The singles chart of the final week of April 1983 was slightly less poptastic than the previous month.
Quite a few of those featured last time around were still in the Top 40 – David Bowie (#6), New Order (#23), JoBoxers (#19), Duran Duran (#27), Big Country (#29), Dexy’s Midnight Runners (#32), Eurythmics (#33) and The Style Council (#36).
The #1 slot was occupied by Spandau Ballet with True, an MOR-ballad that in later years would be revealed had been written a Gary Kemp who was infatuated at the time by Clare Grogan.
The Top 10 was actually a bit ‘meh’, but there were a couple of very decent electronic-pop tunes floating around
mp3: Human League – (Keep Feeling) Fascination (#4)
mp3: Eurythmics – Love Is A Stranger (#7)
Yup. The record company had made a quick cash-in . Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) might have fallen to #33 after 11 weeks in the Top 40, but the re-release of an earlier single from November 1982 kept Annie and Dave’s profile very high.
Sitting at #14 was another electro-group, with the song that would eventually climb to #2 and thus provide their biggest hit.
Two of the highest new entries are very much worthy of mentions.
mp3: Tears For Fears – Pale Shelter (#22)
mp3: Fun Boy Three – Our Lips Are Sealed (#31)
I’ve a feeling Tears For Fears snagged themselves a Top of The Pops appearance that week as Pale Shelter went up to #5 the following week, which was where it peaked. Fun Boy Three took a more leisurely meander up the charts, taking a further three weeks to hit its high spot of #7.
Goth, of sorts, was also in the singles charts this particular week.
mp3: Bauhaus – She’s In Parties (#28)
mp3: The Creatures – Miss The Girl (#37)
She’s In Parties had fallen two places from the previous week with what proved to be Bauhaus‘s biggest hit single that wasn’t a cover. Miss The Girl would eventually reach #21 and was the first of two hit singles for The Creatures in 1983.
One final song to highlight this week, for what proved to be a one-hit wonder.
mp3: Kissing The Pink – The Last Film (#24)
Kissing The Pink were a new wave/synth band from London. They released three albums between 1983 and 1986, with later releases in 1993, 2015 and 2016. The Last Film was the only time any single troubled the charts and it enjoyed a remarkably long stay that wouldn’t really be possible today. It had crept into the Top 75 at the end of February 1983, and ten weeks later it got to #19 where it stalled for three successive weeks. It eventually fell out of the Top 75 in mid-June.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 