Bananarama, Bourgie Bourgie, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, Madness, Orange Juice, Sade, Soft Cell, Style Council, Tracey Ullman

WHEN THE CLOCKS STRUCK THIRTEEN (February)

January 1984, with thirteen chart hits, got this series off to a handy enough start. Would February prove to be just as interesting, or was it all a false dawn? The first chart is actually spread across two calendar months, covering the period 28 January–4 February.

There were ten new entries into the Top 75. The list is rather depressing…….

Queen – Radio Ga Ga (#4)
Duran Duran – New Moon On Monday (#12)
The Thompson Twins – Doctor Doctor (#18)
Swans Way – Soul Train (#41)
Rockwell – Someone’s Watching Me (#52)
Slade – Run Runaway (#54)
Nena – 99 Red Ballons (#58)
Hot Chocolate – I Gave You My Heart (Didn’t I) (#59)
Van Halen – Jump (#60)
Truth – No Stone Unturned (#73)

I’m not averse to offering up the likes of Duran Duran or The Thompson Twins, but neither of those particular 45s hold much appeal, certainly in Villain Towers. Best if we fast-forward to 5-11 February.

The highest new entry this week was from a band enjoying a hit single for the 18th successive time, going back to 1979.

mp3: Madness – Michael Caine (#26)

It was the lead single from what would be their fifth studio album, Keep Moving. It was quite a departure from many of the previous 45s, being a slower number with a very serious subject-matter, telling the tale of an informant living in Northern Ireland, with the lyrics suggest a state of paranoia and mental disintegration. It was written partly by Carl Smyth, who took the lead on the song, with Suggs happy enough to do the backing vocals. The vocal samples from Michael Caine himself were recorded for the song, and being a repetition of him introducing himself by name, is based on his role in the 1965 film The Ipcress File, in which his character, Harry Palmer, repeats his name while trying to stay sane under torture.

It didn’t do quite as well as most previous Madness singles, peaking at #11 and becoming just the third of the eighteen not to reach the Top 10. Despite this, I think it is one of their finest 45s.

One of the UK’s pioneering synth bands, Ultravox, came into the charts this week at #37 with One Small Day. I genuinely couldn’t recall this song and looked up the video on YouTube. The tune was awful, sounding nothing like the band, with a dreadful guitar lick all the way through.

The various other new entries were just as annoying – with a special mention to Genesis and Illegal Alien in which Phil Collins adopted a faux-Spanish accent throughout. The video is beyond belief…….

The chart, however, was saved by this bona fide classic coming in at #74:-

mp3: Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel – White Lines (Don’t Do It)

This would prove to be one of the most incredible stories of the singles chart in 1984. In at #74 on 5 February, it would take 21 weeks to climb its way gradually into the Top 10, eventually peaking at #7 in the chart of 22-28 July (and staying there the following week). It took until 28 October before it fell out of the Top 75, meaning it had enjoyed a stay of 37 weeks, and was placed at #13 in the end-of year chart in terms of total sales.

Moving on now to 12-18 February, 19-25 February and 26 February- 3 March.

mp3: The Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods (#8 on 12 Feb)
mp3: Soft Cell – Down In The Subway (#38 on 19 Feb)
mp3: Sade – Your Love Is King (#59 on 19 Feb)
mp3: Orange Juice – Bridge (#67 on 19 Feb)
mp3: Tracey Ullman – My Guy (#46 on 26 Feb)
mp3: Bananarama – Robert De Niro’s Waiting (#48 on 26 Feb)
mp3: Bourgie Bourgie – Breaking Point (#64 on 26 Feb)

A right mix of tunes!! I can’t deny that I really liked that Sade single, albeit its jazz-tinged nature is the sort of stuff I’d usually run a long way from, but it was reflective of a lot that was going on in early 1984, and given that I was listening to The Style Council and Everything But The Girl a fair bit (amongst others) then it’s impossible to deny Sade.

Tracey Ullman gets a mention for changing the sex of the song and taking a Madness number back into the charts – it would eventually peak at #23, not quite as good as My Girl which had reached #3 in 1980.

Bananarama appealed to the pop side of my nature, and I can’t deny that I would dance to this (while wearing my Bunnymen raincoat at the Student Union disco thinking I was being really ironic when in fact I probably looked like an idiot!!).

And what a joy to be reminded that Bourgie Bourgie‘s debut single (and one of THE greatest 45s of all time), did actually have an impact on the charts, eventually reaching #48 during the month of March……but it really deserved much more. Paul Quinn on Top of The Pops would have been a sight to behold.

JC

Blondie, Gary Numan, Jam, Madness, Marianne Faithfull, Police, Pretenders, Skids, Sugar Hill Gang, Tourists

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (November)

A slight deviation from the norm in that this instalment also happens to cover a few days from October 1979, with the first of the charts being recalled with much fondness today being that of 27 October – 3 November. The first glance is enough to give anyone with good taste a bit of the dry boak as the Top 3 places really are easy listening hell with Lena Martell, Dr. Hook and Sad Cafe stinking the place out. Thankfully, one of the year’s top songs did make its entry into the charts this week, coming in at #29.

mp3: The Jam – The Eton Rifles (7″ version)

The band’s third chart hit of 1979 following on from When You’re Young and Strange Town, both of which had been Top 20. The Eton Rifles would take The Jam to the giddy heights of #3 in mid-November, confirmation that, for a certain age-group across Britain, they were becoming the biggest and most important band of their time.

Moving quickly on to the chart of 4-10 November, and it was still AOR hell across much of the Top 40. I had to go a long way down to find something decent enough that was new this week:-

mp3: Madness – One Step Beyond

So, it’s now coming up for 45 years since those of us of a certain age, not only fell head-over heels for The Jam, but we all did the Chas Smash dance for the first time. The Prince had been great fun to listen and dance to, but the band’s second 45 was truly something else. In at #51, it would go on to enjoy a 14-week stay in the Top 75, not taking its leave until the end of February 1980. The first Top of The Pop appearance for this one was memorable…..the audience had no idea what to make of it!!!

