Let’s travel back in time to see what 45s were being most bought in UK record shops in September 1983
Chart dates 28 August – 3 September
Oh my. For once, the highest new entry had some merit. But the question really has to be…..How did Factory Records organise itself enough to get copies out and distributed into the shops?
mp3: New Order – Confusion (#17)
Released only on 12″ in the UK, it came with four different mixes. There was no way the radio stations would have played the full eight-plus minutes, and indeed promo discs were sent out with an edit, which was, many years later, made available on one of the numerous New Order compilations. Confusion would go up five places to #12 before slowly drifting out of the Top 75 over the following six weeks. Worth mentioning that in the same week Confusion entered the charts, Blue Monday was spending its 25th week in the Top 75 – and indeed was just about to gain a second wind and climb back up the way, peaking at #10 in mid-October.
Just slightly lower in the rundown was this.
mp3: Freeez – I.O.U. (#25)
I’ve deliberately kept I.O.U. away from this series until today. It had already been in the singles chart for twelve weeks, spending three weeks at #2, and kept off the top spot by Paul Young wailing about his hat. The sleeve for this single gives much prominence to the fact it was produced by Arthur Baker. I think it’s fair to say he got two-for-one out of this tune.
Much lower down the chart, entering at #64, and only ever getting up to #60, was a 45 with a message:-
mp3: The Special AKA – Racist Friend (#64)
Chart dates 4-10 September
Not a good week for new entries, with Status Quo (#24) and Paul Young (#27) being the highest, with both of Ol’ Rag Blues and Come Back And Stay annoyingly hanging around for a few more weeks to make the Top 10. Just below those was a little bit of agit-synth:-
mp3: Heaven 17 – Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (#28)
The fourth and final chart hit lifted from the album The Luxury Gap, it went on to reach #17.
Chart dates 11-17 September
I’m not a fan of the tune, so I won’t share any mp3, but this was the week when Boy George really made the crossover into pop stardom, as Karma Chameleon entered the singles chart at #3. It went onto to sell 1.6 million copies in the UK, as 1 million in the USA and some 7 million all told across the world. That’s a lot of plastic……
It was also the first week that Howard Jones hit the charts. He’s another from that era I have no time for at all, but I was clearly in a minority. New Song came in at #51. It would go onto spend 12 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #2. He would follow that up with eight more Top 20 singles through to March 1986, and it seemed he was on Top of The Pops every other week.
Among the mediocre and mundane, there were a few gems
You’ve got to go a long way down to find a couple more excellent new singles:-
mp3: PiL – This Is Not A Love Song (#47)
The first new single in two-and-a-half years, it would go on to spend 10 weeks on the singles chart and get all the way to #5, easily the best performance by any of PiL‘s 45’s released between 1979 and 1992.
mp3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Let Them All Talk (#59)
A rather disappointing outcome for the second and final single from the album, Punch The Clock, as this was as high as it got. At least there was the consolation of the album reaching #3.
mp3: The The – This Is The Day (#71)
I placed this at #4 in my 45 45s @ 45 rundown. It’s very obviously one of my favourite songs of all time. It is criminal that it only ever got to #71 in the UK singles chart. It would take until 1989 before a single by The The cracked the Top 20.
Chart dates 18-24 September
Karma Chamaleon was at #1. It would stay there for six weeks. The one small consolation was that it kept David Bowie‘s awful new single off the top. Modern Love came in this week at #8 and would more than likely reached #1 is it hadn’t been for Culture Club.
Coming in at #21 was a synth duo who some had written off:-
mp3 : Soft Cell – Soul Inside (#21)
It reached #16 the following week, a welcome return to pop stardom after Where The Heart Is and Numbers had both peaked outside the Top 20 after the first five singles had been Top 5.
There will be some of you out there who are fond of Toyah Wilcox, so here’s a reminder of what she inflicted upon us in 1983:-
mp3: Toyah – Rebel Run (#29)
This one got to #24 the following week and then, thankfully, disappeared.
If you look closely at the bottom of the page:-
mp3: Tracey Ullman – They Don’t Know (#69)
One of the UK’s most popular actress/comediennes had embarked on a singing career. Having already enjoyed a Top 3 hit with Breakaway in which she had covered a 60s song, she turned to the back catalogue of Kirsty MacColl for her next venture, offering her take on a 1979 flop single. This one went all the way to #2, spending almost the rest of 1983 in the Top 75, and bringing some well-deserved royalties to Kirsty.
Chart dates 25 September – 1 October
A cover version was the highest new entry this week. And a good one too….
mp3: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Dear Prudence (#17)
Siouxsie and Budgie had been enjoying chart success with The Creatures. Robert Smith was often on Top of The Pops in 1983 with The Cure. Here they all were together on one gloriously psychedelic offering of a song originally found on The White Album, released by The Beatles in 1968.
I think that’s just about enough for this edition of nostalgia central. I’ll be back in about four weeks time.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
There was so much dross in that era and This Is The Day languished at 71? Honestly, the 80’s were truly horrific at times
Right. This is a long reply. Get comfy.
