18TH JULY- STARS ON 45 VOLUME II- Starsound (2 weeks)

 

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MMM, not content with the complete trashing of beatles records Holland's "Finest" production team were back to slaughter Abba hits (quite frankly i'm surprised they let them) for the "Stars on 45" phenomenon. Thankfully it's the final time they ever got this high and just thank god for the Specials at number one for holding them off otherwise we'd have a far bigger injustice than the "Shuddup Ya Face"/ "Vienna" fiasco.

 

I can't really find the words, surely the pop audience of 1981 must have thought the joke was wearing way too thin already?- most ssuredly the worst No 2 i've yet come across doing this survey and I have no memory of this from the time (even if I did I suspect my sub- conscience eradicated most of it for self preservation purposes) Mind you I suppose it does give some kind of blue print for Jive Bunny- was that a good thing?

 

Edited June 6, 201114 yr by gezza76

8TH AUGUST- HAPPY BIRTHDAY- Stevie Wonder (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Happy_Birthday_Single.jpg

 

Pop Music eh! It doesn't really do much apart from entertain right? Well how wrong you'd be. "Happy Brithday" is of course a song dedicated to Martin Luther King but formed part of Wonder'sparticipation in the campaign to get a public holiday in America called "Martin Luther King day" dedicated to the man himself.

 

Such was the power of Wonder at this time that it worked! President Reagan eventually signed it into being in 1983 and is still celebrated the third Monday in January. It was another track from his "Hotter Than July" album which had already flung up the No 2 hit "Masterblaster" but Wonder never again peaked at No 2. Again it's a catchy enough tune but as far as Wonder is concerned i'm certainly a 70's fan of his music but the 80s get a bit too syrupy for my liking apart from the ace "Part Time Lover" in 1985...

 

Edited June 7, 201114 yr by gezza76

When are you going to add to this? Kate Robbins by the way was a famous actress in Crossroads. The song was a ballad. It didn't stay long in the charts if I remember correctly.

When are you going to add to this? Kate Robbins by the way was a famous actress in Crossroads. The song was a ballad. It didn't stay long in the charts if I remember correctly.

I'm adding to it on an ad- hoc basis really....don't know why I start myself on these things :lol:

15TH AUGUST- HOOKED ON CLASSICS- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2 Weeks)

 

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Yes it's wearing very thin now this medley business. You don't expect it from the BBC but here are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra doing a medley of classical hits to a disco beat- honestly i'm kind of speechless. Of course it's horrendous but I suspect by this time even the pop music buyer of the day was getting tired of this- Buzzjack would have been up in arms had it been around at the time. Along with Starsound it's hard to argue that this kind of thing wasn't the craze of 1981, along with Adam & The Ants and Shaky obviously. Co-Incidently it was Shaky who held this off No 1 with "Green Door"- wow what a top 2 that was but for once I'm in the Shaky camp on this one.

 

Looking through the list of No 2's however it's our last encounter with the medley craze so we'll put this down to summer madness (was it a particularly warm summer that year?) actually having seen what's to come before 81 is out this song isn't that bad....

 

Edited June 7, 201114 yr by gezza76

3RD OCTOBER- INVISIBLE SUN- The Police (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Invisiblesun.jpg

 

You can tell Sting wanted to write this kind of song from the start. He was probably held back by the other members of the band "no let's write the commercial stuff first, we don't want to kill off our career before it's started". By 1981 The Police were an established big hitting band, only they, along with the Jam, had had singles debut at No 1 by this point in the 80s, and "Invisible Sun" was a first single of a brand new album ("Ghost In The Machine"). Lyrically it's a song about the secterian troubles in Northern Ireland which, when the video was first seen, was promptly banned by the BBC for it's content- but is it any good as a song?

 

Well I don't think it's that far from 1980's "Don't Stand So Close To Me", the same brooding verses heavy with seriousness and sense of foreboding, some great stuff- but I have to confess I think the chorus is shockingly bad, it's a song in search of a chorus as the cliche goes. It marks the point that Sting starts to become a political figure and stops singing about walking on the moon and about non sensical child rhymes like De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, that's not to say that nothing good came after "Invisible Sun" in the Police cannon (83's "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is a killer I think) but just that his focus altered, from this moment on the Sting solo career kind of becomes inevitable...

