REMEMBER WHEN - 4TH DECEMBER 1982

TW	.....	LW	......		......
1		NEW		Jam		Beat Surrender
2		2		Human League		Mirror Man
3		4		Wham		Young Guns (Go For It)
4		1		Eddy Grant		I Don't Wanna Dance
5		9		Renee And Renato		Save Your Love
6		17		Lionel Richie		Truly
7		7		Blancmange		Living On The Ceiling
8		3		Dionne Warwick		Heartbreaker
9		34		Culture Club		Time (Clock Of The Heart)
10		11		Duran Duran		Rio
11		14		A Flock Of Seagulls		Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
12		5		Marvin Gaye		Sexual Healing
13		16		Musical Youth		Youth Of Today
14		20		Yazoo		The Other Side Of Love
15		6		Tears For Fears		Mad World
16		28		Ultravox		Hymn
17		32		Madness		Our House
18		21		Modern Romance		Best Years Of Our Lives
19		15		Donna Summer		State Of Independence
20		8		Clannad		Theme From 'Harry's Game'
21		10		Daryl Hall & John Oates		Maneater
22		13		Blue Zoo		Cry Boy Cry
23		26		Talk Talk		Talk Talk
24		12		Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney		The Girl Is Mine
25		NEW		Shalamar		Friends
26		19		Diana Ross		Muscles
27		29		Supertramp		It's Raining Again
28		22		Kool And The Gang		Ooh La La La (Let's Go Dancin')
29		35		Japan		Nightporter
30		18		Culture Club		Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
31		24		Raw Silk		Do It To The Music
32		NEW		Soft Cell		Where The Heart Is
33		NEW		Adam Ant		Desperate But Not Serious
34		38		Whitesnake		Here I Go Again / Bloody Luxury
35		NEW		Dexy's Midnight Runners		Let's Get This Straight (From The Start) / OId
36		27		Piranhas featuring Boring Bob Grover		Zambezi
37		NEW		Bucks Fizz		If You Can't Stand The Heat
38		NEW		Malcolm McLaren And The World Famous Supreme Team		Buffalo Gals
39		NEW		David Bowie & Bing Crosby		Peace On Earth - Little Drummer Boy
40		NEW		Young Steve And The Afternoon Boys		I'm Alright

Just as this single was about to be released, The Jam announced that they were splitting and it would be the last single. It immediately became their fourth number one single, and the third to enter at the top. This was no mean feat, as in 30 years of singles charts this was only the twelfth single to go straight in at the top, and they now shared the record of three instant number ones with Slade. I found the actual song "Beat Surrender" something of a disappointment, especially after the classic "Bitterest Pill" single from just two months previous. But it was also released as a double single featuring a total of five tracks, and while their cover of "War" left a lot to be desired, their version of the 'Curtis Mayfield' classic "Move On Up" was Paul Weller performing at his best.

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).

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').

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Another brilliant single with an equally brilliant over the top video from Ultravox. They were now in a stage of their career where all of their singles were peaking in the bottom half of the top twenty. "Hymn" was no exception and would wait until the middle of January before peaking at number eleven on it's eighth week in the 40. It was the second single to be taken from the 'Quartet' album.

This single spent four weeks at number five and I must admit that the first time I heard it, I thought that it was the 'Jam'. It may seem unbelievable to you, but I thought that Suggs' vocals on certain parts of this did sound remarkably similar to Paul Weller's. As mentioned earlier, Tommy Vance was the host of the Top 40 show at that time (I would say the last truly great host, but Bruno wasn't too bad). Every so often Tommy would play a 12 inch version that he considered worthwhile, that is if it added something different to the song. He did such a thing to this particular song. The beginning of it contained a montage of Madness songs, rather like small 'samples'. It was enough to make me go out and buy it.

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).

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.

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.

Rounding off an excellent year with the fourth single to be taken from the 'Friends' album. It didn't match the top ten runs of the previous three hits, but still managed an impressive number 12 placing. Sad how so many third rate dance acts now hit the upper reaches of the chart while the likes of Shalamar, Odyssey etc. have just faded away.

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' :-)

Aiming for their sixth successive top five hit, Soft Cell were to be disappointed with the number 21 peak of this single. It's quite possible that they lost many of their potential sales due to certain stories about Marc Almond's personal life being published in National newspapers during the Summer. Unfortunately, the British are very much a 'Mud Sticks' nation (not that Marc was accused of any illegal activities anyway), no smoke without fire etc. It was a very good single anyway.

Taken from the 'Friend Or Foe' album, this was a totally different styled single to his previous work. The trouble was, it was much too different for his fans to go out and buy it. After entering at number 33 this very week, it then immediately fell out of the chart. It was his first single in nine (official) releases to miss the top ten.

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.

Dexy's had a great 1982. "Come On Eileen" was the biggest selling single of the year after spending four weeks at number one and "Jackie Wilson Said" had also made the top five. While "Old" had been taken from the successful 'Too-Rye-Ay' album, "Let's Get This Straight From the Start" was a brand new track and better than most of the tracks on the said album. After debuting at number 35, it shot up to number 18 only to stand still the following week and then rose just one more place to 17.

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 seventh consecutive top twenty hit for Bucks Fizz would also become their fifth top ten hit when it reached number ten. As usual it was great commercial pop, which is what it's all about really. Acts appealing to a wide range of people of varying ages (Beatles, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross etc.) are without a doubt the most successful ones when it really comes down to the hard facts.

The first solo (ish) hit from Malcolm introduced us to scratching. Well, at least it did as far as chart hits are concerned (Grandmaster Flash had been having his adventures on the wheels of steel a full year previous). After slowly climbing for a few weeks, it finally peaked at number nine in it's seventh week. The B.side featured a bizarre square dance version of the song.

This was one of the strangest pairings that we're ever likely to see. Apparently, David had at one time been suggested for the lead part in a film about Frank Sinatra's life. But Frank had retorted with "I'm having no weirdo playing me". It seemed that Bing didn't share his friend's opinion of David and invited him to guest on his 1977 Christmas TV show. This song was performed on that show, recorded just a few weeks before Bing's death, and had now belatedly been released as a single. It climbed to number three in Christmas week and holds the dubious honour of having one of the biggest tumbles out of the chart in history. It spent it's last week in the chart at number nine before vanishing completely.

The silly season was upon us and so it was time for radio one DJ 'Steve Wright' to release his first single. A fine DJ (Radio One's loss is Radio Two's gain) with a thoroughly entertaining afternoon show. Some would say that he should have stuck with playing them instead of recording them and mercifully, this was the only week he ever spent on the top 40. But me, I have more tolerance these days, and I think this was "Alright" (no, I'm not joking).

Dear Friends,
I have just read and signed the online petition:
"Persuade Warner Music UK (WEA Records) To Release Dollar's Back Catalogue On CD"
hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/dollar/
I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

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.