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Eighties Revivals
'80s nostalgia may have spawned a million TV shows but for certain pop icons, the revivals were as rough as the haircuts.
 Culture Clash
 The jewel in the '80s crown has got to be the Big Rewind Culture Club tour. It combined wannabe Geisha O'Dowd with the likes of Howard Jones and Human League. Problem is that such a collection of beautifully cultivated claws were bound to be put to some use, so Boy George used most of the Human League as his own nail file. The backstage bitching got to such heights that when you put Boy George and Phil Oakey in the same room you could cut the atmosphere with a foundation-smeared trowel. All that AND Howard Jones's experimental phase? Add it all up and you've got a cross-gender-fender-bender of the highest calibre. Fringes at 20 paces, chaps.
  Ballet Ho!
Ballet Ho!
Of course when bands aren't laying into their rivals bands, they're taking it out on each other. Three of Spandau Ballet's members sued co-member Gary Kemp earlier this year for allegedly stiffing them out of royalties. While '80s wring more memories out of the decade, Tony Hadley, John Keeble and Steve Norman want to wring more cash out of Kemp, who's credited as the group's sole songwriter. If Kemp doesn't cough up, then the other members will be forced to pursue menial jobs to survive. Tony Hadley is already threatening to launch a solo career. Gulp!
  Fizzled Out
The possibility of not one but two incarnations of Bucks Fizz may be appealing to some, but when it actually happened a few years back, many routed through their bibles of choice for some Revelations-style mention that marked the end of the world. Luckily, it was just a spat between Mike Nolan and Bobby Gee, who had gone off touring with their own version of the Eurovision quartet. But we're betting that anyone who geed themselves up enough to see Mike Nolan's were disappointed to find that eventually it band didn't even feature him, but ex-Dollar singer David Van Day. Actually, they probably never even noticed.
  Alarm-a-rama
Bananarama may have been the Spice Girls of the '80s but their full reunion looks about as likely as that of Scary, Minger, Dipsy et al. After Siobhan Fahay buggered off in 1987 to work on Shakespeare's Sister, everyone received Jaquie O' Sullivan with forced smiles and yearned for a reunion. The girls did all get together this February for a one-off gig, but behind the tunes you could hear the motor running, and appearing only for the last two tracks, Siobhan had her one eye on the door and the other on her new career in dance music. Shame.
  Belinda ago-go (again)
Belinda Carlisle came back from the brink of sex, drugs and rock n roll with the Go-Gos to become an icon of '80s pop virtue. But even a stint of joining the likes of ABC and Toyah on the nostalgia-tinged 'Hear And Now' tour didn't ressurrect the profile. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and Belinda's most remembered hit, 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth' was recently hailed as a classic tune to work to, by Britain's top surgeons. A survey of operating table playlists rated the song as a favourite surgery-accompanying ditty. Wonder if Belinda's cut-up about it...
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