Chapter 70: I Love Rock 'n' Roll (August 1981 - October 1982)

24 August 1981

The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You

Released: 24 August 1981

Recorded: 22 January - 19 October 1979 and October 1980 - June 1981

Producer: The Glimmer Twins

Track listing[1]

Side A

Hang Fire

Everything is Turning to Gold

Petrol Blues

Lost and Lonely

Neighbours

Side B

Down in the Hole

Heaven

Let Me Go

She's So Cold

The Rolling Stones' most recent release marked the end of a quadrilogy of albums featuring tracks that were written at the tail end of the 1970s and into the start of the 1980s. Tattoo You hit #1 in the United States for two weeks in the middle of the Beatles' return to the spotlight with Quadruple Fantasy; however, the Stones' album was kept off the top spot in the United Kingdom by the Beatles' album. The sole single off of Tattoo You, "Hang Fire" backed with "Neighbours" (#7 UK, #2 US), was released on 14 August, ten days before the album. Critical reception was generally very positive.

MICK JAGGER: "We were feeling pretty burned out by the time we'd finished up Tattoo You before we toured America in 1981 and Europe in 1982. Keith and I were at one another's throats half of the time, and we really needed a break from each other. So, *chuckles* the Beatles got back together in the 80s, and the Stones took a break that same time as well." (2012)

The Rolling Stones' last concert was on 25 July 1982 in Leeds, the day before Mick Jagger's 39th birthday, and shortly afterward, he, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts took a hiatus as a group to focus on side projects and sort out their differences. It would be about six years before they were together again as a group.[2]

20 November 1981

Pink Floyd - Fictitious Sports

Released: 20 November 1981

Recorded: May - August 1981

Producer: Pink Floyd

Track listing[3]

Side A

Holiday

No Way

Mad Yannis Dance

Hot River

I Can't Breathe Anymore

Side B

Waves

Cry from the Street

I Was Wrong

Raise My Rent

Pink's Song

Pink Floyd's follow-up to Mihalis consisted of material that was written during the same sessions, but they were held back for a follow-up shortly after the tour. Like Mihalis, Fictitious Sports was recorded fairly quickly, with "Hot River" occupying a week to record during the sessions, with Karen Kraft making a guest appearance alongside Robert Wyatt on vocals. Although the production credit went to Pink Floyd as a group, it was mainly David Gilmour and Nick Mason who did most of the production work.

Fictitious Sports reached #1 in the United Kingdom just as the hype over the Beatles' Quadruple Fantasy was calming down, and #4 in the United States. The success of Mihalis ensured that Pink Floyd would recover financially, and Fictitious Sports would go on to prove that it wasn't just a lucky break, even though there were no singles to promote the album at first. "Holiday" and "I Can't Breathe Anymore" would end up being released as a single due to audience demand. Roger Waters would call Fictitious Sports his favorite Pink Floyd album following his departure.

15 January 1982

Kim Beacon - Talking to Myself

Released: 15 January 1982

Recorded: 1981

Producer: Kim Beacon and David Hentschel

Track listing[4]

Side A

Tempted

Destiny

Hurt Inside

Third Time

Behind the Lines

Side B

Crossfire

Honest Man

If I Had You

Foolish Isle

Back Again

Kim Beacon's follow-up to Ravenna had been recorded in 1981, but with Phil Collins' Face Value and Genesis' Abacab coming out that same year, it was decided to hold back Talking to Myself for next year. However, the lead single, "Tempted" backed with Beacon's re-recording of "Behind the Lines", was released in December for a Christmas release. Elvis Costello and Chris Difford of Squeeze contributed backing lines to the A-side, originally intended for Squeeze's own East Side Story.[5]

March 19 - 21, 1982

Ozzy Osbourne performing live, one of his final performances prior to his death in 1982.

Following his departure from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to drug and alcohol problems, Ozzy Osbourne had taken on a solo career beginning with 1980's Blizzard of Ozz and following that with 1981's Diary of a Madman. Both albums were well-received and charted very well with hits such as "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley" and "Flying High Again". For how talented Osbourne was, his behavior off stage was very well documented.

