Step inside the sonic time machine as this episode of In the Mix dives headfirst into the spectacular, high-contrast landscape of 1986. Globally, the year was defined by a sense of high-stakes drama and profound transition. The world watched in awe and heartbreak through major historical milestones like the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the chilling wake of the Chernobyl nuclear crisis. It was a time of ideological friction, the rise of the digital dawn marked by the birth of Pixar, and a thriving counter-culture movement pushing back against the slick, polished surface of mainstream society. This exact tension bled heavily into the art of the era, creating an underground and overground world that felt simultaneously volatile, romantic, and fiercely experimental.
Musically, 1986 was a fascinating crossroads where the glossy, heavily synthesized pop machine of the mid-80s clashed with a raw, brilliant explosion of indie culture and art-rock reinvention. While mainstream charts were ruled by powerhouse icons like Madonna and the stadium-sized synth-rock of a reborn Van Halen, an underground revolution was taking place just under the surface. It was the definitive year college rock, post-punk, and dark wave found their teeth; artists like The Smiths, R.E.M., and Depeche Mode were busy redefining the boundaries of alternative music by injecting pure emotion and sonic grit back into the landscape. From the pastoral studio battles of XTC to the pioneering Latin rock of Soda Stereo, this set celebrates the staggering depth of a year where pop, goth, indie, and arena anthems all shared the dial.
Broadcast 29 June 2026
Tracklist
- XTC — Ballet For A Rainy Day (Remastered 2001) — Skylarking
- Prince — Sometimes It Snows in April — Parade - Music from the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon
- The Smiths — There Is a Light That Never Goes Out — The Queen Is Dead
- Elvis Costello — Uncomplicated — Blood And Chocolate
- Nanci Griffith — The Wing & The Wheel — The Last Of The True Believers
- Pet Shop Boys — Tonight Is Forever — Please
- The Bangles, Susanna Hoffs — Walking Down Your Street — Different Light
- It's Immaterial — Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune) — Life's Hard And Then You Die
- Van Halen — Love Walks In — 5150
- Depeche Mode — Fly On the Windscreen — Black Celebration (Deluxe)
- Cheap Trick — It's Only Love — The Doctor
- R.E.M. — Fall On Me — Lifes Rich Pageant (Deluxe Edition)
- David Sylvian — River Man — Gone To Earth (Remastered 2003)
- Crime & The City Solution — Six Bells Chime — Room of Lights
- Madonna — Live to Tell — True Blue
- Soda Stereo — Persiana Americana — Signos (Remastered)
- Felt — September Lady — Forever Breathes the Lonely Word (Remastered Edition)
- Cocteau Twins — Fluffy Tufts — Victorialand
- Boston — Amanda — Third Stage
- Redskins — Lean On Me! — Neither Washington Nor Moscow (Collectors Edition)
- New Order — Broken Promise — Brotherhood (Collector's Edition)
- Killing Joke — Wintergardens — Brighter Than A Thousand Suns (Restored Mixes Version)
- Talk Talk — Time It's Time — The Colour of Spring
- Ultravox — Same Old Story — U-Vox
- Elvis Costello — I'll Wear It Proudly — King Of America
