WEEK ENDING 28TH AUGUST 1982
TOP 40 SINGLES
Last weeks position in Brackets
1-(-1)----Dexy's Midnight Runners------------Come On Eileen
2-(-2)----Survivor-----------------------------------Eye Of The
Tiger
3-(13)----Soft Cell----------------------------------What
4-(-6)----Boystown Gang-------------------------Can't Take My
Eyes Off You
5-(27)----Duran Duran-----------------------------Save A Prayer
6-(-3)----Irene Cara---------------------------------Fame
7-(26)----Kids From Fame-------------------------Hi Fidelity
8-(-4)----Yazoo---------------------------------------Don't Go
9-(12)----Toto Coelo--------------------------------I Eat
Cannibals
10(33)----Haircut 100--------------------------------Nobody's
Fool
11(16)----Haysi Fantayzee-------------------------John Wayne Is
Big Leggy
12(-5)----Hot Chocolate----------------------------It Started
With A Kiss
13(-7)----Stranglers----------------------------------Strange
Little Girl
14(15)----Kool And The Gang--------------------Big Fun
15(10)----Bad Manners-----------------------------My Girl
Lollipop
16(11)----Belle Stars----------------------------------The
Clapping Song
17(-9)----Kid Creole And The Coconuts------------Stool Pigeon
18(-8)----Madness------------------------------------Driving In
My Car
19(37)----Rockers Revenge-------------------------Walking On
Sunshine
20(---)----Gary Numan---------------------------------White Boys
And Heroes
21(17)----Wavelength--------------------------------Hurry Home
22(34)----Modern Romance-------------------------Cherry Pink And
Apple Blossom White
23(24)----Donna Summer-----------------------------Love Is In
Control
24(18)----Fun Boy Three------------------------------Summertime
25(14)----The Firm---------------------------------------Arthur
Daley (E's Alright)
26(28)----Talk Talk--------------------------------------Today
27(21)----Associates---------------------18 Carat Love
Affair/Love Hangover
28(---)----Shakin Stevens------------------------------Give Me
Your Heart Tonight
29(35)----Tom Tom Club-------------------------------Under The
Boardwalk
30(31)----Sting--------------------------------------------Spread
A Little Happiness
31(36)----Captain Sensible-----------------------------Wot
32(---)----Grandmaster Flash And The Furious
Five--------------The Message
33(23)----Paul McCartney------------------------------Take It
Away
34(25)----Cliff Richard-----------------------------------The
Only Way Out
35(29)----Junior-------------------------------------------Too
Late
36(32)----David Essex-----------------------------------Me And My
Girl (Night-Clubbing)
37(30)----The Brat---------------------------------Chalk Dust -
The Umpire Strikes Back
38(20)----Japan------------------------------------------I Second
That Emotion
39(19)----Bananarama-------------------------------Shy Boy
40(---)----Queen------------------------------------------Backchat
1-(-1)----Dexy's Midnight Runners------------Come On Eileen
The biggest selling single of the year was in the last of it's
four weeks at number one. A different sounding single that fully
deserved all the acclaim. I have mixed memories of this song. In
particular, it reminds me of a trip we all took on our
motorcycles to Barmouth, a small resort on the Welsh coast. We
had a great time at the disco in the 'Cors Y Gedol Hotel' (if I
spelt it correctly) apart from some Dolgellau thugs not liking us
being there. We then spent the night camped out halfway up a
mountain, where Tiny (He was very tall) kept us awake with his
snoring until we were all bitten by bugs in the morning. The
person who complained most about the snoring was 'Tommy' who was
always good for a laugh and brightened up any trip we undertook
in those days. The sad part of it is that he was killed while
riding his beloved 'Bike' just two months later. The world would
have been just that little bit brighter had he still been with
us.
2-(-2)----Survivor-----------------------------------Eye Of The
Tiger
This was to be the next number one also staying four weeks, and
becoming the second biggest seller of the year. Some remarked how
this was the first heavy metal/hard rock number one, but it
wasn't exactly Black Sabbath was it ?
Moreover, Mums and Dads liked it too, so it lost some cred there.
It was still a pretty decent record though, and it served it's
purpose in making people rush out to see 'Rocky 3', from whence
it came. Survivor followed it with a much better song
"American Heartbeat" which failed to chart. They had to
wait until early 1986 before their next hit "Burning
Heart" from the next Rocky movie.
