23RD OCTOBER

 

 

A right ding dong battle at the top of the charts this week with Musical Youth and Culture Club neck and neck in the early part of the week but as it progressed Boy George and his crew pulled clear to become the 18th No 1 single of 1982 with "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me". The track sold 135,000 copies vs "Pass The Dutchie"'s 107,000 but its the latter track that has sold more cumulatively 619,000 against 354,000 expect that to be challenged in forthcoming weeks, Culture Club's debut album "Kissing To Be Clever" leaps 12-8 on the album charts in its second week which doesn't seem to be sapping too many sales from the single, at present anyway!

 

 

 

Buoyed by the success of the "Beatles Movie Medley" EMI has decided to re-release the original "Love Me Do" as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations of the fab four, "Love Me Do" was of course the first Beatles hit back in 1962 when It made No 17, it's been rather more successful this time around as the song debuted at No 14 last week and this weeks travels 14-5 (62,000) and marks not only the first time the Beatles have been in the top 5 for 12 years but also the first time a single by them has peaked higher than the original release. The version is not the same as the 1962 release however and is actually the album version fact fans- the difference?- well it has Andy White on Drums instead of Ringo Starr, the original single version is on the 12" however- the first time it gets a release since 1963! An album "20 Greatest Hits" is released this week.

 

 

 

Hailing from Basildon, The Pinkees are the latest new arrivals in the top 10 as "Danger Games" climb 27-8 (49,000). It's their second release after "Gonna Be Lonely Again" failed to trouble the charts earlier this year but they finally have their breakthrough.

 

 

 

It doesn't seem as though Kid Creole and his coconuts can be stopped in 1982 as they score their third top 10 single of the year with "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy". The album "Tropical Gangsters" returns to the top 20 this week and can be authentically called one of the albums of the year, home as it is, to all three singles, the current track leaps 15-9 (49,000).

 

 

Kids From Fame now have their biggest hit single on their hands as "Starmaker" glides 4-3 (81,000) and is joined in the climbers by Spandau Ballet who move 10-7 (57,000). Falling this week are Fat Larry's Band 3-4 (64,000), Chicago 5-6 (61,000) and Dexy's Midnight Runners 6-10 (40,000).

 

1- DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME- Culture Club (135,000)

2- PASS THE DUTCHIE- Musical Youth (107,000)

3- STARMAKER- Kids From “Fame” (81,000)

4- ZOOM- Fat Larry’s Band (64,000)

5- LOVE ME DO- The Beatles (62,000)

6- HARD TO SAY I’M SORRY- Chicago (61,000)

7- LIFELINE- Spandau Ballet (57,000)

8- DANGER GAMES- Pinkees (49,000)

9- ANNIE, I’M NOT YOUR DADDY- Kid Creole & The Coconuts (49,000)

10- JACKIE WILSON SAID- Dexy’s Midnight Runners (40,000)

 

Gosh how annoying and unlikeable Boy George was. One of my least fav bands ever, with their fake reggae tunes....still that's probably the best song from Culture Club.

"Danger Games" has always been accused of having a strange pattern chart wise.

 

NEW at No 30- on TOTP

Non- mover at No 30- no TOTP

Up to No 27- On TOTP

Then it shot up to No 8.

 

At the time it was thought to be the result of either record company hyping or a mistake at BMRB, but nothing was ever proved, Alan Jones noted at the time it was strange and the track fell on other charts (NME etc) out of the top 30 in the same week it went to No 8 on the BMRB chart.

 

 

Danger Games is very average, it doesn't sound like it should be a top 10 single.

 

Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy is my favourite Kid Creole hit.

Pinkees - Danger Games is another for my 'never registered song or artist before' 1980s Top 10 hit list (with good reason by the sounds of things).

:puke2: Clicked on Annie there as it’s my favourite Kid Creole song only to find JS introducing!

 

 

30TH OCTOBER

 

 

Culture Club hold steady at the top this week and sell a slightly treduced tally of 132,000 this week to move within striking distance of the half million mark for the reggae tinged track as the parent album "Kissing To Be Clever" continues to impress on the album front moving 8-5. The press are still generating the headlines about lead singer Boy George but it only seems to be fuelling sales so I doubt the band will mind too much about the less than uniformly good coverage.

 

 

On paper Kid Creole & The Coconuts look to be strong challengers to Culture Club's throne as they progress 9-2 but "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy" sold just 77,000 copies last week, those mathematically minded will know that that means that the latter's dominance in the charts is actually increasing. Kid Creole was run close the whole way by the Kids From Fame who hold at No 3 (77,000) but lose sales week on week, they won't be complaining though as the phenomenon of 1982 is still alive with the self titled album returning to No 1 and their follow up set "Kids From Fame.....Again" climbs to No 2, it's the first time the top 2 albums have been from the same artist since Mike Oldfield in 1974.

