Sad to hear that Chris Cross, bass guitarist with 1980s synthesiser band Ultravox, has died.

In 1982 this was Ultravox’s third biggest hit up to that point.

Ultravox: Reap the Wild Wind

Christopher Thomas Allen (Chris Cross,) 14/7 1952 – 25 /3/2024. So it goes.

Just creeping into the 1980s this was the short-lived band’s first substantial hit.

Pity about the connotations of the band name they eventually chose.

Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart

This week Welsh musician, Karl Wallinger, also left us.

He wrote Don’t Bang the Drum for The Waterboys’ third LP This is the Sea before leaving to form the group World Party

I’ve featured their songs here and here.

His 1997 song, She’s the One, was later made a hit by Robbie Williams.

The Waterboys: Don’t Bang the Drum

World Party: Ship of Fools

Karl Edmond De Vere Wallinger: 19/10/1957 – 10/3/2024. So it goes.

One of Fife’s finest, Stuart Adamson, was the founding force behind the band Big Country.

He attended one of the schools I taught in Beath High School (but I think before my time there) and at least one his children was a pupil at the other, Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline.

Big Country’s skirling guitar sound was intended to invoke its members’ Scottish heritage as heard in this song. The clip seems to be a live version as performed on The Tube.

Big Country: In a Big Country

Prefab Sprout were never a great commercial success (even if they had nine top forty albums their biggest single hit only reached n0 7.) but were more appreciated critically.

Their previous single to that was this song, a UK no 44 in 1988.

Prefab Sprout: Cars and Girls

And now Shane McGowan has gone. I doubt he needs any introduction.

There is really only one song that I can use to illustrate his legacy. It is most people’s favourite “Christmas” song. It does not deal with traditional Christmas themes.

I note this is not the version with the “cleaned-up” lyric. (Though the person typing out the lyrics  did misspell a four letter word.)

The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl: Fairy Tale of New York

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan: 25/12/1957 – 30/11/2023. So it goes.

Marillion’s last “hit” of the 1980s this was a track from the first Fishless LP Season’s End.

“Hit” is in inverted commas since it only reached no 53.

It has an interesting referential lyric.

Marillion: The Uninvited Guest

From 1982, Joan Armatrading’s second (and last) top twenty hit in the UK – though it was a no. 1 in South Africa.

Joan Armatrading: Drop the Pilot

I saw on the internet that guitarist Bernie Marsden had died and yesterday read his obituary in the Guardian.

He had a varied career in numerous bands but is most remembered for being a member of Whitesnake when that band first appeared on the scene.

Heavy metal isn’t really my thing but this, Whitesnake’s first real UK hit and which Marsden co-wrote, is not by any means over the top.

Whitesnake: Fool For Your Loving

Bernard John Marsden: 7/5/1951 – 24/8/2023. So it goes.

One from the ever eclectic B A Roberston, this nevertheless always struck me as an odd subject for a pop song – especially one with a punk sensibility.

Intriguing certainly, though it doesn’t seem to have been a hit.

The clip is taken from The Kenny Everett Video Show.

B A Robertson: Saint Saens