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The UK Top 40 singles of the 1980s: listening sessions + polls: next session 31 May

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Oh no, I was hoping to join in with you for the first time, but I’m now going to be away with limited internet access! I’ll try again next time I suppose, and definitely catch up when I can. Have fun guys!

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  • We had pencilled in this Sunday for the next session, however: It's a Bank Holiday weekend so people might have other plans The temperature will be 30C in London and other areas It's the final day o

  • jimwatts
    jimwatts

    We are back at 4pm tomorrow! Quite an accumulation of bonuses to get through in the first couple of sessions, but we'll still cover 7 weeks of 1983 in each.

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36 minutes ago, Jaz13music said:

Oh no, I was hoping to join in with you for the first time, but I’m now going to be away with limited internet access! I’ll try again next time I suppose, and definitely catch up when I can. Have fun guys!

Ah, it's a shame you won't be able to join us tomorrow Jaz, but I'm glad you're interested and you'll be welcome to join on a later week! We'll have 7 sessions for 1983, so these should run until the end of May.

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Full list of hits covered today, all of them are on Spotify, for which I've added the 1983 playlist at the bottom of page 1 (w/e of Top 40 new entries in bold):

08/01/1983

Wah! - The Story Of The Blues

Men At Work - Down Under

Imagination - Changes

The Stranglers - European Female

15/01/1983

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

Laura Branigan - Gloria

Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting

Melba Moore - Mind Up Tonight

Fleetwood Mac - Oh Diane

Billy Griffin - Hold Me Tighter In The Rain

22/01/1983

The Belle Stars - Sign Of The Times

U2 - New Year's Day

Dire Straits - Twisting By The Pool

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

Joe Cocker And Jennifer Warnes - Up Where We Belong

Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

Level 42 - The Chinese Way

Sharon Redd - In The Name Of Love

29/01/1983

Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

Wham! - Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)

Central Line - Nature Boy

05/02/1983

Tears For Fears - Change

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

China Crisis - Christian

Rockers Revenge Featuring Donnie Calvin - The Harder They Come

Prince - 1999

Haysi Fantayzee - Shiny Shiny

Thompson Twins - Love On Your Side

Toto - Africa

12/02/1983

Fun Boy Three - The Tunnel Of Love

Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

Thin Lizzy - Cold Sweat

Marillion - He Knows You Know

Patti Austin With James Ingram - Baby, Come To Me

Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

Musical Youth - Never Gonna Give You Up

19/02/1983

Madness - Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)/Madness (Is All In The Mind)

Spandau Ballet - Communication

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Genetic Engineering

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Phil Everly And Cliff Richard - She Means Nothing To Me

Votes welcome for up to five of your favourites, with the song with the most votes played at the start of the next session!


My votes (it was a tough call to leave out 'Africa'):

U2 - New Year's Day

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Prince - 1999

Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Oof this was tough to narrow down to 5!

Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Prince - 1999

Men At Work - Down Under

Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Toto - Africa

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Ooft, that was painful to leave out 1999 but couldn't quite fit all the big hitters in. Also enjoyed the OMD song which I hadn't heard before.

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Tears For Fears - Change

Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

Prince - 1999


Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

Thompson Twins - Love On Your Side

Rockers Revenge Featuring Donnie Calvin - The Harder They Come

Echo and the Bunnymen - The Cutter

Laura Branigan - Gloria

Once again I go for the more up-tempo synthpop productions. Steppin' Out is sublime. 1999 is really influential - the start of the synth R&B/dance 80s, which I prefer to early 80s disco. Depeche and Tears For Fears uptempo but darker. For Icehouse's song it used to be a massive fave for me - I really like the dance focused production but I now realise the lyrical themes have aged badly. Rocker's Revenge - The Harder They Come is a good song with a nice bit of acid house reminiscent bassline. Thompson Twins' debut definitely their best song for me.

Edited by TheSnake

Best

Wah! - The Story Of The Blues

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Genetic Engineering

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

There were other good songs, but these five are easily the best.

Worst

Imagination - Changes

Joe Cocker And Jennifer Warnes - Up Where We Belong

Sharon Redd - In The Name Of Love

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Prince - 1999

Toto - Africa

Have to be boring and go with 5 classics this week! (Yes 'Too Shy' is a classic roughly on par with the rest of these, fight me - admittedly it is definitely 5th here and only just edging out Men At Work but I feel they deserve at least one vote x).

Other gooduns I already knew were Echo And The Bunnymen (although I don't know it as well as I should do so a quasi-discovery), Laura Branigan, U2 and Eddy Grant while my top discoveries of the week were Thin Lizzy, Depeche Mode, The Stranglers and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. Good to be back x

Here’s the 5 I would choose, though there are loads of songs I love that I had to leave out, many of you have highlighted those ones (Eurythmics are a very close 6th)

Wah! - The Story Of The Blues

U2 - New Year's Day

Tears For Fears - Change

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Thompson Twins - Love On Your Side

There are 4 songs I'd definitely put in the Top 5 and it's a close call between a few records for the final spot but here they are with the Top 4 first:

Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting

Men At Work - Down Under

The Stranglers - European Female

Prince - 1999

Billy Griffin - Hold Me Tighter In The Rain

Worst song is a very easy pick: The Belle Stars - Sign Of The Times

Men At Work - Down Under

Laura Branigan - Gloria

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

This is the first time I’ll have to leave 9s out.

Men At Work - Down Under

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

Toto - Africa

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

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Best of Week 22 poll results

8 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

6 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

5 Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

5 Men At Work - Down Under

5 Prince - 1999

5 Toto - Africa

4 Wah! - The Story Of The Blues

3 Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

3 Tears For Fears - Change

2 Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

2 Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

2 Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

2 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Genetic Engineering

2 U2 - New Year's Day

1 Billy Griffin - Hold Me Tighter In The Rain

1 Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

1 Laura Branigan - Gloria

1 Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting

1 The Stranglers - European Female

1 Thompson Twins - Love On Your Side

Wall of fame

Week 1: John Foxx - Underpass

Week 2: Blondie - Atomic

Week 3: The Cure - A Forest

Week 4: Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Week 5: David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes

Week 6: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay

Week 7: Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry

Week 8: Visage - Fade To Grey

Week 9: The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

Week 10: Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes

Week 11: The Specials - Ghost Town

Week 12: Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Week 13: Laurie Anderson - O Superman

Week 14: Ultravox - The Voice

Week 15: The Stranglers - Golden Brown

Week 16: Associates - Party Fears Two

Week 17: Yazoo - Only You

Week 18: Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra

Week 19: Duran Duran - Save A Prayer

Week 20: Tears For Fears - Mad World

Week 21: A Flock Of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)

Week 22: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

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