60 Fun Facts About New Romantics

The Blitz wine bar, birthplace of the New Romantic scene, was in which part of London?

Covent Garden: the Tuesday crowd at this shabby wine bar dressed so outrageously that the national newspapers named them the Blitz Kids.

Steve Strange and Rusty Egan ran their 1978 Bowie and Roxy Music nights at which Soho club?

Billy's was a Soho dive that sat empty on Tuesdays, so Egan offered to fill it: the owner kept the bar takings and the two hosts kept the entry money.

What was Steve Strange's own job at the Blitz on its Tuesday club nights?

Doorman: Strange judged every outfit himself and turned away anyone who had not made an effort; a wetsuit and black-and-white make-up, he said, would not get you in.

Which rock star was famously refused entry to the Blitz at the height of the New Romantic scene?

Mick Jagger arrived on a night when, co-host Rusty Egan says, the manager had ruled the club full; the snub still won the Blitz a huge splash of publicity.

Steve Strange and other Blitz Kids appeared in the video for which 1980 David Bowie UK number one?

Ashes to Ashes: Bowie came to the Blitz in person and picked four regulars, who walked a Sussex beach in black robes behind his Pierrot.

Before finding fame with Culture Club, Boy George worked at the Blitz doing which job?

Cloakroom staff: Boy George checked the coats at the Blitz, yet when Bowie came to pick regulars for a video he was passed over.

Which 1981 Duran Duran debut single name-checks the 'New Romantic' movement in its opening verse?

Planet Earth: John Taylor read a headline hailing Spandau Ballet as the New Romantics, thought his own band was doing the same thing, and decided to put the phrase in a song.

Which Birmingham boutique styled the young Duran Duran and helped shape the New Romantic look?

Kahn and Bell, opened on Hurst Street by Jane Kahn and Patti Bell, were described as Birmingham's answer to Vivienne Westwood, and Simon Le Bon wrote Duran Duran's 'Khanada' about Kahn.

Which Vivienne Westwood collection launched as New Romantics like Adam and the Ants hit the mainstream?

Pirate, shown in 1981, was the first collection Westwood and Malcolm McLaren took to the catwalk, and McLaren's band Bow Wow Wow wore its buccaneer look.

With i-D, which publication launched by Nick Logan in 1980 chronicled the New Romantic club scene?

The Face: Nick Logan went it alone, paying for the launch with about £3,500 of his own savings, and it was soon running reports from New Romantic clubs across Britain.

Writer Robert Elms said he took the name Spandau Ballet from graffiti he saw in which city?

West Berlin: Elms said he saw the phrase scrawled on a wall there; the city's Spandau Prison then held one last inmate, Hitler's former deputy Rudolf Hess.

Which Spandau Ballet debut single reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980?

To Cut a Long Story Short followed a deliberate tease: the band sent out no demo tapes, and after a TV documentary in July 1980 the major labels came to them.

Which instrument does Steve Norman play in the famous solo on Spandau Ballet's 'True'?

Saxophone: Norman started as a drummer, moved to guitar, and had been playing sax for only about a year when he recorded the solo.

Spandau Ballet's 'True' was recorded at Compass Point Studios in which country?

The Bahamas: the band chose Compass Point in Nassau because so many soul records had been made there, and found Talking Heads working across the pool.

Gary and Martin Kemp played which London gangster brothers in a 1990 film?

The Krays: Gary played Ronnie and Martin played Reggie in a box-office hit, though in 2024 its producer said he regretted glamourising the twins.

Duran Duran took their name from Dr. Durand Durand, a character in which 1968 science-fiction film?

Barbarella: John Taylor came up with the band's name after watching the Jane Fonda film on BBC television, borrowing it from the villain played by Milo O'Shea.

Duran Duran were the resident band at which Birmingham nightclub, whose owners became their managers?

Rum Runner: owners Paul and Michael Berrow gave the band jobs and a rehearsal room before managing them, and a blue plaque now marks the site of the demolished club.

Simon Le Bon was studying what when an ex-girlfriend recommended him to Duran Duran in 1980?

Drama: the first-year Birmingham University student is said to have turned up to audition in pink leopard-print trousers with a notebook of his own poems.

Duran Duran co-founder Nick Rhodes plays which instrument in the band?

Keyboards: Rhodes has manned the synthesizers since the first line-up in 1978, when co-founder John Taylor was still the band's guitarist rather than its bassist.

Which Australian director shot Duran Duran's 'Hungry Like the Wolf' and 'Rio' videos?