Sneaking in almost unnoticed at #75 was this:-

mp3: The Tourists – I Only Want To Be With You

As with The Jam, this was The Tourists third chart hit of 1979, and it would prove to be their biggest in their short existence. A cover of a Dusty Springfield hit from 1964, this would spend 7 weeks in the Top 10 throughout December and into the first few weeks of January 1980, thus gaining loads of sales in that crucial Christmas period. It would peak at #4 which, coincidentally, was the same success that Dusty had enjoyed 15 years previously.

11-17 November was another that was short on quantity, but big on quality

mp3: Pretenders – Brass In Pocket (#57)

Another band enjoying a third chart hit of 1979, but where Stop Your Sobbing and Kid had barely dented the Top 40, Brass In Pocket was a different beast altogether. It’s one of those songs that gets lumped onto a fair number of ‘Alternative Hits of the 80s’ compilations, which is kind of understandable when you look at its chart trajectory. In at #57….four weeks later in mid-December, it had crept up to #30. Five weeks later, it reached #1 in mid-January, enjoying a two-week stay at the top, before eventually falling out of the Top 75 in March, a full 17 weeks after it had first come in. A brilliant pop song that has aged superbly.

It was also a chart that delivered a cash-in.

mp3: The Police – Fall Out (#70)

The past 18 months had delivered worldwide pop success for The Police, but here was a reminder of their new wave roots. The debut single, originally released in May 1977 on Illegal Records. It had been written by Stewart Copeland and the guitarist was Henry Padovani as Andy Summers had yet to join. Sting‘s role was just to look pretty and sing. Fall Out had flopped on its initial release, but the demand for product was such, and even though the band’s sound have move a long long way from new wave, that this would reach #47 in due course.

Moving swiftly on to 18-24 November, it proved to be a chart with some intriguing new entries.

Hands up if you can recall and then sing along to Gary Numan‘s follow-up single to Cars. I thought so….very few of you

mp3: Gary Numan – Complex (#15)

Where Are Friends Electric and Cars had been upbeat and jaunty numbers and very much on the synth-pop side of things, this one is slow, meandering, serious and of the type that has listeners stroking their chins. It takes almost 90 seconds, half the duration of the song, before the lyric begins. I’ve a feeling that if Gary Numan hadn’t been such a phenomena back in 1979 that this would not have had much airplay on daytime radio. It did, however, get A-listed and in due course would peak at #6 the following week.

I’ve mentioned a few bands for whom November 1979 brought a third chart hit across the calendar year. It’s time to give praise to a band that was having its fourth hit of the year

mp3: The Skids – Working For The Yankee Dollar

It had all started with Into The Valley in February, followed by Animation and Charade. There is no doubt that the band’s sound evolved and changed a huge deal across the year. The first hit was new wave personified but the final hit, with all sorts of keyboards has more than a hint of prog. What hadn’t changed, however, was the catchy sing-along nature of the verses and chorus, albeit it was till nigh-on impossible to get all the words right! Working For The Yankee Dollar came in at #34 and nine weeks later it reached its peak of #20 after an incredibly slow rise to that position, going 34, 32, 28, 27, 24, 24, 23, 21, 20.

One place below The Skids in the new chart was a song from another band, enjoying a fourth hit single of the year

mp3: Blondie – Union City Blue

In at #35 and eventually peaking at #13. A relative flop given that Heart of Glass, Sunday Girl and Dreaming had been #1 or #2. A sign that the halcyon days of Blondie were over??? Don’t be silly……normal service would be resumed in February and April 1980 with two more #1s. Union City Blue did, however, prove that the band were more likely to have hits with pop or disco orientated songs rather than rock-type efforts.

Coming in at #55, was someone on the comeback trail.

mp3: Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan

Back in 1979, I only knew of Marianne Faithfull through her acting and the fact she had been romantically involved with Mick Jagger. I had no idea that she had enjoyed a number of Top 10 hit singles back in 1965 and then a minor hit in 1967. November 1979 had seen the release of an album, Broken English, with the music press and broadsheet newspapers in particular highlighting it was the work of someone coming back from a long period in the wilderness that had included periods of drug addiction, homelessness and anorexia, all of which had messed with her voice. It’s an album that gained great critical acclaim on its release, and has done so ever since. But sales wise, it didn’t initially do all that much, only reaching #57 in the UK, albeit it sold in better numbers across Europe.

In an effort to boost sales, a single was lifted from it. It was one of a number of covers recorded for the album, of a tune originally recorded back in 1974 by Dr Hook & The Medicine Show. I really have to share the review that was printed in Smash Hits magazine, none of whose targetted readership would have had a clue about Marianne’s past history:-

“The Debbie Harry of the sixties returns to vinyl with an honestly outstanding offering, a version of an old Doctor Hook number related over a swimming synthesiser. If you can handle this, it sounds like Dolly Parton produced by Brian Eno. Only better.”

Absolute genius!!!!!!!!!

With that, it’s time to move on to the chart of 24 November – 1 December. I wasn’t expecting much, given that this is when record company bosses put the emphasis on the festive or novelty songs that are likely to curry favour rather than promoting anything serious or worthwhile.

mp3: The Police – Walking On The Moon (7″)

A first in this series, with a band enjoying two new chart entries in the same month. A&M Records weren’t happy with the Illegal Records re-release of Fall Out, but given the band weren’t involved in any way with its promotion, and the fact that the next ‘proper’ single would come in at #5, before hitting the #1 spot, demonstrated that no damage to the brand had been done.

And here’s some more proof of why 1979 was, without any question, the best-ever in terms of delivering chart success for great/memorable/important singles.

mp3: Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight

This would have been the first time I ever heard a rap song. I’d be fibbing if I said I took to it instantly. I did love the fact it made great use of Good Times by Chic, but the fast-flowing and difficult to decipher lyric was something I didn’t ‘get’. Looking back on things, I am happy to acknowledge, and not for the first time, that my tastes in music had yet to fully form at the age of 16. I had no immediate reference points for this type of music but over the next few years, thanks in part to The Clash and Blondie referencing rap music and incorporating it into their own songs, it began to make a great deal of sense. By the time Grandmaster Flash appeared on the scene in 1982 with The Message, I was more than ready to embrace things, albeit I would still only dip my toes into the water for a few more years before fully immersing myself.

