Jester

Open Your Mind (with its Total Recall sample) and Sweet Harmony are both superb.

So, here is what is in my top 10 in alphabetical order: Aretha Franklin & George Michael - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) Bee Gees - You Win Again Madonna - La Isla Bonita Mel & Kim - Respectable Michael Jackson & Siedah Garrett - I Just Can't Stop Loving You Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now T'Pau - China In Your Hand Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) Where do you think I will place these?

11. Ben E. King - Stand by Me (Score: 7.5/10) Number 1 for 3 weeks Kept off number 1: Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman So at the start of this thread, I mentioned that there were a few 1987 number 1s that benefitted from either a feature in an advert or as part of a film soundtrack. Here we have Stand By Me, which benefitted from both. It was in vogue at the time to use 1960s songs in adverts, particularly nostalgia driven jean adverts (see also Reet Petite/I Get The Sweetest Feeling by Jackie Wilson) and this song was used in a Levis 501 advert which helped generate interest in the song. It then benefitted from being the base of the 1986/87 film Stand By Me, based on Stephen King’s novel The Body, starring (among others) River Phoenix and Wesley Crusher off Star Trek – The Next Generation. This era defining coming of age story was a huge hit at the box office and this, coupled with the Levi’s promo, prompted the re-issue. Stand By Me was originally a number 27 hit for Ben E. King in 1961. The song was based off a gospel hymn inspired by Psalm 46 of the same name and was originally intended for the Drifters (allegedly) but they rejected it so as King had some spare recording time after his sessions in 1960, he recorded it for himself. It was subsequently released and was a number 4 hit in the USA and a minor UK hit. The song actually has a version of the chord progression known as the 50s progression and is now also called the Stand By Me changes after this song. Onto the 1987 re-release, a new video was made with Ben E. King himself, based in a sort of lecture room with River Pheonix and Wil Wheaton goofing around. A good film tie-in and a well needed update for the video age. The re-issue entered at number 19, then climbed to number 1 for 3 weeks, ironically keeping another 1960s re-issue, Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman, off the top of the charts. This re-issue, with its haunting percussion intro (and minimalist instrumentation that allowed a focus on the superb vocal), well deserved its 1980s success and really tapped into the nostalgia for the 60s at the time. I was a huge fan of the film once I saw it in the 90s and the whole sound evoked by the song really cemented it as an all time classic. Again, 1987 had such great number 1s that this would easily be top 10 in any other year.

I’m not annoyed by Rein Me In, still love it. Would prefer Dracula at number 1, but it won’t get there as it’s too far behind.

That Snap song isn’t well known given its chart peak, but it’s really good!

I like Never Gonna Leave You, I’d have it much higher. It’s a classic non-number 1 though, pretty much forgotten and as you said, very much of its time.

3 out of 3 awful songs so far, I agree with the order as well.

At The River - what a stunning song!

