Hi All!

Just a quick introduction. My name is Steve and I currently live in Weston Super Mare, but I'm originally an Essex boy and I still call Southend on Sea home.

I have a small collection of boom boxes and Walkmans, but don't really consider myself a collector. I do enjoy tinkering with these wonderful things and attempting restorations. I also collect vinyl records and cassettes, with most of my collection bought back in the day.

looking forward to getting involved!

Steve

 

Welcome to Stereo2go Searcher Steve.

I would not shout too loudly about the Essex thing if I was you , I live in Essex too but I am no Essex Boy .

 

Thank you TooCool4! Technically, I'm a Brummie, but my folks moved to Essex when I was 2 or 3 years old. I loved growing up in Southend in the 70s, 80s and 90s, but moved away to Kelvedon in 1996. My folks still live there, but if I'm honest, I couldn't live there now. Somehow, I ended up in Weston Super Mare via Scotland and Hinckley. No idea how that happened, but I retain the Essex boy mantle as it scares the locals here in Somerset!

 

Thank you Mister X! The old technology is certainly my bag. My day to day equipment is a Sharp GF 6060 (my 13th birthday present in 1982) and a 1985 Technics HiFi system. Still going strong.

 

Wow, you have been all over the UK.

I have not been to Southend in years, in fact I think the last time I went to Southend was on a London to Southend bike ride.
I live in Chelmsford, so Southend is only about 20 miles away.

 

I worked in Chelmsford for a few years, at the mail centre next to the A12. Small world!

If I'm honest, I still miss the 80s. My kids ask me about it a lot, which is a cue to bore them rigid for a few hours. They've often told me that they wish they could have grown up then as they think it sounded more fun...and life wasn't ruled by computers and social media. Life is very virtual for kids now and it's a big shame.

 

Welcome Steve.

I know Weston quite well as I lived in Bristol until 1989. A memorable visit was when a friend, who was Wham's biggest fan decided it would be a great idea to go there and amongst other things walk up and down outside the Tropicana (back when it was still a Pool) blasting Club Tropicana from my Sony Boombox, up on the shoulder of course. I would love to have a photo to show it but of course back then you typically only bought a new film for your camera when you were going away on holiday for a week.

In 2018 I went to both Weston, seeing the rebuilt pier for the first time, and Southend as the company I work for has its main office in Basildon (who's most famous export is Depeche Mode).

I wonder when you moved to Weston. In the 1970s/ 1980s Dolphin Square shopping centre used to have some interesting market type shops selling Made in Hong Kong type electronics. It got demolished in 2013 though.

 

Thanks for the welcome Longman! I moved to Weston in 2009, and have been here ever since. I think one last move may be on the cards though as the wife wants to go back home, so that will mean Norfolk. Love the Tropicana story. That must have been quite the Wham moment. It's funny, but I don't remember taking my boombox out of the house that much, but that was solely down to the fact that eight D batteries were well outside my budget! Weston still isn't a bad place to live, and I do like the coastline here. Some nice walks to be had. Ah! Basildon! I think Depeche Mode maybe all it has going for it, although I guess we should include Alison Moyet as well. Dolphin Square has almost been entirely re-developed now, but I well remember those cheapie shops selling mop buckets, knock off toys and Hong Kong electronics in Southend. I sort of miss them in a funny way now.

 

Yes Parcel Force is still there off the A12.

Talking about Basildon or Bas Vagas as it’s known, I raced there once. Langdon Hills, I use to race cross country mountain bikes.
Yes Basildon did produce Yazoo.

Where in Norfolk would you move to? I went to school at Eccles near Norwich.

 

I was just going to mention Bas Vegas. There actually is such a place within Basildon, an entertainments complex with Restaurants, Cinema, tethered Water-skiing, and a couple of 1960s style hotels which work uses.

Being older I do wonder if the reason I look back fondly on the 1980s is that I started them with a 100cc Motorbike and a mono cassette recorder and ended them with; a house, new TV, VCR, Akai Hi-Fi, computer, synthesizer, Sony Boombox and a Ford Capri. As for the music I loved and still like all the Synthpop / New Romantic bands. However, when I told a colleague who is about four years older that I was going to a "Best of the 80s" concert his comment was along the lines of "they won't have much to play then". The type of guy who probably thinks Genesis became unlistenable to when Peter Gabriel left.

 

TooCooL4: Bas Vegas! That one must have come about after I left, but I like it a lot I do remember almost crashing the car laughing the first time I drove back to the motherland and saw the "Hollywood" style Basildon sign just past the Fortune of War. Bless em! The wife grew up in Hellesdon, but I think we'll be looking along the north Norfolk coast somewhere. Well, that's if all goes according to plan.

