I agree 1985-88 was their imperial phase - no1 after no1 a lot of the time. Looking forward to seeing later totp appearances going forward on BBC 4.

Never had a personal chart but probably my fav song at that time in 87 was T'Pau -China in your hand

that and PSB-Always on y Mind

 

Fairytale of New York was a slow burner for me, I remember I didn't like it in the beginning, was never a fan of the Pogues singer, took me a few years to warm up to it

 

 

Fairytale of New York was a slow burner for me, I remember I didn't like it in the beginning, was never a fan of the Pogues singer, took me a few years to warm up to it

 

 

I hated it for years but it's recently grown on me and love it now.

I liked it at the time, mainly for Kirsty MacColl who was great, but within a few years it was obvious it had legs as a mega-Xmas classic. I can't actually recall how high it got in my charts in 1987 so that's going to be interesting for me. Top 10 I'm sure, though. :lol:

Steve Wright and co on totp said it was a Xmas classic when introducing it that December.

Steve Wright and co on totp said it was a Xmas classic when introducing it that December.

 

Well they were right.

They were indeed!

29th November 1987

 

It's Michael Jackson's 2nd topper from Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel is a great single, all rhythm and yelps, and his 7th solo number one, or his 10th including The Jackson 5/Jacksons, or his 11th if you also count his uncredited everything on Rockwell's Somebody's Watching You. Billy Idol meanwhile leaps back up to a new peak of 5 with Mony Mony due to my buying the Hung Like A Pony 12". So to speak. Pet Shop Boys get out-performed because it still wasn't available to buy, at 6 keeping their top 10 run intact at 100%, T'Pau get a 2nd top 10, and The Proclaimers a first.

 

Macca joins ol mucker George in the 20, Alison Moyet takes some Love Letters by airmail to 27, close to catching a Satellite, and Cher gets her first top 40 action in 5 years - since her annoyingly uncredited duet with Meatloaf went top 10 in 1982. Highest new entry is another Tango In The Night track, Family Man entering at 37 as Little Lies drops from the top for the final time for Fleetwood Mac. Close behind are REM, The One I Love giving them an instant top 40, and Johnny hates jazz makes it 3 top 40 from 3.

 

The Tams enter with an obscure 60's soul track, a hit mostly because it was banned by the BBC for mentioning the word "Shag" even though The Shag was a 60's dance, the record was innocent, and it's no different from saying "making love", albeit less romantic, even if it did mean having a shag. Which it didn't. The Tams had almost topped my charts in 1971 with the brilliant 60's oldie Hey Girl Don't Bother Me topping the UK charts as Northern Soul was big. They pretty much averaged one hit a decade to date. I bought this one because I used to get annoyed being told what was offensive by the BBC (when it wasn't).

 

Belinda Carlisle is back, 5 years on from her Gogo's days, with her breakthrough smash Heaven Is A Place On Earth, giving her a great solo career for the next 5 years or so, and Shaky covers an obvious early 60's cover, so obvious it was hard to believe he had left it 6 years before getting round to it. The Christians have an Ideal World for Christmas enter while their fingers were still pointing down from above, Madonna drops her Look Of Love single that I always forget about when chucking off lists of her songs, Wet Wet Wet go all ballady on the reasonably nice Angel Eyes, a harbinger of horrors to come. And though still at 2, The Bee Gees sneak in with the latest album title track at 75.

 

1 ( 3 ) THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL Michael Jackson

2 ( 2 ) YOU WIN AGAIN The Bee Gees

3 ( 1 ) LITTLE LIES Fleetwood Mac

4 ( 5 ) CRITICIZE Alexander O’Neal

5 ( 49 ) MONY MONY (US SINGLE VERSION/LIVE VERSION/HUNG LIKE A PONY REMIX) Billy Idol

6 ( 24 ) ALWAYS ON MY MIND Pet Shop Boys

7 ( 9 ) KID The Pretenders

8 ( 4 ) BAD Michael Jackson

9 ( 12 ) CHINA IN YOUR HAND T’Pau

10 ( 18 ) LETTER FROM AMERICA The Proclaimers

 

11 ( 8 ) PAID IN FULL Eric B & Rakim

12 ( 15 ) WHO FOUND WHO Jellybean featuring Lisa Fiorillo

13 ( 11 ) NOTHING’S GONNA CHANGE Labi Siffre

14 ( 10 ) (I’VE HAD THE) TIME OF MY LIFE Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley

15 ( 6 ) DINNER WITH GERSHWIN Donna Summer

16 ( 16 ) I’VE BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE Cutting Crew

17 ( 7 ) GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU George Harrison

18 ( 20 ) SHO YOU RIGHT Barry White

19 ( 27 ) KING WITHOUT A CROWN ABC

20 ( 33 ) ONCE UPON A LONG AGO Paul McCartney

 

21 ( 13 ) HERE I GO AGAIN Whitesnake

22 ( 19 ) WHAT HAVE I DONE (TO DESERVE THIS) Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield

23 ( 14 ) RENT Pet Shop Boys

24 ( 43 ) I COULD NEVER TAKE THE PLACE OF YOUR MAN Prince

25 ( 25 ) SUGAR SUGAR (CANDYFLOSS MIX)/(ORIGINAL VERSION) The Archies

26 ( 59 ) SATELLITE The Hooters

27 ( 65 ) LOVE LETTERS Alison Moyet

28 ( 57 ) I FOUND SOMEONE Cher

29 ( 29 ) GROOVE Donny Osmond

30 ( 39 ) I WANNA BE YOUR PROPERTY Blue Mercedes

 

