History Music / SpandauBallet

-->"Gold"

%%* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Never really went any higher than two. ''Through the Barricades'' seemed to be aiming for about a five, but the instrumentation is just too polite to manage more than a three. They did a better job of it when they played live.

* AllDrummersAreAnimals: John Keeble, leather clad [[Music/LedZeppelin Zeppelin]] fanboy who uses two bass drums (he was the only drummer at Live Aid to do so), though he seems to save it for his "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin I Play Rock]]" side project.
* AudienceParticipationSong: "Fight For Ourselves," "True," and some others.

* MrFanservice: The whole group in the eighties, just like all of the New Romantics.

* InstantExpert: According to the Kemp brothers, Steve Norman. He had never played a saxophone before the third album but after recording "Chant No. 1" with a horn section, he decided he'd like to try it, so he got himself an instrument and learned to play it in about a week.
* LargeHam: Tony Hadley, in spades.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Never really went any higher than two. ''Through the Barricades'' seemed to be aiming for about a five, but the instrumentation is just too polite to manage more than a three. They did a better job of it when they played live.
* NewSoundAlbum: ''True,'' to a certain extent, which moved away from the band's SynthPop roots towards a sound more influenced by American soul music.
* {{New Wave|Music}}
* PowerBallad: "Through the Barricades" is a text book example. [[ClicheStorm It has it all]]: Acoustic guitar intro, big anthemic chorus, big crashing entry for drums and guitars at the beginning of the chorus and eighties soprano sax. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools It works really well.]]
* TheRival: During the Eighties they had a rivalry with Music/DuranDuran, but it wasn't as serious as the music press often made it out to be.
* SanitySlippageSong: "To Cut a Long Story Short."
* ShoutOut: "True" has one to Music/MarvinGaye, and more obliquely a couple to ''Literature/{{Lolita}}.''
* StandardSnippet: "Chant No.1" has become this for evoking [[TheEighties the early 1980's.]]
* SurrealMusicVideo: To be expected of a New Romantic band.
* SynthPop: Their earlier material was predominantly this -- Vince Clarke claims that "To Cut a Long Story Short" was a major influence on the writing of "Just Can't Get Enough" by Music/DepecheMode.

* PowerBallad: "Through the Barricades" is a text book example. [[ClicheStorm It has it all]]: Acoustic guitar intro, big anthemic chorus, big crashing entry for drums and guitars at the beginning of the chorus and eighties soprano sax. [[TropesAreNotBad It works really well.]]

Spandau Ballet is a British pop band with {{Soul}}, {{Funk}} and SynthPop influences. Along with groups such as Music/DuranDuran and Music/{{ABC}} they were pioneers of the NewRomantic movement, producing the style's first major hits with their debut single: "To Cut a Long Story Short" and their first album ''Journeys to Glory,'' both of which entered the top ten of the respective charts.

In spite of the consequent poor relations between the band members, the band managed to surprise everyone by successfully reforming in 2009 with a reunion tour and a new album called ''Once More,'' featuring acoustic covers of their old hits.

[[caption-width-right:350: Eighties pop personified.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5d3f69fb628dd.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The pioneers of the New Romantics.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Spandau_Ballet_4284.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Eighties pop personified.]]

* FollowTheLeader: A lot of prospective synthpop groups and New Romantics followed their lead in the early eighties. By the end of the decade, Spandau Ballet themselves would be accused of switching their sound to compete with the [[ArenaRock AOR]] trends.

[[caption-width-right:350:Eighties pop personified.]]

Spandau Ballet is a British pop band with {{Soul}}, {{Funk}} and SynthPop influences. Along with groups such as Music/DuranDuran and Music/{{ABC}} they were pioneers of the NewRomantic movement, producing the style's first major hits with their debut single "To Cut A Long Story Short" and their first album ''Journeys to Glory'', both of which entered the top ten of the respective charts.

The group was formed in 1979 by London art school students Gary Kemp (lead guitar, keyboards and songwriting), Steve Norman (second guitar, synthesizer and percussion) and John Keeble (drums). The addition of Steve's friend Tony Hadley on lead vocals and Gary Kemp's younger brother Martin on bass guitar completed the line-up. Adopting the name Spandau Ballet and an over-the-top New Romantic mode of dress which included frilly shirts and kilts, the group recorded their successful debut album, ''Journeys to Glory'', which mixed funk rhythms with [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] pop melodies. However, their second album ''Diamond'' was less successful in spite of producing one of the group's biggest hits, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)".

For their third album, ''True'', the band switched styles to a more soulful pop sound, with Steve Norman moving from guitar to saxophone. The new sound was a hit and the album went to the top of the charts, producing the group's sole UK number one and only American top ten hit, "True", as well as signature hits such as "Gold" and "Lifeline". The band were able to maintain their momentum with ''Parade'' and the rock album ''Through The Barricades'', but they never quite matched the success of ''True'' and began to drift apart. The Kemp brothers' increasing involvement in film and television acting earned the ire of the rest of the group and Spandau Ballet split acrimoniously in 1990. A few years later, Tony Hadley, John Keeble and Steve Norman mounted an ultimately unsccessful court case against Gary Kemp over several years worth of unpaid royalties (Kemp wrote all of the songs but had supposedly agreed to share royalties with the rest of the group).

