On This Day 05/10/1980 Joe Jackson

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On this day, 5 October 1980, singer/songwriter Joe Jackson played Cardiff’s Top Rank on the opening date of his Beat Crazy tour.

Beat Crazy was Joe Jackson’s third studio album released on the 10th October . It was a relative disappointment commercially, peaking outside the Top 40 in both the UK and the United States, with its singles failing to chart.

Nevertheless, the Joe Jackson Band was successful and toured extensively. This would be the last studio album released by the Joe Jackson Band's original line-up until 2003's Volume 4.

Beat Crazy was intended to be a stylistic departure from Jackson's first two albums. However, as he recalled, the band lacked a clear direction during the recording. Jackson later stated that he felt the record "didn't really work". He explained,

“The stereotypical difficult third album, in which we tried to change the formula a bit without quite knowing how. It's darker than the first two and the reggae influence is more pronounced. There's some good stuff on it (I especially like the title track and 'Biology') but it’s not quite the triumphant swan song of this band.”

Line-up:

Joe Jackson (voc, p, organ)

Graham Maby (b, voc)

Gary Sanford (g, voc)

Dave Houghton (dr, voc)

Setlist

One To One

I'm The Man

Biology

Beat Crazy

Look Sharp!

Mad At You

Pretty Boys

On Your Radio

The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff cover)

Friday

Fit

Is She Really Going Out With Him?

Don't Wanna Be Like That

Got The Time

One More Time

It's Different For Girls

On This Day 04/10/1994 Orbital

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On this day, 4 October 1994, electronic music duo Orbital played Cardiff University.

Orbital won an NME award for Vibes Best Dance Act early in 1994, but it was their headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival on 25 June 1994 that brought them most attention. Q magazine classed it as one of the top 50 gigs of all time, and in 2002 included Orbital in their list of "50 Bands to See Before You Die".

Crucially, the expanded TV coverage of the 1994 Glastonbury Festival by Channel 4 meant that Orbital's set reached a huge audience, in what is regarded as a pivotal moment. Speaking to The Guardian in 2013 about the gig, Paul Hartnoll commented: "I didn't know how much of an impact it would have. Being young myself, I just thought, 'It's about time – of course we should have acid house at Glastonbury'. It used to annoy me. I just used to think it should be happening."

Orbital gave an improvisational element to live electronic music as the brothers mixed and sequenced their tracks on the fly, wearing their trademark head-mounted torches behind banks of equipment. Orbital were one of the few electronic acts invited to play at Woodstock '94.

The third album, Snivilisation, was released in August 1994. Alison Goldfrapp provided vocals on a couple of the tracks, including the single "Are We Here?". This track also included a sample from "Man at C&A" by The Specials. Among the remixes of "Are We Here?" was "Criminal Justice Bill?" – four minutes of silence, a reference to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which was in part intended to clamp down on the rave scene which had given birth to Orbital. The other track with Goldfrapp vocals, "Sad But True", was remixed for the Times Fly EP, the band's only release in 1995.

Setlist

Forever

Sad But True

Kein Trink Wasser

Impact (The Earth Is Burning)

Remind

Walk Now/Walk About

Crash and Carry

Are We Here?

Halcyon + On + On (with Belinda Carlisle)

Attached

Belfast

On This Day 04/10/1996 H-Blockx

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On this day, 4 September 1996, German rock band H-Blockx played Cardiff University.

founded in Münster in 1991, the band rose to fame with their successful debut album, Time to Move, released in 1994 on Sing Sing Records, and produced by Ralph Quick and Chris Wagner.

The music videos for "Risin' High" and "Move" received considerable airplay on MTV. The band earned a nomination for "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the following MTV Europe Music Awards, however, the award went to Dog Eat Dog. With the help of the singles "Risin' High", "Move", and "Little Girl", their debut spent 62 weeks in the German album chart, selling over 750,000 copies worldwide, and earning the band their first gold album. Their first major tour followed.

