The year is 1980. There has been a swing to the right across the free world. Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister of England and Ronald Reagan is elected President of the United States. At the Republican Convention in July the party’s platform has changed since their last gathering. Gone is support for an Equal Rights Amendment to guarantee “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” In its place is support for an amendment to guarantee “the right to life for unborn children.”Devastation stalks the world of rock music. Before the year is out John Bonham will drink himself to death, Ian Curtis will hang himself, and John Lennon will be murdered.
David Bowie released his 14th studio album Scary Monsters…and Super Creeps in 1980 and opened it with the most unhinged vocal performance of his career on the track It’s No Game (Part 1). He is matched in ferocity by the vocals of Japanese actress Michi Hirota and the guitar of Robert Fripp.
Silhouettes and shadows watch the revolution
No more free steps to heaven
It’s no game
No more free steps to heaven
It’s no game
I am barred from the event
I really don’t understand the situation
I really don’t understand the situation
It’s no game
Documentaries on refugees
Couples ‘gainst the target
Throw a rock against the road
And it breaks into pieces
Couples ‘gainst the target
Throw a rock against the road
And it breaks into pieces
Draw the blinds on yesterday,
and it’s all so much scarier
Put a bullet in my brain,
and it makes all the papers
and it’s all so much scarier
Put a bullet in my brain,
and it makes all the papers
So where’s the moral?
People have their fingers broken
To be insulted by these fascists – it’s so degrading
And it’s no game
And it’s no game
Shut up!
Shut up!
Words & Music by Mike Power 