REMEMBER WHEN - 21ST JUNE 1980

1980
Week 25
WEEK ENDING 21ST JUNE 1980

TOP 40 SINGLES

TW	LW
1	2	Don McLean	Crying
2	1	Mash	Theme From Mash (Suicide Is Painless)
3	3	Lipps Inc	Funky Town
4	6	Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway	Back Together Again
5	4	Hot Chocolate	No Doubt About It
6	19	Korgis	Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
7	17	Teena Marie	Behind The Groove
8	8	Jermaine Jackson	Let's Get Serious
9	5	Roxy Music	Over You
10	10	Crown Heights Affair	You Gave Me Love
11	7	Specials	Rat Race / Rude Boys Outa Jail
12	18	Judas Priest	Breaking The Law
13	14	Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark	Messages
14	15	Matchbox	Midnight Dynamos
15	12	Lambrettas	D-A-A-Ance
16	21	Liquid Gold	Substitute
17	31	Police	Six Pack
18	34	Queen	Play The Game
19	9	Gary Numan	We Are Glass
20	20	E.L.O.	I'm Alive
21	16	Jona Lewie	You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties
22	NEW	Splodgenessabounds	Simon Templar / Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please
23	30	Thin Lizzy	Chinatown
24	27	Rod Stewart	If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)
25	25	Manhattan Transfer	Twilight Zone-Twilight Tone
26	28	Surface Noise	The Scratch
27	22	Siouxsie And The Banshees	Christine
28	40	B.A. Robertson	To Be Or Not To Be
29	NEW	UB40	My Way Of Thinking / I Think It's Going To Rain
30	23	Junior Murvin	Police And Thieves
31	NEW	Stacy Lattisaw	Jump To The Beat
32	11	Michael Jackson	She's Out Of My Life
33	24	Mystic Merlin	Just Can't Give You Up
34	13	Average White Band	Let's Go Round Again
35	NEW	Sex Pistols	(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone
36	29	Iron Maiden	Sanctuary
37	NEW	Darts	Let's Hang On
38	37	Elton John	Little Jeannie
39	NEW	Olivia Newton John & E.L.O.	Xanadu
40	NEW	Saxon	747 (Strangers In The Night)

Don McLean

Crying

Excellent cover of the Roy Orbison minor hit from 1961, but I did get fed up of it after a while. It spent three weeks at number one.

Mash

Theme From Mash (Suicide Is Painless)

I didn't like the film, I didn't like the TV show either, but this was alright. There didn't seem to be a good reason for releasing it as a single some ten years after the event, but it turned out to be a very wise decision. Two weeks after entering at number 23, it was spending the first of three weeks at number one.
But they were lying. I tried to cut my wrists with broken glass and it hurt. Explanation - I was drunk and on/off girlfriend Bridget wouldn't speak to me at a party, so I left and found some broken glass. YES, I still feel a bit of a dickhead when I think about that incident. It was three years later before I tried it for real.

Lipps Inc

Funky Town

This single doesn't seem to be held in very high regard these days. I still like it myself and think that it was a deserved number two smash, very typical of the era. But, there was an awful cover of it by Pseudo Echo that reached number eight in 1987.

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway

Back Together Again

This was Roberta's first top ten hit since "Killing Me Softly With His Song" had reached number six in 1973. It was Donny's only UK hit ever, but he hadn't lived to enjoy it. It was one of the sounds of that summer and peaked at number three.
Inner City reached number 49 with their cover of this in 1993.

Hot Chocolate

No Doubt About It

Hot Chocolate had failed to make the top 40 at all in 1979 (they'd stopped just short a couple of times though) for the first year since they made their first appearance in 1970. "No Doubt About It" put them back in the picture with it's eventual number two placing. It was apparently written after vocalist 'Errol Brown' had an encounter with visitors from outer space. I'm only repeating what he said, besides I personally know someone who's also seen a UFO, so there :-P.