3-(13)----Soft Cell----------------------------------What
Last week I commented on Soft Cell's first hit "Tainted
Love". A year later and they were peaking at number three
with their fifth top five hit. They had all made the top three
bar one. Sadly at around this time, certain stories about Marc
Almond were appearing in newspapers, and may have been the reason
why there were no more top ten hits for Soft Cell after this one.
4-(-6)----Boystown Gang-------------------------Can't Take My
Eyes Off You
This cover of Andy Williams' 1968 hit was peaking at number four
this week. It wasn't a bad cover at all really, and the sight of
those two male dancers behind the female vocalist were quite
amusing (though some said very nasty things about them). They
almost had a further hit with "Signed, Sealed, Delivered
(I'm Yours)", but they were never to grace the top 40 again.
5-(27)----Duran Duran-----------------------------Save A Prayer
What a fantastic leap up the chart for Duran Duran. It became
their highest charting of their first six hits the following week
when it rose to number three, then it reached number twwo the
following week. There soon came a lot of prejudice against the
band when they suddenly became every teenage girl's fantasy. But,
they were in fact very good and proved it by still being around
18 months later (not to mention at the end of the 90's). The
album from which this single came 'Rio' was one of the best
albums of the 80's, and though they went into a little decline
around the turn of the decade, they have been back in tremendous
form on their latest two albums.
6-(-3)----Irene Cara---------------------------------Fame
This two year old song had finally hit it big in the UK. It was
all thanks to the TV. show 'Fame' of course. Shown immediately
after 'Top Of The Pops' on Thursdays, it was guaranteed to pull
in the desired audience. The title song to the show wasn't the
Irene Cara rendition though, actress Erica Gimpel's (I know the
spelling is probably wrong) version was used instead. But R.S.O.
saw a great opportunity and re-released this version, which
smashed straight in at number four and spent three weeks at the
top becoming the third best selling single of the year.
7-(26)----Kids From Fame-------------------------Hi Fidelity
And so it was decided to release an album of the songs that the
cast of the 'Fame' show sang on the show. The album spent 12
weeks on top of the album chart a total only bettered by 18 other
albums throughout chart history. There were even another four hit
albums for them over the next 12 months. This was their first hit
single, but despite this great climb, it only rose two more
places to rest at number five. The song was ok in itself (though
nothing special), but there were some really annoying vocals on
it, particularly from the male voice uttering "Hi
Fideliteeeeee" at the end of certain lines.
8-(-4)----Yazoo---------------------------------------Don't Go
Quite magnificent and one of Vince Clarke's finest works. This
single had spent three weeks at number three which was quite an
achievement considering the quality of the chart in those days.
It was very different to the first Yazoo hit "Only
You", but had a lot in common with "Only You"'s b
side "Situation". It was a great disco/synth song that
was sure to fill the dance floor every time. Don't Go ?
I wish they hadn't, because Andy Bell just doesn't have what
Alison Moyet had (I'm sure I could add a humouress comment to
that).
9-(12)----Toto Coelo--------------------------------I Eat
Cannibals
This was a group of women dressed in multicoloured bin bags
(refuge sacks) who were to climb just one more place with their
only top 40 hit. Not a bad song, but it could become annoying
after many listens. Their follow up "Dracula's Tango"
was much less annoying, but failed to rise beyond number 54.
10(33)----Haircut 100--------------------------------Nobody's
Fool
The fourth and last hit for Haircut 100 was also their weakest
and only climbed one further place. I had this single on a
flexidisc given away free with the magazine 'Flexi-pop' just a
few weeks prior to it's official release, but didn't play it too
often.
11(16)----Haysi Fantayzee-------------------------John Wayne Is
Big Leggy
This was the highest week on the chart ever for this strange
band. They comprised a beautiful singer in Kate, a bloke who
featured Barry Manilow and Jeremy Healy. Jeremy is of course now
better known for dance remixes (or something similar). The video
for this single was banned by the BBC, but I can't remember the
reason. It may have been connected to the fact that the song had
something to do with John Wayne having sex.
12(-5)----Hot Chocolate----------------------------It Started
With A Kiss
After a disappointing 1981, Hot Chocolate stormed back in 1982
with two top ten hits. This number five hit was the biggest and
no doubt was the instigator of many relationships (as the band no
doubt realised would happen when they recorded it), a Classic. It
did of course re-chart in 1993 & 1998.
