2-8 December
It’s the run-up to Christmas, and I did the research, fully anticipating there would be little to look back with much fondness in terms of the new entries in the singles chart. My worst fears were realised. It’s the Smooth Radio playlist from hell:-
Spandau Ballet – Round and Round (#23 – would spend 8 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #18)
Thompson Twins – Lay Your Hands On Me (#30 – would spend 9 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #13)
Queen – Thank God It’s Christmas (#36 – would spend 6 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #21)
Paul Young – Everything Must Change (#39 – would spend 11 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #9)
Foreigner – I Want To Know What Love Is (#67 – would spend 16 weeks in the Top 75, including three weeks at #1)
Two of the biggest selling male singers, who would later pass away within four months of one another in 2016, had new entries this week:-
mp3: David Bowie – Tonight (#58)
The second single lifted from the underwhelming 16th studio album, also called Tonight, that had been released in September 1984. It’s a cover of a song originally recorded by Iggy Pop for his 1977 album, Lust For Life. Bowie had written the lyrics for this one, and his take on these seven years later is reggae-influenced and has Tina Turner singing alongside him. I’m not a fan….not many at the time were, as it stalled at #53.
mp3: Prince & The Revolution – I Would Die 4 U (#64)
The fourth and final single to be lifted from Purple Rain, and with the album now almost six months old, it can’t be too surprising that it did no better than #58 in the charts. Worth mentioning that the b-side was a Christmas number, although not exactly the cheerful type you hear in the shops when searching for the last-minute gifts:-
mp3: Prince – Another Lonely Christmas
9-15 December
This was the week when Band Aid came in at #1, where it would stay for five weeks. This was the week when Last Christmas by Wham came in at #2, a position it would occupy for the next five weeks.
The next highest entry was a re-release. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard came in at #50, eventually reaching #23. It had originally been a#4 hit in 1973.
After that, it was So Near To Christmas by Alvin Stardust at #54. It would later climb to #29.
But before you run off screaming into the abyss, here’s a couple of lower down entries that look really out of place among all the festive offerings:-
mp3: Ian McCulloch – September Song (#61)
Mac the Mouth’s first solo single. A cover, dating from 1938, when it was used in the Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. The music was composed by Kurt Weill and the lyric was the work of Maxwell Anderson. The song had been written as the solo number in the show for the veteran actor Walter Huston, someone not exactly well known for his vocal talents. A version by Frank Sinatra would chart in the 1940s and 1960s. Mac’s take peaked at #51.
mp3: Smiley Culture – Police Officer (#66)
The then 21-year-old Londoner, whose real name was David Emmanuel, had a brief brush with fame in the mid-80s. This was his biggest success, an urban tale of a black man who was arrested for possession of cannabis but was let go after the arresting officer recognised him as a famous reggae artist, in exchange for an autograph. Sung in a mixture of Cockney and a London-take on Jamaican patois, the song could be construed as a comedy number, but it did highlight the fact the black youths were far more likely to be unfairly treated and likely arrested than their white counterparts.
Here’s something I didn’t know till looking into the career of Smiley Culture.
David Emmanuel would die, at the age of 48, in 2011. The official line is that it was suicide by knife wound, just a matter of days before he was to appear in a London court to face a charge of supplying cocaine. His death came an hour-and-a-half after four police officers had arrived, with a warrant, to search his home. His family and friends have never accepted the suicide verdict, and the report carried out into his death by the Police Complaints Commission has never been shared with the family, far less been made public.
Tragic.
16-22 December and 23-29 December
I wouldn’t have thought that many new songs would make it into the charts over the last two weeks of the year, unless of course they were festive-themed. Paul Weller, however, has always been a thrawn bugger.
mp3 : The Council Collective – Soul Deep (Part 1)
In at #37 on 16 December, it would spend five weeks in the Top 75, peaking at #24 the following week. It was The Style Council augmented by three guest vocalists – Jimmy Ruffin, Junior Giscombe and Vaughan Toulouse, and two guest musicians, Dizzi Heights and Leonardo Chignoli. The aim of the single was to raise money for the families of striking miners in the run-up to Christmas.
Worth mentioning that Weller’s profile was at an all-time high, what with him being asked to contribute to the collective vocals on the Band Aid single.
And with that, the charts version of this year-long series comes to its natural end. I’ll be back in next week with a look at the very few non-hit/indie singles from the period, at which point it will be a farewell (for now) to the music of 1984.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 