 

Edited June 8, 201114 yr by gezza76

10TH OCTOBER- THE BIRDIE SONG- The Tweets (2 weeks)

 

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The vitorians believed that nothing good ever came from the continent and the charts of 1981 provide many reasons to believe them. Not only did Dutch stars Starsound inflinct medly's on us but here's the "Birdie Song". Apparently this is based on a 50s Swiss tune which a Belgian producer (Rijmenant) heard and released as a b-side, and although the A Side bombed the Dutch (them again) picked up on it and started to play it and in 1981 it was released much to the joy of returning holiday makers who had heard it all over the disco's of Europe (is this really how Ibiza started out?)

 

Of Course I recall this- who wouldn't, even as a 5 year old (and I think I must have been who it was ained at) I recall dancing to this at kids parties and the playground (believe me we all did it) and along with Ottowan always takes me back to holidays on the Costa as a youngster, we were posh and always went to the Costa's in August :lol:

 

Edited June 8, 201114 yr by gezza76

24TH OCTOBER- O SUPERMAN- Laurie Anderson (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/OSuperman.JPG

 

Now there's two ways to look at this. It's eaither a case of WTF is this? THIS is why the 80s is thought to be s**t by some people, OR isn't it marvelous that it's probably the only one decade where you could get Stevie Wonder, the Tweets, and Anderson all after one and other (a symbol of it's diversity). I'm going to go for the latter, yes the song is weird, I mean seriously weird, and I have no recollection of it at the time but I think if I had witnessed Legs & Co "Interpretation" of it on TOTP i'd probably have been scarred for life.

 

Laurie Anderson is a "Performance Artist" who broke out from the art world via this single which remains to this day her sole hit single, what's more it only spent 6 weeks in the chart disappearing as quickly as it arrived. I must have to comment on the TOTP performance, back in the days when Legs & Co (the TOTP in house dance troupe who performed when a band was unavailable) always did literal interpretation of the song- please watch it- I can't give you back the three minutes of your life but for randomness I haven't seen it beaten yet....

 

Edited June 9, 201114 yr by gezza76

31ST OCTOBER- HAPPY BIRTHDAY- Altered Images (3 weeks)

 

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Altered Images were a band championed by Radio one DJ John Peel, and were, for a brief spell, indie darlings. Front woman Clare Grogan found fame early as one of the lead roles in "Gregory's Girl" which came out earlier in 81, and doubtless contributed to the success of "Happy birthday" their first hit, though their third release. The single is famous for missing out on the No 1 spot by just 17 copies to the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" which was the closest race (known of) ever to have happened in the charts and would remain so for 9 years. Grogan would of course to go on to more TV roles post the demise of Altered Images in 1983 including Red Dwarf, Being Ian Beale's girlfriend in Eastenders in the 90s, and recently in Skins.

 

The song is itself is a catchy little number, more cute than punk, more cheeky than sneering, it's one of my favourites of the No 2 records of 1981 to be honest, even though I don't recall it from the time, I can see its appeal though. Grogan pouts through her TOTP performance coquettishly selling sex in a rather subtle way, all told, a nice little pop package which should by rights have been a No 1...

 

Edited June 9, 201114 yr by gezza76

12TH DECEMBER- DADDY'S HOME- Cliff Richard (4 weeks)

 

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What's going on? Cliff has a christmas hit and he only ends up at No 2? It's true whilst the Human League were ruling the roost at No 1 Cliff lay in waiting for 4 weeks with his cover of Shep & The Limelights 1961 US hit "Daddy's Home" which bombed over here so was relatively unknown when Cliff got his hands on it. It's a typical piece of syrupy pop from him, but what is disappointing is that, in general, Cliff was pouring out some pretty good stuff 79-82 the great "We Don't Talk Anymore", "Wired For Sound" "Carrie" are all cracking good records and the latter probably deserved to do better and maybe be on this list, but they aren't.

 

60s Americana is actually something we lapped up in the UK in the 80s, Percy Sledge, Ben E King, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, admittedly all utilised by Levis, were used to push a certain type of America which proved lucrative through the decade so perhaps Cliff was onto something, but all in all far too sacharine for my taste buds and just a stench of Cliff on autopilot....

 

Edited June 9, 201114 yr by gezza76

That's it- I'm all done with 1981!- looking forward there are 5 records that I absolutely love- and they may not be the ones you think! :D

Edited June 3, 201114 yr by gezza76

13TH FEBRUARY 1982- GOLDEN BROWN- The Stranglers (2 Weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Golden_Brown.jpg

 

There has been reams and reams written about what exactly "Golden Brown" is about- is it drugs? is it a girl? Marmite? It's a clever song, not only for it's subtlety of meaning but also for it's composition. The Harpsicord leads the tune by the nose through the track evoking a by gone time, and therefore an "other worldliness". It's fantastic stuff, mesmerising, and yet so simple, the stuff that number ones are made of. I've talked about the controversy over whether it should have been a chart topper or not before so I'll glaze over that, but the video for the song is just perfect for the track, placing the band somewhere in the middle East, or Morocco (I'm torn :D )

 

Originating from the UK Punk rock scene it was, so Wikipedia tells me, a record championed by the very conservative (back then) Radio 2 which propelled the record up the charts, and was a major about face for the band who hadn't made the top 10 since 1977 before this little corker, it's not a record I love but it's one I like...