Korgis

Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime

The inspiration behind at least two big dance hits. This original version was of course a really nice song that reached number five. It was then sampled by someone on an underground dance track that did the rounds for a couple of years. Baby D later sampled it and took it to number three in the summer of 1995. I can't get it out of my head that someone else sampled it at around that time too. But still they won't leave it alone, it was sampled yet again in the early twenty first century, but I can't remember who by.

Teena Marie

Behind The Groove

Tina's biggest ever UK hit, and the only one to make it beyond number 28. This excellent disco single from the white Motown star reached number six, but surprisingly didn't make a dent on the chart in her native USA.

Jermaine Jackson

Let's Get Serious

One of the biggest disco singles of a great year for disco. It sounded great on the radio, and magnificent in the clubs, especially the 12 inch. It beat anything by Michael that year hands down. Reached number eight.

Roxy Music

Over You

Adequate single from the 'Flesh And Blood' album. Best listened to in the summertime, reached number five.

Crown Heights Affair

You Gave Me Love

And this was another of those great disco singles sounded good on the radio, great in the clubs and made you feel happy. It reached number ten.
This song was sampled by Utah Saints on "Believe In Me" in 1993 (I liked that too).

Specials

Rat Race / Rude Boys Outa Jail

The fourth hit single for the Specials, and one that was involved in a chart battle with Gary Numan's "We Are Glass" in it's first week of release. Fifteen years or so later, these two singles would have entered the chart in the top two positions. But in 1980, debuts inside the top twenty weren't too commonplace, let alone the top five. While Gary entered at number ten, this entered at a respectable number 18. But the contest was deemed a draw as this matched the eventual number five peak of Mr Numan's single.

Judas Priest

Breaking The Law

Great single from Judas Priest that had more of a punk feel to it than metal. Sadly it only spent five weeks in the 40 and peaked at number 12. It was their second consecutive single to peak at their all time highest placing.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Messages

The first hit for a band that would continue to chart right to the end of the following decade. Great name for a band, and a great debut hit (even though they did better it a few times). It reached number 13.
Twenty years later vocalist Andy McCluskey was the man behind girl group 'Atomic Kitten'.

Matchbox

Midnite Dynamos

They claimed to be the "Midnite Dynamos". Can't think of a much better place for them, than dangerously close to the spokes of the back wheel of a bike. It reached number 14, but they did get better after this one.

Lambrettas

D-A-A-Ance

The second of the two top forty hits enjoyed by these 'new mods'. Better than "Poison Ivy", but that doesn't say much for it. It reached number 12.

Liquid Gold

Substitute

A little too similar to "Dance Yourself Dizzy" which was a shame, as they were quite capable of doing something different as their previous singles proved. Still, it got them into the top ten with a number eight peak.

Police

Six Pack

Not content with having five big hit singles in just over a year, they had to release the lot of them all over again. But with the added bonus of an extra single, namely "The Bed's Too Big Without You". Personally, I think that was the best track of the lot, but this fan fleecing exercise was way out of order. Incredibly, it sold enough to reach number 17.
The expression Six Pack is used in a different way these days of course. But what exactly a six pack is on a male torso I don't know. I may have one, I may not. That's the trouble with new words and expressions that come into the English Language. We're just expected to know what they mean, and if we just see the words in print before we've heard them, we're expected to know how to pronounce them. Take 'Modem', I was on-line for over a year before I knew the correct way of pronouncing that, I was pronouncing it the obvious way. I think that everyone speaking the English language ought to have a newsletter with all new words and expressions explained and delivered free of charge every week.

Queen

Play The Game

The worst track on Queen's "The Game" album and a surprising choice for single release. It reached number 14, and the rest of the album was extremely good, their best since "A Night At The Opera".

Gary Numan

We Are Glass

The last Gary Numan single to make the top five, and the last one from him that I rushed out and bought in the week of release. Upon entering at number ten, it looked like a future number one, but it stalled at number five the following week.

E.L.O.

I'm Alive

Just another E.L.O. single, and the first from the "Xanadu" soundtrack. Having said that, it did sound good in the film as the paintings on a wall came to life. It peaked at number 20.