13(-7)----Stranglers----------------------------------Strange
Little Girl
The Stranglers continued their run of success with their last
single for the Liberty/United Artists company. This was a song
that had been written long before punk and new wave had hit the
world (allegedly in 1974), and was one of their most successful
singles ever. Indeed only one of their singles charted higher
than the number seven peak of this, and that was the number two
"Golden Brown" earlier this same year. The song also
had the kind of video that kept you riveted to the screen even
though not a lot actually happened in it.
14(15)----Kool And The Gang--------------------Big Fun
If you want a hit, call your song "Big Fun" and you
should get one. This number 14 peaking hit was the first of that
title and the ninth top 40 hit in less than three years by a band
who would continue to hit the chart regularly until 1986.
15(10)----Bad Manners-----------------------------My Girl
Lollipop
The ninth hit in just over two years for Bad Manners was also
their last, but at least they'd bowed out with a number nine hit.
To be honest the joke was over when this hit the chart. It was a
very poor cover of the Millie hit "My Boy Lollipop" and
I imagine it was mostly bought by parents for their (very young)
children. It was tragic.
16(11)----Belle Stars----------------------------------The
Clapping Song
At last the Belle Stars had a decent sized hit on their hands. In
June their cover of "Iko Iko" had been thwarted by
another cover of the same song by 'Natasha' and had got no
further than number 35. This time around it looked as though they
may have been in trouble again when the original version of this
song by Shirley Ellis was re-released. But the girls won this
battle and had peaked at number 11 the previous week. This is
another song that reminds me of 'Tommy'. A group of us were in
the beer garden of a pub in Ellesmere (just over the border from
Wales into England), where some children had been left to play on
the playground equipment while their parents were inside the pub.
It was Tommy who first noticed what they were chanting as they
played. Instead of "Bought me a rubber dolly", they
were chanting "bought me a rubber johnny". Ok it was
childish, but they were children remember, and with us all being
late teens or 20 years old, it can hardly be said that we were
mature. BTW if our American friends don't know what a rubber
johnny is, it's slang for a condom.
17(-9)----Kid Creole And The Coconuts------------Stool Pigeon
The second hit from one of the albums of the year 'Tropical
Gangsters'. It had peaked at number seven, and I'll never forget
the Top Of The Pops performance with Kid using a megaphone for
certain parts of the song. Kid was starring in a stage musical
called 'Oh What A Night' in Blackpool's 'Opera House' last year,
but under his real name of August Darnell. I have some kind of
review of it on my Blackpool
site.
18(-8)----Madness------------------------------------Driving In
My Car
As lyrics go, this song was awful. "I like driving in my
car, it's not quite a Jaguar", "I like driving in my
car, even with a flat tyre". But this follow up to the
number one "House Of Fun" still managed a number four
placing. It was helped by the usual great video, this one
featuring the 'Fun Boy Three' with Terry Hall actually smiling !
19(37)----Rockers Revenge-------------------------Walking On
Sunshine
A great cover of an Eddy Grant track was giving Rockers Revenge
their first and biggest hit which was to peak at number four.
This was one of the big dance smashes of the Summer, was very
good and that's about it really.
20(---)----Gary Numan---------------------------------White Boys
And Heroes
This wasn't very good at all, but it was still a shock when after
entering at such a high position, it could climb no higher. Gary
had started the year with one of his best singles in a long time,
"Music For Chameleons", but had then turned out
"We Take Mystery" and this trash. The latter two were
just familiar synth sounding monotonous tunes with Gary droning
away with mumbled vocals. His career never really recovered from
this, despite him releasing some good singles in the years that
followed.
21(17)----Wavelength--------------------------------Hurry Home
This sounded as though it could have been a similar band to Air
Supply or Chicago, but they looked nothing like them when I saw
them on Top Of The Pops. They looked like a pub band (not the
Doctor Feelgood type) with their flat caps, and a whippet
wouldn't have looked out of place (actually that rings a bell,
they may have had one). This their only hit had peaked at number
17 the previous week.
22(34)----Modern Romance-------------------------Cherry Pink And
Apple Blossom White
It was different, I'll say that much for it. Actually, it was a
grower and the album version even more so. It was a cover of the
Perez Prado (remember "Guaglione" in '95) number one
from 1955 except lyrics had been added, and this version got as
high as number 15. Fact - Two weeks after Perez Prado's version
had been knocked from the top in 1955, Eddie (the man with the
golden trumpet) Calvert's version hit the top.
