I loved What’s The Colour Of Money back in the day - quite the earworm.

Stan Ridgway! -proceeds to have woah-oah-oah-oah camoflaaaaague stuck in my head for the rest of the night now-

 

Love it though :wub:

'Every Beat Of My Heart' (was gonna type 'The Rhythm of My Heart' there oops) is preferable as a power ballad to 'Lady In Red' imo. Rod's gone down the 'Sailing' route clearly.

 

'What's the Colour of Money' is very good, another rare new wave type hit this late in the 80s, although it sounds medieval folk music influenced too, like a livelier 'Safety Dance'.

 

'Camouflage' is good, a rare American country/folk song in the UK charts.

 

Glad Papa Don't Preach spent more than one week at #1. Have seen comparisons online between the chorus melody of Papa Don't Preach and

#11 new wave UK hit from 1982. I really like both songs.

 

 

 

 

oh my that totally sounds like Papa don't preach! did they sue?

 

 

No he had an album in 1984 which gave him a top 20 hit with "Some Guys Have All The Luck". The first release from this album "Love Touch" made No 27 so not an entire flop.

 

Ah thanks I remember Some Guys!

All for Chris De Burgh to have a big hit with Lady in Red if it meant ‘A Spaceman Came Travelling’ got its place in December finally and became a Christmas staple!

2ND AUGUST

 

 

The expected take over at the top occurs with ease, “The Lady In Red” trouncing the opposition on a very healthy sale of 85,221 as it opens up a commanding lead. The album it is taken from “Into The Light” debuted at No 8 in June but it is now riding to new heights shifting 5-3 to undoubtedly make a UK career peak for Chris De Burgh.

 

 

The outgoing No 1 “Papa Don’t Preach” sold a still respectable 65,297 as it slipped 1-2, way ahead of both Sly Fox and Rod Stewart who swap places at No’s 3 & 4 but both are in retreat saleswise at 38,947 and 36,380 respectively.

 

 

She’s been in Hot Gossip, she’s done “Song For Europe” and she’s been in the video for Forrest’s “Rock The Boat” but to date Sinitta’s single success has been, well, non- existent to be frank. Her fourth release “So Macho” was released last summer and similarly underwhelmed though it became a favourite in gay clubs and sold a reputed 15,000 through specialist shops. It was re-issued back in February this year and moved 59-50-49-49-48-47-49-51-64-59-68 before dipping out of the top 75 for 6 weeks, but it seems you can’t keep this song down and it resurfaced with strong mainstream support and major radio on side and now makes much better upward traction 73-52-46-33-16 as the song has already sold 112,020 as it makes the top 10. It bursts 16-5 (33,524) this week in a double A Side with “Cruising” which was Sinitta’s previous single that flopped, she is the daughter of Hi-NRG singer Miquel Brown and also counts Amii Stewart among her aunts, not a bad grounding in the music business.

 

 

 

Way back in January Cherrelle hit the top 10 with Alexander O’Neal on “Saturday Love”, prior to that she had a minor US hit with a song called “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” which has now been covered by Robert Palmer and issued with those same girls in the promo that made his last video “Addicted To Love” so memorable, the song becomes his second top 10 single as it rises 11-9 (24,225) and spurs the parent album “Riptide” to a new high at No 12.

 

 

 

Next month sees the release of their second album “Silk & Steel” but one of 1986’s great success’s continues in the form of Five Star who score their third top 10 single on the trot with “Find The Time” rising 25-10 (21,386). It’s their most immediate hit as it’s the first to be top 10 after just 14 days on sale and bodes well for the album.

 

 

Stan Ridgway moves up a place 7-6 (30,991) and Hollywood Beyond stay close to him lifting 8-7 (30,940) both at the expense of UB40 who collapse 5-8 (26,231).

