Ghoulian

The average score for 1984 is a record 5.89, easily beating 1983’s 5.77 which was a record itself! Only 2 hits received a 1, and I’m crowning “Love Me Tender” by Roland Rat Superstar! as the worst hit of the year. Even that is the least bad worst hit of the year that I remember, so there wasn’t much cannon fodder this year at all. I gave 3 10s and 30 9s, so the highest 8s make it into the lower end of my Top 40. 1 Giorgio Moroder With Philip Oakey - Together In Electric Dreams 2 Queen - I Want To Break Free 3 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Power Of Love 4 George Michael - Careless Whisper 5 Tears For Fears - Shout 6 Prince And The Revolution - Purple Rain 7 Grandmaster And Melle Mel - White Lines (Don’t Do It) 8 Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again 9 Echo And The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon 10 Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy 11 Ultravox - Dancing With Tears In My Eyes 12 The Cure - The Caterpillar 13 Swans Way - Soul Train 14 Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time 15 Bob Marley And The Wailers - One Love / People Get Ready 16 The Cars - Drive 17 Prince - When Doves Cry 18 Afrika Bambaataa And The Soul Sonic Force - The Renegades Of Funk 19 Laura Branigan - Self Contro 20 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes 21 Propaganda - Dr Mabuse 22 Malcolm McLaren - Madame Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo) 23 Sade - Smooth Operator 24 Scritti Politti - Wood Beez - Pray Like Aretha Franklin) 25 Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride 26 Rufus And Chaka Khan - Ain’t Nobody 27 Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In The Dark 28 China Crisis - Wishful Thinking 29 Nik Kershaw - The Riddle 30 Break Machine - Street Dance 31 Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok 32 Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face 33 Shannon - Let The Music Play 34 The Icicle Works - Love Is A Wonderful Colour 35 Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody 36 Billy Joel - An Innocent Man 37 The Smiths - Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now 38 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax! 39 Sade - Your Love Is King 40 Cocteau Twins - Pearly Dewdrops’ Drops

“Thrift Shop” definitely stands out in a good way looking back and has a much more timeless sound to it than a lot of the others. I think I do still prefer the follow up hit even though it’s a bit more mainstream.

“Wrecking Ball” is good. The imagery of it works well and it’s actually artistic and not being raunchy for the sake of it.

A few I’m a bit sketchy on but I think I had a semi decent answer for them all in the end. Overall I thought this was the hardest so far: I don’t remember having had to rack my brains as much for the others. That’s a good thing though.

You make a good case for it: I’m still putting Bryan 9th I think. It is rather schmaltzy and lurically obvious, but the intstrumental parts are very good and intense, and the changes of mood are done very well.

Sorry x 🤐

I feel like Dido is a new player as they’ve used their ace in the first round.

Yep Deepest Blue now.

I had dandy* down more for the act he put in 3rd place…

Good to see “Stop The Wedding” top 10. Also the Adela and Nicole Kidman track sounded much better than expected!

Hard to understate how crazy that original chart run was for 1999.

We didn’t need another terribly bland young male star in the charts. 🫪

This is comfortably the best of the 3 rounds for me! 1 iamamiwhoami - play: didn’t know this and I love the relentless interplay of the vocal lines 2 Ultravox - Sleepwalk: made my top 40 of 1980 3 Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream: I love the brash, clanging style 4 M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion: quite a euphoric track 5 New Order - Ruined in a Day: not their strongest production but has an introspective beauty 6 Depeche Mode - See You: it’s lovely but their earlier stuff lacks a bit of intensity 7 Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus): this is very well constructed 8 Years & Years - Take Shelter: it’s a good song but the production has that very 2010s hallmark 9 Dead or Alive - Misty Circles: I didn’t love this but I found the wailing intriguing 10 Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye): it’s catchy but there isn’t a whole lot to it 11 Sade - The Sweetest Taboo: this one blends into the background 12 Texas - When We Are Together: apologies as there isn’t a bad track here and this is just the MORest

