Chapter 78: Jump (September 1984 - April 1985)

September 14, 1984

Tom Petty & Mudcrutch - Southern Accents

Released: September 14, 1984

Recorded: 1983-1984

Producer: Tom Petty and Jimmy Iovine

Track listing[1]

Side A

Rebels

Trailer

The Image of Me

The Apartment Song [ft. Stevie Nicks]

Crackin' Up

Southern Accents

Side B

Walkin' from the Fire

Big Boss Man

Spike

Dogs on the Run

Mary's New Car

The Best of Everything

The seventh album by Tom Petty & Mudcrutch was a concept album focusing on life in the Southern part of the United States; this was further emphasized with cover versions of Wayne Kemp's "The Image of Me" and Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man", also previously covered by Elvis Presley and B.B. King, as well as Nick Lowe's "Crackin' Up", which contained some country influence. Southern Accents (#16 UK, #1 US) was released to positive reception with the lead single "Rebels" reaching #15 in the United States.[2] During the sessions, Tom Petty wrote a few tracks with Eurythmics member David A. Stewart, resulting in the non-album single "Don't Come Around Here No More"/"Make It Better (Forget About Me)" (February 28, 1985 - #22 UK, #5 US) that had a music video inspired from Alice in Wonderland.

November 6, 1984

President George Bush, 1984.

To say that George Bush struggled to live up to the legacy left behind by Ronald Reagan prior to his assassination would be putting it mildly. Reagan had been hoping for the 1980s to be a decade of Conservatism - his British counterpart, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, seemed to have had similar thoughts, but her ambition was cut short when the Grand Hotel in Brighton had been bombed on 12 October that year (one day before her 59th birthday), and she was was one of the unfortunate victims.[3] Following Thatcher's death, de facto Deputy Prime Minister William Whitelaw would serve as intern Prime Minister until the next election took place.[4]

Since Reagan's death, things seemed to go badly for President Bush despite his best efforts to lead America. What would become known as the Great Recession in the United States seemed to have had its origins with the 1979 Oil Crisis in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. The Recession further accelerated within Bush's first year in office, and people blamed Bush for what was happening in America.

To make matters worse, Vice President Paul Laxalt - a close friend to Reagan, often referred to as the "First Friend" - was under investigation. Headlines reported embezzlement at the Ormsby House, a hotel and casino in Carson City, Nevada owned by the Laxalt family, suggesting Laxalt himself was tied to organized crime.[5] Laxalt denied these claims greatly, feeling that he had enough to worry about with his duties as vice president, but it didn't stop the public from calling Laxalt "the next Nixon".

Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, 1984.

As the 1984 election grew closer, Bush announced that he would not be running for a second term as President of the United States. This announcement was met with divided opinions; some were happy at not having to deal with a "failed" president for another four years, while others felt that, had it not been for the Great Recession, Bush could've had a chance to mold his own legacy as President. The Republican Party ended nominating Laxalt as their candidate for the election against Democrat Michael Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts. Their respective running mates were Senator from Indiana Dan Quayle (Republican) and Senator from Arkansas Dale Bumpers (Democrat).[6]

Despite Laxalt agreeing to a presidential debate, Dukakis declined to participate despite his lead in the polls. Amazingly, this turned out to be a smart move, as there were swarms of reporters asking Laxalt questions about skimming profits from the Ormsby House and the vice president yelling at them, even using the F-word on them. This verbal altercation only served to further harm Laxalt's chances of election.

Come Tuesday, even before all polls nation wide had closed, Michael Dukakis, age 51, was declared the President-elect, with Dale Bumpers, age 59, as the Vice President-elect. The Democratic Party had won in a landslide election for the first time since 1964, when Lyndon Johnson trounced Barry Goldwater 486 to 52, although this margin (442 to 96) wasn't as big, but still sizable.[7] Exhausted, the Republicans knew that they were going to have to do some soul-searching after the last four years, and reshape themselves for the 1988 election.

George Bush congratulated Dukakis on his victory in the election, and come January 20, 1985, Bush would return to a private life with his wife Barbara until her death on April 17, 2018, aged 92. George would also die that same year on November 30, aged 94, as would, coincidentally, Paul Laxalt on August 6, four days after his 96th birthday.

16 November 1984

Kim Beacon - Prospect Road

Released: 16 November 1984

Recorded: July - August 1984

Producer: Phil Collins

Track listing[8]

Side A

Only You Know and I Know

Tell Me

Naked

I Don't Wanna Know

Easy Lover [w/ Phil Collins]

Side B

So Inspired

Let Me Be the One

Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore

Free to Love Again

Prospect Road

Kim Beacon's third solo album was his first collaboration with Phil Collins since the latter's departure from Genesis in 1978. Collins served as the producer for Prospect Road and even played drums on a couple of songs, even singing on "Easy Lover" as part of a duet with Beacon. The sessions took place while Collins was working on his follow-up to Hello, I Must Be Going! (shortly following his marriage to Jill Tavelman) and shortly following Genesis' Shapes Tour, which had ended that February. Since its release, Prospect Road (#1 UK, #5 US) has gone on to be one of the most popular albums of Kim Beacon's solo career, with "Easy Lover" (#1 UK, #2 US) becoming a huge hit. A non-album single from the sessions, "Shine Your Light on Me"/"Those Eyes" (14 January 1985 - #7 UK, #16 US), also charted fairly well.