Jona Lewie

You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties

I don't know whether I should call this number 16 peaking hit a novelty record or not. It was bearable anyway. It was also the first time that many will have seen Kirsty MacColl on Top Of The Pops as she was one of Jona's backing singers. I don't know whether she was on the actual recording though.
Kirsty and the other girl backing singer used to do a funny dance about two thirds of the way through the song. Steven Jones used to take great delight in persuading me to do it after a few pints as it played on the Vaults jukebox (maybe that was the real reason for the "Mash" thing).

Splodgenessabounds

Simon Templar / Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please

The intended A Side "Simon Templar" was a song about the TV Character "Simon Templar", the Saint (formerly played by Roger Moore, but by now the role had been taken over by Ian Ogilvy). It wasn't a very good song and relied on lines such as "And his bird never wears a bra" to sell it as a novelty item. It would not have been a hit, but,
"Two Pints Of Lager etc" was on the B side, and that's the one people wanted. This was no work of genius either, but that one line (the title) being repeated over and over, with just a few other lines thrown in and "Time gentleman please" at the end, struck a chord with many people. Anyone without a romantic view of British pubs, that is, anyone who actually lives here, will have witnessed theat very same scene, in fact probably been the actual victim at least once, on a Friday or Saturday evening. That mad scramble to get served as if life itself depended on it. There's no queueing or ticket system, you just take your chances. You may be lucky and get served within ten seconds of making it to the front of the bar, you may have to wait twenty minutes because all those tall blokes towering behind you get served first, along with all the people who don't move from the bar all night which is the reason why there's only enough room for two people to reach the bar at any one time anyway. And it gets even worse if you're NOT prepared to shout. If you don't want to sound desperate for a drink, you're quite a polite person, and you're putting your faith in human nature, you've very little chance of getting served at all. I don't miss pubs at all, I'm happy without them, and if I ruled the world etc :-)
The single reached number seven, and I find it funnier now than I did then.

Thin Lizzy

Chinatown

It took a long time, but it finally reached number 21 in it's seventh chart week. It was the title track from the last really good Lizzy album to be released.

Rod Stewart

If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)

Belated release for this track from 1977's "Footloose And Fancy Free" album. Reached number 23 and spent seven weeks in the top 40. Funny how I hardly noticed it tucked away on the album, but when released as a single, I thought that it was a really good song.

Manhattan Transfer

Twilight Zone - Twilight Tone

They always seemed to come along with something different didn't they ?
It began with the familiar Twilight Zone theme, and then we were told some Twilight Zone type stories in song. Surprisingly, it only reached number 25.

Surface Noise

The Scratch

An instrumental very much in the Shakatak way of thinking. This was another track associated with that summer's "Freeze" dance fad. It was better than than the Rodney Franklin effort, but didn't chart as high, only reaching number 26.

Siouxsie & The Banshees

Christine

A regular on the jukebox at the Great Western Inn (known locally as "The Nant"). We used to play a game there, that I think was called Bar Billiards and it had these mushroom shaped things on the table (I think). There was also a drink that many favoured called "Top Hat", I never saw it anywhere else.
Anyway, I don't know why Siouxsie called "Christine" a "Strawberry Girl", but she did, and that's all there is to it.

B.A. Robertson

To Be Or Not To Be

This is another song like "January February" earlier in this year, that seemed to get more than it's fair share of airtime on Radios One And Two. It was his fourth and last solo hit, and peaked at number nine. Some of the rhyming was awful though, the way he added "eo" to the end of words.

UB40

My Way Of Thinking / I Think It's Going To Rain

These were the days when UB 40 weren't boring and recorded original songs. They reached number six with this, their second hit, and it was very good. They later turned to covers quite often, and though some were good (the Labour Of Love songs), some were very bad ("Can't Help Falling In Love"). There were some original songs inbetween, but most were very dreary songs sang in Ali's dreary tones.

Junior Murvin

Police And Thieves

I wasn't very keen on the version that the Clash did on their debut album. I liked this even less. It reached number 23.