Rapper’s Delight came in at #38. Within two weeks, it was at #3, and it wouldn’t leave the Top 75 until February 1980. It’s far from the greatest rap song ever written and recorded, but it must be one of the most important as it was a game-changer.

I should mention in passing that this was the chart in which Pink Floyd, to the chagrin of their fans who saw the band as being an albums-only outfit, saw a single, Another Brick In The Wall, come in at #26. It was their first Top 40 single since 1967 and would, in reaching #1 a couple of weeks later, become their best known song. I thought of it back then as a novelty hit. Still do.

It was also the chart in which Paul McCartney first got to tell us of his Wonderful Christmas Time, and he hasn’t stopped doing so since. It came in at #61, and eventually reached #6. It has subsequently featured in the Top 75 in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2015 and every year since 2017 since teh dawn of digital downloads counting towards chart positions.

Part 2 of this feature, with 45s from November 1979 that didn’t chart, will be with you in a couple of weeks.

JC

B-52s, Buzzcocks, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Jam, Joe Jackson, Madness, Merton Parkas, Rezillos, Roxy Music, Sister Sledge, Stranglers

SHAKEDOWN, 1979 (August)

The summer job lasted six weeks and all too soon I was back at school, entering 5th Year, but with the consolation that lunchtimes and other short breaks could be spent sitting in a common room instead of outside in the inevitably pouring rain crowded underneath whatever shelter could be found. Music was allowed in the common room….usually through listening to BBC Radio 1, although as the weeks and months passed and after someone had brought in a spare machine, home-made cassettes became the order of the day.

My introduction to many of the songs which entered the charts in August 1979 will straddle the last couple of weeks at Halford’s and the first couple of weeks spent learning and gearing up for the inevitable exams that would, hopefully, lead to being deemed smart enough to go the uni in due course. Kind of makes this one appropriate

mp3: Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3)

A new entry, at #45, into the chart of 29 July – 4 August 1979. In some ways this demonstrates the differences in how differently music and musicians were marketed back then. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick had gone to #1 in January 1979 but Stiff Records didn’t seek an immediate cash-in, waiting the best parts of six months to release the follow-up. Nowadays, it’s more likely to be a gap of six days. Reasons To Be Cheerful was great fun to listen to, and to try and decipher the lyrics. I imagine it was difficult enough if you were from Ian Dury‘s neck of the woods, but it was near impossible a few hundred miles to the north.

I’m guessing this had something of a low-key release given it only came in at #45, but at the same time I think it’s fair to surmise there were all sorts of promotional activities happening as it charted, possibly involving TV appearances, as it jumped up all the way to #6 the following week, eventually peaking at #3. Not that any of us knew it, but it was the last time the band would make it into the Top 20.

A new group experienced their first taste of success, thanks to their debut single coming in at #58.

mp3: The Merton Parkas – You Need Wheels

A mod revival was just getting into full swing, and a number of groups with such leanings were snapped up by different labels keen to offer ways for impressionable teenagers to part with their pocket money. Beggars Banquet signed The Merton Parkas, a four-piece from South London, two of whose members were brothers, Danny Talbot (vocals/guitars) and Mick Talbot (keyboards). Their debut single did go on to reach #40, but none of its follow-ups nor their debut album bothered the chart compilers. The band would break up in 1980, but Mick Talbot, after taking a phone call from Paul Weller a few years later, would become one of the most successful and recognisable pop starts of the early-mid 80s.

mp3: Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him (#66)

Joe Jackson‘s debut single in late 1978 had flopped, much to the disappointment of all concerned at A&M Records who were convinced they had signed someone who was on a par, musically and lyrically, with Elvis Costello. The debut album, released in March 1979, had stalled while a further two singles had flopped miserably. Everyone involved was probably gearing up to cut their losses…..except that over in America, a few DJs and writers began to play and talk up Joe Jackson and his band as being worthy members of this emerging scene that had been dubbed ‘new wave’. Back in those days, if America was bigging you up, then the UK media took a bit of notice and the musician’s profile began to grow. The record label cashed in and re-released the flop debut single which this time round did chart. It would eventually spend 13 weeks in the Top 75, peaking at #13, paving the way for Joe Jackson to enjoy a fruitful year in 1980 with his second album. As it turned out, he never did shine quite as brightly as Costello, but he has more than maintained a successful career in music and composing for what isn’t now too far off 50 years.

I hope that this series is demonstrating that 1979 was a fabulous year for chart singles, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that these competing and being outsold by a lot of dreadful singles. The top end of the charts in August was dominated by mainstays such Cliff Richard, Abba, Darts, Showaddydaddy and Boney M, which all too often got playted on Radio 1 – which is why the move to a cassette player in the 5th Year Common Room was inevitable.

Too much of the above and not enough of this new entry at #52:-

mp3 :The B52s – Rock Lobster

There was a small number of us in that common room who loved the sound of The B52s. There was one girl who adored their look and quietly began to incorporate some of it into her everyday dress without getting into bother for flouting rules around school uniforms. But given that the band, certainly for the early part of their career, rarely got above cult status, this was likely typical of how they were viewed across the country with very few people ‘getting’them. Rock Lobster eventually got to #37 in 1979. It was re-released in 1986 and reached #12.

A couple other new entries from the 5-11 August chart worth mentioning in passing.

mp3: Roxy Music – Angel Eyes (#32)

The Roxy Music of the early 70s was certainly no more. The glam/experimental nature of the early years was now being replaced by a more sophisticated disco-influenced sound, that it in turn would manifest into MOR. The music was now less of a ‘must have’ to the music snobs, but it was increasingly selling to the masses. Angel Eyes was one of eight Top 20 hits between 1979 and 1982, of which six went Top 10. Bryan Ferry had achieved his ambition of being a bona fide pop star.

mp3: Sister Sledge – Lost In Music (#58)

One of a number of disco classics from 1979 that made Sister Sledge one of the year’s most popular and successful acts – they were in the singles chart for a total of 31 weeks while their debut album We Are Family peaked at #7 and spent 39 weeks in the chart. Included in this feature as anyone suggesting that The Fall would one day record a cover version of Lost In Music would have been taken away and locked in a darkened room for their own safety.