In 1981, when invited to a meeting with the head of CBS Europe in Germany, Osbourne was intoxicated and had performed a goose-step up and down the table and took a piss in the executive's wine.[6] That same year, after signing his first solo career record deal in Los Angeles, Osbourne had bit the head off a dove, initially planning to release doves into the air as a peace offering, but again, because of his intoxication, he had forgotten. On January 28, 1982, Osbourne bit the head off a bat that he thought was rubber in the midst of a performance at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, resulting in him being treated for rabies. A few weeks later, on February 18, while wearing his fiancé Sharon Arden's (daughter of Don Arden, former manager of Electric Light Orchestra) dress, Osbourne had drunkenly urinated on a cenotaph near the Alamo that was dedicated to those who died at the famous battle in Texas. Osbourne had been arrested and was later banned from San Antonio.

His antics were becoming frustrating to deal with to his backing band Randy Rhoads (guitar), Rudy Sarzo (bass), Tommy Aldridge (drums) and Don Airey (keyboards). Osbourne was in a state of near-constant inebriation and whenever he was hungover, he would not perform; when he did, performances would suffer due to Osbourne's voice being damaged from excessive smoking and drinking. His mood swings when drunk had gotten so unpredictable and violent that everyone involved was at the end of their rope.

Randy Rhoads performing live during the Diary of a Madman Tour, December 1981.

RANDY RHOADS: "'You'll kill yourself, you know? One of these days.' That was the very last thing I ever said to Ozzy while we were heading to the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando. I was fed up with his heavy drinking and was planning to leave and learn classical guitar at UCLA. I still did so, but I wish I'd parted ways with Ozzy on better terms." (2002)[7]

The performance at Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Tennessee turned out to be Ozzy Osbourne's final ever show, as on the morning they were due to perform at the Tangerine Bowl, he was found dead; an autopsy confirmed that he had choked on his own vomit. A promising solo career had been cut short, and as a result of Osbourne's death, the rest of the Diary of a Madman Tour was cancelled. Many rock and heavy metal acts paid tribute to the fallen pioneer of heavy metal.

Black Sabbath had been at odds with their new vocalist Ronnie James Dio over the mixing of their live album Live Evil, but in the wake of Osbourne's death, they put their differences aside, becoming closer than ever before. They would continue with Dio until his death in 2010. Lindsey Buckingham was affected greatly by Osbourne's death despite not knowing him personally, and he began reaching out to his former Fleetwood Mac bandmates beginning with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, who were willing to speak with him again following his meltdown during the aborted Tusk sessions. Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, however, were a different matter altogether, but they gave Lindsey the chance to prove that he had changed for the better.

Thelma Riley, Osbourne's ex-wife, was now the guardian of his estate, and their daughter Jessica (born 1972) would not be able to inherit his royalties from both his solo career and time in Black Sabbath until she was eighteen. The Osbourne family fought hard to protect what would become Jessica's inheritance that would lead to a legal fight lasting up until next year. Meanwhile, Sharon Arden would continue her role as manager while Thelma acted as guardian to Osbourne's estate.

21 May - 1 October 1982

Genesis - 3x3

Released: 21 May 1982

Recorded: May - June 1981

Producer: Genesis

Track listing[8]

Side A

Keep It Dark

Who Dunnit?

Side B

Another Record

Genesis' newest release was an extended play, their second following 1977's Spot the Gorilla, which had consisted of three outtakes from Wind & Wuthering. Like Spot the Gorilla, 3x3 consisted of three outtakes from the Abacab sessions, these being the more esoteric tracks that didn't fit the tone of the album. Alongside the release of the extended play, "Keep It Dark" and "Who Dunnit?" (#20 UK) were released together as a single, albeit on 15 May. 3x3 was not one of Genesis' stronger releases despite reaching #10 in the United Kingdom, but it would later go down as a collector's item.

The final release of the year by Genesis, either as a group or by an individual member, was Mike Rutherford's Acting Very Strange (#16 UK, #84 US), released 7 September 1982. The lead single, "Halfway There", was a minor hit in the United States, peaking at #29. Although Rutherford was not normally known for his vocal performances, the single's modest success encouraged him (as well as Tony Banks) to consider getting a few vocal spots on later Genesis releases.

Peter Gabriel, 1982.

KIM BEACON: "At the start of October, we had a reunion concert with Peter [Gabriel] and Steve [Hackett]. It had been a while since Mike, Tony and I played with Steve - and back when Phil was still in the band - and I'd interacted with Peter before. Chester [Thompson] and Daryl [Stuermer] were there, but Phil wasn't, due to his commitments with the Who. We were in Buckinghamshire, and they were to play at the St. Paul Civic Center in America tomorrow. No way Phil could've played at both shows back to back. I do wish he had been available that day; we'd have had every member of Genesis since 1971 playing on the same night together." (2015)

The Seven of the Best concert took place at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, shortly following Genesis' tour of North America and Europe in August and September. The concert had been organized by their former front man/lead vocalist Peter Gabriel to raise money for his World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) project which had been in severe financial debt after its disastrous debut in 1980 due to lack of suitable transport to the venue and a lack of publicity.