 

 

1- THE LADY IN RED- Chris De Burgh (85,221)

2- PAPA DON’T PREACH- Madonna (65,297)

3- LET’S GO ALL THE WAY- Sly Fox (38,947)

4- EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (36,380)

5- SO MACHO/ CRUISING- Sinitta (33,524)

6- CAMOUFLAGE- Stan Ridgway (30,991)

7- WHAT’S THE COLOUR OF MONEY- Hollywood Beyond (30,940)

8- SING OUR OWN SONG- UB40 (26,231)

9- I DIDN’T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON- Robert Palmer (24,225)

10- FIND THE TIME- Five Star (21,386)

 

'Cruising' is a very good Hi-NRG track actually and now sounds a lot less dated than 'So Macho' which is cheesy and almost like a precursor to generic Stock Aitken Waterman style tracks.

The continued success of UB40 for so long impresses me so much!

oh my that Sinitta song :o

 

I kinda liked that Robert Palmer song

 

the appeal of Fiev Star always escaped me ;)

some nice ones missing the top 10...

 

Steve Winwood peaking at #13 with Higher Love... sounds familiar? :)

 

and Cock Robin-The promise you made, loved loved this back in the day, thought it had been massive but it's only a #28 hit

 

I've inadvertently seen Sinitta perform about 15 times over the years in small gay bars, pride events, charity events etc.

 

Bless her :lol:

9TH AUGUST

 

 

Scoring an easy second week victory “The Lady In Red” put in another sterling performance to interest 112,266 buyers and was never in any danger of surrendering the top slot. Even on the album chart “Into The Light” still improves finally breaking the duopoly of Madonna and Wham! by dislodging the latter and climbing 3-2 though in doing so allows Madonna some revenge on displacing her at the head of the singles charts a fortnight ago, on the singles front “Papa Don’t Preach” slips another spot 2-3 (41,310) and is just overtaken by the fast ascending Sinitta 5-2 (47,362), Madonna has now sold 441,371 copies of her recent No 1 and the track will become her third hit to make the 500,000 mark trailing “Into The Groove” and “Like A Virgin” in terms of total sales.

 

 

 

No-one foresaw the resurrection of the career of Boris Gardiner coming, his only previous hit was way back in 1970 with “Elizabethan Reggae” (No 14) before he disappeared out of the UK chart for 16 long years and then all of a sudden there was “I Want To Wake Up With You” which has been given extensive support on independent radio as it sprints 27-5 (31,892) to give him his biggest hit. It “officially” falls under the category of lovers rock which has been a mid- 80s phenomenon in music fashion and comes with a rather homely promo video which seems to be simple but effective, however it progresses it must already be hailed a success.

 

 

Stan Ridgway marches 6-4 (35,513) and Five Star also improve 10-7 (26,452) as the fallers mount beneath them including Hollywood Beyond 7-8 (26,384), Rod Stewart 4-9 (24,191) and Robert Palmer 9-10 (21,658).

 

 

1- THE LADY IN RED- Chris De Burgh (112,166)

2- SO MACHO/ CRUISING- Sinitta (47,362)

3- PAPA DON’T PREACH- Madonna (41,310)

4- CAMOUFLAGE- Stan Ridgway (35,513)

5- I WANT TO WAKE UP WITH YOU- Boris Gardiner (31,892)

6- LET’S GO ALL THE WAY- Sly Fox (29,189)

7- FIND THE TIME- Five Star (26,452)

8- WHAT’S THE COLOUR OF MONEY- Hollywood Beyond (26,384)

9- EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (24,191)

10- I DIDN’T MEAN TO TURN YOU ON- Robert Palmer (21,658)

 

some nice ones missing the top 10...

 

And The Real Roxanne making #11 too

 

 

And this good 80s indie song making #21

 

Edited November 15, 20231 yr by TheSnake

I Wanna Wake Up With You is nice enough, crazy he came back with a hit so long after his first, it's a very UB40-esque but very chill.