The chart of 12-18 August wasn’t all that different from the one of the previous week in that nothing new came into the Top 75 any higher than #48. But at least it was a good tune.

mp3: The Stranglers – Duchess

I know The Stranglers divide opinion. They alwways have. Back in the late 70s, there were many critics who accused them of being talentless bandwagon jumpers who were no more than grubby old pub rockers who had taken advantage of the emergence of punk to reinvent themselves. They were rightly accused of being sexist and misogynist through many of their lyrics, while the use of strippers at live shows caused many an NME journalist to froth at the mouth. But they were more than capbable of churning out the occasional pop/new wave classic. Duchess is one of their finest moments, eventually reaching #14, one of the fifteen times they would crack the Top 30, maling them regulars on Top of The Pops well into the 80s.

I’ll mention in passing some of the other acts who entered the Top 75 this week, again to help illustrate the mediocre and mundane nature of most chart singles. The Crusaders (#54), Dollar (#59), Fat Larry’s Band (63) and Racey (#68). The new entry at #71 helped to make up for it

mp3: The Rezillos – I Can’t Stand My Baby

I’ll be honest and admit I had no idea that this, as part of a double-A side with a cover of I Wanna Be Your Man (a 19963 hit for The Rolling Stones that had been written by Lennon & McCartney), has sneaked into the chart for a 1-week stay in 1979. It was a re-release of the band’s debut single that had flopped back in 1977, but of course they had enjoyed a couple of subsequent hits with Top of The Pops (#17 in August 1978) and Destination Venus (#43 in November 1978).

Moving quickly along to the chart of 19-25 August.

The highest new entry this week coincided with my return to school. The perfect anthem for any 16-year old desperate to take on the world and make an impression

mp3: The Jam – When You’re Young (#25)

There was now absolutely no doubt that I had a favourite band whose music was really consuming me. Before the year was out, I’d get to see them at the Glasgow Apollo, the first of five such times at the famous old venue between 1979 and 1982. I’d also travel a couple of times over to Edinburgh, and for many years, The Jam were the band I could claim I’d seen more than any other. When You’re Young went onto reach #17. It would be a few more months before The Jam really first experienced superstardom in terms of chart singles.

The next highest new entry at #43 is another, like The Rezillos from the previous week, seeing this when doing the research caught me by surprise. It was none other than the Spiral Scratch EP, the debut effort by Buzzcocks that I’d long forgotten had been given a reissue and re-release in 1979, with a slighly different sleeve and label to differtiate it from the January 1977 version. The sleeve attributed the songs to Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto.

mp3: Buzzcocks – Boredom

I know this wasn’t the lead track on the EP, but it’s my favourite of the four. The re-release enjoyed a six-week stay in the charts, peaking at #31. Worth mentioning that Harmony In My Head was still in the singles chart that same week, sitting at #60 for what would be the last week of a six-week stay in the Top 75.

The final chart of the month covers August 26 – September 1.

For the second week running, the highest new entry of them all was a belter of a tune.

mp3: Gary Numan – Cars (#20)

Technically, the follow-up to Are Friends Electric by the now disbanded Tubeway Army. This was Gary Numan‘s debut under his own name and would prove to be his most successful, going all the way to #1 during what was an 11-week stay in the Top 75. Say what you like about Gary Numan (and plenty of people have done so in a less than complimentary manner) but Cars still sounds fresh and invogorating 45 years after its initial hearing.

And finally for the month of August 1979. A song creeping in at the foot of the singles almost unnoticed at #74. It was the seven-piece band’s debut single. It’s b-side was a cover version and had the same title as the name of the band.

mp3 : Madness – The Prince

Along with The Specials whose own debut single had charted just a few weeks earlier (and was sitting at #6 this very week, Madness be at the forefront of a reinvigoration of ska music. Nobody could probably have imagined it at the time that the band would still be going strong 45 years on, maybe not quite getting the chart success of olden days, but they continue to be a top draw when it comes to live shows. National Treasures? I think it’s fair to suggest they are.

JC

Assembly, Aztec Camera, Blancmange, Care, David Bowie, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, Julian Cope, Madness, Simple Minds, Smiths, Style Council, Yello

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (11)

Chart dates 30 October – 5 November

If you’ll recall the closing few sentences from last month, then you’ll know that the first week of November was likely to have some decent stuff kicking around the charts, with The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and New Order still hanging around the Top 20, while PiL, Joy Division and Bauhaus were all a bit further down. On the flip side of things, Billy Joel, Lionel Ritchie and Culture Club were still dominating the very top-end of things

It was also a week in which loads of new singles became eligible for a chart placing – 15 songs appeared for the first time in the Top 75 (20% of the total), although most of them were utter pish and/or unrecallable. Here’s the full list of new entries

#75: Brian May and Friends – Starfleet
#73: The Danse Society – Heaven Is Waiting
#66: Imagination – New Dimension
#65: David Bowie – White Light/White Heat
#63: Major Harris – All My Life
#61: Aztec Camera – Oblivious
#47: Marilyn – Calling Your Name
#45: Eurythmics – Right By Your Side
#43: Rainbow – Can’t Let You Go
#34: Limahl – Only For Love
#26: The Police – Syncronicity II
#25: ABC – That Was Then, This Is Now
#24: Status Quo – A Mess Of Blues
#21: Madness – The Sun and The Rain
#19: Shakin Stevens – Cry Just A Little Bit

The Danse Society, one of the many goth-rock bands who were suddenly finding success )of sorts), were on a roll as Heaven Was Waiting was the second 45 of theirs to crack the Top 75 in 1983. It would actually make it as high as #60, while the parent album of the same name, released just in time for the Xmas market in December 83, got to #40. Wiki offers the reminder that the album wasn’t well by professional critics, with reviews such as “further plodding nonsense” and “Heavy on gloomy atmosphere […] but short on memorable songs.” The fact I can’t recall anything of them maybe bears that out.

