REMEMBER WHEN - 7TH MARCH 1981

1981
Week 10
WEEK ENDING 7TH MARCH 1981
TOP 40 SINGLES

TW	LW
1	1	Joe Dolce Music Theatre	Shaddap You Face
2	2	Ultravox	Vienna
3	6	Roxy Music	Jealous Guy
4	3	Rainbow	I Surrender
5	5	Motorhead & Girlschool	St. Valentine's Day Massacre (EP)
6	17	Adam And The Ants	Kings Of The Wild Frontier
7	8	Coast To Coast	(Do) The Hucklebuck
8	9	Freeez	Southern Freeez
9	19	Status Quo	Something 'Bout You Baby I Like
10	7	Madness	The Return Of The Los Palmas Seven
11	4	John Lennon	Woman
12	11	Stray Cats	Rock This Town
13	10	Fred Wedlock	The Oldest Swinger In Town
14	24	Talking Heads	Once In A Lifetime
15	22	Beggar And Co.	Somebody (Help Me Out)
16	26	Toyah	Four From Toyah (EP)
17	14	Dire Straits	Romeo And Juliet
18	NEW	Kim Wilde	Kids In America
19	15	Pretenders	Message Of Love
20	13	Slade	We'll Bring The House Down
21	12	Phil Collins	In The Air Tonight
22	21	Jam	That's Entertainment
23	18	XTC	Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
24	31	Kelly Marie	Hot Love
25	29	Teardrop Explodes	Reward
26	16	Visage	Fade To Grey
27	40	Kiki Dee	Star
28	20	Adam And The Ants	Ant Music
29	NEW	Shakin' Stevens	This Ole House
30	25	Passions	I'm In Love With A German Film Star
31	39	Kool And The Gang	Jones VS Jones
32	23	John Lennon	Imagine
33	30	Spandau Ballet	The Freeze
34	NEW	Jacksons	Can You Feel It
35	NEW	Who	You Better You Bet
36	27	Blondie	Rapture
37	NEW	Yoko Ono	Walking On Thin Ice
38	38	Adam And The Ants	Car Trouble
39	28	Cliff Richard	A Little In Love
40	32	Adam And The Ants	Young Parisians

Joe Dolce Music Theatre

Shaddap You Face

This entered at number 30, went to number three and then number one for three weeks. It is one of the most hated songs ever for three reasons.
1) It's a novelty song and it reached number one.
2) It knocked John Lennon off the top.
3) It stopped Ultravox's "Vienna" from reaching number one.
I hated it for all three of those reasons, but now, this song by an American living in Australia and pretending to be an Italian (whew !) doesn't seem so bad. Funny how I didn't know anyone who bought it except for someone of Italian descent who obviously didn't really 'get it'. And the B.Side "Ain't In No Hurry" wasn't too bad.
There was another version of this out at the time by Manuel, who just happened to be an Englishman (I think) called Andrew Sachs pretending to be a Spanish Waiter.

Ultravox

Vienna

One of the best singles to make number two ever. It spent four weeks at number two, three of those it was held off the top by a song that many would consider one of the worst number one's ever, "Shaddap You Face" by Joe Dolce. Some consider the video promo to be something special too, but it means nothing to me ;-)

Roxy Music

Jealous Guy

We'd had the John Lennon back catalogue in the chart, and now it was time for the tributes. This was more of a Bryan Ferry solo effort than a Roxy track, but it gave them the only number one single of their career. It spent two weeks on top.

Rainbow

I Surrender

This number three peaking single was Rainbow's biggest hit, but strangely the one I least liked of their four major hits. It was taken from their 'Difficult To Cure' album, and replacing Graham Bonnet on lead vocals was 'Joe Lynn Turner'. He was the one who wore a stripey T Shirt that made him look as though he was a member of a '70s boy band of the 'Flintlock' variety.