 

Too bad the fabulous Panic by the Smiths peaked at #11 this week and for 2 weeks in a row

 

The Smiths generally peaked in week one or two after a TOTP performance unfort - great tune!

was looking at the discography x The Smiths up to this point and crazy how they only got 1 top 10:

 

This Charming Man/25

What difference does it Make/12

Heaven knows I’m Miserable Now/10

William It was really nothing/17

How Soon is Now/24

Shakespeare’s sister/26

That joke isn’t funny anymore/49

The boy with the thorn in his side/23

Bigmouth strikes again/26

Panic/11

 

16TH AUGUST

 

 

“The Lady In Red” waltz’s to a third week at the top but is now under threat, not really through its own sales decreasing at a speedy rate but more through the surge of interest in “I Want To Wake Up With You”. The two tracks sold 95,710 and 89,505 respectively last week matching each other sale for sale by the end of the week, also in contention, for at least the first half of the week, was Sinitta, “So Macho” drifted slightly after the other two titles got TOTP exposure ending up with 74,953 sales, a 59% improvement on last week though it still falls 2-3 thanks to the MOR balladry battle at the top.

 

 

 

You might not know the name of Simon May but you’ve doubtless hummed his tunes over the years, he’s a composer that worked on “Crossroads” writing “I Was Born With A Smile On My Face” for Stephanie De Sykes (No 2, 1974) “More Than In Love” for Kate Robbins (No 2, 1981) and a couple of hits in his own right most notably “Summer Of My Life” (No 7, 1976). He’s also the composer to a couple of current TV soaps including “Howard’s Way” which will be released next month, and the track which leaps 28-4 (40,409) this week, “Anyone Can Fall In Love” which is, of course, the theme to “Eastenders”. It’s sung by Anita Dobson who plays the alpha female in the soap Angie Watts, and has lyrics penned by Don Black who was the lyricist to many a James Bond theme.

 

 

 

Gwen Guthrie has been a backing singer for some of the greats including Aretha Franklin, and Madonna, whilst penning several songs for Sister Sledge, Roberta Flack and Ben E King, her first brush with the UK charts came as uncredited vocalist on the Limit’s “Say Yeah” (No 17) last year. There’s no doubt however that she has a hit now with the very 80s themed “Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But The Rent” which itself references hits by Billy Preston, James Brown and First choice as it jumps 12-5 (32,861).

 

 

 

Scoring 7 top 10 singles between 1964 and 1974 Lulu has been AWOL from the top 40 for 11 years but kept a high profile thanks to TV appearances, her radio show on Capitol Radio and various west end appearances, but she’s recently moved to Jive and recorded some of her old hits including her first hit “Shout” which is of course a cover of the Isley Brothers 1959 original. Not to be outdone her old label Decca wanted to get in on the new demand for the single issuing the original which Gallup has sensibly allowed to be combined for chart position purposes and the song now bounds 16-8 (25,959) one place below the position her original release peaked- can she do better?

 

 

 

Hailing from Cumbria It Bites first single “All In Red” may have failed to chart but generate considerable interest in the band which sees their follow up “Calling All The Heroes” become the chart hit they so badly wanted. Their debut album “Big Lad In The Windmill” is released in three weeks but their hit single accelerates 17-10 (23,086).

 

 

Three fallers to cover quickly, Stan Ridgway falls 4-6 (32,147), Five Star tumble 7-9 (25,772) and Madonna dips 3-7 (26,707) but is currently topping the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic with “True Blue” which is still the No 1 here after 6 weeks, in the US “Papa Don’t Preach” also reaches No 1 this week to give her a fourth chart topper over there.

 

 

1- THE LADY IN RED- Chris De Burgh (95,710)

2- I WANT TO WAKE UP WITH YOU- Boris Gardiner (89,505)

3- SO MACHO/ CRUISING- Sinitta (74,953)

4- ANYONE CAN FALL IN LOVE- Anita Dobson (40,409)

5- AIN’T NOTHING GOIN ON BUT THE RENT- Gwen Guthrie (32,861)

6- CAMOUFLAGE- Stan Ridgway (32,147)

7- PAPA DON’T PREACH- Madonna (26,707)

8- SHOUT- Lulu (25,959)

9- FIND THE TIME- Five Star (25,772)

10- CALLING ALL THE HEROES- It Bites (23,086)

 

Gwen Guthrie is my favourite of the new ones this time around

Gwen Guthrie :wub: What a fab classic

 

Ugh Lulu. Can't bear her in any way, shape or form.