Radio Stars were an English new wave group formed in early 1977. They released two albums and had one

UK Top 40 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

single.

Career

Radio Stars were formed by Sparks exile

Martin Gordon Martin Gordon (born 3 May 1954) is an English musician who plays bass guitar, double bass, and piano. After a long period as band member and session musician, he embarked on a solo career in 2004. His most recent album release was in 2021. B ...

(bass, songwriter) and also included ex-

John's Children John's Children were a 1960s Mod (subculture), mod rock band from Leatherhead, England that briefly featured future T. Rex (band), T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan. John's Children were known for their outrageous live performances and were booted off ...

vocalist

Andy Ellison Andrew Ellison (born 5 July 1945 in Finchley, London, England) is an English musician and vocalist, best known as the frontman in John's Children, Jet and Radio Stars. He attended Box Hill School in Surrey, where he met Chris Townson. John's ...

and Ian MacLeod (guitar) in 1977, following the end of their under-achieving glam

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

, Jet, the previous year. The band signed to

Chiswick Records Chiswick Records was a British independent record label. Established in 1975, Chiswick was the "first true 'indie' label to be established in Britain for nearly a decade". The label has been described as "significant" in the "punk era". It rel ...

and released their debut single, "Dirty Pictures", in April 1977. This was included on the Chiswick various artists sampler, ''

Submarine Tracks & Fool's Gold ''Submarine Tracks & Fool's Gold'' is a compilation album of various artists made up of acts on Chiswick Records. The critic and author Dave Thompson describes ''Submarine Tracks & Fool's Gold'' as a "driving" collection, rating it "eight out of ...

(Chiswick Chartbusters Volume One)'' and was later covered by Germany's

Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. History The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...

on Learning English Lesson 1 which went gold in 1991. Later in 1977, "Dirty Pictures" appeared at number 26 in the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

s end-of-year critics'

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. In May 1977, the band both performed live for the first time and recorded the first of three sessions for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

at the BBC's

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...

. Later adding Steve Parry on drums, the band's second release came in August. Playing "No Russians in Russia", the Radio Stars made their TV debut on ''

Marc Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

'',

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex. Bolan was posthumously inducted int ...

's show. The track later appeared on the 1978 Chiswick sampler ''Long Shots, Dead Certs And Odds On Favourites (Chiswick Chartbusters Volume Two)''. The performance was subsequently included in Columbia's DVD release ''Marc'', featuring all six episodes of the ''Marc'' show. In January 1978, the band entered the Top 40 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, with "Nervous Wreck", backed with "Horrible Breath". The single charted for three weeks and peaked at No. 39 on 4 February. The band performed the song on BBC's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' on 19 January 1978, with newsreader Kelly St John. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Horrible Breath", was a song written by Marc Bolan from his time with John's Children. The debut album, ''Songs for Swinging Lovers'', named in reference to the Frank Sinatra

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, appeared in December 1977. The band toured with Eddie and the Hot Rods and Squeeze, and played the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

in 1978. The Radio Stars released their second album in 1978, entitled ''Holiday Album''. The album included their live favourite " Sex in Chains Blues", about the exploits of the so-called 'Mormon kidnapper' Joyce McKinney. The band undertook an extensive UK tour in 1978, which also featured Trevor White (a former member of Sparks) and

Chris Gent Sir Christopher Charles Gent HonFREng (born 10 May 1948) is a British businessman, He is the former chief executive officer of Vodafone, a British multinational mobile phone company. Until 2015, he served as the non-exec chairman of GlaxoSmith ...

(saxophone/backing vocals), but Gordon left soon after. The second album flopped, effectively ending the band, although Ellison attempted to revive the band's name to little success in the 1980s and 1990s. The group's recordings have been anthologised three times; on 1982's ''Two Minutes Mr. Smith'' by the Moonlight record label –

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...

Hugh McDowell Hugh Alexander McDowell (31 July 1953 – 6 November 2018)ELO and ...

guested on cello – on 1992's (band-approved) ''Somewhere There's a Place for Us'' on Ace Records. In 2017 a 4-CD box set containing all the band's recordings, including a handful of singles, B-sides, BBC radio sessions and broadcasts and a specially-recorded revision of one of their greatest tunes, nowdubbed 'The Beast of Ankara', was released by Cherry Red/Anagram Records under the title of ''Thinking Inside the Box''. A one-off London concert performance took place in March 2008 in support of their live album (recorded in 1977/78) ''Something for the Weekend'', released by

Radiant Future Records Radiant Future Records is a British independent record label and home to one-time Sparks bassist Martin Gordon, Jet, Radio Stars, John's Children, the Blue Meanies and related artists. The label began operations in 2002 with the release of a ...

that same month. The band played the Rebellion all-dayer at the Kentish Town Forum on Saturday 13 December 2008, alongside The Damned,

Johnny Moped Johnny Moped are an English punk rock group formed in South London in the mid-1970s, who once had Chrissie Hynde (later of the Pretenders) and Captain Sensible (later of the Damned) as members. Biography Formed in Croydon in May 1974, the b ...

and Penetration. Their concert on 22 January 2010 (at the

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

in London) reprised their earlier tours as special guests of Eddie & the Hotrods. Their 1978 single "The Real Me" appeared in the 2020 TV version of

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work f ...

