DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (10)

Lots of comments last month…..my huge thanks to everyone.  I didn’t quite realise there would be such love for New Song by Howard Jones.    Who am I going to dismiss with such impudence this time???

Chart dates 2- 8 October

Late September 1983 must have been a time when record labels had all their promotional folk go off on holiday.  The highest new entry in the first chart of October was all the way down at #38.  I won’t bore you with the details…..

It’s all the way down into the 60-somethings before there’s anything worthy of particular mention

mp3: Time UK – The Cabaret (#63)

It had been almost a year since The Jam had broken up.  Paul Weller had continued to enjoy success via The Style Council, while Bruce Foxton had released solo material.  Rick Buckler had formed Time UK with two members of Masterswitch ( me neither!), and two other musicians who had previously played with the Tom Robinson Band and Sparks.  A record deal was secured, and The Cabaret was the debut single.  #63 was as high as it reached….neither of its two follow-ups or parent album did anything.  I’ll be honest….I don’t recall this 45 at all.

Just slightly lower in the rundown was this.

mp3: The Lotus Eaters – You Don’t Need Someone New (#64)

Debut single, The First Picture Of You had been one of the songs of the summer, and in reaching #15, seemed to provide a good platform for The Lotus Eaters to become chart staples.  This was the rather enjoyable follow-up, but it only ever crawled its way to #53, and that, more or less, was the last time the UK record buying public spent money on the band.

Chart dates 9-15 October

I think I have to run through some of the acts hanging around the Top 20 this week to give an idea of how awful the singles charts exactly 40 years ago.

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon (#1)
David Bowie  – Modern Love (#4)
Howard Jones – New Song (#5)
George Benson – In Your Eyes (#7)
UB40 – Red Red Wine (#8)
David Essex – Tahiti (#10)
Rocksteady Crew – Hey You The Rocksteady Crew (#11)
Black Lace Superman (Gioca Jouer) (#12)
Paul Young – Come Back and Stay (#13)
Peabo Pearson & Roberta Flack – Tonight I Celebrate My Love (#14)
Nick Heyward – Blur Hat For A Blue Day (#15)
Lionel Ritchie  – All Night Long (#16)
The Alarm – 68 Guns (#17)
Kajagoogoo – Big Apple (#18)
Genesis – Mama (#19)
Ryan Paris – Dolce Vita (#20)

In what is a particularly awful list, I will single out that Black Lace song for a special mention.  Look it up on YouTube if you dare.

Oh, and the four who were trying hard to shore things up were Tracey Ullman (#2), Siouxsie & The Banshees (#3), Public Image Ltd (#6) and New Order (#9).

It wasn’t much better further down the charts…with worse to come as Billy Joel‘s Uptown Girl came in at #54 for the first of what would be a 17-week stay in the Top 75, all the way through to February 84, including five weeks at #1.

Once again, the 60-somethings offer some respite:-

mp3: China Crisis – Working With Fire and Steel (#66)

I’ve never been a fan, but a previous mention on the blog did throw up some love as well as a guest ICA from Martin, our Swedish Correspondent, although this particular single (which would eventually peak at #48) didn’t make his cut.

mp3 : XTC – Love On A Farmboy’s Wages (#67)

The band’s 8th Top 75 hit (from their first 17 singles) eventually went to #50.  It would until January 1989 for XTC to again get higher than #50, and it came through Mayor of Simpleton (their 24th single and 10th to go Top 75).

Chart dates 16-22 October

I was going to pass completely on this particular chart.  Nothing of merit whatsoever.  Apart from

mp3: This Mortal Coil – Song To The Siren

I was stunned to spot that this had made the Top 75 back in the day, as I was sure it was just a cult song.  I was even more stunned to spot, in the summary, that it went on to spend 13 weeks in the chart, but a closer inspection tells the true story, with the chart at the time being considered as the Top 100.

22 October – 12 November : 4-week stay at #66, #72, #77 and #75
3 December : 1-week stay at #98
14 January – 11 February 1984 : 5-week stay at #97, #98, #82, #85 and #83
25 February – 10 March : 3-week stay at #97, #80 and #93

Given that it wouldn’t have received any radio airplay beyond that from Peel, it’s hard to figure out why it spent so much time around the very lower ends of the chart.  I wouldn’t imagine that even in the weeks it wasn’t in the Top 100 that it sold 0 copies, which means it sold in small numbers across the UK for at least a five-month period, while wiki reveals that Song To The Siren enjoyed a run of 101 weeks on the UK Indie Charts,  one which ranks fourth in the 1980s behind Bela Lugosi’s Dead (131 weeks), Blue Monday (186 weeks) and Love Will Tear Us Apart  (195 weeks).

Chart dates 23 -29 October

Any DD fans out there?

mp3: Duran Duran – Union Of The Snake (#4)

Their 9th single since February 1981, but their first in six months, with the previous effort Is There Something I Should Know? giving them their first #1.    The record company would no doubt prove to be disappointed that Union of The Snake, would stall at #3.

Two feline-related songs made their entries into the charts this week:-

mp3: Adam Ant – Puss’n Boots (#21)
mp3: The Cure – The Lovecats (#23)

I don’t like the Adam Ant single.  But I’m posting it to remind you that, just a few years after he’d emerged from the punk world into mainstream pop with his Ants, he was now pursuing a solo career in which Phil Collins had been engaged to produce the songs as well as contribute his drumming skills.   This one would eventually peak at #5

I do like The Cure single, albeit there’s a real novelty feel to it.  Anyone who fell for the quaint charms of The Lovecats and raced out to buy any of their earlier albums probably recoiled in horror at what was coming out of the speakers. Maybe Robert Smith was trying his best to be subversive.

The Lovecats reached #7, which would be the biggest hit for the band until Lullaby reached #5 in mid-1989.

A rather unusual release entered the singles chart this week at #52.

The Singles ’81-’83 was a six-track release by Bauhaus, that I’ve seen described as a mini-LP and an EP.  It seems, for the purposes of chart positions, it was considered as an EP.  The six tracks were The Passion Of Lovers, Kick In The Eye, Spirit, Ziggy Stardust, Lagartija Nick and She’s In Parties.  Here’s Track 1 on Side A:-

mp3: Bauhaus – The Passion Of Lovers

A re-release entered the charts at #71:-

mp3: Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

It would spend seven weeks in the charts, making it all the way to #19 in mid-November, which wasn’t too far behind the #13 spot it had reached in July 1980.

OK, so it took some old songs being re-released to really perk up the charts back in October 1983.  The question is…..did it set things up for a decent November?  Tune in next month to find out……

JC