Borderline (1986-1988)

Borderline was a “young people’s show” on RTÉ Television from 1986-1988. The show’s presenters were Aonghus McAnally, Majella Nolan, Ronan Johnston, Eithne Hand and Maria Doyle. As part of their 50 years celebrations RTE has posted one complete show online. The show in question (1/3/1988) coincided with The Stag Hotpress Awards. Winners who popped into studio to chat and/or perform include Rory Gallagher, Mary Coughlan, Something Happens (‘Burn Clear’), Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen. Also performing on the show were The Sugar Rays (‘House In Order’) and The Stars Of Heaven (’28′).

See also ‘Anything Goes‘, Visual Eyes.

Scary Eire

I’ve been on the lookout for this session for a while but watching the fallout from RTE TV’s ‘Ireland’s Rappers‘ was the spur to look again, a comment on the Irish Times ‘On The Record’ blog by Stevie Grainger rang true:

“I’ll never forget the buzz i got listening to the “Truncheon Song” by Scary Eire on the Dave Fanning show in the early 90s”

One more search and there it was. The audio quality is not the best but I think you’ll get the picture. If anyone has the remaining two session tracks or indeed a higher quality version of please get in touch.

Formed in 1990 Scary Eire were a pioneering Irish hip hop outfit featuring Dada Sloosh, DJ Mek, Mr Browne and RiRa. In 2007 they released a compilation ‘The Scary Era’.

More reading: ‘Beats, Bodhráns and Bloody Mayhem – the story of Scary Éire‘ [state.ie]

Truncheon Song (1993)

On March 19th Dan Hegarty played two tracks from the 1993 Fanning session which he said was not easy to track down. Unfortunately I was not prepared so had to listen back to the show on the RTE player and only caught one track. Thankfully Ian Wilson has announced that Dan will rebroadcast the entire session on Easter Monday so tune in or check back here after that date.

Hold Yer Whisht (1993)

Forget Me Nots (On The Waterfront)

Formed in 1990 in Dublin Forget Me Nots were Michelle Burrows (vocals, guitar), Eithne Flynn (vocals, guitar), Maurice McGrath (guitar), Mark Walsh (bass) and Justin Healy (drums). Justin was previously with The Golden Horde and The Glee Club. The band released singles ’2 Fay Ray’ (1991), ‘Trouble’ (1992), ‘Soap Singer’s Beat’ (1992) and album ‘Hullabaloo’ (1992). While well received, the album didn’t achieve the level of success expected and following one further single ‘So Good’ (1993) parted company with Sony/Colombia Records. The quartet went on to release ‘Five O’Clock’ train in 1994 before calling it a day. This footage was recorded for the RTE programme ‘On The Waterfront‘ in 1992.

Anything Goes (1980 – 1986)

‘Anything Goes’ was a “young people’s show on RTÉ Television as part of development of young people’s programming”. First broadcast on 4 October 1980 it continued for 6 years. Presenters on the show were Kathy Parke, Aonghus McAnally, Mary FitzGerald, David Heffernan and Mary Frances Calayco. I will add to the list of musical acts who performed as I find them.

RTE 1 September 1985

In Tua Nua – ‘Coming Through‘ (1984)
The Babysnakes – ‘Fade‘ (1985)
The Crack – ‘When The Time Comes‘ (1981)
Cruella De Ville (1983)
The End – ‘That Warm Feeling’ (1981)
Soon – ‘In A Nutshell’ (198?)
G Squad – (1985)
Tokyo Olympics (1981)
Driveshaft (198x)
Porcelyn Tears (198x)
The Sussed (198x)
The Atrix – ‘I Wonder Why‘ (1981)
The Stars Of Heaven – ‘Every Other Day‘ (1985)
Montage – ‘When I Close My Eyes‘
to be continued..