Russell Mulcahy had made the Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star', the first clip MTV ever aired, and the channel's heavy rotation of his Duran Duran videos broke the band in America.

Duran Duran's 'Hungry Like the Wolf' video was filmed in which country?

Sri Lanka: on a stopover on the way to an Australian tour the band filmed three videos there, 'Save a Prayer' among them.

Which artist painted the woman on the cover of Duran Duran's Rio album?

Patrick Nagel had never made an album cover before: the band's co-manager Paul Berrow found his illustrations while leafing through Playboy.

Which singer fronted Roxy Music, the band honoured alongside David Bowie at the first New Romantic club nights?

Bryan Ferry: his band and Bowie were the soundtrack of the 1978 Soho nights where the scene began, a refuge for dressed-up fans whom punk had left with nowhere to go.

Which 1983 single gave Duran Duran their first UK number one?

Is There Something I Should Know? went through one failed mix after another until Alex Sadkin and Phil Thornalley got it right, and Sadkin was then brought in to co-produce the band's next album.

Duran Duran topped the US charts in 1985 with the theme to which James Bond film?

A View to a Kill came about after John Taylor, a lifelong Bond fan, approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party, the worse for drink, and asked to write a theme.

Visage's 'Fade to Grey' is sung in English but also features spoken passages in which language?

French: the lines were spoken by Rusty Egan's girlfriend at the time, and Midge Ure and Steve Strange each later claimed the idea as his own.

Blitz Kid Stephen Jones made his name designing what for customers from Boy George to Princess Diana?

Hats: Jones wore his own designs to the Blitz, fellow regulars became his first customers, and he went on to make the headwear for Christian Dior's catwalk shows.

Three-fifths of which post-punk band, including John McGeoch, completed Visage's line-up?

Magazine supplied guitarist John McGeoch, keyboardist Dave Formula and bassist Barry Adamson to the studio 'supergroup', and McGeoch soon left both bands for Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Before Visage, Rusty Egan and Midge Ure played in which short-lived band with ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock?

Rich Kids split over a synthesiser: Ure and drummer Egan wanted the new instrument in the band's sound, while Matlock preferred to stay with guitars and drums.

Steve Strange, the singer of Visage and host of the Blitz, came from which country?

Wales: born in Newbridge, he left for London after seeing the Sex Pistols play in 1976 and was soon working for their manager, Malcolm McLaren.

Steve Strange died in 2015 after a heart attack while staying in which Red Sea resort?

Sharm el-Sheikh: he died in hospital there on holiday, and Boy George and Spandau Ballet's Kemp brothers carried his coffin at the funeral in Porthcawl.

Ultravox were formed in 1974 under which original name?

Tiger Lily gave way to the Zips, Fire of London and London Soundtrack, and for a week or two the band was even the Damned, until it found another group had got there first.

Who fronted Ultravox from 1974 until leaving for a solo career in March 1979?

John Foxx split from the band after a row in San Francisco on a self-funded 1979 American tour, weeks after its label had dropped it; the hits came under his successor, Midge Ure.

Which novelty single kept Ultravox's 'Vienna' at No. 2 for three of its four weeks there?

Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce held the top spot for three weeks, but in 2012 a BBC Radio 2 and Official Charts poll named 'Vienna' Britain's favourite number two single.

In 1979 Midge Ure flew out to finish an American tour with which hard rock band after Gary Moore quit?

Thin Lizzy: Ure had only just joined Ultravox when he stood in on guitar across America and then Japan, before going back to make 'Vienna'.

Which 1984 charity single did Midge Ure co-write and produce with Bob Geldof?

Do They Know It's Christmas?: Ure built the backing track at home and the stars sang it in a single day, joined by the Blitz Kid Marilyn, who turned up uninvited.

Which future Culture Club drummer had previously played with the Damned and Adam and the Ants?

Jon Moss and Boy George were a couple, a relationship kept from the public at the time, and George later said the lyric of 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me' drew on it.

Culture Club got their first Top of the Pops slot in 1982 after which singer pulled out?

Shakin' Stevens pulled out, so the band were asked only the night before; Boy George's look made the next day's headlines and the single rose to number one.

Which Culture Club song was the UK's best-selling single of 1983 and later a US number one?

Karma Chameleon: its video is set on the Mississippi in 1870 but was filmed on the Thames, aboard a London paddle steamer called the New Southern Belle.

Under what name did Boy George briefly perform with Malcolm McLaren's band Bow Wow Wow?