23(24)----Donna Summer-----------------------------Love Is In
Control
A welcome return to the chart for Donna after a two and a half
year absence. It was one of the standout tracks on her great
'Donna Summer' album and peaked at number 18. I vividly remember
this playing upstairs in 'Selectadisc' records during a visit to
Nottingham at that time.
24(18)----Fun Boy Three------------------------------Summertime
Here were Terry and the boys with a cover of an old standard.
Terry sang it in his familiar miserable style and it peaked at
number 18 to give them their fifth top twenty hit in nine months.
25(14)----The Firm---------------------------------------Arthur
Daley (E's Alright)
Another novelty hit, but this was more amusing than most. The
song was about 'Arthur Daley', the main character in popular TV.
show 'Minder'. "Arthur Daley, a little dodgy maybe, but
underneath, e's alright". The Firm returned to the chart
five years later and hit number one with "Star Trekkin'
", a great improvement on the number 14 placing of
"Arthur Daley".
26(28)----Talk Talk--------------------------------------Today
One of my favourite hits of the year, it had something different
about it, and a great video to match. Sadly it could only get as
high as number 13, a position that they only bettered once (with
"It's My Life" in 1990).
27(21)----Associates---------------------18 Carat Love
Affair/Love Hangover
The man with one of the most horrible singing voices in music was
back with his band the Associates for their third and thankfully
last hit. Just what the rest of the band were on to give Billy
Mackenzie the role of lead vocalist I'll never know. "Love
Hangover" got most of the airplay during the singles run to
number 21, but it was a truly awful cover (almost as bad as
"Feel It" and "Just The Two Of Us").
28(---)----Shakin Stevens------------------------------Give Me
Your Heart Tonight
Quite a good one from Shaky was this. It was his first single
since the awful "Shirley" had followed the equally
awful "Oh Julie" in April of this year. Sadly, it was
the first Shaky single in seven releases not to make the top ten
when it stalled at number 11.
29(35)----Tom Tom Club-------------------------------Under The
Boardwalk
Many people will hate this cover of the classic Drifters track by
the Talking Heads offshoot band, but I quite like it. It only
climbed to number 22 and was their final hit, but it was much
better than the awful Bruce Willis version.
30(31)----Sting--------------------------------------------Spread
A Little Happiness
Sting's first solo hit was a very unusual choice. It was a very
'20s sounding song and was taken from the made for TV movie
'Brimstone And Treacle' in which Sting himself starred. BBC
decided not to screen the movie though, as they found scenes in
which Sting raped a mute girl to be too distasteful. So the film
was shown at the cinema instead and quickly got a video release.
31(36)----Captain Sensible-----------------------------Wot
In the weeks since I last featured 1982, the Captain had released
his first solo single, a cover of "Happy Talk" from
South Pacific. I had first heard it when listening to the Early
Tuesday evening rundown of the new chart where it entered at
number 33. I was living with my Father at the time and he had
fallen asleep on the couch (as he usually did at around that time
after a hard day at work). He woke some time after the
"Happy Talk" single had been played, and said that he'd
just dreamt that he was listening to someone singing "Happy
Talk" very badly (or words to that effect). I let him
believe it for a couple of days until he witnessed the spectacle
of the Captain performing it on Top Of The Pops. I don't think he
could believe his eyes or ears and still finds the whole thing
amusing today. That single then made the biggest jump to number
one in chart history when it leaped 32 places to pole position.
Sensible was following it very quickly with "Wot", a
song written while staying in a hotel while on an American tour
with the Damned (his regular band). He had been woken by some
kind of awful banging sound coming from a nearby construction
works, and was inspired to write this song. Again, amusing Top Of
The Pops appearances followed, but this single could climb no
higher than number 26. The Captain also gave great interviews and
I still have one on tape where he said the following, "I'm
only in it for the money. As long as they keep buying it, I'll
continue to turn out any old shit. I just love the stuff, and
want to have that much I don't know what to do with it. Give me
cash."
32(---)----Grandmaster Flash And The Furious
Five--------------The Message
One of my favourite singles of all time. Yes, it was a Rap
record, but in those early days of Rap there was no need to add a
'C' to the beginning of 'Rap', because it was fresh and exciting.
