October 14, 20204 yr ^ 'Billie Jean' is my favourite of the bunch too! Love the hypnotic disco-tinged production and the entire build-up to a very strong pop chorus. A huge contender for my MJ favourite too.
October 14, 20204 yr 1983, ha I agree about True. give me PM Dawn anyday, and yes Spandau lyrics are notoriously bad at times, my fave worst example the diplomat/laundromat forced rhyme. Red Red Wine I'm just bored with, I'm afraid, the Neil Diamond song is fine, their treatment is fine, but put it next to UB40 tracks like Kingston Town, King and Don't Break My Heart and it's just not in the same league... Only You is kinda sweet. My dad loves it. Karma Chameleon not weathered as well as the rest of Colour By Numbers, give me Miss Me Blind or Church Of The Poison Mind any day, though it did top my chart in 1983 and they didn't. All Night Long - Lionel's best solo record by some distance. Not that much competition to be fair - Running With The Night, and err, that's it. Commodores stuff much better. Down Under another chart-topper, love it, went to see them in concert, bought the other singles. Uptown Girl is pure early 60's doowop pop love. Billy Joel is hugely under-rated, classically-trained and it shows. Total Eclipse Of The Heart is OTT genius. Meatloaf must have been SO pissed off he didn't get this dark gem as he'd moved into drivel-based rock by 1983 instead of the masterminded Jim Steinman epics. Let's Dance, Bowie at his most joyous and commercial, just to prove he could do it when he wanted to (he just didn't want to). Billie-Jean: candidate for greatest video ever, greatest bassline ever, greatest vocal performance ever, and we all felt for poor Michael being accused of shagging a girl, and getting her pregnant, in song - the very idea was always obviously highly unlikely...
October 14, 20204 yr Love 1983 but agree with Bjork about the increased commercialisation of the chart but it wasn’t always a bad thing as the MOR changed from Shaky to the big new romantic artists aiming higher due to pressure from record companies. It can even be seen by the TOTP studio of the day becoming a lot more commercial looking!
October 15, 20204 yr As a kid I didn't mind UB40 but now I find their covers very cheap and they always repeat the same trick red red Wine was fine but they did the same trick too many times billie Jean is really genious, especially the lyrics, it's very original to say the least, and a pretty bizarre chorus with the kid is not my son line.
October 15, 20204 yr 1981 5th place - Shakin' Stevens - This Ole House 5.5 dRvcrWGUmR4 Minimally better than MJ - this ole thing. Fourth best selling song of the year. I'm so glad I was too young to be a chart follower back then. I much prefer Green Door
October 15, 20204 yr Total Eclipse Of The Heart is my favourite from those ten followed by Let's Dance and Down Under. I prefer Overkill, Men At Work's follow-up single to Down Under and Dr Heckyll and Mr Jive is a good song to play for Halloween.
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 10th place - Black Lace - Agadoo 4.1 POv-3yIPSWc So, this summer hit lands in 10th place in this most peculiar of years. I've listened to a few of the other Black Lace his this week. They certainly cornered the market in party tunes back then. Eight best seller of 1984. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 9th place - Wham! - Last Christmas 4.8 E8gmARGvPlI I'm very conflicted about the next 5 song. None of them are bad, but none of them blow me away, like I'm sure they do other people. First to exit the batch is Last Christmas. It doesn't seem quite right to say it but looking at the top 10 it appears one man owned 1984. If fact, if we take number 11 (Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go) into consideration his voice appears of 5 of the 11 tracks. I think perhaps only Ed Sheeran beat this when he released ÷. I'm sure others will correct me if I am mistaken. Listening to this in October - this October - is a very hollow experience. Sixth best seller of the year. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 8th place - Stevie Wonder - I Just Called To Say I Love You 5.1 NiRj5m63oig If this was by someone else it would be even lower. He just about saves the verses with his gorgeous voice. Second best seller of the year. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 7th place - Wham! - Freedom 5.4 NBFwOs-jy53A Another song where the verses are the better. The 60s girl-group beat is certainly the highlight and the pre-chorus is magic. Not a fan of the chorus and the intro grates. Tenth best selling song of the year. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1985 6th place - Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax 6.4 Yem_iEHiyJ0 I've never really liked this song. Obviously, there's so much more to this than the music in the song - the cultural impact and the bulldozing of what was acceptable in mainstream pop music. Trevor Horn took creative control of the song during recording and it might as well be credited to "Trevor Horn featuring Holly Johnson". Third best selling single of the year.
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 5th place - Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes 6.7 pO1HC8pHZw0 Not exceeding the score of Relax very music, Two Tribes, while not having a very strong melody, beats it on production. Trevor Horn's maximalism is upped even higher in this. Fourth best selling single of the year. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 4th place - George Michael - Careless Whisper 6.9 izGwDsrQ1eQ More from him. Parts of this are lovely. Other parts not so much. Schmaltzy. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 3rd place - Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters 7.4 Fe93CLbHjxQ I was really into this at the start of this re-listening session - it's still safely top 3, though. I've a friend who misheard the lyrics of this as a kid as - "Who you gonna call?". "Those bast*rds". :lol: Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 2nd place - Lionel Richie - Hello 7.7 QG5jnwg6FVs This is not usually my sort of thing but this is quietly devastating. :( I've never let myself like this song before. I think now might be the time I started doing just that. Edited October 27, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Author 1984 1st place - Band Aid - Do they Know it's Christmas? 8.0 bjQzJAKxTrE Perhaps it's just me but there's something very dignified about this song - not on a musical level - on some other level. That, despite some of the generalised lyrics about a whole continent that are questionable. The intro is so solemn and stops me in my tracks. Plus it rips off the Doctor Who! theme. Edited October 29, 20204 yr by Colm
October 20, 20204 yr Two Tribes would definitely be my favourite from those ten with Relax in 2nd place and Do They Know It's Christmas 3rd.
October 21, 20204 yr Colm I sometimes wonder if you like any of the top sellers of the year 😂 My favourite out of the year would be ‘Careless Whisper’ wonderful lyrics!
October 22, 20204 yr Author Colm I sometimes wonder if you like any of the top sellers of the year 😂 My favourite out of the year would be ‘Careless Whisper’ wonderful lyrics! I'm a bit confused. I've scored the ones I like with high scores. :(
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