REMEMBER WHEN - 6th December 1980

1980
Week 49
WEEK ENDING 6th DECEMBER 1980

TOP 40 SINGLES

No.	LW
1	1	Abba	Super Trouper
2	2	Blondie	The Tide Is High
3	9	Boomtown Rats	Banana Republic
4	12	Madness	Embarrassment
5	11	Spandau Ballet	To Cut A Long Story Short
6	3	Dennis Waterman	I Could Be So Good For You
7	4	Stephanie Mills	Never Knew Love Like This Before
8	7	Kool And The Gang	Celebration
9	15	Eddy Grant	Do You Feel My Love
10	8	John Lennon	(Just Like) Starting Over
11	10	UB40	The Earth Dies Screaming / Dream A Lie
12	5	David Bowie	Fashion
13	18	Diana Ross	I'm Coming Out
14	6	Barbra Streisand	Woman In Love
15	NEW	Jona Lewie	Stop The Cavalry
16	35	St. Winifred's School Choir	There's No One Quite Like Grandma
17	23	AC/DC	Rock 'N' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
18	22	Motorhead	Ace Of Spades
19	17	Rod Stewart	Passion
20	20	Young & Co.	I Like (What You're Doing To Me)
21	26	E.L.O.	Don't Walk Away
22	25	Kenny Rogers	Lady
23	NEW	Stray Cats	Runaway Boys
24	16	Roxy Music	The Same Old Scene
25	14	Bad Manners	Special Brew
26	13	O.M.D.	Enola Gay
27	31	Neil Diamond	Love On The Rocks
28	19	Adam And The Ants	Dog Eat Dog
29	29	Barry Manilow	Lonely Together
30	NEW	Queen	Flash
31	NEW	Adam And The Ants	Ant Music
32	21	Status Quo	What You're Proposing
33	NEW	Robert Palmer	Lookintg For Clues
34	NEW	Status Quo	Lies / Don't Drive My Car
35	NEW	Showaddywaddy	Blue Moon
36	33	Daryl Hall And John Oates	Kiss On My List
37	24	Odyssey	If You're Lookin' For A Way Out
38	NEW	Matchbox	Over The Rainbow - You Belong To Me
39	NEW	Kate Bush	December Will Be Magic Again
40	NEW	Clash	The Call Up

Abba

Super Trouper

The ninth and final number one for Abba. It wasn't the best, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. It spent eight weeks in the top ten including three weeks on top. It's final week in the chart was the week in which it dropped from number 8 to 28.

Blondie

The Tide Is High

Exactly two years after one of their more energetic singles (Hanging On The Telephone) entered the chart, their slowest paced single debuted at number five. Not for the first time Blondie had recorded a cover version. This was written by John Holt and had previously been recorded by the Paragons. It's Ska feel fitted in perfectly with the music scene of 1980, and it became Blondie's Fifth number one spending two weeks in pole position. This wasn't the last we would hear of Blondie, but they would have to wait over 18 years before they hit number one again.

Boomtown Rats

Banana Republic

The long awaited return of the Rats and it wasn't what we expected. Starting off by fooling us that they were going reggae, it then switched to a smooth sounding song about the problems of Northern Ireland. It looked set to hit the top at one point, but had to settle for number three. It was their last top 20 hit.

Madness

Embarrassment

Not as frantic as "Baggy Trousers", but still a huge hit. This dealt with the Embarrassment of a young unmarried woman getting pregnant, but this wasn't easy to suss out due their usual crazy antics while performing it. It spent 2 weeks at number four and 11 weeks in the chart.

Spandau Ballet

To Cut A Long Story Short

This was the first of the 'New Romantic' hits apparently. By this I was led to believe that the new romantics were blokes wearing dresses who weren't very good at singing in a band with a silly name. It seemed a high new entry at number 19, but it was charting outside the top 40 the previous week. It went to number five for a week, and Spandau Ballet went on to have a further 16 top 40 hits.

Dennis Waterman

I Could Be So Good For You

Someone told Dennis that he didn't have a bad voice. Someone asked him to to sing the theme to his TV series 'Minder'. Someone decided to release it as a single. Someone should be tried for crimes against mankind.
No one reading this will admit to helping it to number three in the chart.

