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1985 B-Sides – THE FINAL GROUPS
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— 24 April 2023 Tom

We’re down to our last 16 B-Side tracks in the World Cup Of 1985 – a parade of the underground, the influential, and the unjustly forgotten.

They’ve been split into four final groups. The Top 2 in each will advance. But in a bit of EXPERIMENTAL POLLING, you can vote for your preferred two in each group. I’m interested to see what difference (if any!) that makes.

Polls end on Wednesday morning UK time and we’ll have our quarter-finals that afternoon. Here’s the YouTube playlist:

Now for the actual polls:

First group:

Second group:

Third group:

Fourth group:

Vote in them all! Tomorrow it’s the A-Side Octofinals over on Twitter too.

140
1985 Final Group BA: Tenor Saw, The Woodentops. Redskins, Lone Justice

Pick up to TWO from

TENOR SAW - "Ring The Alarm" (YouTube)

THE WOODENTOPS - "Move Me" (YouTube)

REDSKINS - "Kick Over The Statues!" (YouTube)

LONE JUSTICE - "Ways To Be Wicked" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

145
1985 Final Group BB: World Domination Enterprises, Dead Milkmen, Mr Fingers, Sophia George

Pick up to TWO from

WORLD DOMINATION ENTERPRISES - "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" (YouTube)

THE DEAD MILKMEN - "Bitchin' Camaro" (YouTube)

MR FINGERS - "Mystery Of Love" (YouTube)

SOPHIA GEORGE - "Girlie Girlie" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

132
1985 Final Group BC: Model 500, Wayne Smith, Schoolly D, Sugar Minott

Pick up to TWO from

MODEL 500 - "Night Drive (Time, Space, Transmat)" (YouTube)

WAYNE SMITH - "Under Me Sleng Teng" (YouTube)

SCHOOLLY D - "P.S.K. (What Does It Mean?)" (YouTube)

SUGAR MINOTT - "Jamming In The Street" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

131
1985 Final Group BD: Coil, Youssou N'Dour, Robert Wyatt, Squirrel Bait

Pick up to TWO from

COIL - "Tainted Love" (YouTube)

YOUSSOU N'DOUR - "Ndobine" (YouTube)

ROBERT WYATT - "Gharbzadegi" (YouTube)

SQUIRREL BAIT - "Sun God" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

Latest comments (of 6)

Tom   15 months ago

It feels like we are heading towards some kind of 'clash' of Jamaican 'sounds'.

James BC   15 months ago

This is good - the more of these songs I can vote for, the better. Crossing everything for Girlie Girlie - my nominations hardly ever get anywhere and I couldn't be more pleased and surprised if […]

koganbot   15 months ago

Got the instruction but like Al I didn't think two was enough for the third group.* Finally went w/ Wayne and Sugar, the tie-breaker between Sugar and Schoolly being that "Jammin'" kept its variety […]

TheRealBreadco   15 months ago

I missed that instruction too! Bummer!

1985! B-Sides Round 2 Matches 12-16
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— 21 April 2023 Tom

Here are the final four B-Sides Round 2 matches in THE WORLD CUP OF 1985, which is also continuing over on Twitter at the peoples_pop account (assuming Elon keeps polls intact).

Here’s the YouTube playlist for these:

Matches today include Sophia George, Newcleus, Robert Wyatt (again!), Squirrel Bait, Sugar Minott, Amina, Lone Justice and The Triffids…

Sophia’s reggae-pop bounce and Newcleus’ electro-rap form our first pairing.

That’s followed by a second Robert Wyatt selection – this time it’s “The Age Of Self”, up against uncanny 90s-inventors Squirrel Bait.

Next it’s the full-length dub version of Sugar Minott playing Amina’s French-Tunisian disco-funk

And bringing our B-Sides Round 2 matches to a close it’s Lone Justice head-to-head with this glowering epic from The Triffids.

All these matches except the Minott/Amina one are also on Spotify!

At the weekend Twitter will host the A-Side final groups then come back here on Monday for their B-Side equivalents…

113
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 13: Sophia George v Newcleus

SOPHIA GEORGE - "Girlie Girlie" (YouTube)

NEWCLEUS - "Space Is The Place" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

102
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 14: Robert Wyatt v Squirrel Bait

ROBERT WYATT - "The Age Of Self" (YouTube)

SQUIRREL BAIT - "Sun God" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

95
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 15: Sugar Minott v Amina

SUGAR MINOTT - "Jamming In The Street" (YouTube)

AMINA - "Sheherezade" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

98
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 16: Lone Justice v The Triffids

LONE JUSTICE - "Ways To Be Wicked" (YouTube)

THE TRIFFIDS - "Field Of Glass" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

A single comment

Cloglover69   15 months ago

Squirrel bait is one of the best things I’ve ever heard in A PPP, crazy what those guys went on to do.