David Bowie was having a stellar year in 1983, sales wise at least, thanks to Let’s Dance selling in millions and all his other albums enjoying resurgent sales (in July 83, ten Bowie albums could be found in the Top 100). This live cover version of the Velvet Underground staple had been released as a single to promote a live album, Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture, which was hitting the screens that very month.

Aztec Camera had moved from Postcard to Rough Trade to Warner Brothers, and the promotional efforts of the major took them into the charts with the first ever time with a re-release of an old song. Oblivious is a great pop song, and while I’m not normally a fan of re-releases, it was good to see this going on to do so well, eventually climbing up to #18 before the year was out, the first of what proved to be eight Top 40 hits for Roddy & co.

The Eurythmics might have burst onto the scene earlier in the year with the majestic Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) but the release of new album Touch, had seen the adopt a more commercial and mainstream pop sound that brought huge success all over the world. Not a sound, however, that I recall with much love or fondness.

Talking of changing style and sound, ABC had gone down a different road from that taken with debut album The Lexicon Of Love. It didn’t go down well with critics or fans but the first single from what turned out to be The Beauty Stab, did eventually reach #18. I~~t proved to be their last ever Top 20 hit single~~. They had just one further top 20 hit, courtesy of When Smokey Sings, in 1987 (and thanks to the observant readers who spotted this error!)

Madness were enjoying their 17th successive Top 20 single. The quite excellent The Sun and The Rain would eventually get as high as #5 which actually turned out to be the very final time they would make the Top 10.*

*in the 80’s, I should have added. A re-released It Must Be Love was a hit in 1992, while a much later single, Lovestruck, reached #10 in 1999. Again, my thanks to the ever-helpful readers…..)

Chart dates 6-12 November

It was inevitable after the previous week’s glut of new entries that things would slow down a bit. The highest new entry came from the Rolling Stones, offering up something that was a bit more funk/dance orientated than much of their previous material. Undercover of The Night came in at #21 and later climbed to #11. Who would ever have imagined back then that 40 years on, they’d still be going strong and having hit singles?

Some notes of interest from further down.

mp3: The Assembly – Never Never (#36)

It proved to a one-off collaboration between Vince Clarke and Feargal Sharkey, and this electronic ballad soon took off in popular fashion, hitting #4 just two weeks later.

mp3: Care – Flaming Sword (#58)

One of the great long-lost bands who really should have been much bigger than things turned out. This was their second single, but the only one that cracked the charts. Main songwriter, Ian Broudie, would have to wait a few years with The Lightning Seeds to enjoy commercial success.

Oh, and I almost forgot about this one.

mp3: The Smiths – This Charming Man (#55)

It would spend 12 weeks in the Top 75 all the way through to February 1984, peaking at #25 in early December 83. It was the first of what proved to be sixteen singles from The Smiths that would crack the charts over the next four years, only two of which reached the Top 10 (and both peaked at that particular number). Have a think and see if you can remember….the answer will be given as a PS at the foot of the post.

Chart dates 13-19 November

Fourth single of the year and a forth chart hit. It was only a year since The Jam had split up, but Paul Weller was proving to be every bit as popular as ever.

mp3: The Style Council – A Solid Bond In Your Heart (#12)

I remember at the time being a bit let down by this one. It certainly didn’t seem up to the standards of the previous three singles, but in some ways it was just a minor bumop in the road as the imperious pop phase of TSC was just around the corner. Oh, and a couple of years later, we would learn that Solid Bond had been demoed while The Jam were still going, so it could very well have come out as one of their later singles if they hadn’t disbanded.

mp3: Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel – White Lines (Don’t Do It) (#60)

One of the very best of the early rap singles, it sneaked into the bottom end of the charts in November 83 and then disappeared, only to re-emerge in the following February from where it would spend 37 successive weeks in the Top 75, the first 18 of which were outside the Top 40, before really being picked up on by the general public and hitting the #7 for two weeks in July/August 1984. It was inevitable after the previous week’s glut of new entries that things would slow down a bit. It’s the full 12″ on offer today, as that’s the one I have in the collection.

mp3: Julian Cope – Sunshine Playroom (#64)

I’d totally forgotten that this had been released as a single. It was actually the first time that Julian Cope had taken solo material into the Top 75. Again, it’s a quiz question with the answer at the bottom. How many JC singles went into the Top 75 between 1983 and 1996?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that all was sweetness and light in the singles chart some 40 years ago. The top 4 consisted of Billy Joel, Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson, Shakin Stevens and Lionel Ritchie. Some of new entries and highest climbers this week included Paul Young, Genesis, Tina Turner, Nik Kershaw, and Roland Rat Superstar – a grim reminder that the British public have always been suckers for novelty records.

Chart dates 20-26 November

A couple of the new entries were Christamas-related and readying themselves for all-out assaults in the month of December. Yup, I’m looking at you The Pretenders and The Flying Pickets…..

There were some things worthy of attention.

mp3: Simple Minds – Waterfront (#25)

It was booming, bombastic and anthemic, and it was the beginning of the end of the cutting-edge Simple Minds. But it was a song totally inspired by home city of Glasgow, and in pulling together the promo video for the single, the band hit upon the idea of opening up and using the Barrowland Ballroom for a live performance. A huge debt is owed to them for that…..

mp3: Blancmange – That’s Love, That It Is (#43)

The duo had enjoyed a great 12 months, with the previous three singles (Living On The Ceiling, Waves and Blind Vision) all going Top 20, as indeed would their next again single (Don’t Tell Me) in April 1984. This is the one nobody remembers as it got stuck at #33 in mid-December among all the stuff that tends to dominate the charts in the month of the year. Maybe, in hindsight, it should have been held back six or eight weeks.

mp3: Yello – Lost Again (#73)

This has long been a favourite of mine and I was disappointeed that it flopped so miserably. The record buying public were seemingly far from convinced by the merits of off-centre electronica musicians from Switzerland.

And finally this month.

mp3: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax (#67)

For the next six weeks, this single hung around the lower end of the charts, making its way up to #46 with steady but unspectacular sales.

It then eventually reached #35 in the first week of January 1984 which led to an appearance on Top Of The Pops….it wasn’t their first UK TV apppearance as they had already been on The Tube, broadcast on Channel 4, on a number of occasions. The TOTP appearance resulted in huge sales the follwowing week and it went all the way to #6.

