21ST MAY- TEMPTATION- Heaven 17 (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Heaven_17_Temptation_single_cover.jpg

 

So this is another odd record. I don't know about you but for me this song is all about Carol Kenyon's vocals. She's done vocals on more records that you've heard (and probably loved) than you would ever think, being one of the finest session singers in the land. It's more a duet in fact with Glenn Gregory than a heaven 17 record, and it's driven entirely by that female vocal, and one you may recall more for 1992's remix which made it a top 10 hit all over again and I confess that's how I came to the record all those years ago. The band took their name from the film "A Clockwork Orange" and two thirds of them were originally with the Human League until 1980 when they left, incidentally vocalist Gregory was the original choice for vocalist in Human League but could not take the role so when Ware and Marsh left the League they finally got their man.

 

This is a record which has many admirable qualities, well crafted and well executed, but it's nothing without Kenyon, so whilst I like this song I can't bring myself to love it and that's a shame because I feel I should, perhaps that's due to coming to it courtesy of that 92 remix so it seems somewhat more dated (in its original form) than much of 1983's offerings anyway, incidently Heaven 17 were the producers behind Tina Turner's "Let's Stay Together" which launched her solo career in the UK so she owe them a favour or two!

 

Edited June 22, 201114 yr by gezza76

4TH JUNE- BAD BOYS- Wham! (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8b/Bad_Boyswham.jpg

 

Now here's a vision, remember my observations on "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" by Human League earlier? Well here's George Michael on TOTP dressed as a gay leather man! Now it's a symbol of the times that this passed without comment or a raised eyebrow in the pop world of 1983, because as we know this was the period of "peacock pop" (I'll TM that name) where it was all about being as outrageous as possible, and dressing up was good, especially when you dressed ultra masculine!

 

In truth Wham! were, in reality,a foursome at the beginning, Michael and Ridgely joined by Shirlie Holliman and D C Lee and the girls were an integral part of the success of the band initially, we'll meet Michael a further two times in the decade when he is in a very different place fame wise, but here the band are just making it big and it would be over a year before that first chart topper.

 

As a song "Bad Boys" is a tale of a teenage rebellion, and a kind of 13 yr old rant about awful their parents are. It has the petulance of a spotty teenager as well, it's an awful record, and I say that as someone who actually loves a bit of Wham! but this is one of their worst records by far, tinny, annoying, and the most dated song in their reportoire. When they started out they were actually quite hip, songs like "Young Guns" and "Wham Rap" took on themes of unemployment and the struggles of avoiding commitment and were relatively weighty issues, a mission the band abandoned after the first album when they made a conscience decision to become as big as they could as quickly as they could, or as Michael put it "Goodbye NME, Hello Smash Hits" a ploy that worked a dream.

 

So here's "Bad Boys" it's bad alright, really bad....

 

Edited June 22, 201114 yr by gezza76

18TH JUNE- CHINA GIRL- David Bowie (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/Bowie_ChinaGirl.jpg

 

Written by Bowie and Iggy Pop this was originally an Iggy Pop release on his 1977 album "The Idiot" which was recorded some 6 years later by Bowie for his "Let's Dance" album, the most commercially successful period of the decade for him. Bowie's decision to include it and indeed to release it was so that Pop would get half the royalties as he was facing bankruptcy at the time in part due to drug abuse, and he drafted in Nile Rogers (of chic) to remix the track and give it a more commercial feel than Pop's version.

 

The result was the first of a hat-trick of No 2 hits from Bowie in the 80s, and probably the most dull of them as well. I have a problem with Bowie post 1980, and that is that I don't think he's produced much of any worth, or certainly anything which adds to his reputation as one of the greats in Britain's musical history. It's a listenable enough song, but if it wasn't Bowie then the chances this would have got as high are highly doubtful, and what he also suffers from slightly is timing. In the 70s he was fresh, exciting, self proclaimed bi-sexual, with an arresting physical appearance, trouble was by the mid 80s others had taken that mantle. Yes he had inspired "new romanticism" and forced it into the charts with an explosion of colour, but pop stars were now not frightened of being gay (though actually saying that was still a bit beyond its time- hence Boy George's famous exclamation about preferring a cup of tea to sex), and the plethora of "peacock pop" (i'm gonna keep using that term until I make money from it! :D ) make Bowie look a bit stale.

 

He continues to have relevance after 1983 but only as an influence rather than a commercial force in himself, "China Girl" is therefore the sound of a pop star dying (metaphorically speaking) and passing into legend, it's a slow death at that.....

