As the 1970s turned into the 1980s, the music scene of the first two years of the decade was very much a reflection of what came before: disco, easy-listening and arena rock continued to hold sway over the American radio dial.
But in 1982, the first truly 80s musical movement began to take root as New Wave made its way across the pond from England. And one of the bands on the leading edge of the revolution took the country by storm with an album full of danceable synth-rock and a very distinctive visual presentation.
Fronted by former hairstylist Mike Score, A Flock of Seagulls quickly slid into heavy rotation at the burgeoning force that was MTV, and the exposure helped break them through into the mainstream, particularly with their top 10 smash “I Ran.”
Score recently sat down with WWL’s Scoot ahead of the Seagulls’ appearance at the House of Blues to reflect on those heady days of the early 80s, his 40 years of performing his hits, and of course, that hairstyle.
“Bands that were having big hits as well, we would literally listen to them and say, ‘We don’t want to sound like that,’” Score said. “Because even though that’s a great song, if we go towards that we’re copying. We need to stay completely original and hope that we inspire rather than be inspired.
“I think when you start to copy and stuff like that, you start to blend in. And we never wanted to blend in. We always wanted to stand a little bit left-field.”
You can see the full conversation by clicking the link above.
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