Jester’s Top Tunes 1048 1 (1) Harry Styles – American Girls // 9-1-1-1 (4 wks) 3 weeks at number 1 2 (4) Sombr – Homewrecker // 10-8-4-4-2-2-5-4-2 (9 wks) 3 (3) Taylor Swift – Elizabeth Taylor // 21-16-14-20-23-35-27-21-12-8-7-6-3-3 (14 wks) 4 (5) Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – Rein Me In // 13-11-10-6-4-3-1-3-3-2-1-1-1-4-5-4 (16 wks) 5 (13) Tame Impala – My Old Ways // 13-5 (2 wks) 6 (9) Alex Warren – Fever Dream // 19-15-12-11-9-6 (6 wks) 7 (2) PinkPantheress feat. Zara Larsson – Stateside // 11-9-5-3-3-7-2-7 (8 wks) 8 (6) Gorillaz, Asha Puthii, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda & Black Thought – The Moon Cave // 14-11-8-2-6-8 (6 wks) 9 (7) Jessie Ware – Ride // 10-7-4-3-7-9 (6 wks) 10 (17) Dominic Fyke – Babydoll // 17-10 (2 wks) 11 (11) Ewan McVicar – Share The House // 19-12-11-11 (4 wks) 12 (8) Harry Styles – Aperture // 10-5-2-1-3-3-5-5-8-8-12 (11 wks) 13 (10) Arctic Monkeys – Opening Night // 9-4-1-5-6-6-6-10-10-10-13 (11 wks) 14 (14) Pulp – Background Noise // 7-5-1-1-3-4-6-7-7-9-13-14-14-14 (13 wks) 15 (15) Djo – The Crux // 4-1-3-4-6-6-7-8-8-10-14-15-15-15 (14 wks) 16 (12) BTS – SWIM // 13-12-16 (3 wks) 17 (16) Taylor Swift – Opalite // 18-15-11-9-4-7-6-3-2-5-6-11-18-4-1-2-4-6-9-16-17 (21 wks) 18 (-) Disclosure – The Sun Comes Up Tremendous // 18 (1 wk) 19 (18) RAYE – Nightingale Lane // 13-11-18-18-19 (5 wks) 20 (-) Kasabian – GREAT PRETENDER // 20 (1 wk) 21 (21) Chris Stussy & Tom Did It – Wide Awake // 21-21 (2 wks) 22 (17) Romy – Love Who You Love // 10-6-3-1-1-1-3-5-6-6-8-11-12-13-14-16-16-16-17-20-22 (21 wks) 23 (19) Robyn – Blow My Mind // 21-20-19-23 (4 wks) 24 (23) Olivia Dean – So Easy (To Fall In Love) // 15-13-7-4-2-2-2-2-1-5-7-7-8-10-12-16-15-11-12-15-21-23-24 (23 wks) 25 (25) Tame Impala – Dracula // 19-12-9-7-4-3-1-1-1-3-5-7-8-9-13-13-13-16-17-22-15-13-13-18-20-23-25-25 (28 wks) 26 (26) Pulp – Tina // 5-1-1-1-3-4-6-6-7-8-9-10-14-12-12-14-16-17-16-20-23-23-25-25-26-26 (26 wks) 27 (27) Robbie Williams – All My Life // 16-11-8-7-2-5-9-14-17-22-27-27 (12 wks) 28 (22) BLACKPINK – GO // 20-18-16-22-28 (45wks) 29 (24) Niall Horan – Dinner Party // 19-24-24 (3 wks) 30 (29) RAYE – WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! // 12-10-15-17-22-26-28-27-29-29-29-26-29-30 (14 wks) 31 (28) Bright Light Bright Light + Ana Matronic - Cold Sweat, Hot Boys // 18-11-10-11-17-19-22-24-28-31 (10 wks) 32 (31) Radiohead – Let Down // 9-5-1-1-4-6-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-10-14-14-16-15-15-17-18-20-24-26-28-28-28-28-30-31-32 (31 wks) 33 (30) HAVEN feat. Karen Aargon – I Run // 14-12-6-4-4-2-3-2-2-7-8-13-14-17-20-24-27-28-30-33 (20 wks) 34 (32) Bruno Mars – I Just Might // 11-9-5-2-5-10-12-18-22-24-27-32-34 (13 wks) 35 (32) Calvin Harris X Kasabian – Release The Pressure // 9-9-10-15-17-23-29-32-35 (9 wks) 36 (36) A*Teens – Iconic // 15-15-21-24-32-34-37-34-36-36 (10 wks) 37 (37) Djo – Carry The Name // 12-9-4-3-1-3-3-6-7-8-9-12-14-16-16-17-17-14-18-19-19-23-23-26-30-30-31-33-37-37 (30 wks) 38 (38) Sombr - … 12 to 12 // 5-3-2-2-6-8-15-17-24-28-28-30-31-21-20-17-15-13-1-4-6-7-9-14-17-18-26-32-33-36-38-38 (31 wks) 39 (39) Oasis – Slide Away // 10-7-4-4-1-1-3-5-6-8-9-10-11-12-13-13-17-17-20-20-20-23-23-24-24-27-28-30-32-35-35-35-37-39-39 (35 wks) 40 (40) Tame Impala – Loser // 11-8-5-3-1-4-4-7-8-9-10-12-16-16-18-18-19-19-20-21-22-24-27-29-29-31-31-32-35-40-40 (31 wks)

I think our Michael Jackson taste is a bit different!

Great top 2, can't argue with that result. Thanks for doing this Rollo!