I remember my pal had Confusion and Blue Monday and me with a long-face bemoaning this fact. However, sssshhhhh, truth is… I never really liked Confusion.
F.R.E.E.Z. an act I think I can remember but shudder when I make an attempt. No more attempts.
Special AKA – again, coolness should make me say hurrah but… I don’t remember this – at all.
While Paul Young dominated the charts I thought he earned it. No one night wonder. His stunning performances on the tube illustrated that he could cut it live. Thing for me was the live versions were better, much better. I’d like to be cool after-the-fact and say I didn’t like him. I did. Although it’s be fair to say I did tire of the radio-friendly songs after a time.
Crushed by the Wheels of Industry “ooh ooh”. By the time this came out I was bored stiff of The Luxury Gap. I doubt I’ve listened to it since 1983.
Karma Chameleon I don’t understand why it was so big. An overly repetitive song with an awful video.
Howard Jones I had affection for. Still do. I wasn’t in at the very beginning – Human’s Lib had been out for a bit before I bought it. He was a little bit different and with Jed (his on-stage dancer) he seemed a little cooky.
PiL – I liked this but not as much as I enjoyed Rise a few years later.
I loved the speed that Let Them All Talk seemed to be played at. I thought it had done much better. One of the few E. Costello items I own.
The The – I never took to them. Maybe I should go back and listen? I probably won’t.
I was still a fan of Bowie at this point but his star was fading.
I do need to familiarize myself more with Soft Cell.
Ah, Rebel Run. After quite some years of devotion Toyah was becoming a point of ridicule. The previous single Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) was just poor (as was her fit-only-for-a-local chemist own-brand make-up – which I did buy). I bought Rebel Run – I will have played it once. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the LP Love Is The Law. Toyah and I were no longer ‘friends’.
There are some who walk these halls who enjoyed Tracey Ullman’s short-lived spot in the limelight.
Dear Prudence. When I bought the 12” I returned home, put it on the turntable, kept the arm over and so it repeated and repeated and repeated. The second Beatles cover that was better than the Beatles.
Flimflamfan
Very controversially I prefer Tracey Ullman’s version to Kirsty’s….argghh…but at least as you say she got the royalties.. Mike
They Don’t Know is the second single I ever bought, so it’s my top of this pretty decent 1983 pops. And wasn’t Kirsty MacColl’s voice retained for the celebrated ‘baby’ lyric?
Strangeways
When faced with hearing “Karma Chameleon” versus “Modern Love,” I’ll pick the Bowie tune every time… and I hate “Modern Love!!” I never rated Culture Club very highly; but by this point they were the antichrist of Post-Post Punk. I wouldn’t call them New Pop at all! “Karma Chameleon” was the ultimate in granny-friendly, fangless New Pap!
As for Howard Jones, I am perhaps known for an affinity for synthpop; which isn’t necessarily accurate. When confronted by Howard Jones I think of him as the Nail In Synthpop’s Coffin. There’s something stomach churning about him. I love synths. I’m a vegetarian. And I cannot stand Jones.
I did love “This Is The Day” and also cite its failure to at least go Top 40 as proof of the rising horror of the Mid-Eighties Malaise. The song always reminded me of an early Bee Gees tune ca. ‘69-71 with its dignified aura and Johnson’s phrasing.
Strangeways: “And wasn’t Kirsty MacColl’s voice retained for the celebrated ‘baby’ lyric? ”
Yes, Kirsty was actually quite involved with Tracey Ullman’s musical career, helping out in the studio and that, and even has the odd production credit. The “baby” bit isn’t as jarring as it might have been (it doesn’t go straight from Tracey to Kirsty, there’s a guitar bit in between) but if you’re paying attention it’s not hard to spot that it’s a different voice… or indeed to recognise that voice as the song’s author.
Léon Macduff
There was something a bit too earnest about Howard Jones, but New Song is great. Diminishing returns afterward but it really was a cracking debut single.
Léon Macduff
What a fun skip down memory lane! I also love the comments…lots of fun opinions.
Thumbs Up
Confusion
IOU
Special AKA
This is not a love song
This is the day
Tracey Ullman
Soft Cell
Siouxsie
Thumbs down
Karma Chameleon
Howard Jones
Shrugs
Elvis Costello
Wheels of Industry
Toyah
I’m with baggingarea!
Thank you for the info, Léon Macduff – most interesting.
Strangeways
I like all songs except “They Don’t Know”. However, none of them would pass the sophisticated tests to end up on my 1983 year-end list. I wouldn’t say the same about Kirsty MacColl’s “They Don’t Know” and my 1979 year-end list.
[silly kisser]
I’ll be an odd man out and say that I always have time for Freez as a post Disco Blitz band or a n Electro outfit. Electro was the pulse of NYC Club scene in 1983. It came in many flavors – New Order’s oft maligned Confusion is a massive celebration of the NYC late night/early hours of morning clubs like The Funhouse where dance music was evolving while expanding the minds of those there to hear Arthur Baker, Jellybean, F. Kevorkian, John Luongo and others make magic.