A this point in time, long after the horse had bolted, Radio 1 DJ Mike Read announced he wasn’t going to play the record due to the suggestive nature of the lyrics. He also felt the record sleeve was disgusting and amoral. The BBC then decided Relax should be banned from any daytime play, but this didn’t stop the likes of David ‘Kid’ Jensen and John Peel having a bit of fun and airing the song in their evening shows. The ban was extended to include Top of The Pops.

All this only prompted a bit of mania among the record-buying public, and Relax initally went to #2 in the wake of the ban and then spent five weeks at the #1 slot through to the end of February 84, going on to spend 48 succesive weeks in the Top 75, including a rise back up to #2 when FGTH’s follow-up single, Two Tribes, went massive.

The BBC eventually relented and dropped the ban -it had become a joke in as much that the commercial radio stations and the non-BBC TV channels were more than happy to play the song or have it performed on programmes.

Who ever said there was no such thing as bad publicity was certainly right on this occasion.

One more month in the series to go. It’ll appear sometime in late-December.

JC

PS (1): The two singles by The Smiths to hit the Top 10 were Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now and Sheila Take A Bow.

PS (2): Julian Cope had 16 singles reach the Top 75 between 1983 and 1996. Seven of them actually cracked the Top 40, with World Shut Your Mouth being the best-achieving of them all, hitting #19.

Carmel, Glove, Kinks, Kraftwerk, Madness, Style Council

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (8)

The month of August 1983 as delivered by the UK record-buying public.

Chart dates 31st July – 6 August 1983

Nope. There’s nothing new in the Top 40 worth featuring, while all those that are half-decent that have been in the charts for a few weeks were mentioned either last month or back in June.

A 7″ I did buy back in the day did enter the charts at #48, and eventually made its way up to #15 in mid-September.

mp3: Carmel – Bad Day

A jazz/soul group whose name was taken from that of the lead singer, Carmel McCourt. The other two members were Jim Paris and Gerry Darby. This was the lead single from their second album, The Drum Is Everything, but their first for a major label, in this instance London Records. It was produced by Mike Thorne, who at the time was one of the most-sight after in his profession, thanks to his success with Soft Cell, The The and Bronski Beat, among others. It’s well seeing I was being influenced by The Style Council at this juncture in my life.

Chart dates 7th August – 13th August 1983

At long last, after a combined six weeks of sitting at the top of the charts, Rod Stewart and Paul Young were finally displaced by KC and The Sunshine Band. Sadly, it wasn’ttty quite the way (ah-huh, ah-huh) I liked it, as the song was the rather bland and dull Give It Up.

Weller and Talbot came to the rescue:-

mp3 : The Style Council – Long Hot Summer (#8)

I’ve said enough over the years about this particular song. It was, and remains after 40 years, a real favourite. It’s certainly stood the test of time. It would, over the course of the remainder of the month, reach #3 and in doing so, be the best-performing song, chart-wise, for TSC.

I’m off to Dusseldorf with a mate very soon for a weekend, during which we will take in a couple of matches. He’s not big into his music, but I’m sure even he’s heard of that city’s greatest and best known exports:-

mp3: Kraftwerk – Tour de France (#31)

It eventually manoeuvred its way up to #22.

Chart dates 14th – 20th August

mp3: Madness – Wings Of A Dove (#19)

The 15th time that Madness entered the singles chart. This time, they threw in some steel drums and the vocal talents of The Inspirational Choir of the Pentecostal First Born Church of the Living God, who had been runners-up in a talent show organised by Channel 4, but whose performances led to Madness asking them to do the additional/backing vocals on a newly written song that was intended for release as a single. What did surprise me is that Wings Of A Dove was Madness’s second-best ever performing 45, reaching #2, bettered only by their sole #1, House of Fun.

mp3 : The Kinks – Come Dancing (#29)

The Kinks hadn’t enjoyed a hit single in 11 years, and the success of Come Dancing was a bolt from the blue. It had actually been released, to complete indifference, in late 1982 but to almost everyone’s surprise, it found favour with the American audiences, reaching#6 on its release in April 1983. The UK record label quickly made plans to have a second go with things over here, and in due course it would reach #12. It proved to be the 17th and last time the band would reach the Top 20 in their homeland.

Chart dates 21st – 27th August 1983

As with the opening week of this month, nothing new came into the Top 40 to provide any excitement. Digging deep down, I found this:-

mp3 : The Glove – Like An Animal (#52)

This was actually a rise of one place from its entry into the Top 75 at #53 the previous week.

The Glove was a side project involving Steve Severin (Banshees) and Robert Smith (The Cure). A clause in his contract seemingly prohibited Smith singing with another band, which is why Jeanette Landray, a former girlfriend of Severin’s bandmate Budgie, was recruited as the lead singer.

May 2019 was the only time The Glove previously featured on the blog. It came from a great discussion via the comments section involving Martin (Sweden) and Dirk (Germany) about the merits of this single.

Martin

I must point out that the B-side of the first single by The Glove (Like an animal) is one of the best pop songs ever recorded by RS, Mouth To Mouth.

Note I post this as a fact.

Dirk

Even better than the A-Side, Martin? Must listen to it once I get home … and if it ever comes to an ICA, ‘Like An Animal’ M.U.S.T. be included … at least as far as I’m concerned …

Martin

Dirk – In my eyes, yes without a doubt! And it has Robert singing as if I remember correctly he could for contractual reasons not do the lead vocals on any of the singles. Like an animal has Landray on vocals.

So… the contractual issue wasn’t he couldn’t sing lead vocals – he just couldn’t do it on any singles. Here’s your b-side

mp3: The Glove – Mouth To Mouth

I’ll be back again with more of the same in four or so weeks.

JC

Eurythmics, Fun Boy Three, Madness, Stranglers, Tears For Fears

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (2)

Thanks again for all the feedback after the initial part of this series.

