That cover of Mad World is alright but the Tears For Fears original is at least five times better.

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

No - as some attempts showed haha… but I’d still maintain it’s also not that skilled either.

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.

 

Agreed, although I love the Christmas version due to the memories of that famous return of the Christmas no1 battle like yesteryear plus I also just think it sounds so good even if it is not as interesting, it’s so festive and beautiful.

 

Also on the TFF version, the fact a break through act wrote a song as complex as ‘Mad World’ is genius imo !

Edited November 12, 2024Nov 12 by Steve201

They are both great versions, but I prefer TFF, and re stripped back covers, most competent pop stars seem able to do decent jobs on the radio on live spots plugging their latest or greatest stuff and adding in the obligatory unexpected bonus cover either reworked or done fairly straight. Paul Weller did a nice one this week of Denny Laine's forgotten song Say You Don't Mind, as beloved of me in a previous cover by Colin Blunstone. Admittedly not in the same league as Gary J & Michael A though, that's more polished and recorded to great effect in Donnie Darko, what a film (with added actual Tears For Fears' Head Over Heels to boot). The real highlight of the film though is The Killing Moon, Echo & The Bunnymen. Stunning.

13TH NOVEMBER

 

 

Becoming the first Guyanan solo artist to top the UK Charts Eddy Grant bridges a gap of 14 years since he was last at No 1 here with the group The Equals. "I Don't Wanna Dance" performed remarkably over the week selling 111,000 copies that's despite no TOTP. Indeed the only song to feature on the show and feature in the top 4 this week was last weeks chart topper, Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" which tumbles 1-4 (76,000) it's time was simply up, but it does mark the first time that the UK has had three consecutive reggae influenced chart toppers.

 

 

Sandwiched between Grant and Culture Club are Dionne Warwick and Tears For Fears. For Warwick "Heartbreaker" becomes her biggest hit to date as it edges 5-2 with a sale of 87,000, Whilst the tale for Tears For Fears was one of close but no cigar again as it lost its No 2 placing it had all week at the death and is left static at No 3 (85,000).

 

 

He's been away from the top 10 for 5 years but this weeks sees the return of Marvin Gaye with the smooth as silk "(Sexual) Healing" progressing 18-5 (54,000). 1981 brought the singer drugs, divorce and an end to his long contract with Motown so it's a clean break all around for the singer with his 7th top 10 hit and with a new album due this week things are finally looking rosy again for Gaye.

 

 

 

Scoring their fourth top 10 hit in three years consistency seems to be the word for Kool & The Gang, their latest single "Ooh La La La (Let's Go Dancing)" sneaks 11-6 (49,000) and is now their second highest scoring hit after "Get Down On It" back in January this year.

 

 

 

Michael Jackson has a tough call to replicate the feats of his last album "Off The Wall" which generated four top 10 hits for the singer, he also of course scored a No 1 single last year with "One Day In Your Life". His first release from his new album "Thriller" is a duet with Paul McCartney called "The Girl Is Mine" they will doubtless be hoping to replicate the success of "Ebony & Ivory" which McCartney helped to steer to the top back in April, the album is out in a fortnight but in the meantime the single leaps 33-9 (41,000) and is a good omen. The cover incidentally is a picture taken by none other than Linda McCartney.

 

 

 

Hall & Oates are also back with a new album (Christmas must be approaching) as the duo come back for a second UK top 10 hit following in the footsteps of "I Can't Go For That" earlier this year. "Maneater" scorches 20-10 (38,000) this week, keep an eye for it!

 

 

Two more tracks to cover briefly, Barry Manilow holds at no 8 (43,000) whilst Kids From Fame slide 4-7 (47,000).

 

1- I DON’T WANNA DANCE- Eddy Grant (111,000)

2- HEARTBREAKER- Dionne Warwick (87,000)

3- MAD WORLD- Tears For Fears (85,000)

4- DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME- Culture Club (76,000)

5- (SEXUAL) HEALING- Marvin Gaye (54,000)

6- OOH LA LA LA (LET’S GO DANCING)- Kool & The Gang (49,000)

7- STARMAKER- Kids From Fame (47,000)

8- I WANNA DO IT WITH YOU- Barry Manilow (43,000)

9- THE GIRL IS MINE- Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (41,000)

10- MANEATER- Hall & Oates (38,000)

 

The Bee Gees doing their magic again for Dionne!

 

Love ‘Maneater’!!

Tears For Fears missing out on a Top 2 place by a very small margin again!

 

Great to see Marvin Gaye still a creative force and producing a big hit in a third decade - so sad to know what was about to happen to him. 'Maneater' is my favourite of the new additions however.

I think Maneater is my favourite of the new ones too, it's undeniably catchy

Considering what else is on the Thriller album, leading with 'The Girl Is Mine' was... a choice. I guess being a superstar collaboration influenced that decision.

Love Maneater, so 80s.

Considering what else is on the Thriller album, leading with 'The Girl Is Mine' was... a choice. I guess being a superstar collaboration influenced that decision.

Same for Bad and him leading with I Just Can't Stop Loving You... I've wondered before if they were collaborations that were stand alone projects that were tacked on to the albums, a bit like Madonna leading True Blue with Papa Don't Preach but tagging on a previous single in Live to Tell.

 

Live to tell was the 1st single not a one-off single between albums.

