Surfing a (New) Wave of Nostalgia

While sequestered out in the wintery wilds of Ohio in 1986 during my sophomore year of college, my high school chum Rob B. sent me a curious videocassette in the mail. Presciently titled "British New Wave: Ready for the Eighties," it was apparently a hastily patched-together documentary with Japanese subtitles, replete with a suitably smarmy English narrator who fleetingly profiled a slew of then-up-&-coming artists like The Clash, The Jam, The Pretenders, Gary Numan, Madness, The Boomtown Rats and several others. While rife with omission and some breezy errors in chronology, the tape made for some entertaining viewing and went into steadily regular rotation on my roommate Dave's VCR.

Probably my favorite parts of the tape, though, were the profiles of the lesser-known bands that evidently failed to vault themselves into international stardom. Six or seven years after this artifact had been released, for example, no one I knew had ever heard of, say, Secret Affair, but check out their segment from the documentary (listen for that narrator). Given their sound, it's not really surprising they never crossed over.

But the hands-down favorite part was the profile of Spizz (a.k.a Spizzoil, Spizzenergi and/or Athletico Spizz 80). I'd briefly heard their signature single, "Where's Captain Kirk?," courtesy of the its placement in the outstanding "Urgh! A Music War" (still criminally not on DVD), but the version captured on this tape was rawer. Dave and I even devised a way of recording this particular version right off the VHs tape. Here it is from that same program in all its silly, frenetic glory.

On my next trip back to the New York, I wasted no time in snatching up the original 7" at Bleecker Bob's. I also chased down the soundtrack album of "Urgh" to have the live version capture therein on vinyl as well. In turn, I went on to regularly punish listeners of my college radio station, WDUB (91.1 FM in Granville) with needlessly frequent airings of both versions. Whenever I hear this single nowadays, I'm instantly transported back to those blissful, beer-soaked college days.

So why am I blathering on about this ancient band in 2010? Well, because I stumbled upon a clip of Spizz playing "Where's Captain Kirk?" that was shot this year. It's somewhat striking how a couple of decades ages one. Check that out here.