's '' High Fidelity'' (Season 1, episode 1).

Reviews

* "On the fringes of both the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and new wave scene, the Radio Stars were at heart a quirky rock band built around Gordon's songs and Ellison's enthusiastic vocals". * "A series of tongue-in-cheek singles, including "Dirty Pictures" and "Nervous Wreck", captured the quartet's brand of quirky pop / punk, but although the latter reached the fringes of the Top 40, the band were unable to achieve consistent success". * "Radio Stars cut their debut album, provisionally titled ''Bowels Stuffed With Spleen''. Squeamishly, Chiswick pleaded for something a little less unappetizing – the group replaced it with ''Songs For Swinging Lovers'', but otherwise their monumental and, admittedly, tongue-in-cheek lack of taste was given full reign, via an ode to a recent

serial rapist A serial rapist is someone who commits multiple rapes, whether with multiple victims or a single victim repeatedly over a period of time. Some serial rapists target children. The terms ''sexual predator'', ''repeat rape'' and ''multiple offending ...

, "The Beast of Barnsley", a tribute to the just-deceased

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, "Arthur is Dead Boring (Let's Rot)" and "Nervous Wreck", positively the finest pop song ever to feature a girlie chorus trilling "electro-encephalograph". * The debut LP is "supreme power-pop punk with fiendishly witty lyrics, subject matter ranging from Greek restaurant menus ("Macaroni and Mice") to serial killers ("Beast of Barnsley"), and unrequited love ("Nervous Wreck"), nailed to some genuinely, memorably rocketing riffs. Rating: nine out of ten". * "The Radio Stars presented a more refined blend of

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

/ new wave bandwagoneering". * "Radio Stars were a significant, but not essential, new wave band. They had a few good songs, but all their albums lacked sufficient consistency to become real classics".

Line-up changes

* Original line-up:

– vocals; Ian MacLeod - guitar and backing vocals;

Chris Townson Chris Townson (24 July 1947 – 10 February 2008) was an English musician, illustrator and social worker. He was a founding member of the 1960s rock group John's Children, and a member of several other bands, including Jook, Jet and Radio Star ...

- drums;

– bass, keyboards, songs, everything else. * First EP:

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

replaces Townson on drums. * First album: Steve Parry replaces Simon on drums. * Second album: Jamie Crompton replaces Parry on drums; Paul Jones guests on harmonica; Chris Gent plays sax;

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two P ...

provides a voiceover. * Band breaks up in summer 1979, reforms briefly in 1982 for two performances, now including ELO's

Hugh McDowell Hugh Alexander McDowell (31 July 1953 – 6 November 2018)ELO and ...

on cello. * 2008: Band performs 32nd anniversary gig at London's Metro Club, and again at the Rebellion festival in London in December, with Stephen Budney playing the drums. * 2010: Band performs 34th anniversary gig at 100 Club in London supporting Eddie and the Hotrods, with Smash on drums.

Discography

Albums

*''Songs for Swinging Lovers'' (December 1977:

WIK 5) *''Holiday Album'' (September 1978: Chiswick Records CWK 3001)

Live albums

*''Something For the Weekend'' (March 2008:

RSVP010CD)

Compilations

*''Two Minutes Mr. Smith'' (May 1982: Moonlight MNA 001) *''Somewhere There's A Place For Us'' (October 1992: Ace Records CDWIKD 107) *''Thinking Inside the Box'' (March 2017:

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well ...

CDPUNKBOX 162)

Appearances on various artist compilations (selected)

Listing of those various artist

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s mentioned in the text of the main article: * "Dirty Pictures" featured on the ''

(Chiswick Chartbusters Volume One)'' sampler album (1977:

) * "No Russians in Russia" featured on the ''Long Shots, Dead Certs And Odds On Favourites (Chiswick Chartbusters Volume Two)'' sampler album (1978: Chiswick Records)

Singles

*"Dirty Pictures" / "Sail Away" (April 1977: Chiswick S 9) *"Stop It E.P.": "No Russians in Russia" / "Box 29" / "Johnny Mekon" / "Sorry I’m Tied Up" (August 1977: Chiswick SW 17) *"Nervous Wreck" / "Horrible Breath" (October 1977: Chiswick NS 23) Also available as a 12 inch single (NST 23) No. 39

*"From A Rabbit" / "To A Beast" (April 1978: Chiswick NS 36) *"Radio Stars" / "Accountancy Blues" (September 1978: Chiswick CHIS 102) *"The Real Me" / "Good Personality" (January 1979: Chiswick CHIS 109) *"Good Personality" / "Talking ‘Bout You" (May 1982: Moonlight MNS 001) (posthumous release) *"My Mother Said" / "Two Minutes Mr. Smith" (September 1982: Snat Records ECG 1) (posthumous release)

References

External links

Official site of Radio Stars founder/composer/producer/bassist Martin Gordon
*

on www.punk77.co.uk
Radio Stars Facebook page
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1979 English rock music groups English new wave musical groups 1977 establishments in England 1979 disestablishments in England