All language subtitles for The New Romantics A Fine Romance (2001)_en

I never said I was a new romantic.
It was embarrassing.

If anything it was, "Oh, shit,
why did this name stick?"

What was new about it for a start
off and what was romantic about it?

I didn't get fully on board, but
I joined the tail end of the comet.

If you stepped out and you didn't
get someone shouting abuse at you,
you hadn't done it right.

This group of people were doing
something unique, special,
outrageous.

My parents hated it and I loved it.

# This affair
is absolutley ridiculous! #

Who came up with "new romantics"?

MUSIC: "Prince Charming"
by Adam and the Ants

Some branded them "Peacock punks"
or "Blitz kids".

# Don't you ever, don't you ever
stop being dandy... #

With their pretty-boy make-up and
good looks, they would go down
in history as the "new romantics".

# Prince charming, prince charming

# Ridicule
is nothing to be scared of... #

At the dawn of the '80s
this artistic group of writers,
designers, musicians and club-goers

created one of the most colourful
scenes in modern popular culture,

and memorably spawned pop acts
such as Spandau Ballet,
Adam and the Ants,

Duran Duran and Culture Club.

# Boys

# Boys keep swinging
Boys always work it out... #

The creative spark for future new
romantics occurred in the early '70s

with performances
by David Bowie and T Rex.

I think David Bowie
made it all right

for guys to play with
their femininity.

When I was a kid, Bowie was
the light at the end of the tunnel.

I was living in suburbia,
I knew I was gay, I didn't fit in.

He comes along looking like that.

# There's a star man
waiting in the sky... #

Seeing David Bowie

do Star Man on Top Of The Pops
changed my life.

He came from a planet
I wanted to visit.

I was banned from school for having
orange hair in my Bowie phase.

# Let the children loose,
Let all the children boogie... #

Living in the suburb of Manchester
that I lived in

it was music from another planet.

# We're so pretty,
oh, so pretty... #

With the arrival of punks,
satin was replaced by safety pins

and mascara by mohicans
as androgyny gave way to anarchy.

BOY GEORGE: There was
one important piece of press -

a photo of a teddy boy holding
a brick, punks versus teds.

Overnight, this war started.

When I first saw George,
he was fifteen

and he was wearing a wedding dress
and a policeman's hat -

that was brave.

I can remember
actually being on a bus

and getting kicked in the face
by a teddy boy, he walked up
and booted me in the face.

The original audience
couldn't go out.

We didn't stick safety pins through
our faces, we didn't gob or fight.

We grew up
with the myth of swinging London.

Well, London in 1978 didn't swing.
It was like Bulgaria on a bad night.

# This town... #

"'Coming like a ghost town."

# All the clubs
are being closed down... #

No money, no work, no clubs,
dark and bleak - that's what we had.

# Bands won't play no more

# Too much fighting
on the dance floor... #

In 1979, all dressed up
but with nowhere safe to go,

two club pioneers
started a Bowie night

at Billy's in Soho -
Steve Strange and Rusty Egan.

They were the gruesome twosome, the
Hinge and Bracket of new romanticism.

A lot of people think of Rusty as
Steve's foil. He organised the clubs

and got up early and did things.

Steve was the swanning-around genius.

The idea of taking a club over
and it being yours for the night

hadn't been done since the '60s.

I played records
and invited my friends.

The minute you walked down
them steps, you were home, you knew.

I found something I could belong to.
It was my turn.

On the opening night we must have
had about 150 people in there.

By the third week,
there were queues round the block.

I said, "Make sure the blokes who
want to beat us up don't come in."

Only blondes.
Sorry, you're not blonde enough.

Steve was like, "You look great,
but you can't come in those shoes."

# Oh, we can be heroes

# Just for one day... #

They always played Bowie's Heroes.

If you went anywhere that was
new romantic, you'd hear Heroes.

There was a sex change behind the
bar, I was 16 and it was fantastic.

# Here comes the mirror man

# Says he's a people fan

# Here comes the mirror man... #

He went through the ecclesiastical
phase with priest robes.

My nun's outfit was pretty happening.
It's funny,

but there's no way I'd go out
dressed as a nun unless I AM a nun!

Are you ready?

No, I'm taking my time.

I used to wear
piles of make-up, a lot really.

"Oh no, here comes Marilyn.
Oh, fuck!"