THE WORLD CUP OF 1985! B-Sides Round 2 Matches 9-12
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— 20 April 2023 Tom

 

Back back BACK with four more matches from the 1985 World Cup, underground polls for the more discerning people’s pop palate. Or something like that.

YouTube playlist:

And onto the polls themselves:

Our first match is an absolute cracker – house music from Mr Fingers v freestyle from Brenda K Starr

100
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 9: Mr Fingers v Brenda K Starr

MR FINGERS - "Mystery Of Love" (YouTube)

BRENDA K STARR - "Pickin' Up Pieces" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

Then we’ve got the first of two Robert Wyatt tunes in the B-Sides, this time it’s “Gharbzadegi” up against The Damned.

106
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 10: Robert Wyatt v The Damned

ROBERT WYATT - "Gharbzadegi" (YouTube)

THE DAMNED - "Shadow Of Love" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

Proto-gangsta rap vs chic French pop as Schoolly D and Etienne Daho face off in match number three.

99
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 11: Schoolly D v Etienne Daho

SCHOOLLY D - "P.S.K. (What Does It Mean?)" (YouTube)

ETIENNE DAHO - "Tombe Pour La France" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

And finally it’s the arsequake v punkabilly showdown you probably failed to demand as the Butthole Surfers take on the Redskins

99
1985 B-Sides R2 Match 12: Butthole Surfers v Redskins

BUTTHOLE SURFERS - "Moving To Florida" (YouTube)

REDSKINS - "Kick Over The Statues!" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

The Spotify playlist actually has all these tracks – here it is:

Latest comments (of 4)

Tom   15 months ago

I'm glad my remaining nom (PSK) is alive here, but sad because I've, er, fallen for Etienne Daho's track and its wonderful slapstick pratfall synth riff.

Tom   15 months ago

#2 I think at this point they were kind of leaning into their goofiness a bit - they definitely come over as panto goths here and on "Eloise". They were the one punk-era remnant who seemed really […]

Vinnycrackers   15 months ago

So I always think of the Damned as kind of a ludicrous band. Like I don't take them seriously at all. Is it just me?

Tom   15 months ago

Curse the Butthole Surfers for making me vote with the band with the grossest name in the tournament (their opponents)

THE WORLD CUP OF 1985! B-Sides Round 2 Matches 1-4
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— 18 April 2023 Tom

Our first actual on-site polls (I hope they work!)

These are our B-Side matches – lesser-known tracks put under the spotlight. Four head-to-heads with 12 more to come, assuming these function as planned.

First off, Detroit proto-techno from MODEL 500 vs Monsoon’s SHEILA CHANDRA

122
1985 B-Sides Round 2 Match 1: Model 500 v Sheila Chandra

Model 500 - Time Space Transmat Sheila Chandra - Strange Minaret

MODEL 500 - "Time, Space, Transmat" (YouTube)

SHEILA CHANDRA - "Strange Minaret" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

Then it’s an industrial v hair metal clash – COIL v RATT

117
1985 B-Sides Round 2 Match 2: Coil v RATT

COIL - "Tainted Love" (YouTube)

RATT- "Lay It Down" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

Dancehall don TENOR SAW is up against alternative pop songwriter MARTI JONES

115
1985 B-Sides Round 2 Match 3: Tenor Saw v Marti Jones

TENOR SAW - "Ring The Alarm" (YouTube)

MARTI JONES - "Lonely Is As Lonely Does" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

And finally a brutal indie-on-indie match between WORLD DOMINATION ENTERPRISES and THE LOFT

112
1985 B-Sides Round 2 Match 4: World Domination Enterprises v The Loft

WORLD DOMINATION ENTERPRISES - "Asbestos Lead Asbestos" (YouTube)

THE LOFT - "Up The Hill And Down The Slope" (YouTube)

The poll has expired!

I’ll be advertising this secret den of polling violence on Twitter too, comment there or here – ultimately I want comments to mostly move here though, but it’ll be much easier once we do Twitter integration on the new site.

Latest comments (of 8)

koganbot   15 months ago

And then in the early '80s Sister Nancy did an absolutely inspired interpolation of the Byron Lee/Toots & The Maytals' phrasing of "bam bam" into the Stalag riddim: Sister Nancy "Bam" […]

koganbot   15 months ago

The first I heard the Stalag riddim was on this track by Big Youth. It's still my favorite of all of them. Big Youth "Jim Screechy" a.k.a. "Jim Squashey." [EDIT: I see that in comments WordPress […]

dorsalstop   15 months ago

Polls are back! Fantastic. (There were rumours they had been continuing on the Bad Place, but even if true I shan't be considering those canon.) Can't wait for my 1985 main, "5 Minutes" by, […]

actualeesimpson   15 months ago

Both World Domination Enterprises and The Loft have grown on me a lot. Meanwhile Sheila Chandra is struggling here but is still in pole position on my golden beat list and in my heart <3

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