Furthermore, the words were spoken and not shouted at great
speed, so they could be understood. Many also carried a message
as this appropriately titled number eight hit did. It told the
story of the difficulties on the streets of America's cities,
particulary the ghettos.
33(23)----Paul McCartney------------------------------Take It
Away
Paul's second hit of the year could only manage a number 15
position. This was despite very heavy airplay both on the radio
and on jukeboxes up and down the country. Maybe the success of
the album from which it came (Tug Of War), was the reason for
this single's limited success.
34(25)----Cliff Richard-----------------------------------The
Only Way Out
The only way out was down and that's just where Cliff went the
following week. But the week that Cliff had hit number ten with
this single, it became the first time since 1968 that Cliff had
managed three top ten hits in a row. He didn't make it four as
his next single peaked at number 60.
35(29)----Junior-------------------------------------------Too
Late
A disappointing follow up to "Mama Used To Say" in that
it could climb no higher than number 20. After hearing the former
so many times, I actually preferred this follow up. Junior
wouldn't hit the chart solo again until 1992.
36(32)----David Essex-----------------------------------Me And My
Girl (Night-Clubbing)
David's first hit in over two years was quite difficult to get
into, and was certainly no masterpiece. He still managed to take
it to number 13 to give him his 15th hit in ten years. This song
was slightly covered by Half Man Half Biscuit in the 80s, but the
sick bastards changed the words to "Sealclubbing"
37(30)----The Brat---------------------------------------Chalk
Dust - The Umpire Strikes Back
More comedy, this time from comedian Roger Kitter. This single
was a piss take of the antics of champion tennis player 'John
McEnroe' and peaked at number 19. And yes, it was quite funny.
38(20)----Japan------------------------------------------I Second
That Emotion
The only track by Japan that I 'really' like (of the ones I've
heard) was this cover of the old Smokey Robinson And The Miracles
hit. This was Japan's sixth top 40 hit in under a year, the
reason being that they were having singles released by two
different record companies. This was the second of their two top
ten hits having peaked at number nine.
39(19)----Bananarama-------------------------------Shy Boy
The third hit for Bananarama was on it's way down from number
four. Quite a dull song really offering nothing new to the chart,
and one that was quickly forgotten by most.
40(---)----Queen------------------------------------------Backchat
This was a song that I didn't take a lot of notice of when I
bought the Queen album 'Hot Space'. Then I saw Queen live at
Elland Road Leeds and the performance of this song was
outstanding. Naturally, I was delighted when it was released as a
single, but very disappointed that it rose no higher than this
number 40 position. It was and still is the third lowest charting
single of Queen's career, the lowest being the debut single
"Keep Yourself Alive" which didn't chart at all, with
the other lower charting being the live version of "Love Of
My Life" in 1979 only reaching number 63.
And these were the other singles to have charted since June
1982,
We Take Mystery (Gary Numan #9), Inside Out (Odyssey #3), No
Regrets (Midge Ure #9), Going To A Go Go (Rolling Stones #26), A
Night To Remember (Shalamar #5), Las Palabras De Amor (Queen
#17), Avalon (Roxy Music #13), Iko Iko (Belle Stars #35), Space
Age Love Song (A Flock Of Seagulls #34), She Don't Fool Me
(Status Quo #36), Abracadabra (Steve Miller Band #2), Murphy's
Law (Cheri #13), Music And Lights (Imagination #5), Happy Talk
(Captain Sensible #1), Now Those Days Are Gone (Bucks Fizz #8),
Heart (Stop Beating In Time) (Leo Sayer #22), Videotheque (Dollar
#17), Streetwalkin' (Shakatak #38), Just Who Is The 5 O'Clock
Hero (Jam #8), For Those About To Rock (AC/DC #15), Freebird
(Lynyrd Skynyrd #21), Night Train (Visage #12), Da Da Da (Trio
#2), Rock The Casbah (Clash #30), I Was Tired Of Being Alone
(Patrice Rushen #39), The Big Bean (Pigbag #40), Nights In White
Satin (Elkie Brooks #33), The Hanging Garden (The Cure #34), War
Child (Blondie #39), Machinery (Sheena Easton #38), Bamboo
Houses/Bamboo Music (Sylvian Sakamoto #30), When The Tigers Broke
Free (Pink Floyd #39).