Chapter 65: Video Killed the Radio Star (June - December 1980)

6 June 1980

Freddie Mercury - The Game

Released: 6 June 1980

Recorded: July - October 1978, June - July 1979 and February - May 1980

Producer: Freddie Mercury, Roy Thomas Baker and Reinhold Mack

Track listing[1]

Side A

Mustapha

Play the Game

Jealousy

Bicycle Race

If You Can't Beat Them

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Side B

In Only Seven Days

Don't Try Suicide

Another One Bites the Dust

Need Your Loving Tonight

Don't Stop Me Now

Let Me Entertain You

Freddie Mercury's third extended play, Don't Stop Me Now, had been backed by the single of the same name, as well as the B-side "Bicycle Race" (#9 UK, #24 US), celebrating his overcoming of his anxiety about his sexuality. Part of that could be attributed to his then-boyfriend Elton John, almost making the track something of an LGBT anthem. Among the tracks included on the extended play were "Mustapha", "Jealousy", "Let Me Entertain You", and two John Deacon-penned tracks, "If You Can't Beat Them" and "In Only Seven Days". But it would be about two years before the tracks finally made their way onto an album.

Instead, in 1979, Mercury had put out a live album with Paul McCartney & Smile called Smiling Over Europe[2], documenting their live performances in the wake of the release of Rockestra. Mixed by Roy Thomas Baker, it received mixed reviews upon release, despite its high chart rankings (#3 UK, #1 US). Shortly after the Rockestra Tour, both parties would return to the studio, with new compositions by Paul McCartney heavily relying on synthesizers, and beginning to experiment with dance rock.[3] The rest of the songs would be recorded between February and May 1980 shortly after a brief tour in the United Kingdom in November and December 1979, introducing the song "Coming Up" for the first time. A live recording would end up on Smile's next album.

Mercury's fourth album, The Game, was initially preceded by the single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"/"Mustapha" on 15 October 1979, hitting #1 in the United States but stalling out at #2 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single, "Another One Bites the Dust"/"Play the Game", was released 12 May 1980 and also hit #1 in the United States and #7 in the United Kingdom, per suggestion by Michael Jackson. The Game marked Mercury's first #1 album in the United States as well, and would also peak at #1 in the United Kingdom. The newer recordings featured Apple sound engineer Reinhold Mack as producer, who had also done work with the Electric Light Orchestra, giving Mercury a new sound.

4 July 1980

Paul McCartney & Smile - Coming Up

Released: 4 July 1980

Recorded: June - July 1979, December 1979 and February - May 1980

Producer: Paul McCartney and Reinhold Mack

Track listing[4]

Side A

Coming Up

Dragon Attack

Danger Zone

On the Way

Coming Soon

Nobody Knows

Side B

Rock It (Prime Jive)

Waterfalls

Sail Away Sweet Sister

Lover's Light

One of These Days

Save Me

PAUL McCARTNEY: "I don't know what it was, but by the end of the 1970s, I had this strange feeling of disillusionment of being a part of Smile, y'know. I got that nagging feeling in my head after we did the tour in '78 and '79. It was also why I didn't participate much in the later recordings nor on the Flash Gordon soundtrack. It was when I received a phone call that this sudden realization hit me like a brick wall..." (2011)

By the songwriting credits alone, it was pretty obvious that Paul McCartney had loosened his dominance over Smile. Bass duties were done more often by John Deacon, Freddie Mercury's prominence as vocalist was more frequent, and McCartney was now feeling like a fish out of water. His last album with Smile, Coming Up, hit #1 in the United Kingdom and #3 in the United States. The two singles off of the album, "Save Me"/"Summer's Day Song" (#5 UK, #2 US) and "Coming Up"/"Darkroom" (#2 UK, #1 US), were also Top 10 hits after being released on 30 June and 11 August, respectively. The album received mixed reviews from critics due to the increased usage of synthesizers.

But who was that person who gave Paul McCartney that phone call?