31 December 1984

RICK ALLEN: "It was absolutely terrifying, with me and Miriam [Barendsen] being involved in that accident on the A57. Everything happened so quickly, and yet I'm very grateful the both of us managed to get out of it with just a few cuts and bruises." (2004)[9]

8 April 1985

Pink Floyd - Identity

Released: 8 April 1985

Recorded: September 1984

Producer: Pink Floyd, Bob Ezrin, Tim Palmer and Rick Fenn

Track listing[10]

Side A

Yolanda

Lie for a Lie

Private Person

You Know I'm Right

Blue Light

Amber and the Amberines

Side B

Yet Another Movie (Round and Round)

How Do You Do It?

Cruise

Let's Get Metaphysical

Seems We Were Dreaming

Pink Floyd's About Face Tour was relatively short compared to others, albeit still quite successful, with shows in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Canada. It was also their first to feature Pete Townshend and Dave Harris as support players. That September, the band returned to the studio to record their follow-up to About Face.

DAVID GILMOUR: "Identity was something of a soft reboot for Pink Floyd. While About Face did well commercially, it didn't really feel like we had any sort of direction. Identity was where we seemed to get back on track again." (2017)

Indeed, Identity managed to reach the #1 spot in both the United Kingdom and the United States, becoming Pink Floyd's most successful album of the 1980s, being compared to a Dark Side of the Moon for said decade. Most of the album had been written during the band's About Face Tour, barring "Lie for a Lie", which was written during the sessions by Nick Mason along with Danny Peyronel and Rick Fenn, the latter of whom also co-produced the album. Although Identity was well-received by fans, critics were more mixed in their opinions, with some even thinking that Pink Floyd had sold out.

Footnotes

1. Six of the tracks are sourced from OTL's Southern Accents. The remaining tracks are sourced from Playback, excluding "Walkin' from the Fire", sourced from An American Treasure. In addition, the track listing is based upon AEC's reconstruction of Southern Accents but with "The Apartment Song" moved to Side A and "Walkin' from the Fire" opening Side B.
2. In OTL, while mixing "Rebels", Tom Petty got frustrated and punched a wall, which resulted in surgery on his left hand; this was one of several reasons the band didn't think very highly of the album. In TTL, the "broken hand" incident does not happen.
3. In OTL, Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped the blast, and she lived until 8 April 2013, aged 87.
4. William Whitelaw served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 (the year Thatcher became Prime Minister) to 1988, when that position was taken over by Sir Geoffrey Howe, who maintained the position until Thatcher's resignation in 1990. Michael Heseltine was the first official Deputy Prime Minister, serving 1995 to 1997. As of 2021, the position is currently not in use.
5. In 1983, the Sacramento Bee published two articles about Paul Laxalt's business dealings in the early 1970s. This is not going to help Laxalt much in the presidential election in TTL.
6. Michael Dukakis went against George Bush in the 1988 election and lost. Dan Quayle was Bush's running mate (and eventual Vice President) while Dukakis' running mate was Lloyd Bentsen.
7. In OTL, Ronald Reagan beat out Walter Mondale 525 to 13, with Mondale winning only Minnesota and Washington, D.C.. This electoral vote total has not been matched before or since.
8. "Only You Know and I Know", "I Don't Wanna Know" and "Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore" are all sourced from Phil Collins' No Jacket Required. "Easy Lover" is sourced from Philip Bailey's Chinese Wall, a duet with Collins in OTL. The remaining tracks come from a live performance at The Outhouse in Glasgow in 1989.
9. In OTL, Rick Allen lost his left arm, which meant that Def Leppard would not perform onstage until August 16, 1986 (they declined to play at Live Aid as they were still waiting for him to recover). That was when Allen could play the drums live with only one arm for the first time at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington. In TTL, as Allen walks away with both arms intact, this means that Def Leppard's Hysteria will be released earlier.
10. Tracks are sourced from Robert Wyatt's Work in Progress (also found on the compilation album Mid-Eighties), Nick Mason and Rick Fenn's Profiles, Zee's Identity and David Gilmour's About Face. "Yet Another Movie (Round and Round)" is sourced from A Momentary Lapse of Reason, the only true Pink Floyd track on Identity.

Author's Comments

At last, we've reached the chapter which shares the same number as vinyl records running at 78 rotations per minute. :P All jokes aside, we're rounding up more story arcs for the first draft before I finally start work on The Second Coming. Tom Petty and Mudcrutch's was probably the least eventful out of the story arcs given that very little changed apart from adding more songs on their 1976-1985 output (plus creating a pre-1976 album), but hopefully I've managed to make them better by adding in the outtakes which are hopefully just as good as those that made the cut.

However, we're not quite done with the Genesis and Pink Floyd story arcs; there's one more album to go through with Genesis (I think you can guess what it is), and even though we've covered the final Pink Floyd album of the first draft, this is not the last time we'll see them. Admittedly, Identity was not in the original plans, but after looking at what was leftover, plus dipping a little into Robert Wyatt's solo career, I decided there was enough material for another album. For those wondering about their post-1985 discography, Learning to Fly is OTL's A Momentary Lapse of Reason, The Division Bell is unaltered from OTL, and On an Island is their last album before the death of Richard Wright, with The Endless River being a Wright solo album.

As for that little vignette with Rick Allen, I did consider having him killed off and Def Leppard would break up after releasing Hysteria, but I decided against it. I don't think it would've made that much of a difference as the first draft is drawing to a close anyway with two chapters to go (and maybe an extra scene or two).