 

Edited June 11, 201114 yr by gezza76

6TH MARCH- MICKEY- Toni Basil (2 Weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Toni_Basil_Mickey.jpg

 

Firstly the singer, Toni Basil (real name Antonia Basilotta) was, and remains, a dancer/ choreographer who worked on Bowie tours in the 70's and co-directed Talking Heads video for "Once In A lifetime".

 

Secondly the writers, Chapman & Chinn were to the 70s what S/A/W were to the 80s, a writing team capable of delivering hits for a multitude of acts. In the 70s they wrote many hits and number ones for Suzi Quatro, Mud, Sweet, and Smokie amongst others before Chapman went on to produce many Blondie albums.

 

Thridly the video, apparently very popular back on MTV when it was first launched, and it's certainly memorable for it's Cheerleading protaganist.

 

My Verdict: It's a big fail from me, maybe I've heard it too many times, maybe the Lolly cover of it in 1999 put the final nail in that coffin, but it's now become an irritant to me everytime it darkens my ears! I don't honestly believe it gives anything to the listener after repeated listenings, it does it job in so much as it embeds into your brain but once there you'd quite like it to leave without too much fuss. The song appears to be a vehicle for the beat which is all encompassing here, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does become dull....

 

EDIT: Actually having watched her TOTP performance she does do a good one........ :lol:

 

Edited June 11, 201114 yr by gezza76

3RD APRIL- JUST AN ILLUSION- Imagination (1 week)

 

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I just love a good dress up- but not as much as these guys though. Whenever they went on TOTP they always dressed up as something, centurians, slaves etc, however I have no idea what he is dressed as for this TOTP performance. Apparently this is "80s soul funk"well it certainly is a saucy little number though by looks of him he'd give Antony Cotton a run for his money in the camp stakes.

 

This was Imagination's biggest hit single but between 1981-4 they churned out 9 top 20 hits before the fashion police caught up with them, it isn't a bad song, but one you'll struggle to have strong feelings on, though the record that held it off the top, "Seven Tears", is about 20 times worse believe me. The lead singers was also called Leee, yes 3 e's, I don't know why...

 

Edited June 11, 201114 yr by gezza76

17TH APRIL- AIN'T NO PLEASING YOU- Chas and Dave (1 week)

 

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I know it's unlikely, but if you've been reading this and thought he's got good taste in music then this is gonna kill that thought dead. I LOVE THIS SONG. Now I don't remember the song at all from the time, so I came to it quite late, that may account for it, maybe it's the strings and the orchestration that adds that slight taint of melancholy, but I actually believe Dave Peacock when he sings "Ain't No Pleasing You" there's a kind of pathos in his voice- he's a man who's been there when it comes to the themes of the song.

 

I imagine hen pecked husbands all across the country must have empathised with the sentiment expressed, now I suppose that the "cockney" label they clearly embrace might have put most of us off, but Chas and Dave are actually pretty good tunesmiths (you have to glaze over the deeply depressing "Rabbit" and "Snooker Loopy" admittedly). They were also session musicians long before they were famous and indeed one of the tunes they played on "I Got The" by Labi Siffre which formed the basis for "My Name Is" by Eminem, yes Eminem sampled Chas and Dave- it's a true story.

 

Now I always recall Chas and Dave being a mainstay on "Family Entertainment" programmes in the early 80s, things like Jim Davidson etc, and this can't have helped them in most people minds but I honestly believe that "Ain't No Pleasing You" is a cut above most No 2's in 1982 and defo one of my fave's of the year. And there I rest my case M'Lud....