1 Damien Rice - 9 Crimes: this is a beauty 2 Calvin Harris - Feel So Close (Radio Edit): his vocals work really well on this and it’s a lovely warm track 3 Gary Numan - We Are Glass: a strong slice of early synth pop 4 Lewis Capaldi - Hold Me While You Wait: I wish all his songs were a bit more like this, which has good flow and the vocals aren’t off-putting 5 Roosevelt - Luna: a nice track with retro production 6 Sam Smith - Diamonds: a solid and well performed track 7 Sam Fender - Chin Up: it’s very Sam this track; not bad but unremarkable 8 Tom Grennan - Found What I've Been Looking For: the vocals on this are strong; the song is OK 9 Bladee - Cartier’god Icedancer (Intermission): I didn’t exactly enjoy this but found it had more to it than the 3 below 10 Darin - Lovekiller: one of those tracks that’s trying slightly too hard to be anthemic 11 HRVY & Malú Trevejo - Hasta Luego: this pop-Reggaeton style was popular at the time but doesn’t sound too good now 12 Mackenzy Mackay - Want You For Life: highly forgettable

I think I’m somewhere In the middle on that cover. The stripped down version of the song does work and the piano intro is gorgeous and wintry. Beyond that it’s all a bit meh and the John Lewis ad style quickly wore thin.

Gah I need to get round to my Top 40 of 1984 too. I’ve already worked out that’s it’s a new record high average score across the year.

We’re crossing the 4,000 hit mark for this thread (though we’re over 7,000 across the 3 threads). This is a very strong group indeed and the songs that are probably the best well known, “School’s Out” and “The Sweetest Feeling”, are muscled out by 2 more avant garde tracks. “10538 Overture” is very Beatles but moves the sound forward at the same time. I’m sure @King Rollo will be pleased to see it coming top. “Popcorn” is unique and feels like it’s from much later. 9 Electric Light Orchestra 10538 Overture 1st hit for this UK rock group and "Strawberry Fields Forever" influenced, but it's an epic interpretation of that style 9 Hot Butter Popcorn Only hit for this US instrumental and a thrilling, ahead of its time electronic instrumental hit that sounds like popcorn 8 Alice Cooper School's Out 316th #1: debut hit for this US singer and a glam rock classic with an energy that bottles the end of school feeling 8 Jackie Wilson I Get The Sweetest Feeling His last hit aside from re-releases and only his 2nd Top 10, 15 years after the 1st, and it's a beautiful and tender song 7 Procol Harum Conquistador Their 1st new Top 40 since 1967: a very enjoyable song about colonial warriors with a frenetic organ accompaniment 7 Labi Siffre Watch Me The least well known of his Top 40 hits but they've all been great, and this is lovely and soulful with a memorable riff 6 Roberta Flack And Donny Hathaway Where Is The Love? They did a whole album together and this is Donny's 1st hit: it doesn't stand out but is a beautifully sung, soulful duet 6 Mott The Hoople All The Young Dudes 1st hit for this UK rock group written by David Bowie, and it's a good glam song that bears his mark if not his artistry 5 Chairmen Of The Board Working On A Building Of Love Musically this is very much the same old style from them, but it does have a really sweet and hopeful lyrical message 5 Bee Gees Run To Me They won't be back until 1975 after this and will then hit a run of huge success: for now this is pleasant soft rock 5 Mardi Gras Too Busy Thinking About My Baby Only hit for this US band with a cover of the Motown song: it's a nicely done version but nothing very remarkable 4 Middle Of The Road Samson And Delilah The last of their 5 hits, and a moderately entertaining and charming bubblegum pop track based on the biblical story 4 The Four Tops Walk With Me, Talk With Me, Darling They're already on their 11th album by this point and still have plenty ahead: this track is fine but not memorable 3 Rod Stewart You Wear It Well 317th #1: his 2nd #1 and rather similar to "Maggie May" but also vastly inferior, with nothing very interesting to it 2 Faron Young It's Four In The Morning A big sole hit for this US country singer: I suppose it's fitting that a track about 4am is sluggish but it's not enjoyable 1972 Group 10: #4010 12/08/1972 Derek And The Dominos Layla 7 25-13-{7}-7-9-11-22-29-42-48-49->11 #4011 12/08/1972 Blackfoot Sue Standing In The Road 4 44-25-14-9-{4}-6-11-19-25-35->10 #4012 12/08/1972 Bill Withers Lean On Me 18 48-36-27-25-{18}-18-21-28-37->9 #4013 19/08/1972 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Band Heykens Serenade/The Day Is Ended 30 38-33-31-{30}-35-39-43->7 #4014 19/08/1972 Duncan Browne Journey 23 40-29-24-{23}-31-40->6 #4015 19/08/1972 Michael Jackson Ain't No Sunshine 8 41-28-20-16-{8}-8-8-13-25-34-40->11 #4016 19/08/1972 Bobby Hebb Love Love Love 32 45-43-40-{32}-41-41->6 #4017 19/08/1972 Roxy Music Virginia Plain 4 46-26-18-8-{4}-7-10-15-24-28-36-50->12 #4018 19/08/1972 Lynsey De Paul Sugar Me 5 47-20-12-6-{5}-5-15-21-31-43-50->11 #4019 19/08/1972 Al Green I'm Still In Love With You 35 50-41-{35}-36-39->5 #4020 26/08/1972 Junior Walker And The All Stars Walk In The Night 16 40-38-25-21-{16}-20-19-20-31-34-49->11 #4021 26/08/1972 Cliff Richard Living In Harmony 12 44-30-21-{12}-12-12-16-27-35-46->10 26/08/1972 The Drifters Come On Over To My Place {1972} 9 46-36-27-20-10-{9}-10-15-17-29-36->11 #4022 26/08/1972 Judge Dread Big Six 11 50-39-29-23-17-17-12-{11}-11-15-15-18-22-21-30-31-41-41-41-41-35-37-40-42-34-48-50->27 #4023 02/09/1972 Slade Mama Weer All Crazee Now 1 2-{1}-1-1-3-7-16-27-33-39->10 #4024 02/09/1972 The Hollies Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress 32 44-39-{32}-33-48-39-43-48->8