You'd walk out
and old ladies would fall over.

Make-up and Elnet was the big thing.

We got our make-up done for nothing.
You'd go to Selfridges at 5.30

and the girls would do a make-over.

I didn't like make-up - it wasn't
the sexuality, it just looked daft.

But I did like the hair lacquer
and a bit of diamante.

I wore a diamante crucifix
and I looked like Jack the Biscuit.

At Billy's the new romantic
movement took shape - make-up,
frills and big hair were essential.

DJ Rusty Egan's adventurous mix
of music provided the soundtrack.

# She's a model
and she's looking good... #

I'd play glam rock -
Marc Bolan, et cetera,

mix that up with electronic stuff -
with Kraftwerk, you know.

In those days,
a disco didn't have a hip DJ,

one that was the star of the show.

SCOTTISH ACCENT: I wasn't a DJ, aye.

I put records on.

It wasn't rock 'n' roll,
but it wasn't disco.
It was somewhere in between.

Gary Kemp was a regular at Billy's.

He soaked up the atmosphere with
fellow members of Spandau Ballet.

I remember saying,
"We've got to get a synthesiser."

Over the period
of late '78 and '79 in rehearsals
the band gradually changed

from being what was
a rock-pop type sound

to a modern, synthesised type
dance sound.

DRUMS BEAT

New romantic music
wasn't just about synthesisers.

Although most acts adopted the new
technology, Adam and the Ants got
their inspiration from Burundi,

using two drummers to create tribal
rhythms to match the warrior image.

I got the Eighth Hussar jacket

from my friend Dave - it was worn
in A Charge Of The Light Brigade

by David Hemmings.

You felt quite like a buccaneer,
you know,

stealing clothes as you went along
and putting it together, wearing it.

We wanted to be a pop band in the
early '70s tradition like T Rex.

Although attention was focused
on London,

elsewhere new romanticism
was thriving,

especially in Birmingham, home of
the Rum Runner club and Duran Duran.

The Rum Runner was amazing.
It was our little domain.

We rehearsed there
and we played there.

Were there clubs in Birmingham?
The Peacock in Birmingham was nice.

In London it's posey. In Birmingham
they'd ask where you came from.

I lived in London

and I wasn't interested in
what was happening in the provinces.

Penny's in Sheffield was great
cos there would be an interlude -

brickies in eyeliner
would get up and mince.

There's no question
that the London scene looked on us
as being slightly provincial.

But we didn't mind that - being
the underdog didn't do us any harm.

People of our generation
had been influenced by
disco, punk, glam, Bowie, Roxy.

They were bound to make
this big amalgamation in 1979.

Back in London, the great success
of Tuesday nights at Billy's

encouraged Rusty Egan and
Steve Strange to a bigger venue -
Blitz in Covent Garden.

Steve wore a different outfit every
week trying to top the outfit

that would be worn by Boy George,
Marilyn or a plethora of others.

# Boys, now the times are changing

# The going could get rough... #

Some people thought if they
put a wetsuit on and painted their
faces, they'd get in. I'd say no.

There weren't that many places
you could go and look weird.

You had to have your own little
clubs, but Steve took it too far.

People were humiliated.
It was embarrassing.

When Mick Jagger came up,
the club was so full, we'd just
had a warning from the fire people

that if we let in one more person,
we would lose our licence.

He went,
"Sorry, mate, we're full up.

"He don't look like Mick Jagger."

Mick Jagger went out in jeans
and an old jacket.

I was angry about that
because I thought Mick had done
a lot more than he had!

There'd be a queue
waiting to get in,

but you'd swan to the front, pull
rank and kiss Steve on the cheek.

I remember Steve Strange
at the door

and getting through the door
it was, "Yes!"

# I just can't get enough... #

Steve employed me, rather foolishly,
to work in the cloakroom.

George would be calling you
every name under the sun,
cos he was bitter and twisted.

Marilyn was his sidekick.

There would be "Uh!"
when I walked through the door.

I was just being that thing.

The women's toilets would be
full of men hogging the mirror.

There'd be someone
done up like Ghandi and someone
as a 1920s film director

and a third person like a Pierrot.

# Do you remember a guy that's been?

# It's such an early song... #

David Bowie came to the Blitz
to select people
for his Ashes To Ashes video.

