LONG SEEN AS THE CLUB THAT INVENTED BRITAIN , S CULTURAL LIFE IN THE 80S, BLITZ WAS THE EPICENTRE OF BOTH MUSIC AND FASHION. SO WHY WAS IT CREATED AT A DODGY WORLD WAR II−THEMED WINE BAR? BLITZ DJ RUSTY EGAN, BOY GEORGE, GARY KEMP, MIDGE URE, PHILIP SALLON AND SUE SCADDING DELVE INTO THE MADNESS OF THE ICONIC CLUB THAT SPAWNED THE NEW ROMANTIC MOVEMENT.
JOHN EARLS
THE
1980s were invented at the Blitz. Or so the popular image of one of Britain’s most outrageous, certainly outré, clubs in our cultural history would suggest. The New Romantic movement definitely started with Rusty Egan and Steve Strange’s hangout.
It’s taken a startlingly long time to celebrate it, but Rusty is now showcasing the music that started a revolution on a boxset, Rusty Egan Presents BLITZED!. However, the eclectic mix of glam, European electronic art, Krautrock, goth and, yes, a few synth-pop bangers shows how wide-ranging the Visage drummer was behind the decks. It also proves just how short-lived Blitz was in blowing people’s minds. By the start of 1981, Blitz was done.
Rusty’s pleased to finally celebrate his legacy – and to hopefully shut people up about what he didn’t play. An ebullient, hyperactive talker, he admits: “Every day, people come up to me saying: ‘Hey Rusty, when are you doing a compilation?’ It’s a relief to get one out, after a lot of effort to get the rights. People who ask about a compilation then tell me: ‘Why don’t you put Don’t You Want Me and Tainted Love on there?’ Because they weren’t released when the Blitz was happening! Blitz was 1979-80. This isn’t Now That’s What I Call The Fucking 80s, it’s the real Blitz.”
If Rusty is occasionally frustrated at the myths around what he helped create, Gary Kemp is delighted one of Spandau Ballet’s biggest influences is finally being celebrated. “I wasn’t a ‘fan’ of Rusty as a DJ when I was going to the Blitz,” he considers. “It wasn’t that kind of fan relationship, because everyone going to the Blitz felt like we were a team. Of course, in hindsight I now know Rusty was so important.”
Boy George was another admirer of what soundtracked his time working in Blitz’s cloakroom, enthusing: “I always found nightclubs ridiculous, but I loved dancing. Credit to Rusty, he always had great taste.