12. Rick Astley - "Never Gonna Give You Up" (7.5/10) Number 1 for 5 weeks Kept off number 1: Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield – What Have I Done to Deserve This? & The Fat Boys & The Beach Boys - Wipeout Now we get to the biggest selling single of 1987. I have slightly agonised over where to put this in the rate, it’s quite the cheesy classic but not as good as the number 1s above (plus look what it kept off the top spot – more on that later!). So what isn’t Rick never gonna do? Give you up, let you down, run around and desert you? Make you cry, say goodbye, tell a lie and hurt you? So many things! Onto Rick and the song, this was a huge hit for Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) becoming their biggest and probably most well known hit, reaching number 1 in 25 countries (including the USA in March 1988). In 1985, Rick started out as a drummer for band called FBI and found some local fame in Warrington and when the lead vocalist left the band, Rick stepped up as lead vocalist. This lead to him being noticed by Pete Waterman and the offer of a job at the PWL studio in London (Rick actually moved in with Pete at this time). He was ‘tea boy’ for the studio for 2 years while he learnt the ins and outs of the music business and although he feared SAW had forgotten to make him a record, they did get round to it by 1987. Rick actually contributed to the vocals to the charity record Let It Be earlier in the year (see my number 20) and after a few false starts with Rick contributing to other songs and his own minor hit in the Netherlands, Never Gonna Give You Up was released in July 1987. The song was actually recorded on 1st January 1987 and it was loosely based on Colonel Abrams Trapped (also mentioned in my write up of Pump up the Volume above). SAW wanted a different sound to their standard fayre and this went well with Rick’s rich deep vocal (on the subject of his voice, many people at the time were shocked at what Rick looked like as his voice didn’t match his clean cut boyish looks!). The lyrics were inspired by Rick’s devotion to his long term girlfriend at the time. The final remix of the song by Pete Hammond of PWL made the vocal more prominent in the song, a wise choice imo as the strength of the track is clearly Rick’s voice and delivery. The video for Never Gonna.. is pretty iconic (for more than one reason, see below). It was filmed at the Harrow Club in London and I think the main appeal is actually Rick’s terrible dad ‘dancing’ – a wiggle to the left and right best sums it up! The video actually has 1.7 billion views on youtube, which initially seems odd for a standard 80s hit but for one thing – Rickrolling! This is basically where a shortened URL is used to fool people into thinking a link is one thing, but it’s another – usually leading to this song. This was started back in 2007 and heightened in 2008 as an April Fool (including youtube that Rickrolled very video for the day!). To this day, Rickrolling continues in increasingly inventive ways so watch what you click! I really liked Rick Astley at the time, though my fondness was more from 1988 so its not surprise I much prefer his follow up Together Forever which missed the top spot (as did the awful cover of When I Fall In Love from the same year). Rick has become quite an enduring legacy act in recent years and it is good to see him still performing to adoring crowds. I think this song is his biggest legacy though mainly thanks to the continual Rickrolling. A word on what was kept off the top of the charts – Pet Shop Boys and Dusty being my favourite PSB’s single (boo at it being stuck at number 2!) and a truly awful cover of Wipeout and the least said about that one the better.

I’ll be following this, but woah at 33 number 1s!

Plus Savile was on the last ever episode so guessing that won’t be shown.

Here is good! Feel free to make a thread.

Hell nah.

13. M/A/R/R/S - "Pump up the Volume" (score: 7/10) Number 1 for 2 weeks Dance, dance! Now this is the much better innovation in dance music from 1987 imo. Pump up the Volume was a huge milestone for both house music and the use of sampling (the title being derived from Eric B & Rankim’s I Know You Got Soul from earlier in 1987) and hit number 1 in several other countries. M/A/R/R/S were a mix of a group called Colourbox which produced electronic music and ban A.R. Kane which were known for their dream pop. The A side (Pump up the Volume) was primarily by Colourbox and the B side was a A.R. Kane production called Anitina – this came about as the two bands didn’t massively get on so they produced a track each, but then had input post production on each others songs. The original version of Pump.. was instrumental with the sample that included the song title, then A.R. Kane over dubbed some extra guitar. The real difference though came from some scratch effects and samples. The two tracks were originally released on white label to clubs in July 1987, with no artist names or credits. Pump… proved much more popular in clubs and was then released properly as a 12” single where it charted at 35. But, the song really only took off when a new remix was released a week after charting which contained the many samples (Public Enemy, Bar-Keys and Criminal Element Orchestra to name a few) we are used to hearing to this day. This was then edited to a 7” mix and the single started to rise in the charts. But (there is always a but in sampled song stories!) when the song reached number 2 it had an injunction issued by Stock, Aitken, Waterman as the sample from Roadblock wasn’t cleared beforehand. But, this was lifted provided that the overseas market did not contain the sample as it was too late to change it in the UK! (Ironically, it was pointed out that the bassline from Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up produced by SAW cheekily contained the bassline from Trapped by Colonel Abrams!). Legal issues aside, the song hit number 1 anyway (knocking off Astley haha). M/A/R/R/S never released anything again, making this a genuine one-hit wonder. The influence of this song cannot be under-stated, it massively poplarised House music in the UK and directly led to the success of early House hits such as Bomb The Bass’ Beat Dis, S-Express and Coldcut’s Doctorin’ The House. I loved this track so much back in the day, the video seemed so futuristic with the satellite and space theme (and they were called Mars!) and the samples made more than the sum of its parts. A solid dance track and in another year this would be easily in my top 10.

