REMEMBER WHEN - 20TH NOVEMBER 1982

TW	.....	LW	......		......
1		1		Eddy Grant		I Don't Wanna Dance
2		2		Dionne Warwick		Heartbreaker
3		3		Tears For Fears		Mad World
4		5		Marvin Gaye		Sexual Healing
5		11		Clannad		Theme From 'Harry's Game'
6		10		Daryl Hall & John Oates		Maneater
7		4		Culture Club		Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
8		9		Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney		The Girl Is Mine
9		NEW		Human League		Mirror Man
10		24		Wham		Young Guns (Go For It)
11		6		Kool And The Gang		Ooh La La La (Let's Go Dancin')
12		19		Blancmange		Living On The Ceiling
13		32		Duran Duran		Rio
14		29		Donna Summer		State Of Independence
15		23		Diana Ross		Muscles
16		8		Barry Manilow		I Wanna Do It With You
17		14		Status Quo		Caroline (Live At The N.E.C.)
18		27		Raw Silk		Do It To The Music
19		7		Kids From 'Fame'		Starmaker
20		17		Piranhas featuring Boring Bob Grover		Zambezi
21		21		Blue Zoo		Cry Boy Cry
22		13		Shakin' Stevens		I'll Be Satisfied
23		12		Kid Creole & The Coconuts		Annie I'm Not Your Daddy
24		38		Renee And Renato		Save Your Love
25		20		Sharon Redd		Never Give You Up
26		16		Melba Moore		Love's Comin' At Ya
27		25		John Cougar		Jack And Diane
28		NEW		A Flock Of Seagulls		Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
29		15		Beatles		Love Me Do
30		22		Pretenders		Back On The Chain Gang
31		NEW		Musical Youth		Youth Of Today
32		NEW		Modern Romance		Best Years Of Our Lives
33		33		Supertramp		It's Raining Again
34		NEW		Yazoo		The Other Side Of Love
35		NEW		Lionel Richie		Truly
36		NEW		Simple Minds		Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
37		35		Abba		The Day Before You Came
38		30		Chicago		Hard To Say I'm Sorry
39		NEW		Talk Talk		Talk Talk
40		NEW		Whitesnake		Here I Go Again / Bloody Luxury

Eddy's career had seemed to be on the wane again. That is until Rockers Revenge had covered one of his songs and recently taken it to number four in the chart. The song in question was "Walking On Sunshine", a song that Eddy finally had his own top forty hit with in late 2001 (fingers crossed that I don't need to re-write this in a few weeks). Now Eddy was back with this history making single. When it reached the top, it was the third successive reggae orientated number one, this is the only time that this has ever happened in the UK chart. Just like the previous two ("Pass The Dutchie" & "Do You Really WAnt To Hurt Me") it spent three weeks on top.
This was the last time that Eddy had a number one single, but it wasn't the first. He had also spent three weeks at number one while a member of the Equals in 1968 with "Baby Come Back" (later taken to number one again by 'Pato Banton').

Dionne hadn't had a top ten hit for 14 years, in fact she hadn't had any kind of solo hit in that time. Then she teamed up with the songwriting of Barry Gibb for the 'Heartbreaker' album. This gave her two weeks at number Two with the title track and the biggest hit of her long career. I expected this to be an American number one, but it only reached number ten over there.

A number three peaking single that brings back the same kind of memories as the 'Blancmange' one. But the difference with this one is that the album it later appeared on (The Hurting) is one that I could identify with in so many ways while going through my 'bad times' shortly afterwards. That album is one of my all time favourite albums, and even though their later albums were also good, they didn't get anywhere near 'The Hurting' for me. I finally got to see them live in 1993 and they closed the show with their rendition of Radiohead's "Creep" that sounded much better than the original (it always did sound as though it should have been a Tears For Fears song anyway). This band could have been more influential than many people realise.

Marvin's first hit for five years was also the last to make the top twenty during his lifetime. It moved quickly up the chart to number four to become his highest charting single since "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" spent three weeks at number one in 1969. When Tommy Vance announced this track on the top 40 show, he was instructed to refer to it as "Healing" due to the BBC's 'then' attitude to such matters. Marvin was shot dead by his father on April 1st 1984 after an argument about his lifestyle (his drug taking activities were well documented), just one day short of his 45th birthday. His only further hit was when a re-issue of "Grapevine" reached number eight in 1986.

This single had surprisingly crashed straight into the chart at number eleven due to it being the theme from a TV film/play. It then climbed to number five before even more surprisingly starting to fall. They had already released six albums before this hit and vocalist Marie's sister 'Enya' had joined the band on their previous album. Just prior to this single being released, Enya had left to pursue what would be a very successful solo career. They later won an 'Ivor Novello' award for the haunting piece of music that "Harry's Game' was. Their follow up single "I See Red" was a track that also appeared on a 1992 solo album by 'Frida' (from Abba). It knocked the socks off Frida's version, but still failed to chart. They still record to this day and hit with "In A Lifetime" with a little help from Bono, as well as the "Saltwater" thing with 'Chicane' that sampled "Harry's Game".

