By Isobel Carnochan, Senior Culture Editor
I have never considered myself to be an expert on the ‘80s. Something about the ‘90s glitzy, glamorous grunge always appealed more to me: I worshipped Kate Moss, listened to Nirvana and Hole more than any other artists combined, and treated Buffy Summers like my personal fashion inspiration. But this winter break has brought me back home and reunited me with my record collection, and for the first time I noticed just how many of my favourite albums were released in 1986. In celebration of the Orbital’s 40th birthday, I’m taking you on a trip through the deepest nooks and crannies of my music library to uncover the tracks of the Orbital’s founding year.
1986 was undoubtedly a monumental year for music. Honestly, what wouldn’t I give to have been a culture editor (or alive) then! The Rock and Roll of Fame held its very first induction ceremony in January of ’86, seeing the likes of Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, and Elvis Presley joining its ranks. Several bands dissolved, including The Clash, Strawberry Switchblade, and Wham!. Several other bands also saw their last live concert: The Smiths’ last concert was in December ‘86, and Queen’s last ever show with Freddie Mercury was in August. Amnesty International even saw a 4,500 member increase after running a series of music festivals, A Conspiracy of Hope, in an attempt to raise awareness for human rights. These festivals featured some of the biggest names in music; Yoko Ono, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, Sting, U2, Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, and The Police all made on-stage appearances, amongst many more. The musical world of 1986 was alive and bustling, and the music being produced was no less monumental.
So many songs and albums from ’86 have pervaded the perimeters of time and continue to thrive in mainstream music culture today. Admittedly, most of my favourite albums fall into this category. The Smith’s The Queen is Dead was released in 86, featuring ‘There’s a Light that Never Goes Out’ and ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, which both continue to make the yearly rounds on TikTok and find themselves on every pretentious teen’s playlist, myself included. The similarly alt-rock Brit group Siouxsie and the Banshees released Tinderbox in April that year, seamlessly blending rock and pop into a perfectly curated and easily identifiable sound, filled with equal measures of intensity and charm. It’s very own ‘Cities in Dust’ continues to be a classic on any baby-goth playlist, despite the dissent over whether or not the Banshees can truly be called goth, but has also featured in shows like Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Honestly, ‘Cities in Dust’ will always be one of the first songs I add to any pregaming playlist; very few songs give me that same feeling of simultaneous anticipation, glamour, and craze. 1986 was evidently the time to be alive for the British alt-rock scene, with The Cure releasing their compilation album Staring At The Sea (alternatively known as Standing on a Beach) that May.
There are so many songs and albums released in ’86 that are worthy of a listen: Cocteau Twin’s The Moon and The Melodies, David Bowie’s ‘Absolute Beginners’, and The Cramps’ A Date with Elvis, to name a further few. But the truth is that the music that remains popular now wasn’t necessarily the same music that was being played on radios around the country in ’86: when I asked my parents what music defined their teen years in the 80s, none of the aforementioned bands were in the top fifteen. Instead, they named the likes of Eurythmics, U2, Peter Gabriel, Europe, and The Bangles – all of which are still very well known, but perhaps not as popular amongst our generation as The Smiths or The Cure. It’s not possible to say with certainty what the founding staff of the Orbital were listening to in their late night writing binges, but if the sojourn into my music library can tell me anything, I bet it was good.
Photo by Hashem Al-Hebshi on Unsplash