REMEMBER WHEN - 5TH JULY 1980

1980
Week 27
WEEK ENDING 5TH JULY 1980

TOP 40 SINGLES

TW	LW
1	1	Don McLean	Crying
2	2	Lipps Inc	Funky Town
3	14	Olivia Newton John & E.L.O.	Xanadu
4	3	Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway	Back Together Again
5	5	Korgis	Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
6	11	Stacy Lattisaw	Jump To The Beat
7	7	Splodgenessabounds	Simon Templar / Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please
8	19	UB40	My Way Of Thinking / I Think It's Going To Rain
9	25	B.A. Robertson	To Be Or Not To Be
10	6	Teena Marie	Behind The Groove
11	20	Paul McCartney	Waterfalls
12	30	Odyssey	Use It Up Wear It Out
13	8	Liquid Gold	Substitute
14	16	Queen	Play The Game
15	4	Mash	Theme From Mash (Suicide Is Painless)
16	NEW	Detroit Spinners	Cupid-I've Loved You For A Long Time
17	21	Matchbox	Midnight Dynamos
18	9	Jermaine Jackson	Let's Get Serious
19	27	Saxon	747 (Strangers In The Night)
20	13	Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark	Messages
21	32	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Could You Be Loved
22	23	Thin Lizzy	Chinatown
23	31	Rod Stewart	If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)
24	24	Siouxsie And The Banshees	Christine
25	22	Lambrettas	D-A-A-Ance
26	26	E.L.O.	I'm Alive
27	12	Crown Heights Affair	You Gave Me Love
28	18	Judas Priest	Breaking The Law
29	36	Darts	Let's Hang On
30	NEW	Joy Division	Love Will Tear Us Apart
31	17	Roxy Music	Over You
32	15	Hot Chocolate	No Doubt About It
33	10	Specials	Rat Race / Rude Boys Outa Jail
34	29	Sex Pistols	(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone
35	NEW	Change	A Lover's Holiday / Glow Of Love
36	40	Yellow Magic Orchestra	Theme From The Invaders
37	NEW	Bad Manners	Lip Up Fatty
38	NEW	AC/DC	Whole Lotta Rosie
39	NEW	Joan Armatrading	Me Myself I
40	35	Surface Noise	The Scratch

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Paul McCartney

Waterfalls

Paul McCartney is of course a legend. He has written some great songs, but sadly this wasn't one of them. I usually defend him to the hilt when people rubbish him in favour of whatever today's flavour of the month may be. But, I can never defend this one. The melody's ok, but the lyrics are so awful, it's unbelievable that they came from the creator of "Yesterday", "Live and Let Die" and "Silly Love Songs", and was later to bring us "Pipes Of Peace" and "All My Trials". He sang about keeping to lakes, chasing Polar bears and goodness knows what else. But, his loyal fanbase and a number of other people it seems bought it, and pushed it to number nine in the chart.

Odyssey

Use It Up Wear It Out

We all thought that Odyssey had disappeared following their brilliant number five hit "Native New Yorker" at the beginning of 1978. But they were back with a bang. Obviously, part of the reason for the size of the success for this single was the TOTP strike, just as George McCrae had taken advantage in much the same way six years previous. Heavy play in discos had given it a great advantage over it's competitors. Although Odyssey singles did not sound the same as one another, you always knew when you were listening to Odyssey by the lovely vocals of Lillian & Louise Lopez. This was number one for two weeks, in a year that had so far seen 10 out of the 15 number ones spend two weeks at the top.

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.

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".

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.

Detroit Spinners

Cupid-I've Loved You For A Long Time

Having hit number one earlier in the year with a cover of "Working My Way Back To You" (two weeks at the top, naturally), the Spinners had followed it with "Body Language" which could only struggle to number 40. So, it was time to try another cover, and the trick worked as they rose to number four. This marked the end of their top twenty days though, and their only further appearance in the top 40 was when featured on the number 30 peaking "I'll Be Around" by '4-Tay' in 1995.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Could You Be Loved

Great single that reached number five to become Bob's biggest hit to date. It reminds me of a party I went to, and how I was given the cold shoulder by someone called Bridget, who'd been a big part of my life for the previous two years. That night was virtually the 'final straw' as far as that relationship was concerned.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Joy Division

Love Will Tear Us Apart

Joy Division had released an album and three singles over the previous two years with no mainstream chart success at all (the Indie charts were an entirely different matter). Then, after lead vocalist Ian Curtis hanged himself in May 1980, this single was released (along with an album), and made it to number 13. Out of the ashes came New Order, and we all know what happened to them. Whether this single would have been a hit were it not for Ian's death, we'll never know, but I suspect it would have been, as it was released at just the right time for music of this type.

