1985

3rd place - Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters

 

 

:lol:

 

:lol:

 

 

:wub:

I'm a bit confused. I've scored the ones I like with high scores. :(

 

I know I just mean from the narratives but I was joking!

I generally don't like most music :D

pop music exploded in 1984, million sellers galore, and it was George & Frankie all the way.

 

Black Lace bottom, designed to make your brain explode on more than one hearing in a day.

 

Hello is just schmaltz, I got so sick of hearing it and have never gone back to it, though I liked it for a time - it was the video mainly.

 

Stevie Wonder topped my chart in 1984, but a lot of that was love for Stevie Wonder and being happy he'd finally got a chart-topper solo. Catchy, but long-term a bit annoying. There are around 50 better Stevie Wonder tracks.

 

Ghostbusters is cracking pop, but it's annual outing every Halloween has tarnished the fun a bit.

 

Do They Know It's Christmas? was a great record for a great cause and saved many lives, topped my charts, re-entered my charts for many, many xmasses. And then I reached saturation point and it no longer moves me to the same degree. Shame.

 

Freedom is a great Motown song for the 80's, and has never suffered from overkill airplay, consequently I like it more than I did at the time.

 

Careless Whisper is a hugely mature song for a teenager to write, and a brilliantly sad song. It brings back unhappy memories for me (emotional/mental problems at the time, and a funeral) so I prefer not to hear it, but it is top notch.

 

Last Christmas is an anthem, topped my charts in many chart years over christmas/new year and still charts occasionally if I catch it while out over the christmas period, such as on holiday in the Canaries, but again I never choose to play it due to it's never ever going away for even just one christmas to give me a break from it.

 

Two Tribes is exciting, a wall of sound that hits you right between the eyes, and still relevant. Without Trevor Horn it would sound like other Frankie Goes To Hollywood tracks without Trevor Horn - a bit meh.

 

Relax. Epic. Controversial. Horntastic. I advise against pissing on people from the balcony in a club though (see banned video) in much the same way as being against people chucking bottles full of wee wee that theyve filled at Madonna concerts to not lose their place in the crowd by going to the toilet. It's not clever! The voice of experience has spoken...

1985

 

10th place - David Bowie & Mick Jagger - Dancing In The Street

 

3.8

 

 

 

Oh dear. This is awful. Points for Bowie's vocals being better than Mick's. When I say better, I mean not quite as awful.

 

It comes across as a charity single. The silent video is obviously genius.

 

 

Edited October 29, 20204 yr by Colm

1985

 

9th place - Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart

 

6.0

 

 

 

Huge jump in score from that last atrocity on music. This strikes me as quite an unlikely number one - actually the next few songs all seem pretty unremarkable to sell enough to be among the top 10 sellers of the year.

 

A Good Heart is mildly distracting but its follow up was a lot catchier - You Little Thief - which I only discovered because of this re-listening exercise. My early 80s knowledge is poor.

consider the big names involved, Dancing in the Street was pretty average

1985

 

8th place - Phyllis Nelson - Move Closer

 

6.3

 

 

 

 

This is fine but I would never have predicted top 10 seller of the year. I read that it was picked up by BBC Radio London and a pirate radio station Laser 558. A slow burner it took 13 weeks to get to number 1.

 

She was the first black woman to have a UK number 1 hit with her own composition.

 

I notice a big trend in 80s chart action. Some songs hang around for maybe 5 or 6 weeks between numbers 40 and 75 but if they then manage to scrape into the top 40, they then take great leaps towards the top end of the chart. There must have been a sizable amount of radio stations that didn't play a song unless it became a top 40 his. Obviously, a Top of the Pops appearance would also be a catalyst for big climbers.

Edited October 29, 20204 yr by Colm

1985

 

7th place - Sister Sledge - Frankie

 

6.5

 

 

 

 

Frankie marked a departure for Sister Sledge. It was more of a girl-group sound that their classic disco sound and was produced by their usual collaborator Nile Rogers. It comes across as more lightweight, to me.

 

I wouldn't have seen it being the 5th best seller on the year.

