Let's go full circle and finish with another cover version of a classic Springsteen song which will be equally as frowned upon as the Airborne Toxic Event's verion of I'm On Fire.
The first time I heard Frankie Goes To Hollywood's version of Born To Run was on the bus down to Barrow In Furness in 1984. It was on somebody's Saturday morning show on fabulous Radio One and whoever it was had been given a promo copy of probably the most eagerly awaited record of the year and was playing a few of the tracks from the album. I thought that it was brilliant although the hippies and the older folk on the bus thought that it was a travesty. For me it was an original take on the track, full of energy, played at a hundred miles an hour and the bass was great.
Why was I on a bus going to Barrow you might ask? Well at that time in the Vickers yard they were building the most destructive ships that the world has ever seen, the Vanguard class submarine which is capable of deploying 192 independently targetable warheads. This was my first CND demo outside of Scotland and my parents thought that I had gone into the town to buy a pair of denims when they eventually found out where I went I was grounded for a considerable amount of time, but it was worth it. Not only did I hear Born To Run but I also heard Redemption Song for the first time that day and met quite a few cool anarchists.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Born To Run
4 comments:
Drew, was that when the coaches were parked in car parks that seemed to made of white asbestos? That, and the two massive Dundonians on our coach who helped see off a potential spot of bother in a pub are my only recollections of that day. (Although from Dundee, i don't think of myself as massive.)
This version of BTR is fabulous.
well i never did.
x
I actually worked there (not there above because that didn't exist at the time) but worked at VSEL.
Got a long story I'll not go into now (funny and ironic) but anyway...
I remember this day well.
I was into photography at the time and took a few pics. No idea where these photos are now. Will have to dig through the shed and find them.
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