Stephanie Mills

Never Knew Love Like This Before

No, it wasn't Diana Ross, it just sounded like her. This was Stephanie's first hit and climbed slowly to peak at number four on it's sixth week. It stayed on the top 40 for 11 weeks. Surprisingly it was almost four years before Stephanie made the top 40 for a second time.

Kool And The Gang

Celebration

I liked the two previous singles by Kool And The Gang, but I always found this one somewhat annoying. There's nothing wrong with being deliberately commercial, after all it's what the majority of people like, but for me this just didn't go anywhere. I short, I find it to be a very boring song. It wasn't as big a hit over here as what many may think either. It peaked at number seven.

Eddy Grant

Do You Feel My Love

I was surprised to see Eddy's name back in the chart. He'd already had one solo hit back in the summer of '79, and it was quite usual for reggae acts to disappear after one hit (unless your name was Marley). But Eddy had come back with something better, and it gave him a number eight hit.

John Lennon

(Just Like) Starting Over

"A great loss to music" is a very over used statement. I will not mention any names, but how can this be said about someone who's hardly been on the scene for five minutes ?
Yes, they may have released one good album, but how do we know that any future releases will live up to expectations ?
For example, let's take John Travolta who had four hit singles in 1978. If something tragic had happened to him in early 1979, we may have seen the phrase "A Great Loss To Music" (yes, I know you wouldn't have agreed). But look what happened. He's still alive, yet he didn't have any more hits (save for re-issues), so it wouldn't have been any loss to music would it ?
But when it's said about someone with a long proven track record, yes, they get it spot on. John Lennon is one such person.
During the summer of 1980, a new show called 'Studio B15' began on Radio One on Sunday afternoons. Someone wrote a letter to the show in which he asked what had happened to John Lennon. John had retired five years earlier to spend time with his new born son 'Sean'. Radio One set about finding him and discovered that he had almost completed recording a new album and secured a date for John to be interviewed for the show by Andy Peebles. On the sixth of December, that interview took place.
Meanwhile, this first single from the album had been released and entered the chart at number 30. It had a feel good quality about it and I expected it to be a big hit. Over the weekend of 6th/7th November, I heard three other tracks from the 'Double Fantasy' album, tracks that I liked a lot. So during my lunch break on Monday 8th December, I walked into town and bought the album. At approx 6pm that day I listened to it for the first time, and probably heard it again later that evening. Incidentally, the single had fallen from it's apparent peak of number eight to number the the previous Tuesday.
On December 9th, I got up for work as normal. Didn't put the TV on as there was nothing on in the mornings in those days. I took the five mile journey to work by bus and everything seemed normal. My workmate Laurie and myself were maintaining the shrub beds on the Hermitage estate, and as I remember, It was a dry mild day for the time of year. We didn't have the radio on as the batteries had ran out of power. Around Nine O'Clock he nipped off home for something asking me to say that he's gone to check on his wife as she isn't well if any bosses turn up.
Some 30 minutes later he came back and got back to work. Around ten minutes later he said "Guess who's died ?". I said "Who ?". He said "John Lennon, he's been shot".
I remember smiling a nervous smile (as I sometimes do at being told of a tragedy), and then feeling as though I didn't want to continue the conversation. I thought of one of my best friend's "Chris Squire", who was a really big fan of Lennon (bizzarrely, his first son was born a few hours before the tragedy happened). After a little while, I went to the shop and bought some batteries for the radio. Radio one played his music all day and played snippets from the Andy Peebles interview that had taken place just two days before his death. It was a really sad feeling, not the same kind of sorrow felt whe my grandmother had died four months previous, but the saddest I had felt about the death of someone I didn't know personally. "(Just Like) Starting Over" had now taken on a whole new meaning. No longer was it a 'feel good' song, right from the bell at the beginning to the echoic ending, it was a really sad song. John was starting over in the music business, but it had all ended !
Later that same day, the new chart was announced and the single had fallen to number 21. The following week, Paul Burnett started the new countdown with the words "John Lennon is at number one with "Starting Over" ", before counting down from number 40. It was expected to be the Christmas number one, but was knocked off the top after just one week by a school choir singing about their Grandma (more on this in three weeks time). It still stayed around for a while though. It spent a total of 13 weeks in the top 40, during which time it was joined in the chart by four other Lennon singles. At one point he occupied three places in the top five.
And the long awaited interview ?
It was later broadcast in it's entirety in six weekly parts.
Yes, John was a great loss to music.