31 ( 28 ) SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK Maxi Priest

32 ( 34 ) I SAY NOTHING Voice Of The Beehive

33 ( 22 ) PUMP UP THE VOLUME M/A/R/R/S

34 ( 17 ) LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE Bananarama

35 ( 36 ) BUILD The Housemartins

36 ( 47 ) I WON’T CRY Glen Goldsmith

37 ( NEW ) FAMILY MAN Fleetwood Mac

38 ( NEW ) THE ONE I LOVE REM

39 ( 53 ) TURN BACK THE CLOCK Johnny Hates Jazz

40 ( 31 ) FAMILY AFFAIR/RUNNIN’ AWAY Sly & The Family Stone

 

41 ( 26 ) WHEN THE FINGERS POINT The Christians

42 ( 32 ) DEVIL’S BALL Double

43 ( 21 ) FAITH George Michael

44 ( 48 ) TO BE REBORN Boy George

45 ( 37 ) CARS (E REG MODEL)/ ARE ‘FRIENDS’ ELECTRIC Gary Numan & Tubeway Army

46 ( 23 ) I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW Tiffany

47 ( 30 ) I STARTED SOMETHING I COULDN’T FINISH The Smiths

48 ( 54 ) CITY LIGHTS William Pitt

49 ( NEW ) THERE AIN’T NOTHIN’ LIKE SHAGGING The Tams

50 ( 40 ) HOLIDAY The Other Ones

 

51 ( 51 ) MY BAG Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

52 ( 52 ) ON FIRE Blue Zone

53 ( NEW ) HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH Belinda Carlisle

54 ( NEW ) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THOSE EYES AT ME FOR? Shakin’ Stevens

55 ( 38 ) LET ME BE THE ONE Expose

56 ( 50 ) LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING Climie Fisher

57 ( 35 ) JACK MIX IV Mirage

58 ( 62 ) LOVE POWER Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osbourne

59 ( 41 ) NEED YOU TONIGHT INXS

60 ( 70 ) SO EMOTIONAL Whitney Houston

 

61 ( 42 ) CROCKETT’S THEME Jan Hammer

62 ( 67 ) SO AMAZING Luther Vandross

63 ( 45 ) MY BABY JUST CARES FOR ME Nina Simone

64 ( 60 ) WHEN SMOKEY SINGS ABC

65 ( 63 ) I JUST CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU Michael Jackson featuring Siedah Garrett

66 ( 66 ) ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE The Beatles

67 ( NEW ) IDEAL WORLD The Christians

68 ( 68 ) HUMAN Human League

69 ( 64 ) I HEARD A RUMOUR Bananarama

70 ( 73 ) UNCHAIN MY HEART Joe Cocker

 

71 ( NEW ) THE LOOK OF LOVE Madonna

72 ( 56 ) COME SEE ABOUT ME Shakin’ Stevens

73 ( NEW ) ANGEL EYES Wet Wet Wet

74 ( 58 ) THE NIGHT YOU MURDERED LOVE ABC

75 ( NEW ) ESP The Bee Gees

76 ( RE ) ANOTHER PART OF ME Michael Jackson

 

 

 

FAVE OLDIES OF THE WEEK

1 WHAT’S GOING ON Cyndi Lauper

2 ANOTHER PART OF ME Michael Jackson

3 I’LL BE THERE The Jackson 5

Really glad early R.E.M. made your chart long before they graced the UK top 40 18 months later.

yes for T'Pau making the top 10

 

think The Look of Love is a great Madonna track, very underrated, don't think it had a video maybe that's why people forget about it, but it's a great song

Nice to see you have Jacko at No.1. He had some huge singles from Bad didn't he? Still prefer Thriller and Off The Wall though.

 

For me one of his best Bad hits was Leave Me Alone which wasn't on the LP, just the cassette and CD.

Edited November 30, 20195 yr by common sense

Really glad early R.E.M. made your chart long before they graced the UK top 40 18 months later.

 

 

Yeah I love the REM song here.

for me bad is Jacko's best by miles, nothing even comes close... almost every track is a 10/10, my fav is probably Dirty Diana or Another Part of Me or Liberian Girl

Really glad early R.E.M. made your chart long before they graced the UK top 40 18 months later.

 

Thanks Steve, yes it was a goodie - the good thing about 1988/9 not being so hot outside dance was it gave loads of flops a 2nd chance in the UK charts :cheer:

yes for T'Pau making the top 10

 

think The Look of Love is a great Madonna track, very underrated, don't think it had a video maybe that's why people forget about it, but it's a great song

 

you're prob right about the video Bjork, it's been ages since I heard the track - I'm not sure it's ever featured on any hits compilations either.

I really like that Madge song too, she had so many hits between 1984-87 it's not surprising some are forgotten.

Nice to see you have Jacko at No.1. He had some huge singles from Bad didn't he? Still prefer Thriller and Off The Wall though.

 

For me one of his best Bad hits was Leave Me Alone which wasn't on the LP, just the cassette and CD.

 

Record-breaking run of hits off an album for Bad - though I am still pissed off about Leave Me Alone - I bought the vinyl week of release and feel cheated that this extra track was bunged on later to force me to buy it as a single while lesser fans got it for nothing by essentially buying a Greatest Hits album on CD. So I've never bought it, and my motto since has been if I get stiffed as a fan by an artist adding extra tracks to albums then I don't buy the next album until it's on sale and it's obvious it's the final version of the album. That'll teach them!

ETA until Human dies a chart death?

I was also pissed at Leave me Alone, I also bought the vinyl on release week, don't think I owned a CD player til years later

ETA until Human dies a chart death?

 

I had to look it up and find the next notepad - the bad news is it's April Fool's Day (how appropriate!) :lol: The good news is it's April Fool's Day 1988. Some records stayed on my chart for 5 or 10 years and Human isn't even in the top three-quarters of my all-time top 100 chart performers, but I'll give you ample warning when I get to it in the countdown so you can prepare yourself emotionally :D