In spite of the consequent poor relations between the band members, the band managed to surprise everyone by successfully reforming in 2009 with a reunion tour and a new album called ''Once More'', featuring acoustic covers of their old hits.

!!This group demonstrates examples of:

* AudienceParticipationSong: "Fight For Ourselves", "True" and some others.

* NewSoundAlbum: ''True'', to a certain extent, which moved away from the band's SynthPop roots towards a sound more influenced by American soul music.
* [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]]
* PowerBallad: "Through the Barricades" is a text book example. [[ClicheStorm It has it all]]: acoustic guitar intro, big anthemic chrous, big crashing entry for drums and guitars at the beginning of the chorus and eighties soprano sax. [[TropesAreNotBad It works really well]].

* SanitySlippageSong: "To Cut a Long Story Short"
* ShoutOut: "True" has one to Music/MarvinGaye, and more obliquely a couple to ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''.
* StandardSnippet: "Chant No.1" has become this for evoking [[TheEighties the early 1980s]].

* SynthPop: Their earlier material was predominantly this - Vince Clarke claims that "To Cut a Long Story Short" was a major influence on the writing of "Just Can't Get Enough" by Music/DepecheMode.

* SurrealMusicVideo: To be expected of a New Romantic band. http://barrecertification.com/

* SurrealMusicVideo: To be expected of a New Romantic band.

The group was formed in 1979 by London art school students Gary Kemp (lead guitar, keyboards and songwriting), Steve Norman (second guitar, synthesizer and percussion) and John Keeble (drums). The addition of Steve's friend Tony Hadley on lead vocals and Gary Kemp's younger brother Martin on bass guitar completed the line-up. Adopting the name Spandau Ballet and an over-the-top New Romantic mode of dress which included frilly shirts and kilts, the group recorded their successful debut album, ''Journeys to Glory'', which mixed funk rhythms with Music/NewWave pop melodies. However, their second album ''Diamond'' was less successful in spite of producing one of the group's biggest hits, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)".

* Music/NewWave

Spandau Ballet is a British pop band with Music/{{Soul}}, {{Funk}} and SynthPop influences. Along with groups such as Music/DuranDuran and Music/{{ABC}} they were pioneers of the NewRomantic movement, producing the style's first major hits with their debut single "To Cut A Long Story Short" and their first album ''Journeys to Glory'', both of which entered the top ten of the respective charts.

* EpicRiff: The guitar and horn riffs in "Chant No. 1".

* FormerChildStar: Martin Kemp, who appeared in several BBC series ranging from ''DixonOfDockGreen'' to ''Jackanory'' at the age of ten.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Spandau_Ballet_4284.jpg
[[caption-width:425:Eighties pop personified.]]

* TheRival: During the Eighties they had a rivalry with DuranDuran, but it wasn't as serious as the music press often made it out to be.

* SynthPop: Their earlier material was predominantly this - Vince Clarke claims that "To Cut a Long Story Short" was a major influence on the writing of "Just Can't Get Enough" by DepecheMode.

Spandau Ballet is a British pop band with {{Music/Soul}}, {{Funk}} and SynthPop influences. Along with groups such as DuranDuran and Music/{{ABC}} they were pionners of the NewRomantic movement, producing the style's first major hits with their debut single "To Cut A Long Story Short" and their first album ''Journeys to Glory'', both of which entered the top ten of the repective charts.

* AllDrummersAreAnimals: John Keeble, leather clad [[LedZeppelin Zeppelin]] fanboy who uses two bass drums (he was the only drummer at Live Aid to do so), though he seems to save it for his "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin I Play Rock]]" side project.

* EstrogenBrigadeBait: The whole group in the eighties, just like all of the New Romantics.

The group was formed in 1979 by London art school students Gary Kemp (lead guitar, keyboards and songwriting), Steve Norman (second guitar, synthesizer and percussion) and John Keeble (drums). The addition of Steve's friend Tony Hadley on lead vocals and Gary Kemp's younger brother Martin on bass guitar completed the line-up. Adopting the name Spandau Ballet and an over-the-top New Romantic mode of dress which included frilly shirts and kilts, the group recorded their successful debut album, ''Journeys to Glory'', which mixed funk rhythms with NewWave pop melodies. However, their second album ''Diamond'' was less successful in spite of producing one of the group's biggest hits, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)".

* NewWave

* AdaptationDistillation: While YourMileageMayVary considerably, songwriter Gary Kemp has stated that he thinks the acoustic covers album ''Once More'' includes the definitive versions of the band's hits.

* EarWorm: Many of them, but the chorus of "Chant No. matisse probably the best example.

* FaceOfTheBand: Lead vocalist Tony Hadley as well as the Kemp brothers (particularly after they got into acting).
* FetishFuel: Most likely what the sweaty, leather clad music video and TopOfThePops performance for "Chant No. 1" were aiming for.