In 1999, World Wrestling Federation contacted the band to record a song, "Oh Hell Yeah", for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. Although it was never used as his theme song, it became synonymous with Austin and was released on WWF The Music, Vol. 4. A reworked version of "Oh Hell Yeah" was featured on the 2002 WWE Anthology album The Attitude Era.

On This Day 02/10/1975 Melanie

On this day, 2 Oct 1975, American singer Melanie played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

Melanie is widely known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key"; her 1970 version of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday"; her composition "What Have They Done to My Song Ma"; and her 1970 international breakthrough hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", which was inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock music festival.

The No. 1 hit "Brand New Key" (often referred to as "The Roller Skate Song"). sold over three million copies worldwide and was featured in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights.

When first released, "Brand New Key" was banned by some radio stations because some inferred sexual innuendo in the lyrics. Melanie acknowledged the possibility of reading an unintended sexual innuendo in the song, stating:

“ Iwrote ['Brand New Key'] in about fifteen minutes one night. I thought it was cute; a kind of old thirties tune. I guess a key and a lock have always been Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that. There was no deep serious expression behind the song, but people read things into it. They made up incredible stories as to what the lyrics said and what the song meant. In some places, it was even banned from the radio ... My idea about songs is that once you write them, you have very little say in their life afterward ... People will take it any way they want to take it.”

Melanie had another top 40 hit single in 1973 with "Bitter Bad", a song that marked a slight departure from the hippie sentiments of her earlier hits, with lyrics such as "If you do me wrong I'll put your first and last name in my rock n' roll song". Melanie's other chart hits during this period were the self-penned "Together Alone" and a cover of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which reached No 37 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1974.

On This Day 01/10/1979 The Ruts

On this day, 1 October 1979, reggae-influenced punk band The Ruts, played Cardiff University.

The Ruts were formed on 18 August 1977. The band consisted of singer Malcolm Owen (vocals), Paul Fox (guitar), John "Segs" Jennings (bass) and Dave Ruffy (drums).

On 16 September 1977, the band made their live debut, playing three songs during a break in a set by Mr Softy (another Fox band) at The Target, a pub in Northolt, Middlesex. Ruffy moved from bass to drums after original drummer Paul Mattocks left, and the band was active in anti-racist causes as part of the Misty in Roots People Unite collective based in Southall, West London, playing several benefits for Rock Against Racism.

Although the band were often described as coming from Southall, Owen was from Hayes, Fox moved from Kilburn to Hayes in the 1960s, whilst Ruffy and Segs were based in South London. Ruffy had been born in York, but spent his formative years in the East End of London, whilst Segs grew up in Southend-on-Sea, having been born in the East End.

Their debut album The Crack was produced by Mick Glossop and released in September 1979, reaching number 16 in the UK Albums Chart. The two singles "Babylon's Burning" and "Something That I Said" were re-recorded for the album. Edited from the album, the band's third single for Virgin at the end of October 1979 was the roots reggae track "Jah War", about the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group's violence in Southall disturbances in April 1979. However, the BBC refused to play it, labelling the song as "too political".

On This Day 30/09/1995 Black Grape

On this day, 30 September 1995, rock band Black Grape played Cardiff University.

The band was formed in 1993 by former Happy Mondays members Shaun Ryder and Bez. It was Ryder's first musical project after the disintegration of Happy Mondays due both to his multiple drug addictions and to disagreements about revenues with other band members.

The formation of the new band was intended to draw a line between his past life and his new one. Ryder and Bez recruited rappers Paul "Kermit" Leveridge and Carl "Psycho" McCarthy, drummer Ged Lynch (like Leveridge, a former member of Ruthless Rap Assassins), and guitarist Wags (formerly of the Manchester-based group the Paris Angels) and Oli "Dirtycash" Dillon on ocarina. Recording of new material started that year, although the group was not under contract.