 

Talking of the Beatles the re-issue of "Love Me Do" (on the same catalogue number you'll note) moves 5-4 (69,000) and the band also see a GH set "20 Greatest Hits" debut at No 17.

 

 

With a name derived from Arthur Janovs Primal Scream therapy, Tears For Fears are Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal, formerly of the group The Graduate who didn't grace the charts under that name but now Smith and Orzabal have formed this new group they get instant recognition. Well almost instant, the group's first two releases bombed but "Mad World" this week jumps 16-6 (59,000), it was originally written to be the B- side of their second single "Pale Shelter" but it was decided it was too good to throw away on a flipside. The band have also said it was written to be something in the style of Duran Duran's "Girls On Film"- it looks like it may even outdo its inspiration!

 

 

 

Barry Manilow is just about to release his 12th studio album next month and he's got his 12th UK hit on his hands but it's the first time he's made the top 10! "I Wanna Do It With You" inches 13-10 (36,000) to finally break his duck though he is of course a big album seller having achieved his first No 1 album back in May with his "Barry...Live In Britain" album, his forthcoming effort includes a cover of Shaky's "Oh Julie" bizarrely enough which is his current US single.

 

 

Elsewhere Spandau Ballet hold at No 7 (49,000) proving that TOTP doesn't always help you, and there are three fallers, Musical Youth slip 2-5 (60,000), Fat Larry's Band slide 4-8 (43,000) and Chicago are down and out at No 9 (42,000)

 

1- DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME- Culture Club (132,000)

2- ANNIE, I’M NOT YOUR DADDY- Kid Creole & The Coconuts (77,000)

3- STARMAKER- Kids From “Fame” (77,000)

4- LOVE ME DO- The Beatles (69,000)

5- PASS THE DUTCHIE- Musical Youth (60,000)

6- MAD WORLD- Tears For Fears (59,000)

7- LIFELINE- Spandau Ballet (49,000)

8- ZOOM- Fat Larry’s Band (43,000)

9- HARD TO SAY I’M SORRY- Chicago (42,000)

10- I WANNA DO IT WITH YOU- Barry Manilow (36,000)

 

Mad World easily the best song in the current top 10. Love pretty much all of the 80s TFF singles.

The arrival of Tears for Fears.

 

Mad World is a pretty outstanding track.

Culture Club a reggae classic debut, that's how you make headlines. I bought it right away of course, and duly topped my charts. Annie I'm Not Your Daddy is a classic too, the best from Kid Creole, even if the lyrics are less than kind, they are very much amusing. Love Me Do getting a 20-year-delayed top 10 slot was fabulous, the video was great, and I was suddenly re-living my early childhood 6 years after I'd already had my Beatles 1962-66 revival! Tears For Fears debut with the brilliant Mad World, quite a few weeks at 2 on my chart I think, and TFF topping my charts as recently as 2 weeks ago some 42 years on, cos they really do still got it! Pale Shelter was almost as good and should have been a hit.

 

Barry Manilow full on drivel mode, Starmaker is a fairly bland Kids From Fame ballad that quickly got on my nerves, Spandau ditto now declining into mundane pop, and Chicago back with a half-decent MOR ballad. For all the stick they got in the UK for their leisurely ballad hits (5 of them if we include Peter Cetera's solo one), let's spare a thought for the USA where they had 20 years of godawful tedious yawnsomeness. At least we only tended to get the top-end of the blandness and one actually great song in If You Leave Me Now. Hard to believe it's the same band that did 25 or 6 to 4!

 

The Pinkees were not a fave of mine at all at the time, and I doubt Ive heard it in 40 years. I'm not in a hurry to play the video! Jackie Wilson Said is Van Morrison at his best, I mean Dexy's!! Sorry. Brown Eyed Girl is Van Morrison at his best, not a hit in the UK bizarrely. Mari Wilson was fab with this pop gem, sadly not played much these days, it's great fun as was she.

'Mad World' :wub: certainly rivals 'The Model' as my favourite song to come up here in 1982! Also neat that all The Beatles' singles which had a full release during 1962-70 now had peaks in the Top 4.

amazing to have Tears for Fears in the charts for the first time, definitely much better than anything Duran Duran ever did

My problem with Mad World is that I'm so used to the slowed down version from the 00s that this almost sounds wrong, like at the wrong speed or something, too fast

I think they both have their attractions, at christmas the Michael Andrews one sounds perfect but the rest of the year its the T4Fs one for me for sure!

