"Cruel Summer" & Bananarama: How the New Wave Ronettes Dominated The 80s I New British

As a sub-genre, girl groups have gifted us with so many moments of pop perfection. For the most part these were groups assembled by a producer for the purpose of creating chart hits with little musical input from the performers. But formed in 1981, Bananarama were different.

Spurred on by the DIY ethos of punk and the out-there fashion of the New Romantics, they hit the scene in Doc Martens, dungarees and bird-nest hair, self-possessed and spewing hits. A bevy of early covers would make way for some of the finest British pop of the 1980s - their calling card a scorching dog day confection infused with shambolic dance moves and the mother of all marimba lines. This is New British Canon and this is the Story of “Cruel Summer.”

#bananarama #80spop #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

Thanks also to Bananarama Fan Club and London Records for having archived a lot of this footage

00:00 Introduction
01:20 Keren Woodward, Sarah Dallin & Siobhan Fahey
04:45 The Early Singles of Bananarama
11:54 "Cruel Summer" & Being Taken Seriously
20:05 Stock Aitken Waterman, "Venus" & Their Legacy

Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Into (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Luar - Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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