Jul 12: 1984

1984 was an important year for me as I started the final year of my undergraduate studies at Huddersfield Polytechnic. My LP collection was growing too.

In Huddersfield at the time we had the release of a song called 'Relax' which was banned from radio play.

This guaranteed that it went to number 1 of course.

'Welcome to the PleasureDome' was an album by ZTT, who also released the classic 'Propaganda' album which I will be blogging about separately as this was my driving album in the late 1980s. This was by Frankie goes to Hollywood, although much of the music was played by session musicians.

The album was rereleased in late 2025 with a new mix by Steven Wilson including a Dolby Atmos mix.

The music was arranged by Trevor Horn.

Session musicians including Steve Howe from Yes were included.

This was also the era of the 12" single... and endless variations on the original tracks were created.

The PleasureDome was in Xanadu, visited by Marco Polo. See separate post on Xanadu from Rush.

This is one of the more memorable tracks: 'Two Tribes'.

In the summer, we also had the new Rush album: 'Grace under Pressure'.

This included some stand out tracks. I have previously blogged about this album, which received an over the top deluxe re-release earlier in the year, clocking in at over £250 for the full package. Thankfully, a lot of it was straight onto Spotify.

Here's 'Between the Wheels' - the album's closer....

The other album released this year that is worth a mention is The Blue Nile's 'A Walk across the Rooftops'. The story of this album's released has been told elsewhere on the blog.

It would be 4 years before someone played me this album. It was actually in a bothy on the Isle of Rhum. The log burner was lit and whisky had been taken....

Sparkle in the Rain is my favourite album from Simple Minds, and was also released this year. This is a great album with no filler...

What are your musical memories from 1984?