At this rate, we will be in 2000 in a fortnight!

This is actually true 🤣

Nope.

FFS Oasis not even top 10. Rubbish!!

My picks of the last two posted are Boom (x4) - what a great cheesy tune. I only realised the cheeky ABBA sample years later! I Breathe Again, a gay anthem indeed. Still love it. Whitney's My Love Is Your Love is her best 90s song imo, so chill and her voice is fantastic. Obviously ATB is a trance classic and huge number 1, I do prefer the UK mix of Don’t Stop however. And A1's Be The First To Believe - sounds utterly immense still. What a great debut. Outside the top 10 is the wonderful She's In Fashion from Suede, shame it only peaked at 13.

Jester’s Top Tunes 1047 1 (1) Harry Styles – American Girls // 9-1-1 (3 wks) 2 weeks at number 1 2 (7) PinkPantheress feat. Zara Larsson – Stateside // 11-9-5-3-3-7-2 (7 wks) 3 (6) Taylor Swift – Elizabeth Taylor // 21-16-14-20-23-35-27-21-12-8-7-6-3 (13 wks) 4 (5) Sombr – Homewrecker // 10-8-4-4-2-2-5-4 (8 wks) 5 (4) Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – Rein Me In // 13-11-10-6-4-3-1-3-3-2-1-1-1-4-5 (15 wks) 6 (2) Gorillaz, Asha Puthii, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda & Black Thought – The Moon Cave // 14-11-8-2-6 (5 wks) 7 (3) Jessie Ware – Ride // 10-7-4-3-7 (5 wks) 8 (8) Harry Styles – Aperture // 10-5-2-1-3-3-5-5-8-8 (10 wks) 9 (11) Alex Warren – Fever Dream // 19-15-12-11-9 (5 wks) 10 (10) Arctic Monkeys – Opening Night // 9-4-1-5-6-6-6-10-10-10 (10 wks) 11 (12) Ewan McVicar – Share The House // 19-12-11 (3 wks) 12 (13) BTS – SWIM // 13-12 (2 wks) 13 (-) Tame Impala – My Old Ways // 13 (1 wk) 14 (14) Pulp – Background Noise // 7-5-1-1-3-4-6-7-7-9-13-14-14 (12 wks) 15 (15) Djo – The Crux // 4-1-3-4-6-6-7-8-8-10-14-15-15 (13 wks) 16 (9) Taylor Swift – Opalite // 18-15-11-9-4-7-6-3-2-5-6-11-18-4-1-2-4-6-9-16 (20 wks) 17 (-) Dominic Fike - Babydoll // 17 (1 wk) 18 (18) RAYE – Nightingale Lane // 13-11-18-18 (4 wks) 19 (20) Robyn – Blow My Mind // 21-20-19 (3 wks) 20 (17) Romy – Love Who You Love // 10-6-3-1-1-1-3-5-6-6-8-11-12-13-14-16-16-16-17-20 (20 wks) 21 (-) Chris Stussy & Tom Did It – Wide Awake // 21 (1 wk) 22 (16) BLACKPINK – GO // 20-18-16-22 (4 wks) 23 (21) Olivia Dean – So Easy (To Fall In Love) // 15-13-7-4-2-2-2-2-1-5-7-7-8-10-12-16-15-11-12-15-21-23 (22 wks) 24 (19) Niall Horan – Dinner Party // 19-24 (2 wks) 25 (23) Tame Impala – Dracula // 19-12-9-7-4-3-1-1-1-3-5-7-8-9-13-13-13-16-17-22-15-13-13-18-20-23-25 (27 wks) 26 (25) Pulp – Tina // 5-1-1-1-3-4-6-6-7-8-9-10-14-12-12-14-16-17-16-20-23-23-25-25-26 (25 wks) 27 (22) Robbie Williams – All My Life // 16-11-8-7-2-5-9-14-17-22-27 (11 wks) 28 (24) Bright Light Bright Light + Ana Matronic - Cold Sweat, Hot Boys // 18-11-10-11-17-19-22-24-28 (9 wks) 29 (26) RAYE – WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! // 12-10-15-17-22-26-28-27-29-29-29-26-29 (13 wks) 30 (28) HAVEN feat. Karen Aargon – I Run // 14-12-6-4-4-2-3-2-2-7-8-13-14-17-20-24-27-28-30 (19 wks) 31 (30) Radiohead – Let Down // 9-5-1-1-4-6-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-10-14-14-16-15-15-17-18-20-24-26-28-28-28-28-30-31 (30 wks) 32 (27) Bruno Mars – I Just Might // 11-9-5-2-5-10-12-18-22-24-27-32 (12 wks) 33 (29) Calvin Harris X Kasabian – Release The Pressure // 9-9-10-15-17-23-29-32 (8 wks) 34 (31) Robyn – Talk To Me // 17-10-13-13-19-19-23-27-27-30-31-43 (12 wk) 35 (33) Sonny Fodera & Chrystal – My Loving // 21-21-26-33-35 (5 wks) 36 (34) A*Teens – Iconic // 15-15-21-24-32-34-37-34-36 (9 wks) 37 (33) Djo – Carry The Name // 12-9-4-3-1-3-3-6-7-8-9-12-14-16-16-17-17-14-18-19-19-23-23-26-30-30-31-33-37 (29 wks) 38 (36) Sombr - … 12 to 12 // 5-3-2-2-6-8-15-17-24-28-28-30-31-21-20-17-15-13-1-4-6-7-9-14-17-18-26-32-33-36-38 (30 wks) 39 (37) Oasis – Slide Away // 10-7-4-4-1-1-3-5-6-8-9-10-11-12-13-13-17-17-20-20-20-23-23-24-24-27-28-30-32-35-35-35-37-39 (34 wks) 40 (35) Tame Impala – Loser // 11-8-5-3-1-4-4-7-8-9-10-12-16-16-18-18-19-19-20-21-22-24-27-29-29-31-31-32-35-40 (30 wks)