JOHN LENNON: "So I was driving the boat for six hours, keeping it on course. I was buried under water. I was smashed in the face by waves for six solid hours. It won't go away. You can't change your mind. It's like being on stage; once you're on, there's no gettin' off. A couple of waves had me on my knees. I was just hanging on with my hands on the wheel - it is very powerful weather - and I was having the time of my life. I was screaming sea chanties and shoutin' at the gods! I felt like the Viking, you know, Jason and the Golden Fleece. I arrived in Bermuda. Once I got there, I was so centered after the experience at sea that I was tuned in, or whatever, to the cosmos. And all these songs came! The time there was amazing. Maddy, Freddie and I were there on the beach taping songs with this big machine and me just playing guitar and singing. We were just in the sun and these songs were coming out." (1981)[5]

John Lennon and Madeline Kahn, 1980.

John Lennon had been wanting to visit Bermuda to escape the hustle and bustle of New York, but getting to the island proved treacherous to the man who gave the world classics such as "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Revolution". The crew of the yacht had gotten sick, and Lennon - a novice sailor at best - was left in charge of the helm, facing merciless, powerful winds at 120 miles per hour, and waves as high as twenty feet. Eventually, calmer seas would prevail, and upon docking at St. George's Harbor, Lennon rented a home and was able to settle in. While he was there, a sudden muse had re-awoken inside of him.

MADELINE KAHN: "John had gone into this nightclub where they were playing this new hit single by the B-52s ['Rock Lobster'], and this new sound had amazed him so much that he began writing new songs. He would present me and Freddie with these new songs that he had written, as if he was planning a solo album of sorts. Instead of these socio-political songs like 'Revolution', they were more in line with 'In My Life' and 'Julia'. Then there was this one song of his ['Woman'] that brought a lump to my throat. Just hit me right in my heart when I heard it for the first time. After he finished, I clung onto him and cried, but they were happy tears. Having got it all got, I suggested that he show it to the other boys and see what they think." (2005)

The first Beatle John decided to call was Paul. After a near miss reunion in 1976, both men agreed that it was time that they put out a proper reunion album, to give the public at least one more album out of the most famous musicians in the world. "Let's show them we still got it, eh, Paulie?" John quipped over the phone.

BRIAN MAY: "It was pretty much inevitable. But we harbor no grudge against Paul for this; we parted ways on amicable terms. Shortly afterward, Denny [Laine] left Smile as well to form his own group. With Freddie and John [Deacon] becoming full-time members, Smile had gone through a total metamorphosis. We probably didn't need to worry much about how the public would react, but at the time, we were kind of nervous about our future." (1988)

So far, half of the Beatles had agreed to a reunion, but what about the other half? Well, one of the other members was sure to agree, which just left their fourth member's opinion as the deciding factor...

14 November 1980

The Dark Horses - Somewhere in England

Released: 14 November 1980

Recorded: March - September 1980

Producer: George Harrison and Ronnie Wood

Track listing[6]

Side A

Something Special

Soft-Hearted Hana

Another Ticket

Come to Realize

Wake Up

I Can't Stand It

Side B

Life Itself

Hold Me Lord

Dead Giveaway

Dark Sweet Lady

Tears of the World

Rita Mae

With Vangelis having become the new keyboardist for Yes following Rick Wakeman's departure, as well as Ronnie Wood's commitment to the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton's alcohol addiction, the Dark Horses were on the verge of imploding. It was simply a matter of when and how. By that point, George Harrison had re-married and had a son, and was considering going into semi-retirement from the music business.

Meanwhile, taking a page from John Lennon's book, Ringo Starr had been hoping to kick off a side career in acting, starting with another Apple Films project, Caveman. On the set, he would fall in love with actress Barbara Bach, famous for playing Bond girl Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me, the tenth entry in the James Bond film franchise. The couple got into a car crash on 19 May 1980 in Surrey, England, but thankfully, they both survived, with Ringo even proposing marriage to her shortly afterward.