The biggest hit for this duo and what a riff. It peaked at number six before quickly disappearing from the chart. The riff in question was later blatantly copied by Stevie Wonder for his 1985 hit "Part Time Lover" and I'm certain that another single during the eighties also sounded very similar but I can't recall it at this moment.

This just seemed to come from nowhere to spend three weeks at number one. I didn't even hear it before it entered the 40 at a lowly number 38, but two weeks later it was at number three. Two weeks after that, it was spending the first of three weeks at number one. It even went to number two in the US a few months later.
There is a story that Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones was in a hotel room watching TV when this came on. He called Mick Jagger into the room to look at this 'fantastic bird' :-)

Paul had already had a good year that had included a number one duet with Stevie Wonder and a further solo hit. There had been no new singles by Michael since "Girlfriend" (a McCartney composition) had failed to chart in July of 1980, but an old Motown recording had taken him to number one in 1981. This was the first single to be taken from Michael's 'Thriller' album, and reached number eight. It was a better result than the solo single "Tug Of War" that Paul had released at the same time and failed to chart with.

The Human League have always seemed like lazy sods to me. In the first week of December the previous year "Don't You Want Me" had entered the chart at number nine and moved to the top the following week, eventually becoming a world-wide hit. They had taken a full year to follow it with this number two peaking single, and there still wouldn't be a new album for another 18 months. Although they had one more number two single in 1983, their absence killed off their potential to become the biggest band of the decade (something that had looked a possibility at the beginning of '82).

On hearing this, I thought "What an amazing single !". After a couple of near misses, Blancmange finally had their first hit and they spent three weeks at number seven. I still think it's a great single now, but my reasons for thinking it was so amazing back then were not good ones. I'd started smoking anything offered to me back in 1980 because 'someone else was doing it, so it seemed a clever thing to do'. After my Grandad dying and then 'Tommy', I turned to harder things and was experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs (Magic Mushrooms in particular). I thought it was fantastic because I didn't have any bad trips on whatever substance I took, and this single just seemed to tie in with the whole experience. I began reading books about drugs such as Timothy Leary's "Politics Of Ecstacy", I wanted to try everything, I would have even taken Heroin had someone offered it to me. I even had a bag of magic mushrooms confiscated by the police officer who'd broken the news to me about my Grandad's death. I ought to have been ashamed of myself. And that's what smoking a little 'weed' now and then led to.
For those that don't know, Magic Mushrooms go out of season when the frost arrives. They were said to be non-addictive, but I craved them. I wanted to go back into happy mushroom land, but I couldn't. That's when depression started to kick in.

The final single from Duran Duran's best ever album could only reach just inside the top ten peaking at number nine. Considering the success of it's parent album, it's hardly surprising that the title track didn't repeat the success of the previous two singles. No matter what the chart positions tell us, this single was still one of the stand out tracks of the decade.

There are many who believe this is an inferior cover to the original by Jon And Vangelis that had failed to chart in 1981. I bought the album 'Friends of Mr Cairo' containing the original and yes, it's very good. But for me, it just doesn't have the punch of Donna's version which included the 'All Star Choir" at the end. Of course I can't use chart positions to suggest that Donna's version was in fact superior, as Donna was always going to have more chance of airplay than Jon and Vangelis. It still didn't become the massive hit it deserved to be as it peaked at number fourteen. But, in the spring of 1996 a remixed version of the track peaked one place higher at number 13 (I know, I know, a number 13 in 1996 was no big deal).

The Kids From 'Fame's record company R.C.A. had it made. They didn't need to make a promo video because they already had the performance clip from the TV show. They didn't need to employ any promotion at all, as the 'Fame' TV show immediately followed the BBC's number one programme 'Top Of The Pops' every Thursday evening. The clip for this featured an old man sitting on a chair while just about all of the cast (including a young Janet Jackson) stood before him singing this song.
It was quite a good song on the whole, and I was told that it was another one that 'Tommy' loved (see "Zoom"). There were girls bursting into tears when this came on the jukebox in the Legion. It was a sad time.
It spent two weeks at number three.

Piranhas had reached the top ten with "Tom Hark" in 1980, but I doubt that anyone really expected to see them in the chart ever again. But they did it with this cover of a tune that had been a top ten hit for both 'Lou Busch' and 'Eddie Calvert' in 1956. The Piranhas reached number 17 with their version, after which they did disappear for good.