Len for me now

“Look Right Through” is a bit of an odd flash in the pan #1 but a good track. I loved “La La La” at the time and I think it still works well. Not sure Sam ever surpassed “Latch” really. Not keen on “Roar” which is pretty basic.

1 Dido - White Flag: still sounds brilliant and one of the best #2 hits of the decade 2 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love: such an exciting song and very close between this and Dido 3 Milica Pavlović - Ona nosi Pradu: really refreshing and I like that Eastern European sound 4 Agnes - Selfmade: good production on this 5 Leona Lewis - Better in Time (Single Mix): I’ve always found this sweet and well performed 6 Tove Lo feat. Wiz Khalifa - Influence: not bad with a bit of bite to it 7 Robyn - Talk to Me: not that strong but I always like her vulnerability 8 Zara Larsson - Love Me Land: not as bad as has been made out but I didn’t enjoy it exactly 9 Jessie Ware - Sauna: a slightly lacklustre track 10 Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Music Gets the Best of Me: was such a letdown after a strong early run of singles 11 Adele - Hello: I’ve always found this contrived 12 MARINA - Bubblegum Bitch: I don’t enjoy the lyrics and find it a little basic

Again most of those I both know you’re a huge fan of and are very deserving picks. “Crash” is the most surprising to me: at the moment I only find it nice, but I’ll look forward to appraising it more properly when the sessions get to the late ‘80s. Speaking of which yikes at that being your only post 1985 representative, but it would probably be similar for me at the moment. ABBA absolutely got better and darker and more interesting as they went on. The “Voulez Vous” album from 1979 is my favourite pure pop album ever - it has about 7 hit singles and all the album tracks are knockouts. Then “Super Trouper” which includes LAYLOM was a very good album, but “The Visitors”, despite having basically ended them, is their finest work. It’s just so varied, beyond the heartbreaking “One Of Us” and haunting “The Day Before You Came”. The title track is a rare political number about life in the Soviet Union. You have unknown synth pop gems like “Should I Laugh Or Cry”, and the amazing lyrics of the theatrical “I Let The Music Speak”. It makes you think what could have been if they’d carried on. Whoops sorry for the essay!