14. Los Lobos - La Bamba (score 6/10) Number 1 for 2 weeks From Madonna to the song that knocked it off the top of the charts! La Bamba (or La Bomba originally) is a folk song from Mexico and was first made famous by Ritchie Valens (more on him in a bit) in 1958. However, it is a much older song (probably 17th century), originating from the phrase to wobble o shake and the earliest recording dates back to the 1930s. Forward then to the 1980s, Los Lobos (meaning the wolves in Spanish) had been around since the 1970s with very limited success on the charts mainly playing American jazz before deciding to get back to their Mexican roots in the early part of the 1980s. So, back to Ritchie Valens. Luis Vadez wrote and directed a film of the musical career and life of Valens and this was titled La Bamba after his biggest hit. The soundtrack needed a cover of said hit and Los Lobos were approached to cover La Bamba. The video is typical of a film soundtrack, showing the band interspersed with film clips. The result was a hige worldwide smash for Los Lobos, the song spent 2 weeks at number 1 in the UK and was a chart topper in the USA and throughout Europe. I have always liked this cover, its really uplifting and a massive earworm (even the Weird Al Jankovich cover Lasagne works well!). The Spanish guitars work particularly well with the melody and the song rarely fails to cheer me up.

15. Madonna - Who's That Girl (score 5/10) 1 week at number 1 Kept off number 1: Atlantic Starr – Always (3) This is by far the inferior of Madonna’s number 1s in 1987 and a poor copy of that particular song, imo. Who’s That Girl was released as the title track for the third film starring Madonna – not the first (or last) time she starred in and wrote songs for her film soundtracks. Written by Madonna with Patrick Leonard, this was another Latin inspired pop song which sought to replicate the success of her previous number 1. I’ve never seen the film and have no real motivation to do so; but I gather it’s about a woman accused of murder and her attempt to expose the real felon with an interrupted wedding staging the denouement. Sounds a bit standard! Riding on the coat tails of her previous successes, this was Madonna’s fifth UK number 1 (and her sixth US billboard chart topper) – her second number 1 in one year, a trick she would repeat in 2000. I think this is the definition of a non-number 1 - It’s a bland shadow of another song and it just does nothing for me. In fact, I am not alone in passing this one by, it had mixed reviews on release (mediocre, boring and uninspired among the words quoted) so I feel less guilty on being harsh on a Madonna single given I am a huge fan in general. Sorry Madge!