The biggest hit for Kid Creole (number two), was also his last major hit. Strange how this climbed from nine to number two and then dropped to number six. A couple of minor hits followed over the following twelve months, and then a further minor hit in 1990. These days, Kid is living in the UK, married to one of his fans from Sheffield. Most of his working life has been spent in the stage musical "Oh What A Night" since it opened in Blackpool during the summer of 1997.

The favourites for the Christmas number one this year included 'The Jam', 'Culture Club', 'David Bowie and Bing Crosby', 'Madness', 'Human League', while the red hot favourite was 'Shakin' Stevens'. But like so many other years, a completely unknown act came along with what is usually described as a 'novelty record' and took the honours. In this particular year it was 'Renee And Renato' who managed a four week stay at the top, and although it seemed irritating for a while, it was a really good song that could have been a hit in any decade. Describing it as a 'novelty hit' probably isn't a fair description as it was just the type of song that would have topped the chart before 'Rock And Roll' kicked in. They followed it with "Just One More Kiss" the following February but just failed to secure a second hit. They were never heard of again.

Excellent single that made it to the top in the US. Over here it only made number 25, but was still his biggest hit. Simply Red somehow managed to combine it with "The Air That I Breathe" to have a top ten hit in 1998.John next hit the UK top 40 in 1994 with "Wild Night". This was despite his release of a tremendous single (Paper In Fire) and album (Lonesome Jubilee) in 1987.

Some great singles had already been released by the Seagulls with very limited success. The major hit finally came with this brilliant track. It peaked at number ten and suggested that it was just the beginning of a long hitmaking career. It wasn't to be though as neither of their following two singles could climb higher than number 38. They did make it to number 26 in the summer of '84, but that was as good as it got for them after this hit, although they are still together and toured the US in the late Nineties.

Twenty years after it's original release, this debut release from the world's biggest band ever had been issued as a picture disc. First time around it had only reached number 17, but had spent 14 weeks in the top 40. This time around, many expected it to give the Beatles their 18th number one, a feat that would have given them a clear lead over Elvis Presley in the most number ones table. But it failed to do so when it stalled at number four, and spent just six weeks in the top forty. To be honest, I've never thought that this was a very good song anyway, it only seems to consist of eight lines that are repeated over and over again. EMI/Parlaphone/Apple continued to release Beatles singles on picture disc on the 20th anniversary of their original releases, right through to 1970, and there were even a couple of 'new' singles in the mid '90s. But they still haven't captured that 18th number one. They do however hold one record that doesn't look likely to be broken, the feat of having eleven successive number ones between 1963 and 1966. Some are in favour of re-writing the history books to make it look better for modern acts, by no longer crediting the Fab Four with that achievement. Why anyone would want to make Westlife look better is beyond me, but if anyone tries to tell you that the Beatles didn't have eleven successive number ones, just you tell them that they don't know what they're talking about and that "My Bonnie" and "Ain't She Sweet" WERE NOT Beatles records, WERE NOT official releases and WERE NOT promoted by the Beatles.

In the week ending 2nd October Musical Youth had taken the third biggest leap to number one in chart history when "Pass The Dutchie" had climbed from 26 to the top. They had spent three weeks at the top with that single, and quickly followed it with this one. After entering at number 31, it took a big leap to number 16 before climbing just three places the following week. And this is as high as it got before quickly falling out of favour. At that point it looked as though they may instantly disappear, but they continued to hit the chart with four of their next five singles. But after "Sixteen" in early 1984, they were not heard of again (apart from the newspaper reports of most of the group ending up in prison for burglary and other crimes).

This was Lionel's first solo single after eight years of intermittent success with the 'Commodores'. It was to launch him on a highly successful solo career that continues to this day. It was looking an outside bet for a future number one at one point, but it spent three weeks at number six before falling down the chart.

One of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life. "I must have done this, I must have done that", " I must have had my dinner watching something on tv, there's not I think a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see" !!!!!!!!!
And the lyrics were that bad all of the way through. It's a pity that Abba's career should have petered out in this way. When it peaked at number 32, It was their first single not to make the top thirty since "I DO I Do I Do I Do I Do" in the summer of 1975.

Six years after the magnificent "If You Leave Me Now", they were back in the UK charts with something almost as good. They reached number four with this one and I like it a lot, despite it reminding me of dark nights and dark times in general.
Az Yet hada top ten hit with their cover in 1997 and Peter Cetera decided that it was a good idea for him to help them out.

Having seen 'Whitesnake' live in 1981 and being pleasantly surprised at how good they were, I eagerly awaited the release of this single. A much slower pace than the bulk of their work, it struggled to it's peak of number 34, and that seemed to be it. But it wasn't, because in 1987 the track was remixed for USA release where it hit the top. This prompted a UK release where it went to number nine.

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.