Motorhead & Girlschool

St. Valentine's Day Massacre (EP)

The lead track on this was a cover of Johnny Kidd And The Pirates minor hit from 1959, "Please Don't Touch". I think that it was the best thig they ever did, and it was indeed their highest charting single, peaking at number five. Girlschool had recently released a superb cover of "Race With The Devil", but had failed to make the top 40.

Adam And The Ants

Kings Of The Wild Frontier

I don't think that this deserved to reach number two. It was hard to spot a melody in there, never mind work out what the hell he was on about. Should have given it to Bow Wow Wow

Coast To Coast

(Do) The Hucklebuck

I hated this and was so disappointed when it leapt from 39 to number 14. But my fears of it getting to number one were forgotten a couple of weeks later when it stalled at number five.

Freeeze

Southern Freeez

I couldn't really get into this at the time, and can only bear it now from a nostalgic angle. It just seemed to be the same all the way through. It reached number eight.

Status Quo

Something 'Bout You Baby I Like

A cover of Tom Jones' number 36 hit from September 1974. They made it sound like one of their own and did reasonably well with it. It spent two weeks at number nine.

Madness

The Return Of The Los Palmas Seven

I knew all the words to this (Waiter). It was one of those tunes that you were sure you'd heard before, yet they claimed to have composed it themselves. Anyway, there were seven members in the band, it was their seventh hit single and it peaked at number seven. And how many weeks was it in the top 40 ?
Nine of course !

John Lennon

Woman

This is the one that completed John Lennon's record breaking hat trick of number ones. In fact, he knocked his own single ("Imagine") off the top with it and spent two weeks on top. This is the one that John and Yoko nicknamed 'The Beatles track' while recording the 'Double Fantasy' album. I thought that it resembled a 'Bee Gees track' more myself. This was also available as a cassette single, and I bought that version just for the hell of it. I don't think that many other's bought that version, and I feel quite comfortable with myself that I did not contribute to the popularity of the cassette single, as that didn't happen until quite a few years later.

Stray Cats

Rock This Town

Not too different from their previous hit ("Runaway Boys") even down to peaking at the same position of number nine. But there was a gem here, the B Side featured a great cover of "You Can't Hurry Love", so much better than the one Phil Collin's would treat us to two years later.

Fred Wedlock

The Oldest Swinger In Town

I always thought that this was quite a well written song, even though I probably shouldn't like it. It isn't a song that makes you burst into laughter, but it's still quite amusing. It peaked at number six.

Talking Heads

Once In A Lifetime

This was a very good single, one that made you listen to the lyrics all of the way through. They didn't always make sense to me, but at least they made the song entertaining (as did the video). It had taken four years (I'd been aware of them for three), but they had finally cracked the UK and reached number 14. They still had to wait a further four years before they had a second UK hit though.

Beggar And Co.

Somebody (Help Me Out)

This was the horn section from 'Light Of The World' or something like that. It was also an extremely annoying record (meow, meow, me out). It got more than it deserved by reaching number 15.

Toyah

Four From Toyah (EP)

She'd had a number one in the Indie chart with "Sheep Farming In Barnet", and it was now time for Toyah to appeal to the majority, have a few hits, well ok, make some money. The lead track from this "It's A Mystery" is the one that most associate Toyah with. It was her biggest ever hit, reaching number four and spending ten weeks in the top 40.

Dire Straits

Romeo And Juliet

When Dire Straits were bad, they were really bad. But when they were good, they were excellent and this was one of those occasions. Not only that, but Side One of their 'Making Movies' album is one of the best sides of vinyl ever to see the light of day. I remember hearing someone comment on how this sounded like Bob Dylan, but I could never really hear the likeness myself, Mark Knopfler is a much better singer. This peaked at number eight and still gets regular airplay today.

Kim Wilde

Kids In America

Most people of my age would not have known of the existence of Kim's father 'Marty Wilde'. I did because my Mum had been a fan of his and had even seen im perform live a couple of times. She had three of his singles "Donna", "Sea Of Love" and his unbeatable version of "Endless Sleep". Marty's son "Ricky" attempted to make it as a singer in the mid '70s, but had failed miserably. So he turned his talents to helping his father write songs for his younger sister "Kim" (Actually, I can think of quite a few talented songwriters who ought to follow his example and give their songs to someone who can actually sing. But people seem to tolerate this, even if they are just looking ).