Roxy Music

Over You

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

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.

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.

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.

Change

A Lover's Holiday / Glow Of Love

The first of four hits in a five year period by Change reached number 14. A typical disco single of the day, but nothing really special, especially compared to their next one. "Glow Of Love" was a much better track though, pity it didn't get the airplay.

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Theme From The Invaders

As I previously mentioned, I had just become legally entitled to enter pubs and drink alcohol at this time. This coincided with Space Invader machines being introduced into pubs. Years previous I had been fascinated by the type of game where punters looked through a periscope and blasted ships on the horizon, but I had only seen those machines in amusement arcades at the seaside. But now, similar types of machines were everywhere. Personally, I thought the actual "Space Invaders" game was very boring, but some better, more exciting games such as "Galaxians", "Defender", "Astro Wars", and my favourite "Moon Cresta" soon followed, and all the pinball tables were taken out of the pubs.
Anyway, Ryuichi Sakamoto and his band used the music from the game as the central theme to this single which became their only UK hit reaching number 17. They followed it with "Behind The Mask" which although not charting for them (or Greg Phillingass:sp), was a hit when recorded by Eric Clapton in 1987.

Bad Manners

Lip Up Fatty

Bad Manners had found success on the back of the Two Tone Ska explosion, and did things the Madness way. They peaked at 15 with this second hit, and continued to hit the charts regularly for the next two years.

AC/DC

Whole Lotta Rosie

I heard this many times before I even knew what it was called let alone who the act was, but I loved it anyway. It was originally released as a track on their 1977 album "Let there Be Rock". Then this version was taken from their 1978 live album "If You Want Blood, You Got It", but failed to chart. It was then re-issued in March of 1980, and now yet again as one of four AC/DC re-issues in Atlantic's Heavy Metal series following singer Bon Scott's death.
Sadly, you miserable lot didn't all go out and buy it, so it struggled to number 36.

Joan Armatrading

Me Myself I

No, this isn't the same track that was a hit for De La Soul in 1989 (the title is slightly different anyway), but it is a great song. It was Joan's first hit for four years, and spent seven weeks in the top 40 despite peaking at a lowly 21. She followed it with another song that looked a sure fire hit "All The Way From America", but sadly it wasn't and she had to wait until 1983 for her third hit.

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.

These were in the top 50 this week, but failed to reach the top 40.

Donna Summer

Sunset People

Exactly a year after the title track from Donna's "Bad Girls" album debuted in the top 40, this fourth track from the album (my favourite)was missing out on a top 40 place. It reached number 46.

Darryl Hall & John Oates

Running From Paradise

Anyone who's heard any Hall & Oates track from 1980/1981 will have a rough idea what this sounds like. Not that I'm knocking it, I'm just saying that it has that distinctive sound about it. But it wasn't their time yet, not quite, it reached number 41.

AC/DC

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Another of the Atlantic Heavy Metal releases, the title track from their 1976 album. It failed as a single in early 1977, and made number 47 this time.
I can no longer listen to this without thinking of the Weird Al Yankovic parody "Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep".

Pete Townshend

Let My Love Open The Door

The second good single from Pete this year. I could never decide whether this was retro or bang up to date. It reached number ten in the US, but only made number 46 here.

Janis Ian

The Other Side Of The Sun

The likes of the Lambrettas could make the top 40, yet Janis Ian couldn't ?
Something wrong with us lot, there has to be.
Always the same old story as far as Janis was concerned though. As usual, she'd come up with a great song, and just like the last time she peaked at number 44.

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.

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