| Smash 2 |
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| Martin Kemp: We were very arrogant yeah. We thought we were the best and that's what we were out to prove. Adrian Thrills (Pop Journalist): Gary was very much the driving force, he was driven by what he loved but also driven in a way by what he didn't like in what he saw as the dull and orthodox rock mainstream. Newsnight footage 1981 - Peter Snow: Over the past few weeks the pop music scene and the fashion scene have been influenced by a new youth cult - the New Romantics or the Blitz Kids whose debutees claim that their movement will be as influential as punk and far more positive. Steve Strange (Founder, The Blitz): Spandau Ballet originally started coming to the first club that we did and it was a club called Billy's. At the time there wasn't much going on in club land although it had got a kick from the punk scene, but that whole scene had got very watered down. Gary Kemp: I remember walking into this very dark, sumptuous womb of a club, and people in the most exotic clothes. Obviously art school students, dissatisfied punks, and I guess working class flash. It was, androgynous, boys dressing up as girls, straight boys wearing make up, dancing in a way I'd never seen before, holding hands. So it was an extraordinary thing that was beginning in Soho that we really felt was ours and that only belonged to maybe 50 people. |
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| Steve Dagger (Former Manager): In the sort of, electro underground, whatever you want to call it, it occurred to me that there was no group as yet. It was very early days, and what if you attached a group to it? Documentary footage: The Scala Cinema, London one Tuesday night in May. These exotic people are here to enjoy a performance by the band Spandau Ballet. Janet Street Porter (Writer and Broadcaster): The New Romantic movement was fascinating because it took some ideas from David Bowie, it took them from all over the place. They weren't afraid of using big words and they weren't afraid of being considered pretentious. Early Video Footage - Robert Elms: Listen to the portrait of the dance of perfection, the Spandau Ballet. Adrian Thrills: They almost seemed to come from nowhere, I think, to anyone casually looking at the pop scene at the time. This band suddenly emerged. The first single was a hit. They hadn’t come through the orthodox channels in terms of playing the circuit. Steve Dagger: We played at cinemas, we played on a battleship. The whole idea was our audience thought they were special. They dressed like movie stars, you know, we had to give them something special in terms of a venue and an event. Robert Elms: This is a band who had the bizarre technique of not allowing anyone in to see their gigs which is fairly unusual really! Steve Dagger: We didn't exclude other people but really, nobody else wanted to come. Spandau's exclusive approach paid off as record companies queued around the block to sign them and their first single sailed straight into the Top 10, kilts and all. |
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