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.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 