Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story (DVD), Pop Twist, Music & Performance

Boy George was the coat check girl (admittedly stealing money from the purses)... Bowie, synth beats, and a new freedom of sexual identity were in the air. The Blitz Club spell was cast and a hotbed of talent emerged: Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Sade, and practically everyone else you've ever heard from the era. This is the entertainingly told story of a cultural revolution - spawned from a grimy West End club patronized by impoverished - but lavishly wardrobed - trendsetters, art students and trans slackers. It was a movement that redefined music, fashion, and sexual expression. Were they cool? Well, Mick Jagger was turned away from the door for not being well enough dressed. But not so cool on the night their icon David Bowie walked in the door to select dancers to be the cast in his acclaimed Ashes to Ashes video - shot that very night. Boy George tells the story - and is immediately and hilariously contradicted by others. Rusty Egan's pied piper call summoned the fanciful Phoenix that rose up in mascara, wondrous regalia, coiffed hair and outlandish accoutrements accompanied by pioneering synth grooves and looks inspired by the Ziggy's and Roxy's of the world. Radio 1 DJs began pumping it out and MTV killed the radio star, now there were video stars. And the world was never the same. Derided by many, the New Romantics can now claim influence that stretches to the modern wave of synth bands, sounds, gender fluidity and fashion sensibilities that mark the second decade of the 21st century. The music the scene spawned on the dance floor of Egan's Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden can be heard on dance floors, films and TV soundtracks to this very day. Through interviews with key players, current contemporaries, punters and pundits together with archival footage, lovingly recreated scenes and original footage we will show how and why the movement took hold and where it landed today.

• BLITZED: THE 80S BLITZ KIDS STORY
• Music & Performance
• Pop Twist