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On this day, 31 October 1985, British acappella singing group The Flying Pickets played Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.
The group was first formed in 1982 by members of the 7:84 Theatre group, a socialist fringe theatre group who used acappella singing in a 1981 production called One Big Blow, the story of the 1972/74 UK miner's strikes, from the miner's point of view.
They enjoyed the singing so much that they started to work around the pubs and clubs of London, at a time when nobody else in the UK was performing pop/rock based acappella, and found immediate success.
The very first single with Virgin, "Only You", a cover of a song by Yazoo, went straight to Number 1 in the UK charts and was to remain there for five weeks over the Christmas of 1983, before going on to repeat the success throughout almost every country in Europe.
Over 30 years later, 'Only You' remains the only acappella track to stay at Number 1 in the mainstream singles charts for more than one week.
The name "Flying Pickets" refers to mobile strikers who travel in order to join a picket, reflecting the group's radical socialist political views. The height of the group's fame coincided with the 1984 miners strike, when the National Union of Mineworkers called strike action following the National Coal Board's decision to close 20 pits – a move which would claim some 20,000 jobs.
The Flying Pickets were vocal in their support of the miners during the dispute and came to blows with the record label Virgin after they picketed Drax Power Station in Yorkshire. They also performed benefit gigs for the miners.
Founding member Welsh actor Brian Hibbard himself claimed that their political beliefs probably had a detrimental effect on the group's mainstream image but it was a sacrifice they were willing to make; one well known record store refused to sell the group's albums due to their support of strike action.
Link to video - Only You - https://youtu.be/qgDKtLPp46s
