From 1982: Dan Dare in the Top 20?
Errr... Probably not. Although they must have shifted at least a thousand copies courtesy of this massive EAGLE giveaway.
Top marks to pop chancers Loose Talk (not in the same league as Queen, apparently) for spotting a marketing opportunity (the article basically admits as much) and going for hit. Hitching themselves to the EAGLE relaunch and the publicity around the return of Dan Dare.
This apparently did get some national TV and radio airplay although I don't recall seeing or hearing it at the time. The song is OK but the cheap as chips video suggests the minimum of record company commitment. The band, decked out in MOONRAKER and SPACE: 1999 castoffs, prance about accompanied by some of the excellent artwork from the revival itself. Things get really exciting when the blue screen is deployed,
When the producers of the curiously forgotten DD animated series were looking for a track to accompany the show's end credits they opted for Elton John over Loose Talk. Imagine.
The Loose Talk Dan Dare record and video was really a rushed 'made to order' song etc organised and set up by their Management/Publishing Company - Black and White Music Ltd. The band were 'green' at the time and were generally excited at getting a recording contract and manager etc. The band were originally under the guidance of Mike Hugg of Manfred Mann who got them a recording contract for a single called 'Kids' with Cool King Records, founded by 2 members of the Blues Band. Loose Talk were pulled out of that contract by their 'new' Black and White Music manager Tim Knight, before the 'Kids' single was released. The band were originally a five piece, but the management didn't like one of the members and got rid of him leaving it as a four piece outfit. A follow up single to Dan Dare on Jet Records was called 'Judge Dredd' following the same route with IPC magazines who owned the copyright to the character. However, IPC did not agree with some of the lyrics and placed a high Court injunction on the record and stopped the release date. In court, IPC lost the case and the single was eventually released. The offending words to IPC were "Judge Dredd, He's Bad"...(which as you know means 'Good' in the american context, like ref to Michael Jackson etc. Also the Dan Dare single did make the the Tony Blackburn 'record of the week' actually beating the Queen single in a tie break. It received a lot of 'A list' airplays around various radio stations in the UK and the video was screened on ITV a few times. The band were also pre-booked to do a few TV appearances if /when it reached into the top 100 chart....but it didn't. In reality, the band were much better than the Dan Dare single portrayed and had around a 25 song list. There was a 3rd single recorded called 'My Friend Billy' recorded at the Jet Records studio in Portland Place. This was never released as the management tried to sell the song to another band in the USA. When the band found out what was going on, they split up. Some of the demo's made of the Loose Talk band songs are on youtube. Ray Walton (Guitar) Here is a link to a couple of the songs if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG9X6UL2rr8
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