There’s something gloriously entertaining about 1980s (and early 1990s) Europop – the sheer dedication to empty-headed fluffiness, the cheerfully sexy performers and music videos and the infectious tunes that might seem dreadful but which are immediately hummable and earwormish. It’s the sort of thing that is sneered at by the British music industry, either as throwaway pop (which, frankly, is what pop should be) or as sexist and exploitative. But we love it and will be bringing you more examples of the art form from time to time. Let’s kick things off with Centerfold.
Centerfold was a Dutch group made up of three women – Laura Fygi, Rowan Moore and Cecilia de la Rie – who rose to fame in the Netherlands during the second half of the 1980s while having little impact elsewhere. As the name (possibly lifted from the then-recent J. Geils Band hit) might imply, the group were initially sold on their sex appeal – their TV performance of debut single Bad Boy is a feast of lingerie and cleavage, with barely contained breasts and glamour-model poses. They performed ‘naked’ (though strategically covered by props) on the TV show TopPop and posed in the Dutch Playboy.
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