The 1979 series was planned with the knowledge of just how great that calendar year had been in terms of chart singles. In going for 1984 as the follow-up, I was really leaning on the idea of the book, and also the artwork from the film, as inspiration, quite unsure of how good or bad the charts had been. January and February have proven to be more than OK, but then again I’ve got to acknowledge that many of the chart hits across both months had a lot to do with being part of albums from 1983 rather than new material in a new year. Heading now into early spring as the month of March comes around, I’m curious to see if there was any sort of shift.
4 – 10 March
The highest new entry came from Lionel Richie, with the excruciating ballad, Hello. In at #25, it would get to #1 before the month was out, spend six weeks at the top and going on to be the 7th best-selling single across the entire year.
For the purposes of this series, there’s a handful of new entries worth highlighting:-
mp3: Afrika Bambaattaa and The Soul Sonic Force – Renegades of Funk (#39)
This is another which dates from 1983 but seems t0 have taken a long time to become a commercial hit in the UK. It came in at #39, and the following week reached #30, which was as high as it got. Seventeen year later, the song would be re-interpreted by Rage Against The Machine, giving rise to the title of their fourth and final studio album, Renegades, which itself consisted of 12 cover versions.
mp3: Scritti Politti – Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (#50)
I’ve often said that Songs To Remember, the 1982 debut album from Scritti Politti, will always be among my all-time favourites. I’ve blogged before about its eventual follow-up, Cupid and Psyche ’85, and am more than happy to offer up this cut’n’paste:-
“It’s an album that would likely have bankrupted Rough Trade if Scritti Politti hadn’t been allowed to take up the offer dangled in front of them by Virgin Records. It’s an album that most certainly was aimed at the mass-market rather than bedsit land. It’s an album of pop at its purest and its finest…..but it was hard for this particular fan to admit a pure love for at the time of release. In saying that, hearing the first new song post-Songs To Remember was a real joy.
Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) still sounds astonishingly good all these years later. Released in February 1984, it was accompanied by a stunning and glossy video featuring Michael Clark, the new superstar of modern ballet who had previously worked with The Fall. It sounded immense coming out of crackly radios and beyond belief when played over the sound system in the student union. It deservedly went Top 10 and enabled Green Gartside, with his new haircut that seemed to pay equal tribute to George Michael and Princess Diana, onto Top of The Pops.”
Yup….12 weeks in the Top 75, peaking at #10.
mp3: The Questions – Tuesday Sunshine (#53)
A band from Edinburgh who caught the eye of Paul Weller, firstly being invited to support The Jam and then to sign to the singer’s own label, Respond Records. The first of their singles had been released in 1978, but it took until mid-1983 that they finally had a Top 75 hit with Price You Pay. The plan from Respond seemed to have been to launch the band with a series of singles in 83 with a view to an album in 84. The problem was that the sales didn’t match the hopes of all concerned, and indeed when the album failed to breach the Top 100, the band called it a day shortly afterwards. Tuesday Sunshine proved to be their biggest hit, reaching #46. Bassist and vocalist Paul Barry would eventually find fame and fortune many years later, after moving to America, as a songwriter of some note, including #1 hit singles for Cher and Enrique Iglesias.
mp3: China Crisis – Hanna Hanna (#63)
The follow-up to Top 10 hit Wishful Thinking didn’t quite do so well, eventually peaking at #44. The band would, however, enjoy two Top 20 hit singles in 1985.
mp3: Icicle Works – Birds Fly (A Whisper To A Scream) (#64)
The fact this is the first ever appearance from Icicle Works on this blog after more than 18 years is an indication that I never quite took to them, but I’m guessing a few of the regular visitors to this corner of t’internet will be fans. This was a re-release of a flop single from July 1983, to capitalise on the success of Love Is A Wonderful Colour, which hit the charts in late 83 and actually peaked at #15 in mid-January 1984….maybe I should have mentioned that in the first part of this particular series. No apology is offered!
mp3: General Public – General Public (#66)
The Beat had broken up in late 1983. Two of its members, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, decided they wanted to continue working together and persuaded keyboardist Mickey Billingham (Dexys Midnight Runners), bassist Horace Panter (the Specials) and drummer Stoker (Dexys Midnight Runners) plus one other to form a new ‘super-group’. The one other was guitarist Mick Jones (the Clash) but he left during the recording process of their debut album, although he listed and credited with playing on some its tracks.
This eponymous 45 was the first that the general public got to hear of the band. It’s one that I really liked and still do. Not too many folk were on the same wave length as me as it got no higher than #60. The band would release a total of nine singles between 1984 and 1986, all of which flopped. Neither of the band’s two albums reached the Top 100…..
11-17 March
An unusual chart this week in that 39 of last week’s Top 40 were still in this week’s Top 40. The highest new entry was at #41, and it was UB40 with Cherry Oh Baby, the fourth single to be lifted from the 1983 album Labour of Love, which itself was an LP of cover versions. I know UB40 were well-liked back in the day, emerging in 1980 and enjoying a great deal of chart success over a 25-year period, but I never took to them.
Madonna with Lucky Star was the next highest new entry at #47, and thus quickly proving that she wouldn’t be a one-hit wonder after the success of debut single, Holiday.
Just as I was beginning to despair of this latest chart offering up nothing…….
mp3: Propaganda – Dr Mabuse (#66)
mp3: The Special AKA – Nelson Mandela (#68)
The former is one of THE great debut 45s, and the latest assault on the senses from the ZTT label. It’s been mentioned a few times on the blog before, including as part of the ‘It Really Was A Cracking Debut Single’ series back in November 2021. Echorich, as he so often did when he was a regular visitor here, absolutely nailed it:-
Propaganda was, in my mind, the greatest achievement of ZTT. Dr. Mabuse is a single that, more than any other, exemplifies the label’s mission statement. It was a crystal production, had literary influence and strove to be post modern pop. A Secret Wish would build on this in an explosive way. Nothing else ZTT released ever had the same impact on me as this single and debut album.
The latter? I’m not sure just how many people knew of the life and struggles of Nelson Mandela prior to Jerry Dammers penning this single. I was a politically-active student in the early 80s, and a fully-fledged member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (among many other things), and taking part in protest matches and demos, while worthy in themselves, didn’t seem to be making a real impact in terms of raising awareness. This song, being aired on Radio 1 with live performances on TV shows such as The Tube, really helped…and the fact it was so fantastically catchy with a chorus taken from a slogan long chanted at demos, saw enough people buy it in the shops that it would reach #9 about a month later.
It would take a further six years, until 11 February 1990, before the great man was given his long overdue freedom.
I think to write anything else within this particular post would be trite. I’ll deal with the last two weeks of the March 1984 singles charts in a separate post.
Many thanks
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 