The Top 10 of the singles chart in the final week of February 1983 was a very strange mix. Michael Jackson, Bonnie Tyler, Kajagoogoo and Toto were in the top four places, but underneath all of that, you would find:-

mp3: Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (#5)
mp3: Tears For Fears – Change (#7)
mp3: Madness – Tomorrow’s Just Another Day (#8)
mp3: Fun Boy Three – Tunnel Of Love (#10)

For the sake of completeness, Musical Youth and The Thomson Twins made up the remainder of the Top 10. There were also a couple of very interesting singles entering the chart a bit lower down, but they’ll be part of next month’s story.

I didn’t think to look at the album charts last time round, mainly on the basis that I reckoned the month of January would be skewed by the unusual sales activity that occurs every festive period. As it turned out, I actually missed that Feline, the Stranglers seventh studio album, had been released in the second week in January and had gone into the charts at #4. The album had been preceded, in late 1992, by this single:-

mp3: The Stranglers – European Female

Nobody realised it at the time, but Feline would be the last of their albums to reach the Top 10 and that European Female would be just about their last original single to reach the Top 20. Up until now it had been continuous success for The Stranglers going back to 1977, but their commercial and critical peaks had now been scaled.

JC

Madness

SOME SONGS MAKE GREAT SHORT STORIES (Chapter 51)

It was back in 2014 that I wrote these words about this particular song:-

“…a truly astonishing single that remains my particular favourite from the band. A soap-opera in just under three minutes. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl have sex…baby gets created. Parents of the boy and girl react with anger and horror…and completely ostracize their own offspring.

Their crime wasn’t to become unexpected parents. Their crime was to create a mixed-race baby.

Based on a true story. The teenage sister of saxophonist Lee Thomson had a black boyfriend and became pregnant, only to be horrified by the fact that many in her family shunned her.”

I do think that the lyric makes for a great short story….one that is particularly shocking, even back in that less enlightened and intolerant era:

Received a letter just the other day,
Don’t seem they wanna know you no more,
They’ve laid it down given you their score,
Within the first two lines it bluntly read.

You’re not to come and see us no more,
Keep away from our door,
Don’t come ’round here no more
What on earth did you do that for?

Our aunt, she don’t wanna know she says,
What will the neighbours think they’ll think,
We don’t that’s what they’ll think, we don’t,
But I will, ’cause I know they think I don’t.

Our uncle he don’t wanna know he says,
We are a disgrace to the human race he says,
How can you show your face,
When you’re a disgrace to the human race?

No commitment, you’re an embarrassment,
Yes, an embarrassment, a living endorsement,
The intention that you have booked,
Was an intention that was overlooked.

They say, stay away,
Don’t want you home today,
Keep away from our door,
Don’t come ’round here no more.

Our dad, he don’t wanna know he says,
This is a serious matter,
Too late to reconsider,
No one’s gonna wanna know ya!

Our mum, she don’t wanna know,
I’m feelin’ twice as old, she says,
Thought she had a head on her shoulder,
‘Cause I’m feelin’ twice as older,
I’m feelin’ twice as older.

You’re an embarrassment…

mp3: Madness – Embarrassment

The real life story turns out to have had a happy ending, with the family seeing sense after the baby girl was born. I’m guessing the existence of the song also played its part….

As I’ve used a copy of the 7″ single to supply the mp3, I thought it would be OK to also offer up its b-side:-

mp3:Madness – Crying Shame

Madness clearly had such an abundance of riches back in 1980 that this could be disposed of, almost as an afterthought.

JC

Madness

THE MOST SUBVERSIVE OF POP HITS

From wiki:-

Michael Caine is a song by British band Madness, released on 30 January 1984 as the first single from their album Keep Moving. The song was written by Carl (Cathal) Smyth and Daniel Woodgate, and features Smyth on lead vocals in place of usual Madness vocalist Suggs. Michael Caine spent eight weeks on the British chart, peaking at number 11.

It is named after English actor Michael Caine and includes his vocal samples, recorded specifically for this song. The song’s hook, a repetition of Caine introducing himself by name, recalls his role in the 1960s spy film The Ipcress File, in which his character, Harry Palmer, repeats his name while trying to stay sane under torture.

It was only after it became a hit, having enjoyed extensive radio exposure and all the rest of it, did the true meaning of the song come out, as explained years later in a biography of the band:-

First impressions suggested this laconic song was an offbeat tribute to a very British institution from lines like ‘All I wanted was a word or photograph to keep at home,’ to the opening soundbite ‘My name is Michael Caine’ – captured by sending a sound engineer down to a private members club frequented by the actor….

….Cathal revealed an altogether more serious subtext behind the lyrics. “(It) is about the informers in Ireland and the way the government were using them to put people in interment camps, in prison – but I didn’t want to make that (too) obvious. I wanted the atmosphere of distrust and I threw Michael Caine in as a red herring to confuse people. His name seemed right. I had a general admiration for Michael Caine and ‘Get Carter’ and ‘The Ipcress File’ had the sort of atmosphere I wanted to create – we even used some of his phrases. Looking back to ‘Give Ireland Back to The Irish’ by Paul McCartney, that never got played. You’ve got to be careful what you say.”

mp3 : Madness – Michael Caine

I hadn’t actually realised this to be the case until a few years ago when I came across a reference to the song in book about 2-Tone in which it was pointed out just how political all the band who were on, or were associated with that label/movement, truly were.

Here’s the promo:-

JC

Madness

HOUSE OF SOPHISTICATED POP MUSIC

In August 1979, Madness released their debut single.

The Prince was in tribute to ska singer Prince Buster. It was the their way of saying thank you for providing such influences on their look and sound, not to mention the band’s name which was taken from a song written and recorded by Prince Buster.

The debut single went to #16 in the charts.

Over the next seven years, Madness would release a further 21 singles, almost of all them memorable in some shape or form and from which you could forge an ICA that would be very hard to beat in any match-up completion.

House of Fun : #1
Wings Of A Dove : #2
My Girl : #3
Baggy Trousers : #3
Embarrassment : #4
Grey Day : #4
It Must Be Love : #4
Driving In My Car : #4
Our House : #5
The Sun and the Rain : #5
One Step Beyond : #7
The Return of the Los Palmas 7 : #7
Shut Up : #7
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day : #8
Michael Caine : #11
Cardiac Arrest : #14
One Better Day : #17
Yesterday’s Men : #18
(Waiting For) The Ghost Train : #18
Uncle Sam : #21
Sweetest Girl : #35

The later original material, while not charting as well as the nutty sounds of the early 80s, revealed a wonderful depth to the band both in terms of the music and the lyrics which increasingly explored social and political issues both at home and abroad; the exception being the rather underwhelming cover of the Scritti Politti classic which was, as demonstrated above, the poorest selling 45 by a long way.

