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The UK Top 40 singles of the 1980s: listening sessions + polls: next session Sunday 19 October

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Best of Week 7 tiebreak

6 Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry

3 Adam And The Ants - Antmusic

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

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Full list of hits covered today (w/e of Top 40 new entries in bold; * denotes if not on Spotify - I've added the 1981 playlist to the bottom of page 1):

10/01/1981

The Look - I Am The Beat

Stevie Wonder - I Ain't Gonna Stand For It

Yarbrough And Peoples - Don't Stop The Music

Rod Stewart - My Girl

Adam And The Ants - Young Parisians

17/01/1981

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

The Gap Band - Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)

Visage - Fade To Grey

Barbra Streisand And Barry Gibb - Guilty

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

James Brown - Rapp Payback (Where Iz Moses?)

Sad Cafe - I'm In Love Again

24/01/1981

John Lennon - Woman

Blondie - Rapture

Ultravox - Vienna

Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet

Diana Ross - It's My Turn

Heatwave - Gangsters Of The Groove

Cliff Richard - A Little In Love

Susan Fassbender - Twilight Cafe

Madness - The Return Of The Los Palmas Seven

Light Of The World - I Shot The Sheriff

31/01/1981

Spandau Ballet - The Freeze

Rainbow - I Surrender

XTC - Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)

Honey Bane - Turn Me On, Turn Me Off

Odyssey - Hang Together

The Boomtown Rats - The Elephant's Graveyard (Guilty)

07/02/1981

Fred Wedlock - The Oldest Swinger In Town*

Joe Dolce Music Theatre - Shaddap You Face

Slade - We'll Bring The House Down

The Passions - I'm In Love With A German Film Star

Stray Cats - Rock This Town

Sheila Hylton - The Bed's Too Big Without You

Barbara Jones - Just When I Needed You Most

Adam And The Ants - Cartrouble

14/02/1981

The Pretenders - Message Of Love

The Jam - That's Entertainment

Gillan - Mutually Assured Destruction

Freeez - Southern Freeez

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Coast To Coast - (Do) The Hucklebuck

Barry Manilow - I Made It Through The Rain

21/02/1981

Motorhead/Girlschool - Please Don't Touch (St Valentine's Day Massacre EP)

Roxy Music - Jealous Guy

Beggar And Co - (Somebody) Help Me Out

Kelly Marie - Hot Love

Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

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 (XTC and The Pretenders have to miss out)

Visage - Fade To Grey

Blondie - Rapture

Ultravox - Vienna

The Jam - That's Entertainment

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

The Jam - That's Entertainment

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Ultravox - Vienna

Visage - Fade To Grey

What. a. WEEK!

'In The Air Tonight' was a painful cut and crazy that I didn't have room for Bowie either

Visage - Fade To Grey

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Blondie - Rapture

Ultravox - Vienna

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

These are the only 5 here I'd give 9-10/10 to so it worked out well in that sense, but some of these are amongst my favourites of the whole decade, which feels a lot for one week! Scary Monsters... and That's Entertainment got really unlucky here.

Caught up with the songs I missed and have playlisted 24 songs in total from this week which I believe is my joint most to date!

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Spandau Ballet - The Freeze

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Ultravox - Vienna

Visage - Fade To Grey

'The Freeze' was easily my favourite discovery of the week, other shoutouts to The Boomtown Rats, Gillan, Adam And The Ants 'Car Trouble' and a surprisingly good one from The Gap Band (didn't see the SyncTube reaction to that one to know if that's a hot take or not). The other 4 picks here were very clear choices as well but my next fave songs I already knew would be Dire Straits, The Jam, David Bowie and Adam And The Ants 'Kings Of The Wild Frontier'.

'Once In A Lifetime' is an early tip for my fave of the whole of 1981 and my 2nd fave of the 80s to date after 'A Forest' <3 'Fade To Grey' and 'Vienna' likely to also rank very highly among my favourites of the year. (I see the votes so far are unanimous on all 3 of these as they should be x)

I see everybody so far has voted for Ultravox, Visage and Talking Heads. I'm about to do the same:

Ultravox - Vienna

Visage - Fade To Grey

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Roxy Music - Jealous Guy

Dire Straits - Romeo & Juliet

Worst: Honey Bane - Turn Me On, Turn Me Off

lots of classics and one key track which never topped my charts is making its first re-appearance in my next chart thanks to a good spot in a drama this week. These all made my number one slot (eventually) and I had a devil of a time deciding which did and didn't top my chart for a few weeks at the time!* : Happily the 2 that didnt got there as oldies in the 80's and 90's (Ultravox, Phil).