Steve Strange, the king of the Blitz,
got to sit on Bowie's table.

# I'm happy

# Hope you're happy too... #

Steve's posing like, "I'm sitting
with..." Without actually going...

# The shrieking of nothing
is killing... #

When he asked me would I do that,

I thought, "Fucking hell,
he's asking me to do this video!"

I didn't want to be in Ashes To Ashes
walking along the beach going...

# Glowing, glowing, glowing

# Ashes to ashes, funk to funky

# We know Major Tom's a junkie... #

When he went upstairs they all went,
"Bowie, Bowie", with their arms
in the air, like hailing Caesar.

I remember thinking,
"How can he deal with this? These
people are literally up his bum."

So I just went back to the cloakroom.

Although Bowie wasn't of that scene,
he's always been a clever leech,

an absorber of things,
a sucker of blood.

# You better not mess
with Major Tom... #

When I saw it on TOTP
with Steve Strange,

it annoyed the hell out of me.

They received £50 for a day's work,
which was a fortune.

Once the new romantic thing started,

people wanted to be famous, so bands
were formed to get records out.

Inspired by David Bowie, Steve and
Rusty craved pop fame of their own.

They formed Visage - a studio group
of assorted musicians

including Midge Ure and Billy Currie
from Ultravox.

In 1980, they put the new romantics
in the top ten with Fade To Grey.

Billy came up with the bass line -

da-da-ba, da-da-ba -
and the beat he programmed.

# Devenir gris... #

It's not me talking in French.

I said, "We should get my girlfriend,
she's French." Midge wrote the lyric.

She recited the lyric in French and,
basically, it created this feel.

# One man on a lonely platform

# One case sitting by his side... #

Everything was done in 24 hours.

I wanted my body
sprayed silver and black.

I scrubbed with a Brillo pad.

# Feel the rain
like an English summer

# Hear the notes
from a distant song... #

BOY GEORGE: When I see that,
it brings back memories.

I couldn't allow myself to like it.

He got into the charts before I did!

Then I had to have that "d-d-d-udge".

It was the sound I was working on
at the time - electronic drums.

It went to number one
in about nine countries.

# Fade to grey... #

I appeared from under a cloth.

I spun my head round a bit
and, um...

a bit of hands.

# Un homme dans une gare isolee

# Une valise a ses cotes... #

A couple of people asked me for
my autograph...in the dole queue.

# Montre dans la peur lorsqu'il... #

I look back now
and it wasn't a great record,

but it was of the moment.

It wasn't only musicians who
were making names for themselves.

Writers, photographers
and designers,

mainly from St Martin's, began to
emerge from the Blitz club scene.

There were about 150 people
in the room.

I would guess that at least 100 of
those went on to be very successful.

# The grabbing hands
grab all they can... #

We were ambitious.

It wasn't just frivolous fun.
Everyone had their eye on money.

They were aspirational, calculating,
publicity and fashion conscious.

They weren't romantic.

People were creating businesses
for themselves.

Spandau Ballet latched on to that.
Their manager was part of the scene.

He saw the potential
for marketing Spandau Ballet.

# Everything else
in large amounts... #

I wasn't a sort of a businessman

who was taking advantage of this
situation without being part of it.

The group were part of the scene.

We couldn't play regular clubs
because they weren't interested.

We had to play there
or go and find a venue,

like a battleship
or an art house cinema.

Spandau Ballet were first caught on
camera at London's La Scala Cinema

in the spring of 1980.

They were given
a poetic introduction

from budding journalist Robert Elms.

I remember Robert Elms
coming on at the Scala

and reading this kind of avant-garde
poem - none of us took it seriously.
"Get on with the music."

From half-spoken shadows

Emerges a canvas

A kiss of light breaks
to reveal a moment
when all mirrors are redundant.

"A curtain drops. Mist in the
future." You know what I mean?

You thought, "Get a life."

Listen to the portrait
of the dance of perfection.

Gary had a book on Expressionism and
it was meant to look like Bauhaus.

It looked like Toy House,
but it was great.

I stood there
with this light across my face.

Spandau Ballet.

We had this set of
rather stark electronic songs

with the drums just going,
"Boom, boom, boom."

# Sitting on a park bench

# Years away from fighting

# To cut a long story short
I lost my mind

# Standing in the dark

# I was waiting for a man to come

# I am beautiful and clean

# Very, very young
to be standing in the street

# To be taken by someone... #

We bravely decided to become
the house band.

