1982 was the climax of rock’s Maximal Trilustrum, where golden gods fused with the final generation and brought the party to infinity.
Great Britain was in the most quintessential of form, with young lights both soaring (ABC, Culture Club, The Fixx, Talk Talk) and ascendant (The Associates, Duran Duran, Scritti Politti, XTC); veterans delivering pragmatism (Allan Holdsworth, Jon Lord, Hughes & Thrall, Jack Bruce & Robin Trower) and braving the unprecedented (Jon Anderson, Pete Townshend, Peter Frampton, Steve Hillage).
Diversity flourished, with showmen vibing up the jazz joints (Blue Rondo àla Turk, Eye to Eye, Incognito, Pigbag) and the jungles (Fun Boy Three, Haircut One Hundred, Musical Youth, Orange Juice); modernists displaying canniness (B-Movie, China Crisis, Thomas Dolby, Wang Chung) and capriciousness (A Flock of Seagulls, Blancmange, Marc & the Mambas, Yazoo); atmospherists employing diffusion (Cocteau Twins, The Danse Society, Fay Ray, Sad Lovers & Giants) and dramatics (Andie Oppenheimer, Blanket of Secrecy, Drinking Electricity, Poem Electronique); virtuosos manning epicism (Asia, Marillion, Shiva, Twelfth Night) and extremity (More, Tank, Voltz, Witchfinder General).
The American map was paved with auxiliary (Alliance, Night Ranger, Spys, Winterhawk) and audacity (Elliot Sharp, Roberts Owen, Su Tissue, Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society); complementarity reigned with eloquence (David Roberts, Donald Fagen, Greg Guidry, Joseph Williams) and expressiveness (Laura Branigan, Melissa Manchester, Patrice Rushen, Toni Basil); metropolitanism shone through edginess (Fibonaccis, Missing Persons, November Group, Romeo Void) and eeriness (Berlin, Dark Day, Experimental Products, JD Emmanual); while aspirants in the Great White North triumphed with octane (Aldo Nova, Coney Hatch, Santers, Streetheart) ornateness (Men Without Hats, Rational Youth, Spoons, Strange Advance) and obliqueness (Moev, NoMeansNo, The Payola$, Terraced Garden).
The Eurorail was jumping from Bordeax to Berlin, comprising acts of sweeping grandeur (Rebekka, Saino, Sirius, Step Ahead, Werewolf), comical giddiness (Hubert Kah, Ja Ja Ja, Nichts, The Wirtschaftswunder, Zaza) and fashionable glory (1. Futurologischer Congress, ADN’ Ckrystall, Aerial FX, Spliff, The Twins); with innovators both mercurial (Debile Menthol, Etron Fou LeLoublan, LASK, Pseu, Super Freego) and meticulous (Charles de Goal, Indochine, KaS Product, Orchestre Rouge, Silvia).
A mini-arc ignited between Turin and Tokaj (Frigidaire Tango, P.L.J. Band, East), whilst quintuple bursts of energy sprouted from Benelux (Front 242, The Honeymoon Killers, Nine Circles, Störung, Tower), Spain (Alaska y Los Pegamoides, La Mode, Los Inciados, Mecano, Paralis Permanente), Scandanavia (Kimmo Kuusniemi Band, Moral, Organ, Secret Service, Tappi Tíkarrass), Poland (Brygada Kryzys, Krzak, Maanam, Orkiestra Osmego Dnia, Republika) and Yugoslavia (Begnagrad, Idoli, Laza Ristovski, Pankrti, Sedmina).
Beyond the environs of the Northern Atlantic, South Americans came on with directness (Blitz, Lobão, Charly Garcia, Los Abuelos de la Nada) and detail (Luis Alberto Spinetta, Marco Antônio Araújo), while Australians did it best without leaving home (The Church, Deckchairs Overboard, Goanna, Hunters & Collectors, Moving Pictures, Pel Mel).
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