UB40

The Earth Dies Screaming / Dream A Lie

It was only eight weeks to Christmas, so those jolly chaps from UB40 decided to brighten up our lives with this ditty about, well, the Earth dying screaming. It's exactly as you'd imagine it sounds and reached number 10.
Almost forgot, I do like it.

David Bowie

Fashion

Another track from Bowie's 'Scary Monsters' album and totally different to the previous single "Ashes To Ashes". Once more a memorable video accompanied the track which was something nearing a dance track. But was it good ?
Yes, I suppose it was really, even if it hasn't dated very well. It peaked at number five and was his last solo top five hit until 1983.

Diana Ross

I'm Coming Out

The third single from the Chic produced 'Diana' album. More memorable than "My Old Piano", but it didn't perform as well reaching number 13.
Some American rapper buggered it up in the late '90s, either Puff or Will, don't recall which one, but it doesn't matter does it ?

Barbra Streisand

Woman In Love

Barbra had been around making music and taking it into our chart since she first hit with "Second Hand Rose" back in 1966. It's number 14 peak wasn't bettered until she reached number 3 with "Evergreen" 11 years later. 1978 and 1979 had seen her have two more top five singles with duets (one with Neil Diamond, one with Donna Summer). In 1990 she turned to the successful songwriting and production skills of the Bee Gees, and this single was the first glimpse of the resulting album, 'Guilty'. After entering at number 22, it climbed to number nine and then to the very top, to become her biggest ever hit, spending three weeks on top. Strangely, the promo film seemed to consist entirely of clips from her 1977 film 'A Star Is Born'.

Jona Lewie

Stop The Cavalry

This started out as favourite for Christmas number one, and certainly sounded a likely candidate. It did nothing to dispell the bookies choice when it crashed straight into teh chart at number 15 on the second of December. But then 2 things happened, St. Winifred's School Choir and the death of John Lennon. Jona was at number three in his second week and spent five weeks in that position.
Looking at the charts for that period, were it not for the death of John Lennon, this Christmas single would have hit number one in the week ending 10th January 1981 for one week, and would also have spent 3 weeks at number 2.

St. Winifred's School Choir

There's No One Quite Like Grandma

This is the single that stopped three consecutive number ones being peformed by John Lennon by reaching number one itself the day before Christmas Eve. Even if you have never heard this, you can imagine exactly what it sounds like, and it would be so easy to condemn. I'm not saying that I liked it myself because I didn't. But, it was what it was, it was supposed to appeal to children and Grandparents, that's exactly what it did. It sold the copies, and much to my disgust deserved it's 2 weeks at number one.

AC/DC

Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

I love their "Back In Black" album apart from one track, this one. I would even say that I was shocked when I discovered that it was being released as a single. But it was, and it became their highest charting single to date by reaching number 15.

Motorhead

Ace Of Spades

Motorhead were a band that occasionally appeared on Top Of The Pops performing a minor hit single of which you could only make out a few words (eg: "It's A Bomber")
In 1980, for some inexplicable reason they hit the top ten with "The Golden YearsE.P.". They were now following it with a single that wasn't half bad at all. I would even go so far as to say that "Ace Of Spades" is almost a Rock Classic. Surprising that it only reached number 15, but their biggest hits followed soon afterwards. A re-issue of this single reached number 23 in 1993.

Rod Stewart

Passion

A very disappointing single from Rod as he seemed to be continuing the direction he'd taken with "Do You Think I'm Sexy" two years previous. It was taken from his 'Foolish Behavior' album which wasn't a bad album at all. This single struggled up to number 17 and stayed on the chart for 7 weeks.

Young & Co.