It was astounding that the Dark Horses were actually able to put out Somewhere in England (#18 UK, #7 US), although it would not be their most successful album, critically or commercially. Neither of its two singles, "I Can't Stand It"/"Don't Worry" (17 November 1980; #10 US) and "Life Itself"/"Catch Me If You Can" (12 January 1981; #13 UK, #51 US) were great successes either. In fact, by the time the album had been mixed and released, the Dark Horses had ceased to be.

Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr on the set of Caveman, released 1981 under Apple Films. The film was not a critical or financial success.

GEORGE HARRISON: "Ringo, Paul and I all met up with John in New York. John had gone through a creative rebirth and told us that he had all these songs he wanted to bring out to the world, but he couldn't do it alone. He needed all of us to bring them to life, do them justice. Paul and Ringo were all for it, though I wasn't too sure at first. We had to make some compromises from this point onward if we were to reunite. One of them being that songs couldn't be simply credited to Lennon/McCartney or Harrison. No, they'd be credited to the Beatles, regardless as to who wrote what." (1995)

PAUL McCARTNEY: "In the past, I'd been rather unfair to George and his songwriting, and I wanted to make up for that by giving him a voice in the audition process, and how we wanted songs to go. Instead of me and John taking most of the vocal spots with George having two and Ringo one, it would be four songs each between myself, John and George, and two songs for Ringo if he was up to it." (2007)

Arrangements between all four Beatles were rather lengthy, but eventually, they had come to an agreement as to how things should be between them from that point onward. At long last, it looked as though a decade of petty bitching had finally been put behind them, making way instead to kissing and making up (the fact that their wives had become close friends also helped). There had been hopes for a full-fledged reunion since putting out Rock 'n' Roll to fulfill their contract with EMI back in 1976, especially after that jam session at Eric Clapton's wedding with Pattie Boyd, but at last, the dream was about to be fulfilled.

RINGO STARR: "I couldn't have been happier during that time. I'd had three narrow brushes with death, I was engaged to Barbara, and me mates and I were finally reuniting again, sober, healthy and happy. What more could anyone ask for?" (2010)

8 December 1980

Smile - Flash Gordon

Released: 8 December 1980

Recorded: February - March, October - November 1980

Producer: Brian May and Reinhold Mack

Track listing

Side A

Flash's Theme

In the Space Capsule (The Love Theme)

Ming's Theme (In the Court of Ming the Merciless)

The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction of Dale)

Football Fight

In the Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)

Execution of Flash

The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash)

Side B

Arboria (Planet of the Tree Men)

Escape from the Swamp

Flash to the Rescue

Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawk Men)

Battle Theme

The Wedding March

Marriage of Dale and Ming (And Flash Approaching)

Crash Dive on Mingo City

Flash's Theme Reprise (Victory Celebrations)

The Hero

Smile's first album without Paul McCartney and Denny Laine was the soundtrack to yet another Apple Films project, Flash Gordon, featuring Sam J. Jones as the titular hero, and also including an ensemble cast including Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton and Brian Blessed. The lead single "Flash" (#8 UK, #35 US) featured the non-album B-side, "Rainclouds", which was a co-write between McCartney and Laine, their last contribution to a Smile release, and came out on 24 November 1980.

The soundtrack to the film reached #10 in the United Kingdom and #23 in the United States. The movie itself, meanwhile, underperformed at the box office, despite critical reception being generally positive, although it has since gone on to become a cult classic. Still, the underwhelming performance of both Flash Gordon and Caveman left people wondering as to whether or not Apple Films could last the new decade.

Meanwhile, all across America by 11 PM, Eastern Standard Time, life was carrying on like normal. There was no announcement that a deranged killer had attacked anybody famous, and on Monday Night Football on ABC, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford were announcing the game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. The two teams were at a tie, but it was soon broken in the overtime period when the Dolphins' Uwe von Schamann made the twenty-three yard field goal, giving Miami a narrow victory of 16 to 13.[7] Football fans enjoyed the game either disappointed for the Patriots' loss or excitement for the Dolphins' victory. There had been no reason to bring the game to a halt.

Paul McCartney at Studio 2, Abbey Road, recording for the Beatles reunion album, 1981.