I say "bravely" because these guys
were only interested in themselves.

Bands like Spandau
were gung-ho for fame.

They definitely used the scene to
get as much attention as possible.

The movement was attracting
the national media,

but the established rock press
wouldn't jump on the bandwagon.

It's a club thing
and asking the NME to cover it

is like asking Anglers' Weekly
to do drag racing.

They saw the new romantic thing
as London ponces with big hairdos.

It was a very small scene
and it wasn't what they were into.

You could understand why none
of these people came to the Blitz.

Anyway, they wouldn't have got in.

What they needed

was OK! or Hello!
or the magazine culture

that would have put them
in a large photograph,
with a small, uncritical text.

# The image is going to make
you and I

# But it means nothing to me... #

Unable to gain support
from the influential NME,

the new romantics decided
to create their own magazines.

It was interesting

that i-D and The Face
both started up in 1980.

When you bought a Sunday paper it
didn't have a bit that said "style".

The Face started doing that.

It chronicled it so well,
it became the bible.

They featured things
from London, Sheffield, Liverpool

and if you were a proto-punk,

or a goth in the middle of nowhere,
you could buy this and think,

"I'm not a freak.
There are others like me."

# Guns that cross the street
You never know who you might meet

# Who's in disguise... #

You'd cause a lot of commotion
going out.

People used to get angry. They'd be
upset at the sight of these people.

# It's a miracle,
it's a miracle... #

It wasn't dressing up at night.
You wore this all day long

and fled for your life if you came
across the wrong sort of people.

People might have shouted at you.
They still do!

Clothes don't really
make you different.

But to others it does.
"Gosh, you're interesting!"

I could have a good chat with some
old bag I met in the launderette,

probably much more interesting
than at the Blitz club -
people there had nothing to say.

But equally there were some really
exciting people who were creative.
It was a real mixture.

It was just like a place
for posers to pose around in

and wear dark glasses,
which is very '80s, isn't it?

You'd get
a very pretentious cocktail -

something with umbrellas in.

Then you'd dance a bit. Yeah.

# Put on a little make-up, make-up

# Make sure they get
your good side... #

The Blitz dance floor
was the size of a postage stamp.

You couldn't do anything
mildly creative.

You couldn't dance too much
in those clothes,
especially if you had heels on.

It was handbag on the floor
kind of dancing.

# Goody two, goody two, goody
two shoes, don't drink, don't smoke

# What do you do?
You don't drink, don't smoke... #

If there was a drug of choice it was
speed which had been the punk drug.

# Fashion, that'll be a joke... #

I'd buy some speed.

Speckled blues
had strychnine in them.

You could get that cough mixture
with morphine. It was lovely.

# Opening the oddballs,
oddballs... #

If you haven't got cash,
it's cheaper than pints of beer.

Everyone now thinks everybody was
dressed as Coco the Clown. Some were.

But there was another
whole side that was
considerably more heterosexual.

# It's the look, it's the look,
the look of love

# It's the look, it's the look,
the look of love... #

We loved the gay element - it
made it more entertaining, more fun.

There was a great mix,
but it was rampant. Sex and drugs
were what it was all about.

You could sleep your way through
the Blitz in about six months.

You'd be getting off with girls and
boys, then they'd get off with each
other. It was confusing, really.

By the end of the night, the Blitz
was an extraordinary sight.

By the end of the night people were
going, "Na-na-na," because of drugs.

Honestly, it looked like the Somme
at the end of the evening.

People were just like that.
Make-up had run, hair had gone,

hairspray had gone into clothing.

It looked worse on the boys
than the girls.

When they get their five o'clock
shadow, it's not a pretty sight.

You'd hope to go home with someone -
same sex, opposite sex,
you were never sure.

On the way home,

the milkman had been, so we'd pick
up as many pints as we could carry

and go back to the squat with 20
pints of milk for lunch and tea.

You don't want to merge
into the background.

Most kids in their teens and 20s

do it because you want attention
and think you're worth attention.

As soon as you become sexually
aware, you want to promote yourself.

Here are five young guys from
Islington who are causing a buzz.

I remember I was so desperate to get

Cut A Long Story Short.

I remember the silly dance
where they put one leg up.

