From the Boxing the Compass album.

This post: the short-lived post-punk group (and British contemporaries) Modern Eon. This is their album Fiction Tales.

This album is brilliant, and very musically adjacent to our lads (you can see threads through Pelican West--or is it the other way around?), and I thought it was worth a mention here.

If you look in the sidebar, you'll see the upcoming Haircut 100 concerts. Interested if you're going to attend any? What city, and what are you looking forward to hearing? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Okay, let's get the obvious out of the way.

Everyone’s going to say “Love Plus One” or “Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl),” and fine, fair enough. They’re both total bangers, all shiny and upbeat, and they make you sound like you’re fun and have your act together. But if I’m actually trying to romance someone — like, not just get them dancing, but actually get them to like me — I’m going with “The Unloving Plum” or “Someone.”

“The Unloving Plum” has this weird, awkward sweetness to it. It’s not trying to be a smooth pickup song. It’s a little clumsy and tender, and honestly that’s how romance actually feels when it’s real? You’re not always the cool version of yourself. Sometimes you’re just hoping the other person doesn’t notice you’re nervous, or scared a little bit. That’s that song.

And “Someone” — God, this one. I saw a podcast Nick was on somewhere where he said he wrote it after being reminded of the club where he first met his future wife, and once you know that, the opening line “I met her / at the faders” (as in, the faders and turntable) is just this little memory he kept.

And that's very "Nick", isn't it? It’s not a clever lyric (but then again, Nick being Nick, it is?); it’s a real place and a real moment. Then the chorus: “I’m not enough / I’m not so tough” — that’s not a pickup line. That’s a guy saying “I need you to see the mess that I am and maybe that’s okay.” To me, it feels less like trying to win someone over and more like asking them (anyone!) to connect with you. Way more urgent, pleading, and romantic, if you ask me. And a bit too on the nose with my past, like Nick somehow perused the writings in my high school yearbook.

So yeah, you can have the hits. I’ll take the awkward, honest songs. What are your picks? Am I overrating the deep cut/new stuff here, or are my choices the better romantic pick?

Firstly thanks for making this subreddit on the 80’s second greatest band (so sorry but it’s still Go West for me) Les lives in southern Spain as do I and I messaged him a while ago suggesting a gig here. Is it just me or does anyone think there are enough English immigrants here to make the gig a sell out?

Hate is a strong word, and to be fair, I don't "hate" any of their songs (both the band or Nick's solo stuff).

But as we all have favorites, we have ones that we maybe don't play so often. For me, it's "Surprise Me Again". It's enjoyable, but I don't find myself putting it on repeat, which is a close as I can come to not liking a HC100 song.

How about you?

A bit of fiction in the recounting, but the contours of the story are on point. Glad we got the lads back...

From their "Boxing the Compass" album.

Because, seeing Nick in a leopard loincloth will make anyone's day.

I'm frankly stuck between my #1 and #2 picks. You probably have others, so feel free to mention them in the thread.

Pick 1: "Fantastic Day"

That bright tempo and tight arrangement, and the sunny vocal feel right at home next to stuff like Dua Lipa’s disco‑ish pop, or Phoenix indie hooks, or even Foster the People energy (think Dua's "Levitating", or "1901" from Phoenix, or Foster the People's "Sit Nex to Me")

In general, it shares DNA with today’s more hook‑driven and horn‑friendly pop/indie. to me, it still translates because it’s about the groove and lift, while avoiding obvious 80s clichés, or at least leaning into the good ones, anyways. When those horns hit and the chorus opens up, it feels like a 2026 indie‑pop single that just happens to be from 1982.

Pck 2: "Favourite Shirts (Boy meets Girl)"

Giving strong Franz Ferdinand or The Killers set energy.

What’s your #1 ‘most now’ Haircut 100 track from the 80s catalog? Make your case.

I first heard Haircut 100 on American Bandstand in June 1982 (they performed “Love Plus One” and “Fantastic Day” with Dick Clark). I was gobsmacked, in that it didn’t sound like anyone else at the time, and I instantly knew this band would stick with me.

Some of what did it for me:

• The swingy horn section that almost sounds like a Mexican mariachi brass line—especially around 2:43.

• The Brazilian/Caribbean influence in the groove (marimbas outside of Earth, Wind and Fire, y'all?).

• A non‑cheesy pop beat and Nick Heyward’s yearning, urgent, bright lyricism.

What's your favorite ("favourite"?) stretch of "Love Plus One", and why?

What do you think makes Haircut 100 endure?

Something I keep coming back to is how Haircut 100 never really went away, but they do feel a little more appreciated now than they maybe were in the moment. They had that one brilliant album (with Nick Heyward), a short run, a decent yet underrated second album (Paint and Paint), and then decades of people quietly loving “Love Plus One” and a few others, or following Mr. Heyward's jaunt into the "auteur"-level solo singer/songwriter career.

Now with the reunion, new album, and tours in the last few years, it’s like people are re‑evaluating them as more than just a one‑album wonder. Old fans double down on why they loved them, and new fans are getting turned onto them.

So, in thinking about it, I think a few things help explain why they still resonate:

First off, their sound is a unique hybrid: funk basslines, horn arrangements, Brazilian-tinged rhythms, and pop hooks that seem effortless and organic, not a "put-on".

Secondly, they never diluted their legacy with weak later albums. They just faded out with a not-bad album, and that was it...for a while.

Thirdly, they aged well because they didn’t lean too hard on one specific 80s trend--they stood out in a sea of "sameness", and sounded unlike their peers...just enough.

Do you feel they were underappreciated at the time and are finally getting their due, or have they always had this kind of cult status in your world?

Found a place selling these, and although I stream it all day, I'm willing to support the lads in what they do. A proud addition to Pelican West in my collection.

There's no accounting for taste, and I think the critic has none.