WEEK ENDING 15TH SEPTEMBER 1984
TOP 40 SINGLES

Last weeks position in Brackets

1-(-1)----Stevie Wonder--------------I Just Called To Say I Love You
2-(-2)----George Michael-------------Careless Whisper
3-(-6)----Ray Parker Jr.--------------Ghostbusters
4-(-3)----Black Lace-----------------Agadoo
5-(-4)----Howard Jones--------------Like To Get To Know You Well
6-(-5)----Elton John-------------------Passengers
7-(-7)----Miami Sound Machine-------Dr Beat
8-(---)----U2--------------------------Pride (In The Name Of Love)
9-(11)----Alphaville-------------------Big In Japan
10(-8)----Laura Branigan--------------Self Control
11(12)----Depeche Mode-------------Master And Servant
12(-9)----Spandau Ballet--------------I'll Fly For You
13(15)----Malcolm McLaren----------Madam Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)
14(32)----Sister Sledge----------------Lost In Music
15(21)----Bucks Fizz------------------Talking In Your Sleep
16(10)----Hazell Dean-----------------Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)
17(13)----Frankie Goes To Hollywood--Two Tribes
18(14)----Tears For Fears--------------Mothers Talk
19(26)----Level 42---------------------Hot Water
20(18)----Grandmaster Flash And Melle Mel-----White Lines (Don't Do It)
21(17)----Smiths-----------------------William It Was Really Nothing
22(18)----Trevor Walters---------------Stuck On You
23(---)----Shakin' Stevens---------------A Letter To You
24(28)----Heaven 17-------------------Sunset Now
25(20)----Rod Stewart-----------------Some Guys Have All The Luck
26(38)----Jacksons---------------------Torture
27(19)----Tina Turner------------------What's Love Got To Do With It
28(37)----Kraftwerk--------------------Tour De France
29(22)----Frankie Goes To Hollywood---Relax
30(29)----Pointer Sisters-----------------I Need You
31(27)----Break Machine---------------Are You Ready
32(24)----Prince------------------------When Doves Cry
33(---)----OMD-------------------------Tesla Girls
34(39)----Aztec Camera-----------------All I Need Is Everything
35(23)----Jeffrey Osbourne--------------On The Wings Of Love
36(31)----A Flock Of Seagulls-----------The More You Live The More You Love
37(33)----Michael Jackson---------------Girl You're So Together
38(---)----Nik Kershaw------------------Human Racing
39(25)----Iron Maiden-------------------2 Minutes To Midnight
40(---)----Animal Nightlife----------------Mr Solitaire

1-(-1)----Stevie Wonder--------------I Just Called To Say I Love You
Over18 years since his first hit and Stevie finally got his first solo number one single. Not only that, but it stayed there for six weeks and was number two in Radio One's countdown of the biggest hits of the year. It was another of those odd occurences when this single shot straight into the chart at number three, because Stevie's singles just didn't normally do that. Even then he teased us a little by only moving up to number two, before finally hitting the top. And of course we had that flying slice of toast video too. Oddly, Stevie's next two singles ("Love Light In Flight" & "Don't Drive Drunk" both failed to make the top 40.

2-(-2)----George Michael-------------Careless Whisper
The finest hour for George. His first solo single and a three week number one. Whatever anyone may have thought about the direction that Wham's music was taking, there was no denying that this song was pure class. It was the single that ended the nine week run at the top for "Two Tribes" by 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood'. George also followed Frankie to the Hollywood vicinity some years later, but we won't go into that (no room for toilet humour here).

3-(-6)----Ray Parker Jr.--------------Ghostbusters
Another one of the year's best sellers, and we all know which film it came from. This number two peaking single was in the chart for 12 weeks, and then after spending 3 weeks outside the top 40, re-entered and climbed back to number six spending a further 12 weeks in the chart. It was March 1985 before we saw the last of it.

4-(-3)----Black Lace-----------------Agadoo
The ultimate of all wally songs, yet in retrospect it has a certain innocent charm about it. It isn't lyrically brilliant, it isn't musically innovative, but for a simple sing-a-long pop record, you won't find much better. It spent two weeks at number two during it's 16 week top 40 run, and then re-entered for another couple of weeks at the beginning of 1985. It was recently re-released, but this time all of the current Radiohead fans didn't ask Mummy to buy it for them. I wonder why they won't admit to liking it anymore ;-)

5-(-4)----Howard Jones--------------Like To Get To Know You Well
Howard's fifth hit inside a year had just spent three weeks at number four. This isn't my favourite Howard track, in fact I found it quite irritating. It spent a total of ten weeks in the 40.

6-(-5)----Elton John-------------------Passengers
A very unusual sounding song from the recently married Elton. It was the second single from the 'Breaking Hearts' album and had spent a week at number five. A great summer of '84 song.