Longman: I started off the 80s on a bicycle, so not quite the same, but did end up with a Mk V Cortina 2.0 GLS. Always fancied the Capri, but the insurance company would have bankrupted me! My Dad had an Akai HiFi. I remember it as being pretty decent. I had a hand me down stereo from my uncle, a great mix of 70s gear with a valve amp and a Garrard turntable. Lovely sound too! Computer wise, Spectrum 48k, Commodore 64k then an Amiga 500....which I loved. We must have similar musical tastes. I still listen to all of my original synthpop and new romantic stuff on vinyl, along with all of the new wave and goth stuff I was into. I love my 80s music, but I must admit that I lost my way with it later on when all the Stock, Aitken and Waterman stuff came along. I think my favourite era is 76 through 84/85.

 

I had an Amstrad 6128, always wanted a Commodore Amiga as I wanted to learn to program Motorola 6800 family of CPU. Instead I learned Zialog Z80 Assembly. I loved Assembly language, none of this high-level language stuff.

 

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/reinvention-bas-vegas-clubbing-hotspot-3149899
My Capri was only an insurance friendly 1.6L. Despite being younger the Wham fan friend had a brand new (C Reg) Capri but again only a 1.6. Our boss who must have been in his 40s had a Capri 2.8i which he was very proud of. A different friend had a 3.0S fitted out with every gadget available, which was probably why he was still living with his parents at the end of the 1980s. The coolest vehicle belong to a guy whose parents absolutely forbid him from having a Motorbike; so he bought a bright yellow Beach Buggy. I do have photos of that as he was best man at a colleagues wedding.

Back to bands I have been to lots of the "Lets Rock" type concerts seeing bands like The Human League, who I have been a fan of since the 1980s but who I never got to see back then. http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/retro-concerts-and-festivals.1404/

My first concert was Ultravox, back when Vienna had just been in the charts.

Fingers crossed, the next will be Let's Rock Southampton, with OMD (who I have never seen) headlining.

 

An old work colleague of mine had a Capri 3.0 Sport. Must say that one impressed me. Went like stink and sounded great too. My favourite car was a Mk 2 Escort Mexico that I bought in 1992. I owned it a grand total of six days before it got nicked. If I'm honest, I'm still sore about that even now. I still like my Fords, and one day, I'll own another classic. Last one I had was a Mk III Cortina 2.0 GXL about ten years ago. I still regret selling that car. It was lovely and a proper 70s timewarp. I still think the Mk III was the best looking Cortina. I've added a photo of my long lost love!

Envy you the Ultravox gig, Would have loved to have seen them back then. I've done a couple of the "Let's Rock" gigs. A great day out. Last one I did was in Bristol, and that was Flock of Seagulls, Howard Jones, Heaven 17, Kim Wilde etc. I'm hoping the music scene get's back on it's feet soon as there's still lots of bands I'd like to see still, including Human League. Dare is a regular on my turntable, although I still like the earlier days with Travelogue another favourite. My best gig is still the Police in 2007. One band I never expected to see live.

 

That Cortina looks to be in.better condition than any ten year old car I have owned. Did it have suspension plates fitted? Rusty suspension mounting points was a problem with Fords of that era. My first car, a MK1 Escort needed them when it was only about nine years old. To my surprise I saw a MK2 Escort out on the road yesterday. With four headlights it was probably an RS2000.

I just checked and Let's Rock Southampton is still being advertised. I have always bought my ticket veryclose to the event. More expensive but less risk of not being able to go or the whole event being postponed a year (which is what happened in 2020). The only other 80s bands I recall seeing in the 80s were A Flock of Seagulls in a proper concert and Dollar when they did a free promo slot at Papillon nightclub. In the 1980s the main concert hall in Bristol seemed to book far more Heavy Rock bands (which didn't interest me) than chart bands. I was supposed to see Toyah but was ill and couldn't go and didn't get to see her for at least twenty years.

Best concert is a difficult one, but maybe Kylie when she played The Bournemouth International Centre at the time Light Years was released. At the same venue I saw the Steel City tour which was ABC, Heaven 17, and The Human League in one night. Even closer to home I saw T'Pau for £19.50 at the Christchurch Regent Centre which seats about 300. Carol Decker was recalling how twenty years earlier they had sold out The NEC for several nights. It goes to show how bands go out of fashion and end up playing Butlins