Lieutenant Lush lasted only briefly as a second singer beside Annabella Lwin; he then left to start his own band, which became Culture Club.

Which Grammy did Culture Club win in 1984?

Best New Artist: accepting by satellite, Boy George thanked America for having taste and style and for knowing 'a good drag queen when you see one'.

Adam Ant was born with which real name?

Stuart Goddard was the bassist of Bazooka Joe when the Sex Pistols played their first gig as its support act; he alone in the band liked them, and soon left to start his own.

Adam and the Ants built their two-drummer sound on a tribal beat from recordings made in which African country?

Burundi: Malcolm McLaren gave Adam a tape that featured 'Burundi Black', built on a field recording of the country's drummers, then walked off with his band to form Bow Wow Wow.

Which British star played the Fairy Godmother in Adam and the Ants' 'Prince Charming' video?

Diana Dors, the 1950s film star, waves the wand in a Cinderella story with Adam left at home doing the chores. It was one of her last screen roles.

Under what name did the band Japan briefly reform in 1991?

Rain Tree Crow was meant as a clean break: when the money ran short the label offered more if the album came out as Japan, and David Sylvian alone refused.

Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' covered a 1965 Northern soul record by which singer?

Gloria Jones's original was a flop B-side until a Bolton DJ made it a Northern soul favourite in 1973; she was later Marc Bolan's partner, and was driving in the crash that killed him.

Spandau Ballet's Martin Kemp later played the villain Steve Owen in which British soap?

EastEnders lost Kemp when he signed with ITV, so its writers killed Steve Owen off in a car chase that ended with his car in flames.

Marilyn, the Blitz regular born Peter Robinson, had his big 1983 hit with which single?

Calling Your Name reached No. 4 in Britain and No. 3 in Australia, but the follow-up stalled at No. 31 and he never returned to the top thirty.

Which Sheffield band's singer recruited two schoolgirls he saw dancing in a nightclub, days before a 1980 tour?

The Human League had just lost two founders to Heaven 17 when Phil Oakey spotted Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley; a year later they were singing on 'Don't You Want Me'.

Which 1979 single by Gary Numan's Tubeway Army spent four weeks at number one in the UK?

Are 'Friends' Electric? began as two songs written on an out-of-tune pub piano, and Numan says it reached number one without anyone realising it was about a robot prostitute.

What trade did A Flock of Seagulls singer Mike Score work in before buying a Korg synthesizer?

Hairdresser: so was bassist Frank Maudsley, and the band's winged haircut is said to have begun by accident, when Maudsley flattened Score's hair as they shared a mirror.

After the Blitz, Steve Strange and Rusty Egan fronted which much bigger London club from 1982?

Camden Palace: the old Music Machine, later renamed Koko, drew queues around the block and made Strange the leading name in London clubland.

Spandau Ballet and Ultravox played Live Aid at Wembley, but Duran Duran took the stage in which American city?

Philadelphia: Duran Duran played JFK Stadium while holding the American number one, yet the original five would not play another show together for eighteen years.

Which future star was in the Axiom fashion collective that staged a New York show with Spandau Ballet in 1981?

Sade Adu went as a designer, not a singer: the Saint Martin's fashion graduate flew in with her own label's collection for the show.

Which short-lived mid-1990s scene, championed by Melody Maker, took its inspiration from the New Romantics?

Romo band Orlando made the paper's cover before releasing anything under that name, yet they never reached the top 75 with a record of their own.

John and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran joined singer Robert Palmer in which 1985 side project?

The Power Station let the two Taylors chase a harder, funkier sound, with Tony Thompson of Chic, the disco band they idolised, on drums.

What was Boy George's 2002 stage musical about the London club scene called?

Taboo borrowed its name from Leigh Bowery's wild mid-1980s club night in Leicester Square, where Boy George was a regular, and George appears as a character played by another actor.

Which Duran Duran single came with a video so racy that MTV would show only a cut version?

Girls on Film: the band's managers asked for something scandalous, and the clip was made for nightclub video screens, which no broadcasting rules covered.

Gary Kemp wrote Spandau Ballet's 'True' while infatuated with which fellow pop star?

Clare Grogan of Altered Images had given Kemp a copy of Nabokov's Lolita, and he wove phrases from it into the lyric as coded messages to her, though the two never became more than friends.

Which 1981 single gave Adam and the Ants their first UK number one, entering the chart at the top?

Stand and Deliver cast Adam Ant as a 'dandy highwayman' who is caught and cheats the gallows, an image that helped make it the band's biggest-selling single.