In 1995, Black Grape was signed by Radioactive Records (an imprint of major label BMG) and released its debut studio album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah. recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, the album debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, and spawned three top 20 singles. The album was certified platinum in the UK in April 1996.

The third single, "Kelly's Heroes" – a song lampooning society's obsession with celebrities and idols that had much to do with Ryder's own previous hero worship of people he now saw as wastrels – had its opening lyric changed before recording from "Don't talk to me about heroes – Most of these guys snort cocaine," to "Don't talk to me about heroes – most of these men sink like subs".

Another song on the album, "Temazi Party", mocked the then-current craze for abusing temazepam sleeping pills (a.k.a. 'jellies'), but was deliberately misspelt on the album sleeve as 'Tramazi' instead of 'Temazi' to forestall any legal injunction against the album's release.

On This Day 29/09/2010 Oceansize

On this day, 29 September 2010, rock band Oceansize played Cardiff’s Millennium Music Hall on their Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up Tour.

Formed in 1998 the band consisted of Mike Vennart (vocals, guitar), Steve Durose (guitar, backing vocals), Richard "Gambler" Ingram (guitar, keyboards), Mark Heron (drums) and Jon Ellis (bass guitar) for the majority of its career, with Steve Hodson replacing Ellis on bass guitar in 2006.

The band released four studio albums, in addition to a number of minor EPs and singles, displaying a wide array of influences from several genres including post-rock, math rock, psychedelic rock, and space rock. Following a twelve-year career, Oceansize announced their split in February 2011, with the members moving on to different projects.

The band started working on their fourth (and ultimately final) album, Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up in fall 2009. In January 2010, the band embarked upon a UK tour, showcasing new material. According to Mike Vennart's Twitter, the recording of the album was completed on 17 April, with Vennart stating "Recording is complete! Album 4 is go! It's all on Chris Sheldon now". Mastering was completed at Abbey Road Studios on 18 May 2010 by Sean Magee. On 22 July 2010, Oceansize posted one of the album's songs, "SuperImposer", on their Superball website, and made it available for download via Twitter and Facebook.

Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up was released on 6 September 2010. The album showcased a heavier side to the band, who stated that it probably was their heaviest studio album to date. However, Vennart claimed that the album still had the diversity found on other Oceansize albums. The band subsequently toured to promote the release.

Setlist

Part Cardiac

Build Us a Rocket Then...

Unfamiliar

New Pin

Music for a Nurse

It's My Tail and I'll Chase It If I Want To

Silent/Transparent

SuperImposer

Pine

Paper Champion

Trail of Fire

Ornament/The Last Wrongs

Encore:

Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs

On This Day 28/09/1971 Slade

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On this day, 28 September 1971, Black Country rockers Slade played Cardiff University.

Slade had worked endlessly during 1970 without finding the elusive hit record that manager Chas Chandler was convinced they had in them. One of their most popular live tracks they were performing at the time was what they believed to be an old Little Richard record entitled 'Get Down & get With It'.

In an effort to capture the very essence of the band it was chosen as their next single and released in May with little fanfare or trumpeting from Polydor. Despite that the track slowly began to rise up the pop charts until finally on August 1st Slade had their first ever top 20 hit in the bag.

The single became a pan European hit which kept the band occupied there at various stages throughout the year appearing on various TV shows plugging their new hit record. Peaking at number 16 in the official UK chart 'Get Down With It' as it is correctly titled gave them mass exposure across the country on the new fangled colour telly box's which were now becoming commonplace.

Gone were the Skinhead haircuts and accompanying paraphernalia. Instead Slade were openly embracing colour TV broadcasts and making sure that they were colourful and loud, very loud as they joyfully marched into the fabric of the nation.

In October the band recorded the shows which were to be edited down into a single LP for future release as 'Slade Alive'

The highlight of their year came in November when 'Coz I Luv You' reached the top of the national singles charts to give the band their first number 1 record.