80sography

[Visual Guide Thread. All discussed in episode] Ep 75 of @80sography podcast is pt 1 with Bill Smith of Bill Smith Studios discussing album sleeves for The Jam, Genesis, @ThomasDolby , The Cure and Now... buzzsprout.com/699262/episode…

@JamesPearceLFC GM better at saving penalties - this could prove crucial.

Alisson out until "towards the end of the season".

Don't want to overstate this but 20-minute highlights of every Premier League game in history, free and on demand, means that this should be a national holiday. preml.ge/TheArchiveX

"I had to go deeper and, as I began to power through the albums, I started to wonder – did Paul McCartney peak after the Beatles?" Macca Ranked. How does our ranking stack up against your own? blog.roughtrade.com/gb/ranked-paul…

@BoyGeorge @genah @GoldenAgeUnfold I concur. Worst song of the 80s, mate.

@GoldenAgeUnfold Like what? No one must hear Karma Chameleon?

@JamesPearceLFC We don’t look coached. End of.

FT: Galatasaray 1 #LFC 0: A narrow defeat in Istanbul and work to do for Slot's side at Anfield next Wednesday night. Liverpool should have enough to get through but they will need to raise the bar considerably. Looked worryingly vulnerable defensively and so wasteful in attack

@JohnCleese I always wondered why he didn't appear in Fawlty Towers. He'd have made a great Mr Hutchison for eg.

With all the awful things going on in the world, this may seem trivial, but... I am absolutely tickled pink that Sir Mickey Pallin is receiving rave reviews for his first comedy performance for about 30 years. He's always been the funniest of the Pythons ( except for Eric Idle, of course ) and I want to congratulate him with all that is left of my heart

Heaven 17's first two albums, 'Penthouse and Pavement' and 'The Luxury Gap' have recently been mixed into immersive Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround and Stereo by producer David Kosten and are now available to pre-order on the blu-ray audio format, via SDE Records. These limited edition physical products can be pre-ordered here > bit.ly/4bMulhg

@ThomasDolby Eyes Without a Face even better 😃

On a scale of 1-10, how much do we like Billy Idol's 'White Wedding' and 'Rebel Yell?'

Comrades it's @thedavies - would appreciate a follow + a click through to the article: @colinphoenix @unclewald @Weird_n_Gilly @slowdragremedy @CollettWriter @poorado @80sography @PMcLoone @DexysOfficial @nickgestation @DavidBellFirebr @BeatlesPod @AffrenchFfrench @stu_bailie

@TheRedmenTV They are going to lose Alonso to City like they did Guehi/Semenya.

Same Fede, same. FT 1-1 Thoughts? #LFC

@TheAnfieldWrap One question: who are our centre backs at the end of next season? Case to be made it may be none of our existing players.

FFS

Ep #62 of @80sography podcast is audio commentary of Steve McQueen by @Prefabsprout with producer @ThomasDolby and bassist @CulpaFeliks (plus special guest) Wonderful guests discuss a perfect album by a brilliant band Antiques! buzzsprout.com/699262/1307652… #80smusic #musicpodcasts

@BoyGeorge @DreyfusJames George, you are so disappointing. You were a trailblazer for gender non-conformity in the 80s. This is conformity in 2026. If you were 14 now you’d be trans and something magical would be lost. Thanks to JKR and JD x

@DreyfusJames What is incredibly sad is your support of JK Boring.

What’s “incredibly funny” is waking up to the marvellous sight of JKR giving this piffling dweeb a public & rather monumental verbal thrashing… Happy New Year…🫠

@DireStraits77 Huge respect to MK for this. He could've renamed any batch of songs in the last 30 years as Brothers in Arms 2 and sold 20 x more copies. A true artist.