Genesis with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett - Seven of the Best, 1 October 1982[9]
The National Bowl, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England - 1 show

Setlist:

1. Back in N.Y.C.

2. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight

3. The Carpet Crawlers

4. Firth of Fifth

5. The Musical Box

6. Solsbury Hill

7. Turn It On Again

8. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

9. Fly on a Windshield

10. Broadway Melody of 1974

11. In the Cage

12. Supper's Ready

13. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

14. The Knife

Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett had come in a week earlier to rehearse with the band, playing for the whole show. When it came to playing "Turn It On Again", the roles were switched up; Kim Beacon took lead vocals, Peter Gabriel on drums, Steve Hackett on bass, and Mike Rutherford on rhythm guitar (he had also done so for some older songs). Only Tony Banks remained on keyboards throughout. Daryl Stuermer traded some lead guitar lines with Hackett, doing some dual lead work akin to the Allman Brothers. Weather conditions were very good, so the entire concert was filmed and later released as a live album and film, Seven of the Best, credited to Genesis with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, and even released under Apple Films.

PHIL COLLINS: "Not playing with the rest of the group for Seven of the Best is one of my biggest regrets. If the Who weren't on tour during that time, I'd have come on board to play drums with them. I still see Kim, Tony or Mike, sometimes all three, at parties and other things like that, but we're all busy with our own thing, so we don't collaborate that much. We're all still good friends, but they don't see a need for me to come back." (2011)

Footnotes

1. Tracks are sourced from Tattoo You and Emotional Rescue; the exceptions are "Everything is Turning to Gold" (a non-album B-side), "Petrol Blues" (from the 2011 reissue of Some Girls) and "Lost and Lonely" (from Ronnie Wood's Gimme Some Neck).
2. Between 1982 and 1989, the Rolling Stones put out two albums - Undercover (1983) and Dirty Work (1986) - neither of which are viewed very positively among critics and fans. Some songs might exist as solo releases, but I will not be going into heavy detail about that.
3. Much like its predecessor Mihalis, tracks are sourced from Richard Wright's Wet Dream, David Gilmour's 1978 eponymous album, and Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports.
4. All tracks are sourced from OTL's Talking to Myself, excluding "Tempted" from Squeeze's East Side Story and "Behind the Lines" from Phil Collins' Face Value.
5. For East Side Story in TTL, the B-side "Yap Yap Yap" takes the place of "Tempted".
   
6. That is the story according to Sharon Osbourne; Ozzy claimed that he performed a strip tease on the table and kissed a CBS Europe executive on the lips. Sharon claims that Ozzy was too drunk to remember.
7. Randy Rhoads was intending to take up classical guitar at UCLA before he was killed in the plane crash (the second flight does not take place in TTL). His last words to Ozzy Osbourne are verbatim to OTL.
8. All tracks are sourced from Abacab. Kim Beacon sings lead vocals on all of the tracks.
9. In OTL, the performance took place on October 2, Mike Rutherford's 32nd birthday. In addition, weather conditions were poor, and several audience recordings have since come out.

Author's Comments

So here we are with the seventieth chapter of Strawberry Peppers Mark 1! This also marks the last major appearance of the Rolling Stones as a group, although not to fear; we shall see from David Bowie once more in a later chapter. Pink Floyd's story will also continue for a few chapters more, as will that of Roger Waters' solo career. As for Genesis, the most frustrating storyline for Mark 1, they'll receive some focus for a few more chapters as we get into the 1983-1985 part of the story. The final runtime for Mark 1 will be 80 chapters, if you exclude the prologue and two intermissions, which is a nice round number.

And of course, there's a brief vignette with Ozzy Osbourne dying in the midst of his Diary of a Madman Tour, with the second flight that killed Randy Rhoads never taking place. That was very much inspired from the seemingly abandoned alternate history timeline, In the Heart of Metal, from which I also took influence for the DC Appleverse. Even though it's a minor subplot at most, it does have an impact which you'll soon see within the next ten chapters. Here's hoping I get them all done by the end of 2021! And on a more frequent basis.