I Like (What You're Doing To Me)

A great disco single. You may quite rightly say that this could have been anyone, yes it could have been, but that doesn't alter the fact that this was an extremely popular disco track for a long time. But while it may have lit the fires of the clubbers, it wasn't quite as successful with record buying public. Two weeks at number 20 was it's best.

E.L.O.

Don't Walk Away

Never seeming to be away from the chart in those days, this was E.L.O. in 'Jeff sounding like he's crying the lyrics out' mode. It was the final release from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack, and while I do like it, it has to be said that it does sound better when watching the film. It was the first new song by E.L.O. to not reach the top 20 since 1976. It was just one place short at number 21, but it did stay in the chart for eight weeks.

Kenny Rogers

Lady

It wasn't hard to recognise this as a Lionel Richie song, but it was quite obvious that Lionel's nasal tones were missing. They had been replaced by Kenny's rough diamond vocals. Kenny had already had a number one in 1980, but he was unable to go beyond number 12 with one of the best ballads that Lionel ever composed. This was Kenny's last ever solo hit in the UK.

Stray Cats

Runaway Boys

More rockabilly revival stuff. This was better than the Showaddywaddy, Matchbox and Shaky's of this world and managed to reach number nine before Christmas.

Roxy Music

The Same Old Scene

I can't listen to this song without thinking of the film 'Times Square', in which it was the opening song. This is one of my favourite Roxy Music songs ever and was taken from the excellent 'Flesh And Blood' album. Die hard fans of Roxy from the early days would have probably hated what they were doing in the late '70s/early '80s, but I could live with both phases of Roxy Music's career. Both eras have their merits, and while they released some great singles in the early years, many of the album tracks were iffy. In these later years, the albums sounded complete. "Same Old Scene" peaked at number 12 in it's second week.

Bad Manners

Special Brew

I think that after their first two hits, Bad Manners were seen as a cheap imitation of Madness by many. Maybe some thought the same after this, but I changed my mind. It was one of the catchiest songs of the year and spent two weeks at number three, spending nine weeks in the top 40, dropping out in the week that the follow up "Lorraine" debuted. Buster Bloodvessel has said that he got the inspiration for this song from a can of the foul tasting 'Special Brew' lager, and composed it in a matter of minutes.

OMD

Enola Gay

A song about a plane that caused so much suffering. Seems sick in retrospect, but not as sick as the act itself. Sad as it seems, most who bought the single probably didn't have a clue what it was about anyway.
Even though O.M.D. had already had a smaller hit with "Messages", this was the one that really broke them and reached number eight.

Neil Diamond

Love On The Rocks

Great vocal peformance by Neil on this. It was taken from the soundtrack to Neil's film "The Jazz Singer", a remake of the first 'talkie picture'. It wasn't as big a hit as we may have expected and only got to number 17. Neil haad to wait 12 years for his next top 40 entry.

Adam And The Ants

Dog Eat Dog

The first hit for Adam And The Ants had a strangely familiar sound to it. It was not unlike the sound of Bow Wow Wow. The reason for this was soon apparent when it was revealed that Adam's former manager had taken his original Ants, recruited Annabella Lewin and formed Bow Wow Wow. So here was Adam with the second release from his new line up giving him his first top 40 hit. It went all the way to number four and paved the way for a hugely successful 1981.

Barry Manilow

Lonely Together

Since his British breakthrough with "Mandy" in 1975, Barry had not found it easy to get a second top 20 hit. This didn't do it for him, but it took nine weeks to reach number 21 and spent a total of 11 weeks in the 40. It was taken from the number five album 'Barry', an album that came into my possession by mistake thanks to Brittania Music Club. It wasn't an album that I would have gone out and bought, but I played it anyway (as you do). I was pleasantly surprised to hear a really good album. It contains a further two hit singles, but the highlight of the album is a duet with Lily Tomlin called "The Last Duet". It's a really comical song and the titles of quite a few recent hits by duos are inserted into the lyrics, but sometimes slightly altered such as "You're not the one that I want Ooh ooh ooh" & "With you I'm bored again".
Yes I've just raved about a Barry Manilow album, I'll be going for a lie down soon !

