Put all the crosses in the right boxes...

Nostra Dam
Apr 2, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Oct 20, 2024

Department S. is an English band formed in 1980 and originally composed of Vaughn Toulouse (real name Vaughn Cotillard), Mike Herbage, Tony Lordan and Stuart Mizon.

A band that released a first Single "I'm gonna rough my girlfriend's boyfriend up tonight" the same year, a Single that unfortunately went somewhat unnoticed...

However, the next one "Is Vic there ?" did not go unnoticed, far from it and gave them the biggest success of their entire discography the same year.

They would have another hit a year later in 1981 with the title "Going left right", a title with less success but still a success.

A major success that would be their last because everything that came out after that would only have a very limited level of success.

To discover or rediscover...

Discography (among others...) :

80s Decade :

I’m gonna rough my girlfriend’ boyfriend up tonight 1980
Is Vic There ? 1980
Solid gold easy action 1980
Put all the crosses in the right boxes 1981
Going left right 1981
She’s expecting you 1981
I want 1981
Monte Carlo or bust 1981
Just pretend 1981
Age concern 1981
Ode to Koln 1981

2000s Decade :

My Coo-Ca-Choo 2007
Wonderful day 2009
Clap now 2009

2010s Decade :

God squad saviour 2011
On my own (Again) 2011
When all is said and all is done 2016
I believe 2016
Memories 2016
I said you 2016
Long march 2016

2020s Decade :

Burn down tomorrow 2022

Tracks :

1980...a first title that will go somewhat unnoticed but you have to start somewhere as they say. You'll have to raise your game a little all the same to hope to move from the shadows to the light...

1980...it's now done with THIS title, a title that will remain as their highest ranked of all. As if it didn't take much to break through at the top level...

1980...a title that will not be officially released as a Single, hence its necessarily very limited influence. Here it is brought back into the spotlight...

1981...just like this one. Given the few titles they produced during the 80s, it would have been a shame not to talk about it, that's for sure...

1981...a group that had the potential to do more than interesting things but which did not manage to establish himself as a Great...

1981...this did not prevent them from leaving a mark in history, but unfortunately it was more limited...

1981...the last official title of the 80s period. At that time everything seemed definitively over but that's not knowing them well at first glance...

1981...another title not officially released. One really wonders why their official production of titles was so low because there was material, it must be said...

1981...a group that will have missed its history in a way that is surprising to say the least. They will have just lacked that little something that makes all the difference...

1981...a little helping hand from fate would have been welcome for them but it never happened. What a shame...

1981...when we see everything they managed to produce at the beginning of the 80s, we really wonder how the story could have ended so quickly...

2007...so we thought the story wouldn't go any further but here they are back almost 25 years later, who would have believed it ? Not many people that's for sure...

2009...a return that will go somewhat unnoticed but which will delight the basic fans to the highest degree in any case. That's already something...

2009...which shows that in 1980 they hadn't said everything or at least sung everything. A return earlier in the 90s could perhaps have changed things significantly...

2011...because this absence of more than 25 years will have inevitably penalized them heavily in terms of visibility. Almost impossible to return to the forefront in these conditions...

2011...afterwards we will take advantage of everything they offer us today because there is quality in all of that, it must be said...

2016...a level of productivity that is truly astonishing in its scale and which shows once again that the group has really missed its mark on its history...

2016...because if they had been as active during the 80s and 90s their destiny could have been very different. We can't rewrite history as they say...

2016...we can only salute this desire to believe in it until the end even if success has not been as expected...

2016...they will have at least tried to write a new page in their history and that is the most important thing. And as in music everything is always possible, who knows...

2016...it would have been a shame not to highlight this group because there is talent in all of this. It is done with this article in any case...