PULSE SPECIAL: Pop down the decades - today: The 1980s

EIGHTIES pop star Neil Arthur may have moved out of East Lancashire but you could never accuse him of dessert-ing his Darwen roots.

The man who fronted pop duo Blancmange now makes music in London - but he still returns home to see his family, friends and his beloved Blackburn Rovers.

Neil, a former pupil of Moorland High School, Darwen, reached Number Seven in the charts in October 1982 with his band's third single Living On The Ceiling - which caused controversy because it contained the word "bloody."

Neil, who left Darwen aged 18 to go to art school in Harrow, said: "Blancmange were born with the intention of making weird noises and wearing weirder clothes.

"I remember ripping up my dad's band jacket and sticking toothpaste tubes to it.

"My hair looked like it had a bad case of mange.

"I was flogging Perspex sunglasses to the one shop in Blackburn that was selling the gear.

"I'd go home wearing all this stuff and wonder why I kept getting beaten up."

Following support slots with Depeche Mode and tours of Japan, the two-man band released an album and three hit singles, God's Kitchen, Feel Me and Living On The Ceiling. In 1983 he returned to East Lancashire to perform at King George's Hall, where he recieved a hero's welcome from 1,200 fans. The duo's second, gold album Mange Tout reached number eight after it was released in 1984, and spawned three top 20 singles, Waves, Blind Vision and Don't Tell Me.

The duo split two years later because they were fed up with living in each other's pockets and both wanted to stop before it became destructive.

Neil is now in his late 30s and is a keen member of the Blackburn Rovers Supporters' Club's London branch.

He dabbles with dance music and works freelance as a film music composer, creating title music and soundtracks for international clients, including the BBC.

Party time

IT BECAME known as "Boom Town" - and the explosion of Blackburn's underground acid house scene in the late 1980s certainly left its mark on East Lancashire's youth.

Early ravers will remember The Sett End in Shadsworth Road as the first real temple of dance in the town. Then there was Monroes in Great Harwood, with its all-nighters, and other venues across the area also embraced the movement.

Weekend after weekend the roads became blocked as the "party people" got into convoys to travel to secret warehouse locations.

There they would embark on blatant hedonism, with many people fuelling their all-night exploits with LSD, amyl nitrate and the popular new party drug Ecstasy. The throbbing, hypnotic beats were a distinct departure from the disco pop tunes which blared out at mainstream nightclubs.

Rave music was different and brought with it a whole new rebellious lifestyle.

The Live The Dream party in September 1989, which took place on private land in Livesey, Blackburn, was one of the highlights of the era for followers.

Organisers defied a last-minute court ban to stage the huge open air party which attracted more than 3,500 revellers from across the country.

The authorities didn't like it.

Fears over safety and drug-taking were raised.

Moral panic broke out in Parliament and a police crackdown was to finally sound the death knell for the illegal raves.

Large quantities of Ecstasy were seized in East Lancashire and police battled to keep clubbers out of warehouses in Burnley and Rossendale as well as Blackburn.

Evidence of the police's tough approach came in December 1989 when 60 officers, some with riot shields, fought a battle with acid house revellers who had wanted to party in a disused warehouse in Whitebirk, Blackburn.

When the police prevented ravers from entering the building, some of the revellers turned nasty, pelting officers with bricks and bottles and beating them with metal bars and bricks.

The crowd cheered as a police car exploded after it was set on fire by the rioters.

Afterwards, the then Home Secretary and Ribble Valley MP David Waddington said courts would be given new powers to clamp down on illegal raves.

The Government's fight against dance culture culminated in the Criminal Justice Act, described as draconian by music fans and civil liberties groups. The Act gave police the power to seize sound systems and arrest partygoers for trespass - although the draft bill was ridiculed for its attempts to legislate against music "with repetitive beats".

Clubs continued to hold dance music nights but many people from the area started travelling further afield to find what had once been right on their doorstep.

These days the underground element has almost disappeared but the new generation of dance music fans continue to bop the night away to the latest tracks at clubs in East Lancashire.

Thatcher's 'fans' came out fighting

BURNLEY rock band The Not Sensibles often lived up to their name - and peddled a brand of music which preceded the indie scene of the late 1980s.

The five-piece band's moment of glory came in the mid-1980s when they notched up an underground hit with their tongue-in-cheek ditty I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher.

The band hit the headlines in August 1980 after they were banned from a top London venue following a shaving foam fight.

The incident, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, degenerated into fruit-throwing and fisticuffs with other groups.

Bassist Gary Brown agreed with the venue's decision to ban the band and explained: "We had a couple of hours to kill so we began messing about with the shaving foam for a bit of fun.

"It was only a play fight as far as we were concerned and everybody piled in.

"A few punches were thrown, but only accidentally.

"Some lads from the other band got cuts and bruises around their eyes. We think it was the right decision."

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