Stacy Lattisaw

Jump To The Beat

Thirteen year old Stacy released one of the finest singles of the disco era with this. She had previously been earmarked to record "Ring My Bell" , but that had instead been given to Anita Ward who took it to number one in 1979. So this was Stacey's debut and she took it to number three. Her follow up single "Dynamite" failed to make it past number 51, and Stacey was never heard of again in the UK. The same can't be said of the song though as Dannii Minogue took it to number eight in 1991.
The 1998 UK number one, "Because We Want To" by "Billie" reminds me of this song for no apparent reason. It just seems to have that 1980 sound about it.

Michael Jackson

She's Out Of My Life

First things first, yes, it is a good song and deserved to reach number three. BUT, Michael's performance in the promo made me cringe. Were we really expected to believe that he was genuinely crying because of the song ?
It wasn't as if it would have been the first time he heard the song would it ?

Mystic Merlin

Just Can't Give You Up

This was just another of those disco songs that happened to be there and that was it. It sounds ok now, but I'd probably have a different opinion if I was hearing it everyday. It reached number 20.

Average White Band

Let's Go Round Again

Average White Band were in the top 40 for the first time in Four years. "Let's go Round Again" got as high as number 12, then they vanished again. This song was later a hit all over again when recorded by 'Louise' in 1997.

Sex Pistols

(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone

The Swindle continued, this song isn't even in the film.
That's what the publicity machine proclaimed about this one. Well, after having two hits with Rock 'N' Roll classics that appealed to to the very people they seemed to set out to alienate, why not release a cover of a song from the days of flower power and hippies, in for a penny as they say ?
It was a cover of the song on the B Side of "I'm A Believer" by the Monkees. I'm not as 'taken in' by the Pistols as I used to be, but I still think that this was quite a good cover on the whole. Quite ironic how some of their best songs were covers of music that they'd tried to overthrow. They really ought to have tried covering "Freebird", "Big Yellow Taxi" and "I Feel I'm Fixing To Die Rag".
It reached number 21, and their next hit didn't arrive until "Anarchy In The UK" was re-issued in 1992.

Iron Maiden

Sanctuary

Horrible thrashy kind of thing that peaked at number 29.

Darts

Let's Hang On

When Darts first appeared at the end of 1977, I wasn't keen. The last thing I wanted to see in the chart was another band playing covers of 50's hits, Showaddywaddy were already testing my patience far enough. But from their third single, they had started to cover 60's songs instead, and I could live with that. More than that, they were also very good at it, "Let's Hang On" was no exception. It reached number 11, but was sadly the last top 40 hit for a band that I now remember with fondness.

Elton John

Little Jeanie

Very nice song from the "21 At 33" album. It only reached number 33 over here, but did much better in the US where it peaked at number three.

Olivia Newton John & E.L.O.

Xanadu

These acts were very grateful for the Top Of The Pops strike that summer. With it being the title track from a film, it got enough promotion to push it to number one for two weeks. It was a pretty good soundtrack as these things go, with a healthy number of E.L.O. songs, and Olivia collaborating with everyone else in the film. More singles from the soundtrack will be discussed later in the year.
Strange that after all those years of great singles, this was the only number one that E.L.O. achieved.

Saxon

747 (Strangers In The Night)

Saxon were another band to have taken advantage of the metal revival. This number 13 peaking single from their "Wheels Of Steel" album was their second hit of the year. It was a good single, and had nothing at all to do with Frank Sinatra.

This was in the top 50 this week, but failed to reach the top 40.

Barbara Dickson

In The Night

No saturation airplay meant no hit for Barbara. I don't remember it. It reached number 48.

Some MP3s

Disclaimer All comments concerning the quality of the songs in this and any other chart, are purely my opinion and not a statement of fact. I believe that we are all equal when it comes to deciding what makes a good song. I do not believe that good songs have to be serious or dull. I am of the opinion that if a single sells many copies, then many people like it, so it must be good whether I like it or not. Good music is everything YOU like, and it's also everything I like.

ON TO THE FOLLOWING WEEK
BACK TO THE PREVIOUS WEEK
BACK TO THE 1980 INDEX
THE REMEMBER WHEN ARCHIVES
GOLDEN DAYS INDEX

Email: nige@innotts.co.uk

Please be patient waiting for my reply
You will get one