I’ve had mates who were Punks, Mods, Soul Boys, Skinheads and Rude Boys but I’ve never known anyone who called themselves a New Romantic, and not because I have anything against blokes in frilly shirts and eyeliner either. I used to work with a girl who was a regular at Blitz and knew Boy George before he was famous but she’d laugh if you applied that label to her, the scene was far too individualistic to be pigeonholed in that way which is why for a while they were called The Cult With No Name.

Yes, New Romantics looked a bit ridiculous at times (Exhibit A above) and were often better at dressing up than they were at making records, but given the choice between their flamboyant silliness and the plodding denim rockism of an Oasis I think I know who I prefer, especially when they made such cracking 12″ mixes as these.

Download: Night Train (Dance Mix) – Visage (mp3)
Download: Planet Earth (Night Mix) – Duran Duran (mp3)
Download: The Art of Parties (12″ version) – Japan (mp3)

Read: Spandau Ballet, the Blitz kids and the birth of the New Romantics (excellent article)