I was always glad
we never wore kilts,

not that I dislike them.

# To cut a long story short
I lost my mind... #

We liked looking mad
with smocks, tunics and cloth.

But none of it was designer stuff.
It was either made
by friends or students,

or we found it
in second-hand stores.

"Yes, our time has come. New
romantics will conquer the world."

Now you think, "Oh, no, it's a load
of kids dressed up in baggy pants."

In late 1980 with their first
single high in the UK charts,

Spandau Ballet played
their first gig outside London
in Birmingham's Botanical Gardens.

The promoter said, "Duran Duran -

"could they do a support slot?"
I said, "Fuck off,

"I don't want a group
from Birmingham on our bill."

I remember talking to this guy
and he said, "We've got a band
and we like you."

And I was...
It was Simon Le Bon, actually.

We saw them play at
the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.

When we left, we were smiling.
We said, "What's that about?"

I wish I'd said yes, cos then I
could have had a poster with Spandau
Ballet and Duran Duran underneath.

So that was a regret.

Meanwhile, back on the
wild frontier, Adam and the Ants

had also launched
their Top Ten campaign.

# Well, I'm standing here
looking at you

# What do I see?

# I'm looking straight through
It's so sad

# When you're young to be told

# You're having fun
So I'll unplug the jukebox

# And do us all a favour

# That music's lost it's taste
so try another flavour...#

That whole "do yourself a favour,
that music's lost its taste"

was a statement rebelling against
the stuff that had been before

and saying, "This is what
a band should sound like now."

# A big nothing threatening me... #

Adam Ant was a Scarlet Pimpernel.
His shows were like Broadway shows

if you were 17
and lived in Sheffield.

Adam and the Ants destroyed their
punk credibility by starring at
the 1981 Royal Variety performance.

It put them at the centre
of pop's mainstream.

What we were doing was
anti rock 'n' roll, anti punk rock.

That was the most anti thing we
could do to really annoy the NME.

When we met the
Royal Family, I felt 18th century,

whipping the coat off
and letting her walk on it.

She said, "I didn't recognise you."
She would have preferred the clobber.

# Do yourself a favour
Ant music... #

Just outside the Top 40,
Duran Duran.

# I only came outside... #

I remember them clearly on TOTP.

They were in
these ludicrous frilly shirts.

I just thought they were fantastic.

I do remember the first TOTP.

Frilly shirts. Absolutely.

I personally remember
sort of, like...

hearing them and thinking,
"Oh, they've got it wrong." But they
didn't and they made a lot of money.

At the time it was,
"They're from up north.

"What do they know
about new romanticism?"
But they had the big hit.

# Can you hear me no-o-ow

# This is planet Earth

# You're looking
at planet Earth... #

Duran Duran actually used the term
"new romantic" in a song,

which I thought was an obscenity -
they were a ridiculous bunch anyway.

# ..a new romantic looking... #

"New romantic" was in Planet Earth.

We were very aware of that.

We took it out of a magazine. They
were putting us in a box already.

That was early Duran irony.

We laughed our heads off
at this record.

We fell about laughing
and made the record into an ashtray.

In a way, Duran Duran brought the
frilly shirt thing to the masses.

# Oh, oh, this is planet Earth... #

With new romantic bands
dominating the charts,

everyone wanted to read about them,
write about them
and dress like them.

Fascination with the cult
grew as big as the hairdos.

But what could you call them?

The papers can call it what they
like - new romantics, Blitz kids.

It's the cult with no name. The
papers can't put one finger on it.

The term "new romantic" came about
because no other names stuck.

I suppose that's when things changed.

You were getting things
in the Sun saying, "How to copy
Steve Strange's make-up."

Suddenly you had a mainstream icon
embracing the look.

And you had the high street rushing
to catch up with the next look.

We're from BBC Television. Oh, yes,
you look as if you're something.

I'm wearing the new romantic look.

Oh, yes.

This is going to catch on. What
do you think? It doesn't turn me on.

Three things stick in my mind -
frilly blouses,

I was big into frilly blouses.

Pixie boots
which were an essential part.

And we used to wear a scarf.

You'd get the triangle and tie it
round your neck.

It would go... It was ridiculous!

It went mass and on an individual
level people went where it took them.

There were electro bands -
Depeche Mode, Soft Cell -
which were coming up.