I’ve shared this before but my mum bought the double A side on cassette at the time and it had a stylish plain black sleeve, and I was fascinated and played it over and over. I grew to love “These Are The Days Of Our Lives” and perhaps find it hard to appraise it objectively now, but to me it’s incredibly sincere and moving. It would be in my top 5.

I think “Black Or White” would be 6th for me, not that close to the 5 I love but comfortably beating everything else. It’s a well thought out and produced song and a bit different from everything else he did.

Thanks Jack and Lily! See you next time… or not. Huge congratulations Jim! For the first few minutes of my 1st listen I thought it was unremarkable, and then it started going in one different direction after another, and when you thought it was done it went somewhere else again. My only previous Nuggets entry 3 years ago was a flop so pleased to have got a 7th place on the board! Thanks for the votes: A Place To Bury Strangers are very New Order-esque to me and you can’t go wrong with that.

Week 37: 1 1 Olivia Dean Man I Need 1,760,000 2,860,000 2 2 Sam Fender and Olivia Dean Rein Me In 1,693,000 2,380,000 3 3 Alex Warren Ordinary 1,103,000 3,280,000 4 4 Raye Where Is My Husband! 1,077,000 1,680,000 5 5 Dave featuring Tems Raindance 1,038,000 1,280,000 6 6 Olivia Dean So Easy (To Fall In Love) 981,000 1,360,000 7 7 Bella Kay Iloveitiloveitiloveit 960,000 8 8 Zara Larsson Lush Life 926,000 3,970,000 9 9 Huntr/x, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Golden 922,000 2,250,000 10 10 Taylor Swift The Fate Of Ophelia 895,000 1,640,000 11 11 PinkPantheress Stateside 804,000 930,000 12 12 Olivia Dean Nice To Each Other 791,000 1,570,000 13 13 Djo End Of Beginning 770,000 1,950,000 14 14 Tame Impala Dracula 762,000 900,000 15 15 Sombr Homewrecker 759,000 16 16 Bruno Mars I Just Might 724,000 17 17 Sombr 12 To 12 717,000 1,240,000 18 18 Zara Larsson Midnight Sun 716,000 820,000 19 19 Sienna Spiro Die On This Hill 685,000 860,000 20 20 Ella Langley Choosin' Texas 681,000 720,000 21 21 Alex Warren Fever Dream 659,000 22 22 Harry Styles American Girls 657,000 23 23 Michael Jackson Billie Jean 651,000 4,170,000 24 24 The Killers Mr Brightside 633,000 7,430,000 25 25 Dominic Fike Babydoll 599,000 1,340,000 26 26 Taylor Swift Opalite 592,000 1,000,000 27 27 Sombr Back To Friends 584,000 1,490,000 28 28 Disco Lines and Tinashe No Broke Boys 574,000 1,300,000 29 29 Harry Styles Aperture 567,000 30 31 Fleetwood Mac Dreams 548,000 4,480,000 31 32 Goo Goo Dolls Iris 545,000 5,110,000 32 30 Milky Just The Way You Are 544,000 650,000 33 33 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 531,000 3,460,000 34 34 Olivia Rodrigo Drop Dead 529,000 35 36 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 522,000 1,660,000 36 35 Sabrina Carpenter Manchild 521,000 1,330,000 37 37 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 507,000 2,310,000 38 39 Justin Bieber featuring Nicki Minaj Beauty And A Beat 502,000 1,740,000 39 38 Dominic Fike White Keys 500,000 510,000 40 40 Olivia Dean The Hardest Part 496,000 1,230,000 49 50 Prospa & Cloonee Free Your Mind 441,000 55 59 Olivia Rodrigo The Cure 409,000 60 62 Ariana Grande Hate That I Made You Love Me 404,000 63 65 Malcolm Todd Earrings 393,000 420,000 68 79 Shakira & Burna Boy Dai Dai 379,000 70 72 Harry Styles Sign Of The Times 375,000 2,570,000 78 87 Olivia Rodrigo Stupid Song 363,000 85 98 Stella Lefty Boston 353,000 92 93 Taylor Swift I Knew It, I Knew You 345,000