Queen

Flash

As a Queen fan of long standing, I was quite embarrassed by this single. If the film dialogue had been removed and the singing bits extended, it wouldn't have been a bad single, but another song from the film soundtrack, "The Hero" would have been a better choice of single. This somehow reached number ten. The 1991 remix was much better.

Adam And The Ants

Ant Music

Even before "Dog Eat Dog" had fallen out of the chart, Adam And The Ants entered with this follow up. It was a much catchier single and spent two weeks at number two in January '81 (behind Lennon's "Imagine") as well as sparking 'Antmania' in a big way.

Status Quo

What You're Proposing

Another winner for the Quo in chart terms, but not so in the lyric stakes (they really shouldn't have rhymed "Proposing" with "Runny Nosing")
Anyway, it quickly sped up the chart to number two where it was kept off the top by Ms. Streisand for 2 weeks.

Robert Palmer

Looking For Clues

Some remember Robert Palmer from his days with Vinegar Joe. Some say that they knew Robert from his days with Vinegar Joe, though in actual fact they hadn't heard of him until '82's "Some Guys Have All The Luck", or even '86's "Addicted To Love". I first heard of Robert in the summer of '79 when Simon Bates often played his "Bad Case Of Loving You". Great single I thought, but it wasn't a hit and I expected to hear no more from him.
Over a year later, Simon Bates pickedc up on another Robert single, "Johnny And Mary". This one I went out and bought. Trouble is, not enough people went out and did the same. It peaked at number 44, and now everyone thinks that it was written for a car commercial.
Then came this. Not as good as "Johnny And Mary", and nowhere near as commercial. Yet it did spend six weeks in the top 40, five of them at it's peak of number 33.

Status Quo

Lies / Don't Drive My Car

"Lies" was run of the mill standard Status Quo material. "Don't Drive My Car" was a much better track, something a little different than what we were used to. It reached number 11.

Showaddywaddy

Blue Moon

This was an awful song even before Showaddywaddy got hold of it. The Marcels had taken it to number one in 1961, and they paid for their sins by never making the top 40 again. Showaddywaddy only made number 32, and they paid by never making the top 30 again. Top 40 exile wasn't too far away.

Daryl Hall And John Oates

Kiss On My List

This was the white soul boys' first top 40 entry in the UK, but their 14th US hit (and second number one). We still weren't too impressed by them and it only reached number 33.

Odyssey

If You're Looking For a Way Out

And here's the one that remained on the chart for a week longer than Ottawan. This was a lovely song with beautiful vocals. After spending three weeks at number seven, it took a climb to number six, decided it didn't like it there so dropped back to seven before taking a steady slide down the chart.

Matchbox

Over The Rainbow - You Belong To Me

Just like the previous hit "When You Ask About Love", this wasn't a bad track either. Put it this way, it was good news that they'd changed direction from the Rockabilly stuff. It was a cover of the Judy Garland song from Wizzard of Oz in a medley with "You Belong to Me" (was it the Jo Stafford song ?). It reached number 15.

Kate Bush

December Will Be Magic

A haunting single that conjured up images of fairies in ice castles. Kate had enjoyed a good 1980, and so the failure of this single to go higher than number 29 defied logic. Something else defying logic was that it started to fall two weeks before Christmas.

Clash

The Call Up

The only Clash single that I didn't like, and not too many other's were keen on it either. This was the only week that it spent in the chart.

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

Darts

Sh'Boom / White Christmas

The days of top 40 hits were over for Darts, and this was the last one to make the top 75. It made number 48.

Black Sabbath

Die Young

Good track from the "Heaven And Hell" album that was unlucky enough to peak at number 41. This 33rpm single was placed on the jukebox at 'The Vaults' pub, and so whenever I heard it there, it sounded more like Rush than Black Sabbath.

Skids

Women In Winter

Nice packaging, shame about the song. This single came with a comic book included attached to the sleeve, in an attempt to return to the top 40. It didn't work. It peaked at number 49, and that was the end of the Skids.

Siouxsie And The Banshees

Israel

It seemed as though it may be the end of Siouxsie too as this single stalled at number 41. But not to worry, the Banshees would be around for a long time yet. Funny how this is one of their best known tracks, yet failed to make the top 40.

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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Email: nige@innotts.co.uk