I dont recall megablast at all, it was all about Don't Make Me Wait, and Bomb The Bass went on to even better stuff in the 90's. John Parr was a goodie, it's all over bloody adverts at the moment and selling well on itunes. Never liked Why that much, not nearly as good as Smalltown Boy, but still way better than all Bronski Beat post-Jimmy singles. Communards were doing the good stuff...

I had no idea that song was Bomb the Bass :o

 

I used to really like it but don't think I've heard it since the 80s

I had no idea that song was Bomb the Bass :o

 

I used to really like it but don't think I've heard it since the 80s

 

 

Then you must not have been listening to Now That's What I Call Dance Explosion!

 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dZSj2kEY...bf26743a5034e71

50 - Alphaville - Big In Japan

 

 

66th best seller of 1984

Chart Run

71-43-22-11-9-8-9-14-23-31-38-58-64

 

Into the top 50 we go with the only hit single from Alphaville. It's one of those song titles that was also a band name - like Go West or Heart (hi to the Pet Shop Boys).

Big in Japan (the band) seem to be more interesting than Alphaville so I'll talk about them instead. :lol:

 

BIJ were a sort of reverse supergroup in that members of it went on to be much more successful in other bands. Its alumni include Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood), Bill Drummond (KLF, et al), Ian Broudie (Lightening Seeds) and Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees).

Big In Japan is a fab track, still rate it, and Big In Japan the band were quite the makers of future greatness!

 

49 - Adrian Gurvitz - Classic

 

 

66th best seller of 1982

Chart Run

65-73-50-50-22-18-12-10-8-12-21-41-66

 

Fairly sleepy ballad and only top 40 hit for Adrian Gurvitz. Gurvitz had found fame as an on-off member of The Graeme Edge Band in he 70s - Graeme Edge being the drummer with the Moody Blues.

 

Backing vocals on this sound suspiciously like Robert Palmer.

48 - The Pointer Sisters - Jump (For My Love)

 

 

65th best seller of 1984

Chart Run

24-6-6-7-9-11-23-24-40-52

 

Second appearance for the Pointer Sisters with the energetic Jump (For My Love). They were following up their biggest hit, Automatic, which had reached number 2 earlier in the year. The Sisters were more versatile than the other trios coming out of the disco era. They ventured into bebop, blues, soul, funk, and even country - winning the Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group Grammy in for their song Fairytale in 1975.

 

Jump (For My Love) and Automatic also earned them Grammys for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices, respectively.

They continued to release singles into the 90s but didn't have a hit after 1985 in the UK.

 

We're all familiar with blistering electro-pop remake by Girls Aloud, which is probably the only cover the Girls did that really suited them.

46 - Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me)

 

 

65th best seller of 1984

Chart Run

22-8-7-8-10-13-23-32-38-46-69-72.......73-67-66-71-64-69-61-74............72.......74-62-68

 

Simple Minds hit big, internationally, with this song which had been written by Steve Schiff and Keith Forsey while they were scoring the film The Breakfast Club.

 

The song had been offered to several other major singers and bands (among whom, reportedly, were Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol). Simple Minds weren't immediately enthusiastic about recording a song written by someone else but decided to do it having been convinced that it would break them in the US.

 

It did. Hitting number 1 there and in Canada along with Top 5 in Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Germany.

 

Back home it fared less well but it would become a trickle seller over the following 2 years.

 

After its initial run of 11 weeks in the UK top 100, it re-entered the chart 11 more times over the following 18 months accruing 54 more weeks between positions 62 and 100.

 

The band would continue to be chart regulars until 1998 with some minor hits in 2002 and 2005.

Edited September 18, 20231 yr by Colm

A massive fan of 'Don't You (Forget About Me)'. I really like the Eddy Grant track too but I do like most of what I know from him tbf!