And so Kim just seemed to explode onto the chart and seemed to be a permanent resident in the chart for well over a year. Naturally, when we all saw what she looked like, we either loved or hated her. The women hated her (at least to begin with) and many wrote angry letters to the Record Mirror letters page. One such letter sticks in my mind as the nasty wench in question wrote "I bet she's never even been to America". As it turned out she was right, as Kim recently revealed in a TV interview. But what did that matter anyway, I bet Midge Ure had never been to Vienna ?
Kim spent two weeks at number two with this and followed it with a further 16 top 40 hits before the decade ended, more than any other British female soloist in the eighties. She is now apparently a gardener, just as I was when she first hit big.

Pretenders

Message Of Love

Quite a disappointing single by the Pretenders after almost a year away from the top 40. It peaked at umber 11 in it's second week and only had a total of five weeks in the chart.

Slade

We'll Bring The House Down

Great comeback by Slade, even if I didn't like it as much as their Glam days. When it peaked at number ten it became their first top ten hit since the summer of 1975.

Phil Collins

In The Air Tonight

Once I'd got over the news that the lead singer of Genesis was working with Earth Wind And Fire, I thought that this was a good song. But I didn't expect it to climb up the chart from number 36 to number 4 in it's second week. The swine looked likely to knock John Lennon's "Imagine" off the top, and prevent John's "Woman" from hitting number one. But it didn't happen like that, Phil moved up a place for the next two weeks and stopped short at number two. There really was a big buzz about Phil's "Face Value" album at the time though, especially the thing about the horn section from 'EWF', and the album did make number one. A re-mix of "In The Air Tonight" went to number four in 1988, and the song got a name check on Eminem's 2000 number one "Stan".

Jam

That's Entertainment

This was actually a German import and not intended for British release. This would explain it only reaching number 21. It was finally given an official release by 'Polydor' in 1983 when it made number 60, and once more in 1991 when it scaled the dizzy heights of number 57. It was taken from the album 'Sound Affects'.

XTC

Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)

I liked this much more than their previous single, and the live version of "Generals And Majors" on the B Side was a nice bonus. It reached number 16 to make it their biggest hit up to that point.
The thing about XTC, I think that they're the most over-rated under-rated band. Yes, I think that they are under-rated, but they were/are not really anything special.

Kelly Marie

Hot Love

Those fake bagpipes were horrible. It reached number 22, and has apparently been re-mixed for 2001 !

Teardrop Explodes

Reward

They looked ridiculous in the video, but it was a very good sixties sounding single. It was the only single by the band to reach the top ten, and peaked at number six.

Visage

Fade To Grey

Very original track, don't know what the hell it was all about, but that woman speaking a few lines sounded so darn sexy. It had to be a hit. It quickly stormed up the chart to number eight before surprisingly falling to number 13. And then after it clibed back up a place to number 12, something even more surprising happened, Top Of The Pops played the video. This was surprising for two reasons. Firstly, Top Of The Pops had already featured the video once and they had a rule that any video could only be shown once, unless a song is at number one. The exception to this was of course the 10-20 seconds of each video in the current top ten which was being shown each week at the time.
The other reason is that the song had already dropped, so again, Top Of the Pops rules were being broken. Once a single had dropped, it was not supposed to be featured on the show again unless it rose to a new peak position. So the chances are, it was all a major mistake and they didn't realise what they were doing, or was it a bung ?
These days of course, they don't seem to have any rules concerning which songs can be featured on the show. The same can be said about the presenters really, I mean who are these people, what has Gail Porter got to do with music ?
But of course, just as the chart doesn't really matter anymore, neither does what was once the BBC's most watched programme. That's why it is now broadcast at exactly the same time as the only programme that could beat it in the ratings twenty years ago.