Visage - Fade To Grey

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Blondie - Rapture

Ultravox - Vienna

and this didn't but should have:

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

  • I even made a note that the entire top 4 are really all number ones

Visage - Fade To Grey

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Ultravox - Vienna

Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

the jam and blondie just miss out

predictably

Visage - Fade To Grey

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Ultravox - Vienna

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

The Jam - That's Entertainment

Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet...lost out

Edited by Colm

Ultravox - Vienna

Visage - Fade To Grey

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

Blondie - Rapture

Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

A really tough choice. I was tempted to avoid double Midge, but went for it in the end.

  • Author

Best of Week 8 poll results

11 Ultravox - Vienna

11 Visage - Fade To Grey

10 Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

7 Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

6 Blondie - Rapture

3 The Jam - That's Entertainment

2 Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

2 Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet

1 David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

1 Roxy Music - Jealous Guy

1 Spandau Ballet - The Freeze

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: tbc

There hadn't been any songs reaching double figures in this series, then three come along at once! Hadn't been any 100% selections either, and... two come along at once! What looked set to be a three-way tie is still a two-way tie - breaker to come in the next poll!

Week 9:

The Jacksons - Can You Feel It

Ennio Morricone - Chi Mai

Kool and the Gang - Summer Madness

Duran Duran - Planet Earth

The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

Week 8 tiebreak: Ultravox - Vienna

  • Author

Full list of hits covered today (w/e of Top 40 new entries in bold; * denotes if not on Spotify):

28/02/1981

Status Quo - Something 'Bout You Baby I Like

Toyah - It's A Mystery (Four From Toyah EP)

The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

Kool And The Gang - Jones Vs Jones / Summer Madness / Funky Stuff

Kiki Dee - Star

07/03/1981

Kim Wilde - Kids In America

Shakin' Stevens - This Ole House

The Jacksons - Can You Feel It

The Who - You Better You Bet

Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice

14/03/1981

Phil Collins - I Missed Again

Duran Duran - Planet Earth

Stevie Wonder - Lately

Visage - Mind Of A Toy

Sharon Redd - Can You Handle It

Landscape - Einstein A-Go-Go

New Order - Ceremony

21/03/1981

Linx - Intuition

The Whispers - It's A Love Thing

Dave Stewart With Colin Blunstone - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted

Iron Maiden - Twilight Zone* / Wrathchild

The Nolans - Attention To Me

The Polecats - John I'm Only Dancing / Big Green Car

28/03/1981

Tony Capstick And The Carlton Main / Frickley Colliery Band - Capstick Comes Home / The Sheffield Grinder*

Hazel O'Connor - D-Days

Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up

Heatwave - Jitterbuggin'

Ultravox - Slow Motion

Gillan - New Orleans

Elton John Band Featuring John Lennon And The Muscle Shoals Horns - I Saw Her Standing There

04/04/1981

Graham Bonnet - Night Games

Children Of Tansley School - My Mum Is One In A Million*

Bad Manners - Just A Feeling

Sugar Minott - Good Thing Going

David Bowie - Up The Hill Backwards

11/04/1981

Ennio Morricone - Chi Mai (Theme From 'The Life And Times Of David Lloyd George')

Saxon - And The Bands Played On

Spandau Ballet - Musclebound / Glow

Public Image Ltd - Flowers Of Romance

John Lennon - Watching The Wheels

Shalamar - Make That Move

Dire Straits - Skateaway

Light Of The World - I'm So Happy / Time

Keith Marshall - Only Crying

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


Week 8 Tiebreak

Visage - Fade To Grey

Ultravox - Vienna


My votes:

The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

Kim Wilde - Kids In America

Shakin' Stevens - This Ole House D

Duran Duran - Planet Earth

New Order - Ceremony

Tiebreak:

Ultravox - Vienna

Week 9 votes:

Duran Duran - Planet Earth

Ennio Morricone - Chi Mai (Theme From 'The Life And Times Of David Lloyd George')

Kim Wilde - Kids In America

New Order - Ceremony

The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

Week 8 tiebreak:

Visage - Fade to Grey (this was like choosing a favourite child though)

Children Of Tansley School - My Mum Is One In A Million

Kim Wilde - Kids In America

New Order - Ceremony

Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice

Ennio Morricone - Chi Mai (Theme From 'The Life And Times Of David Lloyd George')

Public Image Ltd - Flowers Of Romance

Not as big a week for classics, but a few decent discoveries, Reward, Planet Earth and D-Days were just outside.

Week 8 tiebreak:

Visage - Fade to Grey (painful x)

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