Live to Tell was recorded together with all the songs from True Blue

actually the album was intended to be called Live to Tell initially

the album was just preceeded by 2 singles, is not that Live to Tell was a one-off inbetween albums single and then they tagged it along

it was the exact opposite

Ah okay. I thought it was from a film soundtrack and released because of that

it was also on a film but it was not like Wet Wet Wet-Love is all around, released in summer 94

but then one year later in mid 95 when they release a new album (Picture this) they tag it along too

I genuinely think they thought TGIM would be a great choice because it did feature McCartney who remained a big name in both sides of the pond and had taken his duet with Stevie Wonder to No 1 6 months previously. I agree it is very saccharine but then again would BJ or BI have smashed hard in the run up to Christmas? Maybe it was too risky?

Sexual Healing was a return to Let's Get It On form - only even better. Marvin was personally lost, and in Holland in the early 80's, I think, such a shame he didnt stay there much longer and try and get himself even more together. Maneater is fabulous, and a rhythmic throwback to The Supremes' Motown greats - as Stevie Wonder will point out when he gets accused of copying Maneater in 3 years' time. Hall & Oates deserved way more UK hits, but in the US they were all-conquering in the first half of the 80's.

 

The Girl Is Mine was clearly going for the Ebony & Ivory action, but was even more sickly. An unkind person might say Jackson was buttering up a legend so he could outbid him on the rights to his music :teresa: Bizarrely Say Say Say was more Jacko than Macca but was on Macca's next album , and TGIM out of place on Thriller - but not good enough for Tug Of War. Kool & The Gang, like so many of their hits, formulaic and mildly pleasant and forgettable.

20TH NOVEMBER

 

 

An interesting chart this week though the entire top 3 are static! They all gain sales as well and their grip on the upper reaches remains solid, and leading the charge is still Eddy Grant expands another 35% to 149,000 but that increases the total sales to 429,000 for "I Don't Wanna Dance" as it overtakes "Do You Feel My Love" as his best seller.

 

 

Dionne Warwick remains Heartbroken at No 2 though she loses ground on Grant as hew sales increase to 92,000 but does pass 270,000 sales so has some reason to be cheery and one place behind is "Mad World" by Tears For Fears which is up marginally up at 86,000 thanks to TOTP as its total sales near 400,000 - we can call that a success!

 

 

Moving onto the new entries and getting a toe hold in the top 5 are Clannad, you may currently be watching the ITV series "Harry's Game" and this is the song that you'll hear throughout the series. It's the first hit here for the Celtic folk band and the first time a track sung in Gaelic has been a top 40 hit in the UK charts, the band of course being successful within their genre since the early 1970's, this track arrives 11-5 (55,000)

 

 

 

Putting re-issues of old tracks to one side, this is the official follow up single to last years Christmas No 1 single "Don't You Want Me" as Human League seem to be going for the prize again! "Mirror Man" becomes the 8th track of the year to debut in the top 10 (there were 9 last year) and so befits its follow up status . Though the subject of the track remains a mystery they have confirmed it is a current pop star- interesting. The band have of course been busy scoring a US Chart topper with DYWM and have been too busy to yet enter the studios to record a new single though they are doing so in 1983, "Mirror Man" therefore seems to be a stand alone single and debuts this week at No 9 (43,000) and you have to fancy a chart topper in the immediate future!

 

 

 

Blazing a trail into the top 10 are a new duo Wham! who hail from Watford. Their first single "Wham! Rap" fizzled out just shy of the charts at No 105 but they have a lot more luck with "Young Guns (Go For It)" which rises 24-10 (43,000), it owes a lot of its success to the fact that Marvin Gaye was pencilled in to do TOTP but withdrew at the last minute which allowed the group a slot as they stood outside the Top 40 at No 42 (an unusual though not unprecedented feat) and perform an eye catching dance routine- a fortnight later here they are, the fact the group are quite photogenic I suspect won't harm them in the slightest.

 

 

Outside of the tracks already mentioned there are three climbers, the aforementioned Marvin Gaye glides 5-4 (57,000), Hall & Oates leap 10-6 (54,000) and Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney nip a spot 9-8 (48,000), whilst former No 1 "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" slips 4-7 (48,000) for Culture Club who release the follow up "Time" this week.

 

1- I DON’T WANNA DANCE- Eddy Grant (149,000)

2- HEARTBREAKER- Dionne Warwick (92,000)

3- MAD WORLD- Tears For Fears (86,000)

4- (SEXUAL) HEALING- Marvin Gaye (57,000)

5- THEME FROM HARRY’S GAME- Clannad (55,000)

6- MANEATER- Hall & Oates (54,000)

7- DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME- Culture Club (48,000)

8- THE GIRL IS MINE- Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (48,000)

9- MIRROR MAN- Human League (43,000)

10- YOUNG GUNS (GO FOR IT)- Wham! (43,000)

 

It was only some years later that "Mirror Man" was revealed to be about Adam Ant.....in case you wondered.

Instant chart-topper for me, Mirror Man gave Human League a 3rd number in a row as they lined up to fill the void over ABBA as my "Top current chart act" which they had held for 7 years. Not surprising it was about Adam Ant, he dominated 1981 totally. Harry's Game remains a haunting track, and Clannad might arguably be the first example of "World Music" popping up as a genre in the charts, or New Age as it sort of morphed into.

 

Wham! gave a classic TOTP appearance for Young Guns, a great single with energy and attitude, but it would take a later single to convince me they were more than just a 12-month wonder, and another year after that to make me see George Michael as a talent to be appreciated.

The Girl is Mine would be passable if it wasn’t for that spoken word outro.