7-(-7)----Miami Sound Machine-------Dr Beat
And here we have the very first hit for Gloria Estefen. It was spending it's third week at number seven ad seemed to have peaked. But just like Odyssey's "If You're Looking For A Way Out" four years earlier, it then climbed a place and peaked at six. It is in fact Gloria's biggest ever UK hit. As well as jointly being her highest charting single (along with "Don't Wanna Lose You"), it also spent ten weeks in the top 40. I also bought the follow up single "Prisoner Of Love", but it got nowhere ear the chart. Miami Sound Machine returned to the top 20 in 1986, but Gloria had to wait until September 1988 for her next top ten hit.

8-(---)----U2--------------------------Pride (In The Name Of Love)
U2 had been steadily building up a following since their number 35 hit "Fire" in 1981. Three years down the line and they had only managed two further hits with the biggest being 1983's number ten, "New Years Day". But things had been looking much better for them in the album chart. 'War' had spent a week at number one, while the album that would become their longest charting 'Under A Blood Red Sky' had been to number two. So even though a U2 single entering the chart at number eight may have shocked some chart watchers, anyone with a eye on the album chart may not have been too surprised. The biggest surprise concerning this single was that after entering this high, it only moved up to number four the following week, and peaked at three a week later.

9-(11)----Alphaville-------------------Big In Japan
Not spectacular, but a good single that would possibly have done better tha it's number eight peak had it been released a couple of years earlier. I heard one of their albums once and thought it was quite good.

10(-8)----Laura Branigan--------------Self Control
One of my favourite singles of the year coming from one of that rare breed, a great singer. This was Laura's second, biggest and last hit, and had peaked at number five. It spent 12 weeks inside the top 40 and the chart has been a worse place without her. Laura continued to record good albums for some time, and has recorded many songs that have later become hits forother people (eg. "I Found Someone" - Cher). She also recorded the best version that I've heard of the Jennifer Rush hit "The Power Of Love".

11(12)----Depeche Mode-------------Master And Servant
Depeche Mode were going into kinky territory with their tenth hit single. The following week it not only peaked at number nine, but spent the band's last week inside the top ten until 1990.

12(-9)----Spandau Ballet--------------I'll Fly For You
Spandau were now past the peak they'd enjoyed in 1983. They made the big mistake of staying silent for a year, and they would never recover. They had returned with the below par "Only When You Leave", and were following that with the beautiful "I'll Fly For You". A good song that could have been a top three (maybe number one) hit had it been released the previous year, but had to settle for number nine. 1986's "Through The Barricades" was their only return to the top ten after this.

13(15)----Malcolm McLaren----------Madam Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)
What a great record from Malcolm. Always one to do something different, he was now mixing Opera with pop music. It wasn't a completely new idea, the late Klaus Nomi had tried something similar in the early 80's, and Queen weren't too far away with "Bohemian Rhapsody". But Malcolm put a different slant on it by using a real Opera singer. Unfortunately, this was as high as it climbed. He followed it with "Carmen", a single that combined the opera Carmen with street rapping. Sadly, that one didn't chart at all.

14(32)----Sister Sledge----------------Lost In Music
This one was in the chart that I featured last week, from 1979 when it peaked at number 17. But thanks to the success of it's original B side "Thinking Of You" a few months ago, it was being given a second chance. It seized the opportunity with both hands, and stormed up to number four becoming their biggest hit up to then.

15(21)----Bucks Fizz------------------Talking In Your Sleep
This cover of the 'Romantics' American hit was peaking this week. Nothing special about it, but listenable.

16(10)----Hazell Dean-----------------Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)
This was apparently meant to be Hi-Energy, but in reality it was just a very good pop single that possibly bordered on Disco. It had peaked at number four and spent ten weeks in the top 40. Hazell didn't chart again until 1988.

