On this date in 1980, THE BEAT released the single BEST FRIEND (Aug 15, 1980). The pairing of Wakeling and Cox, the Beat’s founding members, was accidental. Andy was born in Handsworth, just outside Birmingham City Centre, and Dave in neighbouring Balsall Heath. Their schooldays were uninspired and yet played their part in cutting them adrift from the norm. Andy described himself as a "model scholar", but his mum bought him a guitar when he was 14 and he’d “been battering away at it ever since,”