Edited October 29, 20204 yr by Colm

1985

 

6th place - King - Love & Pride

 

6.8

 

 

 

This is all over the place. There's bits that sound like The Stranglers, there's all sorts of guitar sounds scattered around it. I can hear Mansun in there somewhere and the music in the chorus reminds me of Acceptable in the 80s :D

 

Tenth best seller of the year.

Edited October 29, 20204 yr by Colm

Dancing in the Street is awful. Good call.

Didn’t realise ‘Love & Pride’ was one of the years best sellers, great track. Also ‘Move Closed’ took so long to climb it must have sold loads overall. Always had a soft spot for ‘Dancing In The Streets’ just due to the added relevance chart wise of the two.

 

With regards to the chart movements yeh once a song reached the top 40 they could potentially get a TOTP play or performance which encouraged huge upwards movement.

Currently deciding the ranking of the top 5. All great songs. We're looking at a possible 10 :o

‘The Power Of Love’?

Edited October 31, 20204 yr by Steve201

1985

 

5th place - Paul Hardcastle - 19

 

7.3

 

 

 

19 wasn't Paul Hardcastle's first single but it was his first hit. Entering at number 4, 19 must surely have been the highest ever debut for an artist that had never had a top 40 hit - charity singles excluded.

Before this re-listening session, I'd have expected 19 to be top 3 as I do like it a lot. It's one of the earliest sample-based number 1 singles, and has plenty of synthy stuff going on it it, which I love.

 

I was surprised to read that Paul is British - I assumed he was American, given the content of the track. He's a multi-talented instrumentalist, releasing jazz and synth jazz albums, as well as composing and, in his early career, singing. He did have a second top 10, which I don't recognise - Don't Waste My Time in 1986.

 

I think this is the highest scoring 5th place we've seen in either the 80s or 90s edition of this thread.

 

It was the 4th best selling single of 1985.

 

 

I love “19”, there aren't many (any?) songs about the somewhat cold and dark reality of war that sound so upbeat.. I also learnt that the average age of a soldier in World War II was 26.

Yes, he had a moderately successful career in Smooth Jazz which makes this a huge anomaly in his output - but one that went on to score other successes such as the Top of the Pops theme for 5 years (“The Wizard”).

 

This record deserved more of a heroes welcome from you Colm though. : (

I never really seen it as an upbeat song. I only read today that he did the Top of the Pops theme for those years.

 

Perhaps it does deserve a more gushing comment but I think I've always seen it as a novelty hit - albeit a really good one.

Perhaps it does deserve a more gushing comment but I think I've always seen it as a novelty hit - albeit a really good one.

 

I was being a bit facetious really, it's not exactly groundbreaking but for the reasons you mention in your review (the cut jumps and sampling) I really enjoy it. It's really odd to hear such a strong political statement, presuming it was one, from an Englishman about a war largely supported by America and Australia and NOT the UNited Kingdom. Especially with all the Falklands and Cold War stuff at the time..

 

Scanning back through 1985 I also heartily agree with your “Dancing In The Street” review. Can't stand it! A huge mis-fire in a largely solid discography up until that point from Bowie. Sadly to be joined by many other duff hits in the 1990s.

1985

 

4th place - Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well

 

7.4

 

 

 

I Know Him So Well is basically a bonus ABBA song - golden harmonies, and all. Cracking verses but the chorus can drag at times - especially with Barbara's voice.

 

The melody for this song was based on a song called I Am an A - a self referential ABBA song which never got a studio recording but appeared in live ABBA performances. Bjorn and Benny had included I Know Him So Well on the Chess album which was a cast soundtrack album for a stage show that didn't exist. It did eventually become a musical, on which the boys worked with Tim Rice.

 

The single was huge, rocketing from number 34 to number 6 and on to number 1 a few weeks later. This pushed the, at the time, flop album into the top 10, briefly.

 

I actually got this on 12" a few years ago. Myself and my mates have an 80s power balled vinyl night a few times a year and I quickly saw a use for it when I seen it for a quid in a charity shop.

 

Second best seller of the year.