May 22, 2020

"You might have had a slight accent, but as far as I'm concerned, you said my name correctly, so you should have been entitled to whatever the prize was."

Said Tony Hadley, the Spandau Ballet singer ...



... quoted in "Singapore quizzer finally wins $10k after Tony Hadley's message" (BBC).

Listen to the "quizzer" say "Tony Hadley":



Listen to Spandau Ballet — who peaked in 1983 with "True":



From Wikipedia:
The song “True” has been sampled in many songs.... It has also been covered by The Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, Rui da Silva and Paul Anka and other artists. "True" is featured in the movies Pixels, Sausage Party, Sixteen Candles, Charlie’s Angels, Crazy Stupid Love, Hot Tub Time Machine, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, 50 First Dates  and The Wedding Singer sung by Steve Buscemi's character...

21 comments:

Birkel said...

And a "Modern Family" episode.

David Begley said...

This much is true. The guy was close enough for BBC work.

stlcdr said...

There’s a huge swath of brits who believe those who don’t talk with a proper British accent are unintelligent and ignorant.

Ann Althouse said...

If you're going to have spoken, not written, answers, you'd better figure out how not to punish the person for an accent.

On "Jeopardy," they would ask the person to repeat the answer and be very careful, then make a ruling and explain why.

Inquiry said...

Back in the early 00s there way a shortlived gameshow of regular people vs hardcore sci-fi fans/experts. I forget the name but it was probably something like Beat the Geek. To make it "fair" the experts were asked much more challenging and obscure questions.

I watched it once. One of the resident experts was marked wrong because he correctly pronounced someone's name. There was a silent consonant, though, so it looked different on paper. That killed the show for me. I actually don't know if the contestant was right, but the host and judges revealed themselves to be clueless either way.

If you are going to make a show based on expertise it behooves you to make sure your cast and crew has some.

Lurker21 said...

Tom/Tony wants the truth to be said.

Howard said...

As far as I can remember Rush Limbaugh is a huge fan of the spandex ballet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Lurker21 said...

That "slight accent" also qualifies him for admission to any 7-11 in the state of Delaware ...

Ann Althouse said...

"Tom/Tony wants the truth to be said."

LOL. I've corrected my error. Obviously, I had no memory of his name and don't care much about getting it right.

I had to look up Spandau Ballet. I remember the name of the group but couldn't think of one song.

Spandau Ballet is a terrible name, I think. What is "Spandau" — it just makes you think of spandex. And "ballet" doesn't sound like rock.

Okay, I looked "Spandau" on Wikipedia. It's a place name:

"Rathaus Spandau, Spandau's seat of government, was built in 1913. Other landmarks include the Renaissance fortress Spandau Citadel, built in 1594, the 1848 St. Marien am Behnitz Catholic church designed by August Soller, and Spandau arsenal, Germany's arms development center until 1919, now a museum. That arsenal's Spandau machine gun inspired the slang Spandau Ballet to describe dying soldiers on barbed wire during the First World War, and later was applied to the appearance of Nazi war criminals hanged at Spandau Prison."

So... it's a reference to dying, suffering soldiers. I don't like that.

Ann Althouse said...

"Rathaus" would be a good pseudonym for me.

It means "town hall."

Two-eyed Jack said...

It should be noted that True and Tony Hadley appear at the 2:32 mark in the 1983 video in the 50 songs in 3 minutes video series that Althouse pointed us to yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCaBfx872PA

That's a satisfying serendipity.

chickelit said...

That plaintive wail of "True" is right up there with Lionel Ritchie's "Hello." In my house we recite the lines to mock them.

Wince said...

I would call Tony Hadley a crooner.

Here he ever so briefly meets Donald Trump in the desert: "Gold!".

Nichevo said...


Ann Althouse said...
"Rathaus" would be a good pseudonym for me.

It means "town hall."

5/22/20, 9:17 AM



Karen Rathaus! I can dig it, Bunky!

Wince said...

Althouse said...
So... it's a reference to dying, suffering soldiers. I don't like that.

Perhaps a better band name would be insincere mainstream media trope like "The Grim Milestones"?

Yancey Ward said...

I hated the song when I was in high school- it was a hit in the late Summer of 1983 just as I was starting my senior year in high school. I love it now, and there are more than a few songs for which that is true for me. What about you- what contemporary songs did you hate as a teenager that you love hearing today?

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Spandau Ballet is a terrible name, I think.

I don't know if it's been pointed out yet or not, but 'Spandau Ballet' is British slang for bodily contortions of Nazi war criminals executed by hanging at Spandau prison.

I suspect, though, that they picked the name because the thought it sounded edgy. 80's band did that; viz. Guadalcanal Diary or Gang of Four.

Anthony said...

Howard said...
As far as I can remember Rush Limbaugh is a huge fan of the spandex ballet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.


He has taste!

I love SB. Truth be told, however, I much prefer the Parade album to True.

Lurker21 said...

Spandau was where Rudolph Hess was a prisoner for 40 years.

Other than his stays in hospital, Hess spent the rest of his life in Spandau Prison. His fellow inmates Konstantin von Neurath, Walther Funk, and Erich Raeder were released because of poor health in the 1950s; Karl Dönitz, Baldur von Schirach, and Albert Speer served their time and were released; Dönitz left in 1956, Schirach and Speer in 1966. The 600-cell prison continued to be maintained for its lone prisoner from 1966 until Hess's death in 1987, at an estimated annual cost of DM 800,000.

About the same time as Spandau Ballet came out there was another band called Joy Division, a name with even more offensive Nazi connotations. It was the sort of thing that might have made people wonder what the hell was going on.

cacimbo said...

He is the obverse of Uncle Bunky. Hadley has aged wonderfully, he is better looking now than in his youth.

Ken B said...

Wasn’t some group kinda named after insects?