They were probably doing...
slightly smarter music really.

# Tainted love

# Don't touch me, please

# I cannot stand the way
you tease... #

Tainted Love by Soft Cell was great.

The whole scene was expanding.

The influence spread across
the industrial North

when acts like the Human League
and ABC broke through commercially.

In a funny kind of way,
our music was very romantic.

All Of My Heart, Poison Arrow -
they're romantic songs.

# If I were to say to you
can you keep a secret... #

That was a very new romantic act.

But by then is wasn't called that
any more. It was "modern soul".

I think they called it "white soul".

Don't You Want Me by Human League
and Poison Arrow by ABC

signalled the end of new romantic
as a force.

We surfed in post new romantic,
if we're being Q Magazine about it.

There were a lot of acts
that tried to jump on the bandwagon

of what they thought
new romantic was

and it was a catastrophe,
like Classics Nouveau.

I didn't mind Classics Nouveau.
I think the punk in me
felt vaguely antagonistic.

They were formed out of members of
X-Ray Spex which was a great band.

The front man's only talent
was that he had a bald head.

He shaved his head,
but most people could do that.

# It's not the way you look, it's
not the way that you smile... #

Whenever you talk about the '80s,

that name always comes up -
Flock Of Seagulls.

It's just that hairdo,
that one funny hairdo.

# If I had a photograph of you... #

People kind of said,

"It's just haircuts, man."

Who are they kidding? Elvis was
a haircut, Lennon was a haircut.

Having seen many of his old crowd
become successful,

one time Blitz cloakroom attendant,
George O'Dowd, decided it was time

to launch his own brilliant career.

I said I wanted
to be a window dresser.

I wanted
to work in a costume department.

They looked at me as if I was nuts.
"We've got a job
at a fruit-packing factory."

There was a shop in Carnaby Street
that he used to work in.

It said, "Closed.
Gone to see a man from Virgin."

# But time is precious I know... #

I needed to do something
with my life.

I couldn't go swanning round clubs
forever, getting my photo taken.

# Time won't give me time... #

My mum was like, "I don't understand
why people take pictures of you."

So when I joined the band they
could say, "This is what he does."

# Do you really want to hurt me?

# Do you really want to make me cry?

# Do you really
want to hurt me...? #

'To be a member of the Culture Club
you have to know the style.

'The fans spend hours in front
of the mirror emulating their hero.'

How long does it take? Half an hour
to do the plaits. And the make-up?

Not long. About ten minutes.

Your fans are what you are.
You don't exist without them.

# I could waste
a thousand years... #

When I first started Culture Club,
people thought I looked outrageous.

It was nothing - that was toned down

to what I looked like before -
it was totally toned down.

I wouldn't have been able to travel
with all those costumes!

# Oh, I hear you on the radio... #

Marilyn was this weird
new romantic folklore.

People find him fascinating.
Always want to know how he is,
what colour lipstick he's wearing.

Once I saw him at a bus stop.

He was there in full drag,
shaving away.

# Peace, peace of mind... #

The popular misconception
is I had a pop minute...

..because of George
and that is ridiculous.

If you like something, you buy it,
not because you like something else.

Marilyn was beautiful,
he had a great body.

He didn't have a good voice, but
he had everything and he could have
done a lot more with his career,

had he not been
so obnoxious to people.

When he had a hit,
he turned into a monster!

Inevitably, people link you
with Boy George. Who?

The reason why I was doing that was
not because I was a bitchy queen,

but because I was insecure

and I didn't believe that
I was beautiful and fabulous and
all the things people were saying.

He's very intelligent, but there's a
difference between being intelligent
and being emotionally intelligent.

Emotional intelligence
is something you have to learn.

Usually that comes via therapy
or self examination.

The Blitz closed in 1981, but the
London scene entered a new phase

with many setting out on their own.

Chris Sullivan started up
at Le Kilt,

while Ollie O'Donnell
launched Le Beetroot.

# A curious smell,
an intangible crime

# I'm washing my clothes
and the stain still grows... #

On the dance floors
electronic music gave way to funk

and Spandau Ballet kissed goodbye
to their new romantic style.

That was the first time
they acknowledged dance music

and black American disco roots.

It wasn't a record that stands the
test of time, but it was radical.

Tony's walking up and as he comes
into the club, I greet him.

