Belinda Carlisle – Heaven on Earth Audio Cassette (1987)

For some reason, the solo career of ex-Go-Gos singer Belinda Carlisle always made me think of Feargal Sharkey – the ex-Undertones singer whose solo work had taken off slightly earlier in the decade. They were both characters from the late ’70s alternative (punk-orientated) rock scene, with a similar rapid vibrato in their voices, who turned to the mainstream in the middle of the 1980s and stormed the UK charts in major fashion.

1993 TDK SA-X 60 Super Avilyn Audio Cassette

The early to mid 1990s TDK SA-X 60 audio tape was the upmarket high bias product in the range. TDK had notably used their own Super Avilyn tape coating for high bias Type II cassettes right through the era when chrome was the most popular Type II formulation. But by the time this cassette was manufactured in the early 1990s, most rivals had dropped chrome and followed the TDK path, adopting a cobalt-ferric mix of some sort.

It Bites – The Big Lad In The Windmill Audio Cassette

When I first heard talk of the ‘eighties band It Bites in 1986, the associated phrase ‘prog rock’ prompted me to steer as great a distance clear as I could. I was one of the kids who’d fully supported all attempts by the punk and new wave movement to completely wipe ‘70s prog rock off the map of musical history. I couldn’t stand endlessly long songs, self-indulgent guitar and drum solos, or technique for the sake of technique, and since those were the features I associated with prog rock, any band billed into that category would be a band for me to avoid.