The band broke up in 1986, leaving a fabulous legacy of singles, six albums, memorable videos and enjoyable TV performances. Nobody would have minded if they had left it at that.

They got back together in 1992 on the back of the success of a singles compilation album and attracted more than 75,000 folk to the Madstock! reunion gigs on 8 and 9 August in Finsbury Park, London. This led to them touring again, playing arena-sized venues in the UK and giving folk a good nostalgic night out. They went back into the studio in 1999 from which a first new album in 13 years emerged, including a #10 hit single in Lovestruck. The songs on the slightly tongue-in-cheek entitled Wonderful brought some new life and energy into the live sets which, until this point hadn’t changed much in 15 years.

The next release came in 2004 but The Danger Sessions, made-up entirely of cover versions, was poorly received, critically and commercially. The tensions over its recording also led to the departure of founder-member Chris Foreman, although he would later return to the fold.

What happened next was a very pleasant surprise.

May 2009 saw Madness release their ninth studio album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate, a work that I’d argue that is, by a fairly long way, their best ever album.

OK, it doesn’t have any killer 45 tunes a la the 80s, but this is a record from a different beast than had emerged blinking from the shadows with the release of The Prince 30 year previously and demonstrated that Madness could be listed alongside such as The Kinks, The Jam, Squeeze and XTC as the best proponents of pop music that is uniquely and brilliantly English.

The reviews were universally positive. It was described in various places as a masterpiece, extraordinary and the most sophisticated and satisfying album of their career. The spirits of Charles Dickens and Noel Coward were invoked as ways of describing the scale and ambition of something which on the surface was a concept album about the city of London but is in fact packed with the most bittersweet and melancholy of pop songs covering subject matters such as love, loss, success and failure of which an understanding can really only come with the onset of middle-age.

Just as Weller & co had captured my teenage moods, as Moz, Johnny, Mike and Andy had made sense of the student days, as Stipe and his buddies from Athens GA mimicked the emotions of moving into my 30s, the songs and music of Madness on The Liberty of Norton Folgate were perfect for coming to terms with being middle-aged and, while perhaps my very best days were behind me, there was still so much that I could bring to any party or gathering thanks to being older, wiser and yes, sophisticated, in comparison to my own slightly more manic and nuttier days.

I’ve long wanted to wax lyrically about this album. I never quite found the right words at the time of its release and besides there was little I could add to the widespread reviews of the day.

These words have come about from giving the album a fresh listen, in full, for the first time in maybe five years. I thought that such a listen would have me tempering my praise and finding that the songs hadn’t aged well over the past nine years. Not in the slightest….

mp3 : Madness – Forever Young
mp3 : Madness – That Close
mp3 : Madness – MkII
mp3 : Madness – NW5

Growing up and growing old can be satisfying after all.

JC

Madness

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Magnificent 7?

Surely Some Mistake – there’s only six guys on the cover……

Appearances can be soooooooooooo deceptive.

The band was indeed officially only six-strong in the early days. The seventh bloke to join Madness wouldn’t do until after this single was released, although up until then he had been part of their live shows as backing vocalist and dancer. And indeed would play a huge part in making this single so bloody popular:-

mp3 : Madness – One Step Beyond

It’s a cover of a tune by Prince Buster, a Jamaican ska artist who had enjoyed success back in the 60s. Madness had already paid tribute to him with their debut single The Prince before making sure he got a whole lot of royalties with their follow-up which reached #7 in November 1979.

The key difference between the original and this loving tribute is the addition of the spoken-word intro:-

Hey you,
Don’t watch that, watch this!
This is the heavy heavy monster sound
The nuttiest sound around
So if you’ve come in off the street
And you’re beginning to feel the heat
Well listen Buster
You better start to move your feet
To the rockinest, rock-steady beat
Of Madness
One step beyond!

Performed by Chas Smash and copied by kids in playgrounds all over the UK. With a wonderfully entertaining video to boot, this is the song really got Madness noticed and before long they cemented a place as one of the great British singles acts of the late 20th Century.

Just under a year later, Madness would release a truly astonishing single that remains my particular favourite. A soap-opera in just under three minutes. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl have sex…baby gets created. Parents of the boy and girl react with anger and horror…and completely ostracize their own offspring.

Their crime wasn’t to become unexpected parents. Their crime was to create a mixed-race baby…

mp3 : Madness – Embarrassment

Based on a true story. The teenage sister of saxophonist Lee Thomson had a black boyfriend and became pregnant only to be horrofied by the fact that many in her family shunned her. The real life story turns out to have had a happy ending, with the family seeing sense after the baby girl was born. I’m guessing the existence of the song also played its part….

Happy Listening

Arab Strap, Billy Bragg, Cinerama, Delgados, Half Man Half Biscuit, Madness, Smiths, T Rex, Urusei Yatsura, Wire

MY FRIENDS ELECTRIC (16)

JUST BECAUSE……

http://keepingitpeel.wordpress.com/

and in particular:-

http://keepingitpeel.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/john-peel-10-years-gone/

mp3 : Arab Strap – The First Big Peel Thing (Peel Session)
mp3 : Billy Bragg – Lover’s Town (Peel Session)
mp3 : Cinerama – Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) (Peel Session)
mp3 : The Delgados – No Danger (Peel Session)
mp3 : Half Man Half Biscuit – Mr Cave’s A Window Cleaner Now (Peel Session)
mp3 : Madness _ Bed & Breakfast Man (Peel Session)
mp3 : The Smiths – Rusholme Ruffians (Peel Session)
mp3 : T.Rex – Ride A White Swan (Peel Session)
mp3 : Urusei Yatsura – Hello Tiger (Peel Session)
mp3 : Wire – I Am The Fly (Peel Session)