London, 1979. From the rubble and ashes of punk a new youth cult was emerging. Divinely inspired by David Bowie, Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, a new tribe the press started labelling New Romantics, or Futurists, discarded punk’s old hat claims towards authenticity and protest, in pursuit of glamour, make up, dressing up and dancing. Their home was The Blitz Club, a tiny wine bar at the edge of Covent Garden and what went on there between 1979 and 1980 would genuinely change the world. The other name for this cult? Blitz Kids.

Without necessarily knowing it, The Blitz was birthing the next wave of British pop stars. A young Boy George ran the cloakroom, its host and doorman was a young Steve Strange, soon to be the frontman of Visage, Spandau Ballet played their first gig there and on a given night you might find yourself dancing next to a member of Ultravox. Fashion designers in Regency ballgowns mingled with secretaries in rubber, post boys dressed as Biggles danced next to art school kids dressed as Pierrot. David Bowie assembled his extras for the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video from the Blitz kids. Mick Jagger was refused entry. Too square.

And the club had a mighty soundtrack, assembled painstakingly by its resident DJ Rusty Egan. Rusty’s sets brought together heroes like Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed cool European electronic pioneers like Kraftwerk, Telex and Yello, the electronic side of disco Cerrone, Hot Chocolate, Amanda Lear and cutting edge film soundtracks from the likes of Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder and Barry De Vorzon. Rusty also span the nascent sounds of Britian’s next new wave Japan, Landscape, the Human League, Visage, Ultravox, Fad Gadget…

Compiled exhaustively from his DJ sets, ‘Rusty Egan Presents The Blitz’ brings together the sounds of a night at the club circa 1980 on either 66 track 4CD or 36 track 4LP sets. Beautifully presented with contemporary photography from Sheila Rock, Peter Ashworth and Terry Smith, the booklets also contain sleeve notes from Alexis Petridis and Rusty Egan himself.

"Rusty Egan - Blitzed!" is out Friday, 28th June 2024 on Demon Records and available for pre-order now.

Divine undoubtedly contributed to the LGBT narrative contained within pop culture. His consistently fluid (and of course lewd) representation of sexuality and gender challenged the theatrics of 1980s pop music.

Created in collaboration with ‘Pope of Trash’ film maker John Waters, Divine was a brash confident persona. After the success of his partnership with John Waters, Divine would branch out with New York performer/producer Bobby O to launch a musical career that boasted a dizzying angle on Hi-NRG.

Divine’s first charting single ‘Native Love Step By Step’ (NL #28) remains one of his most frenetic hits. ‘Shoot Your Shot’ (DE #15/NL #7) is Bobby O’s brassy brand of club music mock-sexualised at full tilt. ‘Love Reaction’ (UK #65) gloriously appropriates New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’.

Song writing/producing trio Stock Aitken & Waterman continued the success of hi-NRG synthpop giving Divine one of his biggest hits in 1984’s ‘You Think You’re a Man’ (AUS #8/NL #32/UK #16) and ‘I’m So Beautiful’ (GER #38 / UK #52) which is perhaps most reminiscent of Divine’s earlier work with John Waters. ‘Walk Like A Man’ and ‘Twisting The Night Away’ continued the hit streak and kept Divine in the spotlight before his untimely death in 1988.

"Divine - Shoot Your Shot: The Divine Anthology" is out Friday, 3rd May 2024 on Hot Shot Records and available for pre-order here.

Disc One

1. NATIVE LOVE STEP BY STEP
2. SHOOT YOUR SHOT
3. SHAKE IT UP
4. LOVE REACTION
5. T-SHIRT AND TIGHT BLUE JEANS
6. YOU THINK YOU’RE A MAN
7. I’M SO BEAUTIFUL
8. SHOW ME AROUND
9. WALK LIKE A MAN/MAN TALK
10. TWISTIN’ THE NIGHT AWAY
11. HARD MAGIC
12. LITTLE BABY
13. HEY YOU!
14. SHOUT IT OUT

Disc Two

1. JUNGLE JEZEBEL
2. KICK YOUR BUTT
3. ALPHABET RAP
4. NATIVE LOVE (REMIX)
5. SHOOT YOUR SHOT (REMIX)
6. SHAKE IT UP (SPECIAL REMIX)
7. YOU THINK YOU’RE A MAN (SPECIAL REMIX)
8. I’M SO BEAUTIFUL (DIVINE MIX)
9. SHOW ME AROUND
10. GIVE IT UP
11. PSYCHEDELIC SHACK
12. YOU THINK YOU’RE A... MEDLEY
13. NATIVE LOVE STEP BY STEP (ALTERNATIVE REMIX)

Having been ‘discovered’ working in Liverpool’s Probe Records during the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s Pete Burns quickly found himself fronting his very own band Nightmares In Wax who quickly mutated into the more familiar Dead Or Alive. A star was born.

But prior to pop superstardom tabloid-tantalising celebrity and his later revival and recognition as an icon of gay punk and pop culture Pete Burns led Dead Or Alive into far darker waters as one of the earliest explorers of the post-punk Goth scene. Captured on two remarkable 7” singles originally released on Liverpool label Inevitable the band also caught the attention of the ever-reliable John Peel and recorded material for his seminal BBC Radio One programme.

‘Running Wild’ compiles those early singles and related Peel Session highlights bringing the latter to vinyl for the first time. Pressed on berry red vinyl and housed in a cover photograph by Dead Or Alive’s then manager Francesco Mellina 'Running Wild'  presents an early glimpse at the phenomenon Pete Burns would become and a long overdue back story accompaniment for fans and collectors alike.

"Dead Or Alive - Running Wild: The Inevitable Years" is out Friday, 31st May 2024 on Cherry Red Records and available for pre-order here.

SIDE A - The Singles

1. I’m Falling
2. Flowers
3. Number Eleven
4. Namegame (Live version)

SIDE B - Peel Sessions

1. Nowhere To Nowhere
2. Running Wild
3. Number Eleven
4. Number Twelve
5. Flowers