As for the Beatles, there were positive feelings in the air among them and their families. New songs were being written and recorded for a reunion album at Studio 2 of EMI Studios at Abbey Road (they kept the announcement private until further notice), and George Martin was once again in the producer's chair. It was almost like a soft reboot of sorts for the band after years of estrangement, and it only made sense to do so where the Beatles' sound was first invented when they recorded their first single "Love Me Do" eighteen years prior.

The four lads had changed so much since their Cavern Club days, but it was John Lennon who had gone through the most changes. John first married Cynthia Powell and had Julian with her, but then he abandoned them for Yoko Ono towards the end of the 1960s. In the mid-1970s, he had broken up with Yoko and later married Madeline Kahn, and with her had another son, Freddie. In the past few years, John had gained dual citizenship in both America and England, had reconciled with Julian and Cynthia, even going to see them earlier that year, and had abandoned drugs and alcohol altogether.

Paul McCartney was initially engaged to actress Jane Asher, but in 1968, the engagement had been broken off, and the following year, he was married to Linda Eastman and they had three children together - Mary, Stella and James, along with Linda's daughter Heather whom Paul had later adopted. In the past, Paul had been rather overbearing and domineering, but he had since mellowed out and taken notice as to which songs of his were good or bad.

Ringo Starr had married Maureen Cox in 1965, and together they had three children - Zak, Jason and Lee. Their marriage fell apart when George Harrison showed off his bastard side by drunkenly admitting to having had an affair with Maureen, after Pattie Boyd had been involved with Eric Clapton, which put a strain on their friendship. Since then, George had been remarried to Olivia Arias, and together they had a son, Dhani. Likewise, Ringo was engaged to Barbara Bach (affectionately nicknamed Babs), who had already gotten along with Madeline, Linda and Olivia (a.k.a. Livvy).

The Beatles at Abbey Road, September 1963.

All four men were born in Liverpool, England, but in a sense, they had also become American in a sense; John lived in New York, Ringo in Los Angeles, George lived part-time in Hawaii, and Paul had owned a ranch in Arizona. They had also recently recruited former Apple artist Billy Preston, born in Texas, to play keyboards for their reunion album, which would bring forth a new dynamic for the band. This would be just like starting over.

Footnotes

1. Tracks are sourced from Jazz and The Game.
2. This is a reference to Wings Over America, a live album put out by Paul McCartney in 1976. In addition, I did not give a track listing as to what songs were featured on the album; I leave it instead up to the readers' imagination as to what may have been included.
3. Paul McCartney recorded McCartney II in the summer of 1979 during a break for Wings. That same summer, Queen recorded the initial tracks that would make up The Game for next year.
4. Tracks are sourced from McCartney II, The Game and Japanese Tears. "Coming Up" is the live version that can be found on Wingspan; the single edit of "Waterfalls" is also sourced from Wingspan.
5. Verbatim, but the second to last line is slightly edited.
6. Tracks are sourced from Eric Clapton's Another Ticket, George Harrison's eponymous album, Somewhere in England and Thirty-Three & 1/3, Ronnie Wood's Gimme Some Neck and Ringo Starr's Stop and Smell the Roses.
7. Actual results of the Dolphins vs. Patriots game from December 8, 1980, the very date that John Lennon was murdered.

Author's Comments

Well, here we are then! This is something I've been building up to since chapter 20, and then further hinted at in chapter 50, and now we're finally seeing the Beatles have a proper reunion! It was very much an inevitable conclusion from day one, but hey, it was worth it. As of this chapter, we've covered fifteen years within a two-year period. That's quite a lot to cover in that timeframe!

For the Smile side of things, they carry on more or less the same trajectory as Queen did in OTL, minus the involvement of Paul Prenter in Freddie Mercury's life, and their 80s output gets a better reception than it did. Not much else to comment on there. There's one more chapter to deal with for 1978-1980; as has become tradition by this point, it's the Apple summary for that period.

Revised cover for The Game was made by Helter Skelter.