 

Edited June 23, 201114 yr by gezza76

9TH JULY- FLASHDANCE.....WHAT A FEELING- Irene Cara (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/6869.jpg

 

Now of course it's a girls nite in song, but in 1983 it was the soundtrack to the film of the same name which opened to near universal panning. It's a truly crazy film in which Jennifer Beals stars as a worker in a steel mill who aspires to be a professional dancer and applies to a dance academy despite having no formal dance skills! It's all a load of old balony in a crazy 80s kinda way, but that not withstanding the song is a typical piece of American dross about reaching for your dreams etc, however it is probably more famous now in the UK at any rate as the routine performed by Robert Webb on "Let's Dance....for Comic Relief" which endears it slightly more than it should.

 

I can't find that much to say about it really, it isn't as good as "Fame" her other big hit that's for sure, that at least has drama and deft production, this just exists.....

 

 

Edited June 23, 201114 yr by gezza76

23RD JULY- I.O.U- Freeez (3 Weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Freeez_IOU_single_cover.jpg

 

1983 Jazz Funk? That's Wikipedia's definition of this group who first came to prominance with 1981's "Southern Freeez" which made the top 10, but then nothing else of note until this song some two years later. By 1983 the whole outfit had become a lot more "dance", the video is all BMX's and body popping trust me, and but for Paul Young this would have been a three week chart topper in the summer of that year.

 

It has a sort of charm, of course it's one of the most dated records that i've come across doing this, more so than some of the 1980 tracks in fact, but it does have a cracker of a synth line which makes it hard to get out of your head once it's in there. That may very well account for how it managed to spent 3 weeks at the No 2 spot so as to why it is relatively forgotten about as an 80s gem is unknown, certainly I don't remember it from the time, and I probably never heard the record until I was in my 20s, perhaps when people think of 80s dance they think of S/A/W and the late 80s much more than the beginning of the decade, and to be honest I personally prefer the later 80s stuff (that may be entirely to do with my age though). We;ve come across quite a few synth classics on this thread already but the like of Yazoo, Soft Cell, Duran Duran, appear to have much stronger narratives and perhaps that is what ultimately lets this song down, kinda like getting drunk, great fun whilst you're there but the next day the question is "was it worth it?"

 

To conclude, "I.O.U" is a song that whilst I like, if I never heard again I can't say my life would be impoverished by it

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by gezza76

20TH AUGUST- GOLD- Spandau Ballet (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Spandau_Gold.jpg

 

We meet Spandau Ballet here at their commercial zenith, their last single "True" had been a 4 week chart topper and "Gold" was the follow up. They'd been plugging away with top 10 hits since back in 1980 and were initially fully embracing of the "new romantic" look, but by 83 wisely it had been ditched for the official dress of the 80s- the suit. Nothing said you were serious about your career and your music more than a suit in the 80s, or so the record buying public thought. Unusually for a Spandau Ballet record this was a song that is actually quite subtle, slowly building to its crescendo, and in my opinion the song is quite a piece of sophisticated pop for its time.

 

They'd never be as high in the charts after this (1986's "Through The Barricades" is still underrated IMO) but certainly they remain a strong memory from the decade. On the whole I've never been that keen on Hadley's voice, slightly like a pub singer, but there is no denying he's a fine pair of lungs on "Gold" and it wouldn't have been the biggest injustice in the world if the record had of gone all the way to No 1 back then...

 

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by gezza76

10TH SEPTEMBER- WINGS OF A DOVE- Madness (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Wings_Of_A_Dove.jpg

 

Madness have never been a band that I have liked, let alone loved. By the time I got seriously into music it was 87/88 and they were down the dumper by then, but as far as genre's go I've nver liked reggae, Ska, Punk, New Wave so I suppose that's why I've never got into them. I will however give them credit for one song, the fantastic "Embarrassment" (1980) and maybe "Our House" which is a cut above most of their output.

 

Into the category of "rest of their output" I put "Wings Of Dove". For a band who had considerable success in the first half of the decade they only scored 2 top 2 hits, "House Of Fun" No 1 in 1982, and this, and I suppose one of my objections to them in general is the forced "Joviality" of them, everything is "crazy" "wacky" or "Zanny" and it just isn't. More particulary "Wings Of A Dove" is an irritation record, the only glimmer of redemption being that Suggs, for once, doesn't get to do ALL the singing!

 

It's definitely not the worst record we'll review in this decade but I can't find much good to say about it i'm afraid...