Kiki Dee

Star

A welcome return for Kiki with one of her best songs ever. The times I selected this one on the Jukebox in 'The Vaults', I must have paid for it many times over. It reached number 13, and unluckily for her, it was her last ever solo top 40 hit. I 'think' that it was later used as the theme song for a talent show.

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.

Shakin' Stevens

This Ole House

I was never over keen on Shaky, though most of his singles seem much better now than they did at the time. I suppose he did what he did very well, but I didn't like what he did (if you get my drift). I hated this one with a passion, so naturally it became his first major hit and spent three weeks at number one.

Passions

I'm In Love With A German Film Star

A excellent track that spent six weeks in the top 40 and peaked at number 25. I wonder what happened to these, does anyone know ?

Kool And The Gang

Jones Vs Jones

This dealt with divorce and Tony Blackburn played it to death. It was his way of reminding us about his split with Tessa Wyatt (she'd gone off with Richard O'Sullivan from 'Man About The House'). But we hardly needed reminding, he'd been going on about it for two years.
Once you got past the Tony Blackburn thing, this was a decent song. Even though it only reached number 17, it did spend eight weeks in the top 40.

John Lennon

Imagine

Just under five years after it had left the chart, it was back again. But this was always going to return wasn't it ?
Originally a 1971 album track that had belatedly seen single release and a number six peak in 1975, this is THE classic John Lennon song. This time it got it's deserved number one status and remained there for four weeks before being knocked off by John's "Woman". For the first two weeks of it's stay at the top, John held three of the top five places.
This time around, "Working Class Hero" was replaced as the B Side by "It's So Hard".
"Imagine" returned to the top three at Christmas 1999.

Spandau Ballet

The Freeze

I didn't like this, almost to the point of hating it at the time. But I came to like it in time, much more than "To Cut A Long Story Short" in fact. But after debuting at number 24, it only managed one more climb and peaked at number 17.

Jacksons

Can You Feel It

This was a very slow climber, taking nine weeks to reach number six, and totalling 13 weeks in the chart. If the video had been completed in time for the chart run, it may have reached number one, but it wasn't shown on British TV until well after the single's demise. Such a shame that the 1998 bastardisation of the song peaked higher in the chart than the original, number one actually.

Who

You Better You Bet

I saw the Who perform live at Deeside Leisure Centre at the same time as this single gave them their last top ten hit (it reached number nine). They were bloody great and the support band 'Nine Below Zero' weren't bad either.

Blondie

Rapture

One of the most over-rated songs ever spent two weeks at number five. I do sort of like it, but don't think it's that brilliant, that's all. Neither do I agree that it had a massive influence on rap music. The only real influence I can see is the fact that Grandmaster Flash sampled it on "Grandmaster Flash's Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel".

Yoko Ono

Walking On Thin Ice

Very weird, but I liked it. I especially liked the part about a girl walking across a lake. The B Side "It Happened" seemed to be referring to the death of her husband 'John Lennon' the previous December. It only reached number 35 and was later covered by 'Fuzzbox' !

Adam And The Ants

Car Trouble

More cashing in on the success of Adam And The Ants. This fairly average track was certainly better than the other single released on the 'Do It' label at this time, but it wasn't that good. It reached number 33, but did manage to stick around for five weeks.

Cliff Richard

A Little In Love

A reasonable enough single from Cliff, even if it did resemble a few of his other recent singles. It peaked at number 15.

Adam & The Ants

Young Parisians

It was cashing in on Adam & The Ants time, and why not, as this was a much better track than his singles taken from the 'Kings Of The Wild Frontier' album. It spent a couple of weeks at number nine which gave the once mighty Decca label a rare top tenner.

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

Human League

Boys And Girls

The first Human League single to feature the girls. It wasn't very good though and only got to number 48. Still, that was higher than any of their previous six singles managed.

K.I.D.

Don't Stop

This was a group from 'Antilles' and if I did hear it, then I don't remember. It reached number 49.

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

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