They became pop stars,

so the club I had
was frequented by pop stars.

When the scene moved into the
Beetroot and we did the video there,

it was the hottest club in London
at the time.

# I don't need this pressure on
I don't need this pressure on... #

That was our last hurrah of Spandau
being part of this movement.

# I don't need this pressure on
I don't need this pressure on

# I don't need this pressure
o-o-o-n... #

It went from being a Tuesday
and then a Tuesday and a Thursday

to being every night of the week.

It suddenly went "Whoosh!"

George was already forming Culture
Club and Wham were on their way.

There was a real commercialisation
of this kind of music.

We said goodbye to it. We went off
to Nassau to make the True album.

# There is a motion in my arm... #

We couldn't remain a cult
and still do TOTP.

ELECTRONIC DRUM BEAT

# Standing in the door
of the Pink Flamingo

# Crying in the rain... #

By 1982, Steve Strange and
Rusty Egan ran the Camden Palace,

a mega club that attracted
over 1,000 of London's in crowd.

In three years they'd emerged
from small time club land

to create a massive
money-making enterprise.

What is the secret of a successful
nightclub? You're looking at it!

We had Sylvester Stallone,
Grace Jones,

Frankie Goes To Hollywood,
Eurythmics, Culture Club.

It had all changed
and got very big and corporate.

# Say hello

# Wave goodbye... #

There was a kind of big heroin
explosion in London at that time.
It did affect the club scene.

Everybody knows
I had a bad drug problem.

I went from being
really, like, kind of anti-drugs

to being completely immersed in it.

BOY GEORGE:

# The victims we know so well... #

Somebody gave me this white powder
and I thought, "Fine, I'll have it."

# But you're always there
like a ghost in my dream... #

Lots of people did
get involved with heavy drugs

and heavy sex - they're not with us
now or have ended up in mental homes.

# The strangest void for you... #

I had five-inch stilettos on.
I got right across the dance floor,

got to the steps and took one step,
two steps and went, "Aagh!"

Everything went bang.

# It's sink or swim
like it's always been... #

I could hear my friend saying,
"Oh, my God!"

He was looking at me and I could
hear it. "What have you given him?"

"You haven't!"
And I went, "Heroin?!"

Myself, I had a heroin problem
which came later.

But I never used it intravenously.

I do remember

this girl Mitsu who was
a very pretty Asian girl, beautiful.

She died of an overdose
in Warren Street.

# Wishing there was
some kind of heaven... #

I had to go to my mother's
and for about a week

my skin was translucent white -
you could see the green veins
in my skin.

I looked like a...
like death, like I'd died.

I couldn't get out of bed
for five days,

or more.

It wasn't just a little disco.

It was a complete life,
environment, that we lived in.

It was 24 hours a day. It wasn't
one night a week getting dressed up

and going to a nightclub.

I don't think people realised
how dangerous it all was.

That element crept in
towards the end of it.

That was the end of it.
It tore it all apart.

HOUSE MUSIC

The acid house scene exploded

and in the '90s you could trace
back to the Beetroot and the Blitz

and one or two other London clubs.

It introduced one-off clubs,
warehouse parties,

the Rusty Egans
as the centre of attention,

nightclubs where they tell you
you must look right -
that didn't exist before.

Before that it was very effeminate
for a man to wear deodorant,
let alone a full face of make-up.

Men have, like, bathroom cabinets
full of products now.

When I was a kid it was Brut!

There was this colourful bang,

which revitalised pop culture
and fashion and had a lot to do

with revitalising
London as a swinging city.

They helped make London saleable
in the way it is now -

a hotbed of creativity and design.

That had time

to dress up,
it had time to be preposterous

before it was scrutinised
and before it went mainstream.

You know,
that just wouldn't happen any more.

I think people think they should
fit in as opposed to stand out.

When you go out in the street,
everyone sort of looks the same.
They're wearing uniforms almost.

I don't know what would inspire me
if I was 14 now.

You know, I don't know
what I would look to. Westlife?

# Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma,
chameleon

# You come and go

# You come and go-o-o

# Loving would be easy
if your colours were like my dream

# Red, gold and green

# Red, gold and gree-een

# Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma,
chameleon

# You come and go

# You come and go-o-o

# Loving would be easy
if your colours were like my dream

# Red, gold and green

# Red, gold and gree-een. #