 

Edited June 25, 201114 yr by gezza76

17TH SEPTEMBER- TONIGHT I CELEBRATE MY LOVE- Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/6984.jpg

 

Written by Gerry Goffin (he of Carole King fame and responsible for hits such as "The Locomotion") and Michael Masser (who wrote many a hit for Whitney in the 80s) penned this hit for Bryson & Flack who teamed up to get their biggest hit of their careers with this ballad. Both have probably bigger claims to fame, Flack for recording not only "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly" back in the 70s, and Bryson probably for his Celine Dion Duet "Beauty and The Beast" but none of them reached as high as this track.

 

I'm not going to lie- it's a ballad, it's soppy, it's about love, and about "celebrating" it (whatever that means I have no idea :angel: ) Hard to hate, difficult to inspire any emotion in fact.........

 

 

Edited June 25, 201114 yr by gezza76

8TH OCTOBER- MODERN LOVE- David Bowie (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Bowie_ModernLove.jpg

 

So Bowie's back at No 2 despite my displeasure with him last time around! "Modern Love" isn't as dull a song as "China Girl" i'll grant you but it's still not a GREAT song- perhaps I expect more from the man who gave us "Life On Mars" and "Ashes To Ashes". It's not without it's charms of course, the upbeat snappy arrangement (thanks again to Nile Rogers) saves it from being a disaster, but despite looking a the lyrics I can't make any clear meaning out of them. These days songs which have stories are firmly the exception rather than the rule but over the course of the 80s so far we've seen some real kitchen sink episodes and maybe that's left us with too high expections which, to be honest, 1983 has by and large failed to deliver.

 

In this respect the track may just be a victim of timing, and certainly 1986's "Absolute Beginners" is a vast improvement on this era, now I know that's 3 bad reviews on the trot but I promise I'm going to rectify that next time around!....

 

Edited June 26, 201114 yr by gezza76

15TH OCTOBER- THEY DON'T KNOW- Tracey Ullman (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/They_Don't_Know_single.jpg

 

OMG I love this song! Written by the late Kirsty McColl the song is lyrically nothing exceptional just the tale of girl meets boy, friends don't approve etc, but Ullman injects the track with that all important X factor. Having already established herself as a comedienne and actress Ullman was already known to the UK public after starring in "A Kick Up The Eighties" and "Three Of A Kind" (comedy programmes) prior to launching herself into the pop world. All in all it was a brief part of her career (less than 2 years producing hits) but "They Don't Know" makes up for that brevity.

 

Transformed into a full on 50's nostalgia trip by Ullman the track became her biggest hit amongst 3 top 10's, and is a tour de force of Pop wrapped up in cuteness which just enough of knowing campness in it to suggest that she's not taking it all seriously! There's a large dollop of camp involved in the whole thing and an air of hapless "that'll do" which might grate but only ends up endearing. The video, incidentally, features a cameo by Paul McCartney who had given Ullman a part in his 1984 film "Give My Regards to Broad Street" which flopped badly when released but didn't effect Ullman who went on to become an even bigger TV star in the USA in the second half of the decade, famously launching "The Simpsons" as a short cartoon feature on her show.

 

Ignore the dodgy dance routine and glory in the fantastic "They Don't Know"......

 

Edited June 21, 201114 yr by gezza76

29TH OCTOBER- ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT)- Lionel Richie (3 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/All_Night_Long_All_Night.jpg

 

 

Lionel Richie hadn't quite yet established himself as a solo artist by the time late 83 came around, but the album from which this came "Can't Slow Down" certainly established himself as one and made a return to the commodores look needless. The hellish evilness of "Hello" was yet to come but first release was the uptempo "All Night Long (All Night) which remains his only No 2 hit of his solo career so I shan't be reviewing him again. It would be easy to knock the song as cheesy 80s music, but the truth of the matter is that the track is irresistably catchy and a watch of the video reassures you that Richie is singing this without irony, without any tongue in cheek moment (that would all be soooo 90s), but moreover it highlights something has been lost in music over the decades. Back in the 80s the pop world was on the whole a very optimistic, some would say naive, world, pop was at times euphoric without drugs ( that would change in the late 80s to be fair) but there was a child like quality to music that this song is a perfect ecample of. Enrique Iglesias would actually capture the essesence of it quite admirably in his 2010's hit "I Like It" which of course samples this.

 

Nothing here revolutionary, you suspect that had Richie been around in the time of the French Revolution he would addressed the crowds baying for blood with a plea that perhaps having a "dance-off" would solve the issues. It's all great fun and we shouldn't be too pompous in our look back with our 2011 views at a different time, accept it for what it is and you'll have a good time, you know you will, and you might not even need a drink.....