17(13)----Frankie Goes To Hollywood--Two Tribes
29(22)----Frankie Goes To Hollywood---Relax
REPEAT !
A very rare achievement for Frankie Goes To Hollywood. "Relax" had entered the chart in the first week of January at number 35 after six weeks of bobbling about between 41 and 75. It had then climbed to number six, then to number two before being banned by Radio One due to the sexual nature of the lyrics (Mike Read also partly blamed the sleeve). That gave the single the extra push (that it probably didn't need anyway) to number one. I had first heard the song when they performed it on 'The Tube' around the time it was released (they had performed an earlier version of the song on the same show some time before), and liked it straight away. I didn't actually buy it until the week before it entered the 40, so I proudly hold my hand up as one of the people responsible for its entry into the top 40. It stayed at number one for five weeks, before falling down the chart slower than most singles tend to. Seven weeks after it had been number one, it took a small step back up two places to number 21 before continuing it's descent. A month later, the second week of May after falling as low as number 31, it started to slowly climb back up the chart. A month later it was at number 16 as the long awaited follow up single "Two Tribes" was released. I bought the 12 inch 'Annihilation Mix' on the day of release, and I think that it is one of the best 12 inch singles ever. Even so, I was still very surprised when it entered the chart at number one. Even more surprising was the fact that it stayed there for nine weeks and became the longest running number one for six years. It was helped in that respect by nine (or maybe more) different mixes of the song. One of the mixes that was scheduled for release was accidently given to EMI/Virgin who put it on 'Now That's What I Call Music 3', much to the Frankie camp's despair. There were also the T.shirts, Frankie Say Relax, Frankie Say War and others. Anyway, Relax continued to climb and spent it's second week at number two in it's 28th week on the top 40. It then spend three weeks at number three before again slowly slipping down until it finally fell off the chart in the middle of September after 37 weeks. Two Tribes would follow it out of the chart two weeks later, after 16 weeks on the chart. It wasn't the last we would hear of them both though. Relax was reissued and became a number five hit in 1993, while Two Tribes was re-mixed and reached number 16 in 1994. Had they not taken a year off, and then come back with a radical change of direction in 1986, this band could have still been with us and still having massive hits. But as they did and aren't, I prefer to remember them for those first four singles and stunning debut album.

18(14)----Tears For Fears--------------Mothers Talk
A welcome return to the top 20 for Tears For Fears, despite the song sounding as though it was just any old lyrics thrown together. But it was't like that really. The song was based on the old wives tale, if you pull faces and the wind changes then you'll stick like it (This theory would explain the appearance of the bloke from R********). This single was helped to it's peak of number 14 by a green vinyl issue that also included a widow sticker.

19(26)----Level 42---------------------Hot Water
Horrible boring song, didn't like it one bit. It peaked at number 18, then Level 42 got better.

20(18)----Grandmaster Flash And Melle Mel-----White Lines (Don't Do It)
REPEAT !
This was another long running chart single. It had first charted (Top 75) the week before "Relax" had charted the previous November, but spent just three weeks in the chart peaking at number 60. It had re-entered in February, but had not climbed into the top 40 until the middle of June. It finally reached it's peak of number seven at the end of July. It would complete it's 17 week top 40 stay at the beginning of October, but would continue it's chart existence until it completed 38 consecutive weeks in the top 75. When all the runs of this single are counted together (along with the three week run of the '94 remix) it totals 46 weeks, a total bettered by only nine other singles throughout UK chart history up to the end of 1996 (anything after that is a little vague). Duran Duran also had five weeks on the chart with their number 17 peaking cover of this song exactly three years ago (a cover that also featured Melle Mel).

21(17)----Smiths-----------------------William It Was Really Nothing
If you've ever heard the Smiths, the you'll know exactly what this unremarkable number 17 peaking song sounds like. Much more interestingwas the B Side "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want", a verty tongue in cheek song that was later covered by the Dream Academy. The 12 inch also featured "How Soon Is Now" which would be their next single.

22(18)----Trevor Walters---------------Stuck On You
Lionel Richie had already released this piece of trash as a single in June ad peaked at number 12. He sang through his nose even more than he usually does, and the lyrics were total crap. Of course he tried hard by throwing "The Midnight Train" into the lyrics, but there's really no excuse for such a good songwriter turning out total nonsense like this. If he'd laughed a little in it, maybe I would have accepted it as a wind up, but he didn't and I don't. As if that wasn't enough, it was soon joined in the chart by this reggae version by Trevor Walters who really ought to have known better. To add insult to injury, this one reached number nine, but thankfully this was it's last week in the chart.

27(19)----Tina Turner------------------What's Love Got To Do With It
REPEAT !
Tina's biggest hit had peaked at number three, a far cry from her excellent cover of "Help" that had peaked by spending three weeks at number 40 in March. This single had given Tina her first appearance in the top five since October 1973 when she had reached number four with "Nutbush City Limits" in a duet with her ex husband Ike.

32(24)----Prince------------------------When Doves Cry
REPEAT !
The first ever top 10 hit for Prince (I'm a fan, but as regards to him tw*****g about with all this symbol nonsense, I'm going to continue calling him Prince !) with one of his greatest songs ever. It was of course from the soundtrack to the great film, 'Purple Rain'. I had been a fan of Prince since his 'disco' single "I Wanna Be Your Lover", which had reached number 41 in January 1980. It was three years later before he finally had a top 40 hit with the number 25 peaking "1999" in 1983. Despite further releases, he didn't chart again until now. Almost everything after this would be a hit up until the late 90's.

That's all I have time for this week, normal service should be resumed soon, as well as the rest of the commentary for this chart.

THE REMEMBER WHEN ARCHIVES