line-up. Siobhan’s on screen here, very much in full 80s pop mode. They all look like they’re enjoying themselves, which is half the point.
If you were a pop act in the 80s and things weren’t quite clicking, you phoned SAW. Suddenly you had a hit again. Simple as that.
I didn’t realise until recently just how big this was in America. Number one over there. Fair play to them. I’d always assumed they were mainly a British success.
Another small discovery from my own playlist digging: Young at Heart by The Bluebells was actually a Bananarama song first. I’d always thought it was the other way round. One of those little pop history reversals you stumble across years later.
Apparently even Andy Warhol was a fan. They clearly travelled further than I ever gave them credit for.
Bright, simple, and doing exactly what pop should do.
Kylie Minogue & Rick Astley – I Should Be So Lucky / Never Gonna Give You Up (2018)
This is a genius final entry to this listening log. A brilliant way to end the programme.
We jump forward to Kylie at Hyde Park in 2018. Huge crowd. She starts with a very slowed-down version of I Should Be So Lucky, the way she performs it these days. Soft, reflective, almost like she’s reintroducing the song to herself.
Then it slips into Never Gonna Give You Up. You already know what’s coming. Rick Astley’s on the bill, so it’s only a matter of time before he walks on stage. And there he is. Perfectly timed. Big cheers. Proper moment.
It’s really well put together. Nostalgia, but not in a lazy way. The songs are older, but the performance feels current. Warm, generous, celebratory.
One of the strangest and best things I ever saw on the telly, was Rick Astley at Glastonbury with Blossoms, doing a full set of Smiths songs. Completely surreal, but it worked. They played Manchester afterwards and it sold out in seconds.
Kylie and Rick here just look like they’re having fun. No cynicism. No awkwardness. Just two pop survivors enjoying the moment.
I’m feeling oddly euphoric watching it.
Might even go and make another cup of herbal tea, whilst pretending biscuits do not exist.
End of Listening Log
The Listening Log 