 

Edited June 27, 201114 yr by gezza76

19TH NOVEMBER- SAY SAY SAY- MIchael Jackson & Paul McCartney (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/SaySaySay.jpg

 

Returning the favour after McCartney duetted on "The Girl Is Mine" for his "Thriller" album, Jackson teamed up with McCartney on "Say Say Say" for McCartney's "Tug Of War" LP. It may perhaps be more famous to the younger members as forming the base of Hi-Tack's 2006 top 10 hit of the same name, but back in 83 this was a superstar billing! Lyrically nothing remarkable, it is undeniably a good song, Jackson taking the bridge and McCartney the verses, and there are a couple of "theories" as to what the whole video means on wikipedia if you're interested though i would say they are tosh and an attempt to read profoundity into a plain narrative but hey ho who am i?

 

Anyway the point is that "Say Say, Say" is catch,y though I don't think it deserves its place on this list, it's a bit too lazy on both their parts really, something truly amazing should have sprung from this collabration and only something "Good" has- mind you it's a thousand times better than the vile ultra syrupy "Girl Is Mine" which I cannot find words to describe at present- suffice it say that "vile" doesn't scratch the surface....

 

EDIT: by the way dig the gloriously camp cover!! best thing about the whole affair!!

 

Edited June 27, 201114 yr by gezza76

3RD DECEMBER- LOVE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE- Paul Young (3 weeks)

 

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

 

Oh I'm probably gonna get in trouble for this but I love this song. Originally recorded by the four preps back in 1967 it finally became a top 10 hit in 1970 for Nicky Thomas, and when originally released by Young in 1983 the song did absolutely nothing. Post "Wherever I Lay My Hat" however the song was given a second lease of life and this time powered to No 2 for 3 weeks pre xmas 83.

 

It's a tale of worklessness and poverty that seemed particularly appropriate to the early 80s and the reggae feel of the track is replaced by a high gloss production. Young's vocals are typically gritty in this portrayal but the song is ultimately a song of redemption, the redemption of family life and its power to combat the worries and perils of the outside world. It's the tone of inspiration, aspiration, and ultimate optimism that is just the reflection of where the 80s was at by 1983- a kind of unintentional zeitgeist, acknowledging the troubles of current life whilst saying that we'll get through the troubles and it's gonna get better. Of course it's naturally a great song and in my opinion one of Young's best things he released, not as great as Ullman but we're ending 83 on a high.....

 

Edited June 28, 201114 yr by gezza76

24TH DECEMBER- MY OH MY- Slade (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Slade-my-oh-my.jpg

 

Big, bold, anthemic, and very very British. Odd isn't it that three artists who are forever associated with Christmas all ended up at the Xmas runner up spot in the early 80s- Cliff in 1981, Shaky in 82, and now Slade in 83, the difference being that for Slade it was somewhat a comeback after once being the darlings of the pop world back in the early 70s. The band acheived 12 top 5 hits in a row between 1971 and 1974 including 6 chart topping singles and the evergreen crimbo chart topper "Merry Xmas Everybody", but since 1975 they had only managed a couple of top 10 hits so the success of My Oh My" came as a relief for the group.

 

The lyrics are of course mainly a load of rubbish, but it's not about the profoundity of the lyrics, this is lighters in the air time, the way rock ballad's should be, or certainly were back in the 80s, and there is no denying it's a catchy little hit, and be thankful they left out any kind of sleigh bells or overt mention of Father Christmas. Of course this in part is why you'll struggle to find it on any christmas compilation or played in any shops in December, indeed curiously it appears to have been by and large forgotten about. I have no memory of this song at all (though the Flying Pickets at No 1 during that xmas is one of the first records I recall actually being at No 1) and I don't think I remember hearing it certainly until about 4 or 5 years ago but I can imagine going down a storm at a xmas party.

 

That's where this song belongs, being sung at top volume, drunk, possibly kissing a work colleague....happy times....

Edited June 28, 201114 yr by gezza76

So that's the early 80s done- phew!!

 

Might take a rest for a bit- I'm sure no-one will notice!! :drink:

http://www.classof1984.co.uk/presskit/index_files/image015.jpg

Edited June 30, 201114 yr by gezza76

14TH JANUARY 1984- WHAT IS LOVE?- Howard Jones (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/7137.jpg

 

So it's January 1984 and I turned 8, I don't suppose I was much concerned with what love was really (other than parental obviously). 8's a time when you still don't wanna be kissing girls or having much to do with them, I was always very fortunate to have girlfriends when I was in junior school, that meant holding hands and practising the kisses they used to do on "Falcon Crest" and "Dynasty"- ok maybe that was slightly later in the decade- but here's the point (finally), this song expresses a re-assuring sentiment to both children and adults alike- Jones muses "What is love anyway?/ Does anybody love anybody anyway?/ Can anybody love anyone so much that they will never fear/ Never worry never be sad?/ The answer is they cannot love this much"

 

He's not shakespeare it's true, but to have such doubt on a subject of love is rare thing in a pop song of this time, it's a slightly neurotic take which is kinda far more 90s/00s in its execution. For all that the song is a perfect example of how January used to operate back in the day- when songs which struggled over the Xmas period got rewarded by hurtling up the charts in the immediate new year. 1984 was, on the whole, a great year for pop music with much to recommend it, would Jones have made No 2 with this in any month other than the one when the music business has its hangover? probably not in my opinion....in conclusion i'm summing this song up as "mmmm interesting"......

