Five super 1980s new wave songs more people need to hear

Fiction Factory - “(Feels Like) Heaven” 

I am quite a fan of Scottish bands, especially from the many that emerged back in the 1980s. So many great songs and sounds slipped under the radar from them at that time. Some bands, like Fiction Factory from Perth, Scotland, did manage to get heard more than others. But they deserved a bigger audience and more success. 

“(Feels Like) Heaven” is just one reason for that. It was their only real hit and in addition to scoring number six in the UK, did well as a top 10 hit around much of Europe. Perhaps significantly, though, it didn't make any impact in the US. A missed audience for sure. 

Fiction Factory had real potential and touring as support to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in 1984 should have been a huge step forward. For whatever reason, that didn't quite happen. The song, though, is a nice pop-based new wave song of that time. Neat keyboards were always a feature then and helped keep this one moving nicely. Some clever lyrics, a broken relationship, and a great chorus line. Well worth hearing again as a new song or a reminder of a great one. 

The Lotus Eaters - “The First Picture of You” 

It must be a great rush for a band and the songwriter when their first single becomes a big hit. For Liverpool band The Lotus Eaters, it was an early peak in 1983. They were said to have had a hit single before they had even played a gig. "The First Picture of You" was recorded at a live session in the BBC studios for the John Peel Show, a great opportunity that they seized with both hands. 

There’s a soft piano start to the song, it soon opens out into quiet vocals and a great backdrop of sounds. The beat kicks in, the singing picks up pace, then the glorious and bright chorus. It’s a happy, cheerful song at its peak. The song is definitely a winner. It was a top 20 hit in the UK. It did have limited success in Australia too. It’s probably a pretty familiar song to people there, but it ought to be heard by others for sure. 

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