glad Phil won over Brother Beyond

 

love that Hollies song, glad it charted again, but kinda weird to have so many oldies-sounding songs

 

Yello is also great

12 year old me also liked Brother Beyond!

They must be one of the most forgotten boy bands in chart history tbh!

 

Also @Bjork, it was standard late 80s to have oldies in the top 10, a generational thing I would say.

I think the Loco-Motion is the weakest of her debut album singles, but the nostalgia still hits hard.

I loved the loco-motion back then i still love it now, i love the nostalgia that goes with it aswell.

and I think most of the oldies revival had to do with the Levis ads

Not sure if it's just my perception but there did seem to be a lot more old songs coming back in the late 80s than in the early decade.

 

'Teardrops' is brilliant, 'Love Wars' even more so.

Forgot to mention Stevie & Julio. Now I've mentioned it I will move on. :teresa: The Race was fun, and Yello were always interesting, but I prefer a lot of their lesser hits and flops (see BJSC a few years back). The Hollies' was one I missed at the time, being out the country and all, but heard as an oldie in the 70's. I thought it was a bit dull at first, but it grew on me over the years and this re-issue was a great reason to chart it properly and to top my chart, and also the follow-up re-issue the even more classic Air That I Breathe, the Albert Hammond song that was so good Radiohead borrowed it. Creep! :teresa:

Not sure if it's just my perception but there did seem to be a lot more old songs coming back in the late 80s than in the early decade.

 

'Teardrops' is brilliant, 'Love Wars' even more so.

 

I think they were bigger hits due to the advert/film thing than in the early 80's, but there were always loads of covers, medleys and EPs and the like - The Monkees EP, Black Night, MASH, Paranoid, ska revival, Elvis galore, Beatles, Hollies, John Lennon etc as actual oldies. I know in the 70's and 80's I was re-discovering 60's stuff (still am!) and in the 80's Glam/Punk was very much the inspiration for New Romantic/New Wave. By the mid-80's the disco remix revival was under way but I dont recall that many oldies breaking through other than that around 83-85 other than the minor hit ongoing Beatles reissues and the odd xmas song comeback.

Plus Shakey's entire oeuvre which thankfully, in terms of the top 10 was now over by 1988

17TH SEPTEMBER

 

 

Strong sales at the top this week deprive Bros of another sensational debut near the top of the charts but more on that in a moment, for now Phil Collins spends a second week in the penthouse after almost doubling his sales again to a whopping 112,965 the sixth time in 1988 a six figure sale was registered for the No 1 spot, but more importantly he wasn't the only contender with the Hollies sprinting 5-2 (104,448) which means that both the top 2 sold in six figure quantities, the first time that's happened since April 1987. Both tracks are being promoted via other media (namely a film and a TV advert) which could account for the explosion in sales and sets up an interesting battle next week. For the Hollies it marks a new peak for the 19 year old track and if it doesn't make No 1 then they may well feel aggrieved that sales for the Bill Medley version (which is still top 30) may have detracted sales.

 

 

 

So onto Bros, briefly at No 3 on initial sales flashes it faded as the week progressed and sold a respectable 39,168 copies in the end to debut at No 4, it’s the fourth single from “Push” which itself is back in resurgence 21-14 this week. It sold poorly in the latter part of the week only just fending off rival boy banders Brother Beyond who slide 2-5 (39,049) when the dust settled. It is worth noting however that opening sale for "I Quit" were in fact higher than "I Owe You Nothing" when the latter debuted at No 2!

 

 

 

Ben Liebrand’s remixes are quite the thing these days, he recently took Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” to No 4 and now he works the magic on Bill Withers “Lovely Day” which first appeared on one of his mix tapes and which are highly sought after themselves. The original peaked at No 7 in 1978 but this remix has taken just 14 days to outperform it as it surges 21-6 (37,621) spurred on by its use in the current Ford Escort adverts. Withers manages to hold a note on the track for 18 seconds which is, I’m reliably informed, a record!

 

 

 

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the Miami Sound Machine, the hits have continued in the US but they haven’t found favour here, a slight credit change to promote frontwoman Gloria Estefan seems to have helped as “Anything For You” finally makes the top 10 jumping 15-10 (26,911) in its 10th week on the survey, The song has topped the charts over in America back in May this year.

