Welcome to the 3BA Bigshow’s…12 inches of the 80’s.

Before downloading from our favorite streaming service became a thing, we used to rush to our favorite record bar (remember Brashs or the 3BA Record Bar) to get our hands on the lastest vinyl album, single or indeed if we needed a little extended listening a 12 inch single.

The first song found on a twelve–inch single commercially issued for public purchase from the disco era onwards was “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure on Salsoul Records in May 1976 and the rest as they say is history.

Notable 1970 and 1980s releases making use of the new length opportunities of the format included Donna Summer‘s “Love To Love You Baby” (16 min 50 seconds), “I Feel Love” (15:45), and Sugarhill Gang‘s “Rapper’s Delight” (15:00).

The broad visual spacing of the grooves on the twelve-inch records made it easy for the DJ in locating the approximate area of the “breaks” on the disc’s surface in dim club light (without having to listen while dropping and re-dropping the stylus to find the right point). A quick study of any DJs favorite discs will reveal mild wear in the “break points” on the discs’ surfaces that can clearly be seen by the naked eye, which further eases the “cueing” task (a club DJs tone-arm cartridge will be heavily weighted and mild wear will seldom spoil the sound quality).

On March 7th, 1983, New Order pioneered dance music with the release of the best selling 12 inch single of all time—Blue Monday, whose initial run sold over 700,000 copies. The song is perhaps the most acclaimed and even influential synth-pop track of all time.

So, now that you know a bit about the 12 inch single, let’s get on with the show.

This week on 12 inches of we feature a powerhouse English band renowned for many hits in the 1980’s.

Since 1978 they have released 9 studio albums, a remix album, live album, 6 EP’s, 29 singles & 13 compilation albums and have sold more than 20 million records world-wide.

This is 12 inches of 1981 featuring The Human League & Love Action – The Extended Mix.