 

 

Edited June 11, 201114 yr by gezza76

1ST MAY -ONE STEP FURTHER- Bardo (1 week)

 

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/One_step_further_bucks_fizz.jpg

 

Sally Ann Triplett and Stephen Fischer were Britain's eurovision hopefuls in 1982, they had a tough act to follow after Bucks Fizz had won the year previously of course. Performing under the moniker of Bardo, they were odds on favourite to win and bring the eurovision trophy back to the UK Shores, but it wasn't to be as they finished in seventh place, blaming nerves on the night and too much attention to dance moves and not the song. Interesting fact is that Triplett wasn't a Eurovision virgin, having performed in it as part of the UK 1980 entrant "Prima Donna" (along with Kate Robbins whom we met in 1981), so i'm not sure I buy the nerves excuse. Lyrically it's boy almost meets girl- the usual stuff, but it was apparently the late John Peel's favourite ever Eurovision entry- read into that as you will

 

Anyway in real life they were a couple for many years and even had a kid together, but as for Bardo this was their only hit, further singles were released but no one likes a loser so the dumper it was for them. I confess I don't actually mind the song, it's light, poppy, and over quite quickly, all that you expect from a eurovision song, and yet it does seem like a Bucks Fizz B-Side or album filler. They attempt to sell it well enough and you can't knock them for that, but all in all it's just underwhelming....

 

Edited June 12, 201114 yr by gezza76

8TH MAY- THIS TIME (WE'LL GET IT RIGHT)- England World Cup Squad (1 week)

 

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Until "World In Motion" football songs have always been naff and this is no exception. ENgland had failed to qualify for the finals in both 1974 & 1978 so when they managed to do it in 1982 it was a big deal, indeed patriotism was running high as the Falklands war was being raged down in the south atlantic at the same time as the World Cup was being held in Spain. Of course Argentina were to get their revenge just 4 years later with the "Hand of God" but back to the record.

 

It's a typical shouty affair with much macho slapping on back, the video is worth it for Keegan's perm naturally but it's a record I suppose you had to be there for, when it comes to early 80s football songs I'm liking "Ossie's dream" at least that has (unintentional) humour to it, here's the video if you wanna see it but don't you be asking me to refund you the time you spent watching it.....

 

Edited June 12, 201114 yr by gezza76

22ND MAY- ONLY YOU- Yazoo (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/YazooOnly_you.jpg

 

Post Depeche Mode, and pre Erasure, Vince Clarke was one half of Yazoo who met up with Alison Moyet through the small ads (those were the days). The relationship between the two has long since passed into pop legend but let's just say they didn't record together Clarke writing the tunes during the day and Moyet laying down vocals in the evening, the pair were both so shy that communication became a problem and after just 18 months and 2 albums the pair went their seperate ways.

 

This was their biggest hit, made bigger by being covered by the Flying Pickets and madde into a christmas Number one in 1983, the original however is soooo much better! A synthpop ballad of a relationship falling apart (not exactly the stuff of christmas chart toppers) it feels much more multi layered than it is as a track, Moyet's vocals are powerful and definant in an odd way as though the heroine knows the relationship is doomed as much as she wants to fight for it. It is in short a record as frought with tension as the relationship between the duo themselves....

 

Edited June 13, 201114 yr by gezza76

19TH JUNE- TORCH- Soft Cell (1 week)

 

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Meanwhile the new romantic bandwagon rolls on and here are Marc Almond & Dave Ball, who as soft cell placed their first 5 hits all in the top 5 including the million selling "Tainted Love". "Torch" was their fourth hit and the closest they came to repeating the success of that, and Almond sells the song as a kind of kitchen sink drama that he does so well. Part of the success of the band in the 81-83 period was just that sense of high drama and theatricality which created the impression that these songs were vignettes of Almond's real life.

 

A female voice sings on the record "see the stars coming out tonight" which easily be a coda for the new romantic period but for all its charm "Torch" for me underperforms. "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" or "Where The Heart Is" are far more convincing or more pleasurable sniplets of life if you prefer with stronger narratives. Having said all that its far from the worse that 1982 has to offer....

 

Edited June 13, 201114 yr by gezza76

10TH JULY- ABRACADABRA- Steve Miller Band (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Abracadabra_Steve_Miller_Band.jpg

 

God Bless Steve Miller, he's been going strong since the 60's and not without some considerable success, especially in the USA during the 70s, and here we meet him in the long hot summer of 1982 with his US chart topper "Abracadabra". It's a song that you probably don't recall ever hearing until you play it. A jaunty little number it's hard to dislike, but it's equally hard to love, what is interesting is how times have changed, it's easy to forget what a producer of good pop the US once was before the R N B revolution took it over in the 90s and they have pretty much produced just that for the last 10 years. So "Abracadabra" is a kind of memo from the past to what the US used to be- filled with variety and a multitude of popular genres which seems to have been lost.

 

Whilst none of his 70s hits made the top 10 here, this remained his nearest brush with the top until that famous incident in 1990....

 

Edited June 14, 201114 yr by gezza76