 

 

Womack & Womack have another great week as they continue to climb 4-3 (53,618), Yazz & The Plastic population continue to slacken 3-7 (36,703) while Yello hold at No 8 (35,751) and Bomb The Bass drop 6-9 (32,147).

 

Finally this week sees old enemies Pet Shop Boys and Rick Astley return to the charts with lead singles from new albums, the two fought it out in the top 2 back in December, can Astley get revenge or will it be a third chart topper on the trot for the PSB?

 

 

1- A GROOVY KIND OF LOVE- Phil Collins (112,965)

2- HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER- The Hollies (104,448)

3- TEARDROPS- Womack & Womack (53,618)

4- I QUIT- Bros (39,168)

5- THE HARDER I TRY- Brother Beyond (39,049)

6- LOVELY DAY (SUNSHINE MIX)- Bill Withers (37,621)

7- THE ONLY WAY IS UP- Yazz & The Plastic Population (36,703)

8- THE RACE- Yello (35,751)

9- MEGABLAST/ DON’T MAKE ME WAIT- Bomb The Bass (32,147)

10- ANYTHING FOR YOU- Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine (26,911)

 

'I Quit' is not great imo compared to Bros' previous hits, it doesn't have a big chorus and is a bit forgettable.

 

I knew that Bill Withers song was older, classic sophistipop-influencing track!

 

For Gloria Estafan, I forgot that 'Rhythm's Gonna Get You' missed the UK top 10 later in 1988, that's a way better song and a classic!

Edited February 11Feb 11 by TheSnake

very retro top but actually love the entire top 3 a lot

the newbies, not so much

the first 3 Bros singles were good but the album didn't have anything else, I Quit was album filler at best

poor Gloria, for some reason she always did better with her ballads although her upbeat songs were much better

not a fan of Everything for you

that remix of Lovely Day, I can also do without

this week Michael Jackson peaked at #15 with the 6th single off Bad, Another Part of Me

really like the song, one of the best from the Bad era

 

 

din't have a proper video so guess it could explain it's udnerperformance

Never heard that Bros song before, it literally has NOTHING to it.

It is their worst single in 88 i agree. There is actually better on the album "shocked" of "liar" for example. Not that it mattered much at this point as they were so huge!

 

Also the first line of the song always puzzles me "most of my friends were strangers when I met them", well yes they would be...

actually realised now Bros didn't write their own songs, always thought they did for some reason

all their songs in Push are written by Nicky Graham and Tom Watkins, not really songwriting royalty

just checked and their biggest accomplishments in songwriting include Let's get ready to rhumble and the Nolans :)

It was worse than that. Luke and Craig didn't do anything on the album. It was Matt and session singers plus the producer, though of course that didn't come out until years later. That aside they are a fascinating case study in the phenomenon of a teen scream act and the music industry.

so Luke just pretended to drum?

I Quit was always a bit forgettable, but for me the rot started after When Will I Be famous and didnt stop till the top 10 hits dropped off and they got more interesting. Given the soon-to-jump-ship non-brother co-wrote his future missus' hit and ended up a music industry back-scenes manager, one guesses the screaming fan thing wasnt for him.

 

Love Lovely Day, the original. The remix didnt ruin it, but I wouldnt say it added anything either, but it was nice to see Bill back in the charts, long a fave of mine and almost already retired from the music biz forever, pretty much, happy at home with the family in the small-town back-woods community and not a single new album released after 1986. I think he was saying goodbye with a final fling before letting the record companies creatively re-work the back catalogue on hits packages.

 

Now Gloria/Miami Sound Machine I was a fan of throughout the lean UK years prior to Anything For You, which was one of my first CD single purchases, both for the latino dance numbers like Conga, and the ballads such as Fallin' In Love (Uh-Uh) which should have been the one to cross-over, or one which will eventually go top 10 as a follow-up out again. Oddly Bad Boy was a UK hit but isn't one of the better known early hits.

 

Another Part Of Me missed a huge trick - I guess Disney weren't playing along though, as an early version of the song was co-centrepiece to the massive Disney Epcot Captain Eo sci-fi extravaganza musical exclusive that Jackson starred in. He is excruciating as an actor, but the SFX and the song & dance routines were great for the time. Had they let him crib part of it for a video it would have gone top 10, but that was never going to happen - you had to pay to see the 3D movie by going to Epcot/Disney! As I'd been in 1987 the record topped my chart!

so Luke just pretended to drum?

He could play and did so on tour but he's not playing on the album