6TH NOVEMBER

 

 

Culture Club remain where they are for a third week with "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" which sells a further 98,000 copies raising its total to 584,000 so far, their album also remains top 5. The band have also confirmed that their follow up "Time" will be released in 3 weeks time to aim for the Christmas No 1 spot.

 

 

 

The boys lead was cut as the week progressed by Tears for Fears who ended up shooting 6-3 (95,000) almost snatching the top spot away with the highest sale for bronze position since J Geils Band back in February. The reason it isn't No 2 is because it got caught an even faster rising track! Eddy Grant now has the biggest solo hit of his career on his hands with "I Don't Wanna Dance" which darts 11-2 (96,000) this week and would have been No 1 with 1 more day's sales. It's the first release from his next album "Killer On The Rampage" which is released in early 1983, it's not the biggest hit he's been involved with though as he reached No 1 back in 1968 with "Baby Come Back"- however that could change next week after this impressive jump!

 

 

 

Talking about people who had their biggest hit in 1968 next up is Dionne Warwick. Back then "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" peaked at No 8 which was one of only top 10 hits in the UK for the legendary singer, now however she's teamed up with the brothers Gibb in a bid to revitalise her career and in hope they do for her what they did for Streisand on the "Guilty" album, and initial results are promising. The Gibb composed "Heartbreaker" shoots 29-5 (47,000) this week to mark her first top 5 track of her 18 year chart career.

 

 

 

Shakin' Stevens last single "Give Me Your Heart Tonight" became his first 45 to fail to make the top 10 in 7 releases, but he appears to have clawed the situation back with "I'll Be Satisfied" which arrives 19-10 (35,000) this week. All his 1982 releases are collected on the album which shares the title with his last single and was only released last month peaking at No 3, whilst the year started off brightly for him there is little doubt his star seems to have dimmed over the course of the year.

 

 

Barry Manilow also improves 10-8 (41,000) even though its sales drop slightly.

 

Four tracks can't go any further though, Kids From Fame finally recede 3-4 (55,000), Kid Creole slip into a surprise reverse 2-6 (44,000), The Beatles fold 4-7 (42,000) and Spandau Ballet drop 7-9 (37,000)

 

 

 

1- DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME- Culture Club (98,000)

2- I DON’T WANNA DANCE- Eddy Grant (96,000)

3- MAD WORLD- Tears For Fears (95,000)

4- STARMAKER- Kids From “Fame” (55,000)

5- HEARTBREAKER- Dionne Warwick (47,000)

6- ANNIE, I’M NOT YOUR DADDY- Kid Creole & The Coconuts (44,000)

7- LOVE ME DO- The Beatles (42,000)

8- I WANNA DO IT WITH YOU- Barry Manilow (41,000)

9- LIFELINE- Spandau Ballet (37,000)

10- I’LL BE SATISFIED- Shakin Stevens (35,000)

 

The Dionne Warwick song is the best of that selection, know it from being on videos of the Bee Gees performing it live.

 

Not really a fan of 'Mad World' for the same reason as Bjork, so used to the other version, but its still better than most songs in that top 10. 'I Don't Wanna Dance' by Eddy Grant is good though.

Oh that's unlucky for 'Mad World', missing out on not just #2 but #1 by such small margins, and as we know from the 1985 thread 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' missed out on #1 by less than 1.5k! In a parallel universe Tears For Fears had two #1s.

what a tight top 3, I prefer the slowed down Mad World but still it's the best song in that top 10 by miles

but for me I don't associate the slowed down Mad World with Xmas

Eddy Grants jolly record I remember videoing on my new betamax video and it jumping on the recording, annoyingly. It's more commercial than, but not as good as, his earlier hits Living On The Frontline and Do You Feel My Love, but it's great to see him in top end of the chart after loving his Equals hits back in the 60's. Ditto Dionne - legendary back catalogue and its criminal that Walk On By and many others weren't big chart-toppers from her Bacharach years, when so many other acts covered her and got the hits, so it was a nice bonus having her back with the Bee Gees assist, even if it's not quite in the same league, but still pretty fine. Shaky really scraping the barrel by now, but fret not he will no doubt keep on going like the battery bunny.

I think the TFF version of Mad World is substantially better than the cover version. At the time I really loved the Michael Andrews & Gary Jules version, and I still do think it is fine, but it was made at the time when stripped back versions of songs were only just becoming a thing - as more and more arrived I realised that it's actually comparatively easy to do and that actually the original was far more interesting and inventive.

 

 

I think Mad World could well be the best song to have appeared in the chart all year long.

I wouldn't say it's "easy" to do, it's not like you can slow down everything and it always works