 

Edited June 30, 201114 yr by gezza76

4TH FEBRUARY- GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN- Cyndi Lauper (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Cyndi_lauper_girls_just_want_to_have_fun.jpg

 

I was ready to write a scathing review of this song as overplayed, overrated, and just plain annoying. Then I discovered that this was actually written by Robert Hazard in 1979 and was originally sung from a male perspective, so not the "Girls Nite Out" anthem it has subsequently become, Having heard the original it's very interesting with quite a lot of the lyrics changed to alter the meaning of the song. In its original version it comes across as a story of a guy with an eye for the ladies and who can't help that he's popular with them. Anyway it makes the song more interesting from a lyrical point of view. Musically yes its catchy and sung with conviction, but I suppose what grates is that it is a prime piece of US MOR, which in the mid 80s was not a good thing (though admittedly a lucrative one).

 

Up until now we've had a breadth of genres, subject matter, and acts that have made the 80s such a variety of the bizarre, sublime, crazy, and great but 1984 is where it starts to all become a bit stodgy pop wise. There are great things to come before the dongs sound for 1990 but Lauper suffers from timing in this respect.

 

Back in 1984 she was the biggest US female vocalist on the charts comfortably outselling Turner, Madonna, and Streisand singles wise on both sides of the Atlantic, and the substantially different version of this hit made the top 5 all over again ten years later when it had a reggae-ish make over. The US made her a MTV star with four tracks from her debut album "She's So Unusual" making the top 5 there and even getting a couple of No 1 hits before the 80s was through, but this was her biggest hit UK wise...

 

Edited June 30, 201114 yr by gezza76

11TH FEBRUARY- RADIO GAGA- Queen (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Radiogaga.jpg

 

I've never studied Music properly, I can't go on and on about the construction of a track and why it works, but one I think I do is that "Radio Gaga" works. It's a majestic song (pun intended) and it's probably the finest track in an impressive list of their tracks, and as a subject matter the rise of TV and the effect on radio is certainly a relatively rare one. Rare but not unprecedented, indeed lyrically it is the brother of "Radio Killed The Video Star" by Buggles, but whilst that record takes on a very personal perspective with the singer appearing to meet a faded radio star, "Radio Gaga" addresses the subject as a theme- from the view of the listener rather than the star.

 

With references to Winston Churchill and "War Of The Worlds" in it, it tells the tale of the power that radio once held as the prime medium of communication and how, with the rise of TV, radio has been dumbed down hence "Radio Gaga" or in other worlds radio that appeals to people who don't really love music (that market being taken up by the new medium MTV and the likes). Of course we know it's the source of Stefani Germanotta's stage name, but moreover the track is truly amazing, in typical Queen style it's anthemic, and a proclaimation, at the time, that they were back as a major force, the 80s had up until the release of "Radio Gaga" not been overly kind to the group in the UK, having been absent from the top 5 since 1979 ("Under Pressure" aside).

 

The "Metropolis" themed video (which was re-invented in 89 by Madonna for her "Express Yourself" video) was a big MTV hit (ironically) and they even used sniplets of the film in the promo, it's a complete pop performance- fantastic tune, great video, unusual subject, and a killer performance- Queen at their greatest and firing on all cylinders in a pleasure to witness....

 

Edited July 1, 201114 yr by gezza76

10TH MARCH- JOANNA/ TONIGHT- Kool & The Gang (2 weeks)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/7274.jpg

 

Syrupy pop alert! This is dreadful. I've never been mad on love songs (bitter inside probably) and the appeal of Kool & The Gang in the first half of the decade just escapes me. The evil that is "Celebration" (sooooooo overplayed and irritating) was long behind them by this point but there seems little point in "Joanna"- in the video for the track she appears to be a waitress serving them dinner- that just about sums up this dross.

 

I could find new words to describe it "generic, plain, uninspiring" but you get the idea i'm sure- mid 80's MOR at it's absolute worst....and there I think I should leave it......

 

Edited July 1, 201114 yr by gezza76