Mark Knopfler ended one of the biggest bands in the world while it was still printing money. There was no feud. No collapse. No creative drought. He stopped Dire Straits because it was working too well. By the late 1980s, Dire Straits had crossed into a rarefied category of success few bands survive. Stadium tours, global saturation, and an album—Brothers in Arms—that sold tens of millions made Knopfler’s voice and guitar infrastructure in the music world. MTV, radio, corporate sponsorships—everything amplified the machine. The system did not expect a pause; it expected scale. Momentum was the job. Knopfler was expected to repeat the formula. Bigger tours. Longer runs. Fewer limits. Industry language was practical and unyielding: you do not dismantle a machine at peak efficiency; you refine it and keep it running. The cost, however, was already showing. Endless touring hollowed out the work. Writing became transactional, performing felt compulsory. The band’s success required a version of Knopfler that no longer aligned with how he wanted to live or make music. The system framed it not as danger but as privilege—a golden cage disguised as opportunity. He could have coasted for decades, repeating a formula that had been proven across the globe. Instead, after the 1991 tour, he shut Dire Straits down completely. No farewell spectacle. No reunion roadmap. No negotiation phase. He dissolved a globally dominant band because continuing would have required turning music into maintenance rather than creation. The consequence was immediate. Relevance narrowed. Stadiums disappeared. Cultural volume dropped. Solo work drew smaller audiences and less certainty. There was no replacement machine waiting—only quieter rooms, and full control. The industry treats decisions like this politely, then reallocates attention elsewhere. Knopfler never reversed it. No reunion tours. No legacy revival cycles. He accepted a permanent reduction in scale as the price of ownership. His later work traded reach for authorship, sacrificing mass exposure for creative freedom. Years later, he said he wanted to be able to walk down the street and live like a human being. It was not nostalgia. It was boundary setting. By stepping away, he reclaimed autonomy over music, over life, over the story he wanted to tell—not the one the system demanded. What unsettles is not that he walked away from fame. It is that the only way to keep music intact was to dismantle the system built to amplify it. Sometimes the most expensive thing is staying successful once success no longer belongs to you. Knopfler’s choice shows that true ownership of art sometimes requires surrendering its amplification, even at the peak of achievement. #MarkKnopfler #DireStraits #BrothersInArms #MusicLegend #ArtistAutonomy #CreativeFreedom #WalkAwayFromFame #MusicIndustry #StadiumTours Written by @JgSzymon

@Nancy_fcb i've thought this for years - it would still count above goal difference but have no point value. Imagine how crazy the last 10 mins of a game would be.

DO YOU THINK FIFA SHOULD CONSIDER PIQUE'S SUGGESTION? Gerard Piqué has publicly suggested a rule change to discourage goalless (0–0) draws in football. His idea to FIFA: If a match ends 0–0, both teams should receive 0 points If the match is a scoring draw (1–1, 2–2, etc.), each team would still get 1 point. Wins would remain 3 pts. Piqué believes that 0–0 draws often encourage overly defensive play and reduce entertainment for fans. By giving no points for a goalless draw, teams would be more motivated to attack and try to score, especially late in matches. DO YOU AGREE?

I’m excited to announce the book - and acoustic EP - to accompany my 2026 ‘spoken word’ dates. It’s a beautiful thing, if I say so myself! It will be published in the spring, but you can order your copy now, if you fancy.. link below. I thank you.. 🙏🏻 awaywithmedia.com/buy-books/ente…

@midgeure1 @AuthorWelland Ultrabox. They missed a trick there. Best best of ever. And all the 7” versions.

Oh yes!

@blitzed80smag1 Rage in Eden on cassette and Rage in Eden on vinyl.

A look back at a choice selection of albums from 1981. As usual, you're only allowed to pick two albums from the list. What are your favourite 1981 choices and why?

@CF_Farrow @asda Bloody hell, Harvey Elliott needs some game time...

Some fat bloke with a belly prancing about in sparkly strides is really not selling me your product @asda Somehow that's not a vision I aspire to...

Utterly brilliant for @Prefabsprout fans: Martin McAloon talks with Thomas Dolby & Wendy Smith about making of Steve McQueen @80sography @CulpaFeliks @ThomasDolby @wendyfinnandmax podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aud…