REMEMBER WHEN - 30TH JANUARY 1982

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1982
Week 5
WEEK ENDING 30TH JANUARY 1982

TOP 40 SINGLES

TW	.......	LW	.......		.......
1		3		Shakin' Stevens		Oh Julie
2		1		Bucks Fizz		Land Of Make Believe
3		2		Kraftwerk		The Model / Computer Love
4		16		Stranglers		Golden Brown
5		4		Kool And The Gang		Get Down On It
6		9		Human League		Being Boiled
7		6		Jon & Vangelis		I'll Find My Way Home
8		11		Dollar		Mirror Mirror
9		7		Meat Loaf		Dead Ringer For Love
10		18		Christopher Cross		Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)
11		8		Foreigner		Waiting For A Girl Like You
12		5		Human League		Don't You Want Me
13		10		Altered Images		I Could Be Happy
14		13		Mobiles		Drowning In Berlin
15		23		Brown Sauce		I Wanna Be A Winner
16		19		Four Tops		Don't Walk Away
17		31		O.M.D.		Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc)
18		12		Madness		It Must Be Love
19		22		Shakatak		Easier Said Than Done
20		20		Alton Edwards		I Just Wanna (Spend Some Time With You)
21		14		Phil Lynott		Yellow Pearl
22		17		Abba		One Of Us
23		15		Adam And The Ants		Ant Rap
24		26		E.L.O.		Here Is The News / Ticket To The Moon
25		21		Rod Stewart		Young Turks
26		37		George Benson		Never Give Up On A Good Thing
27		25		Status Quo		Rock 'N' Roll
28		24		Cliff Richard		Daddy's Home
29		35		Olivia Newton John		Landslide
30		NEW		Elkie Brooks		Fool If You Think It's Over
31		NEW		Lindsey Buckingham		Trouble
32		NEW		XTC		Senses Working Overtime
33		NEW		Japan		European Son
34		39		Stiff Little Fingers		Listen
35		29		Tweets		Birdie Song
36		NEW		Haircut 100		Love Plus One
37		NEW		Diana Ross		Mirror Mirror
38		NEW		Rhoda With Special AKA		The Boiler
39		NEW		Mike Post & Larry Carlton		Theme From 'Hill Street Blues'
40		NEW		Daryl Hall & John Oates		I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Shakin' Stevens

Oh Julie

His worst yet. It took just three weeks to reach the top, but thankfully only spent one week there (we have the chart cock ups of the time to partly thank for that small mercy). One piece of good news for the Shaky haters is that it would be almost four years before he stood at number one again.

Bucks Fizz

Land Of Make Believe

Yes it was a low new entry at 35, but I knew that this was going to be big. It was number five over Christmas, and had made it to the top by the middle of January, spending two weeks there. Good single, deserved it's success.

Kraftwerk

The Model / Computer Love

"Computer Love" droned on a bit and was a huge disappointment to me. But "The Model" was something else. Unfortunately, the DJs seemed to prefer playing "Computer Love" at the time of it's original release in July 1981, so it faltered at number 36.
Now Five months or so later, someone had picked up on "The Model" and the single re-entered the chart, eventually spending a week at number one in February 1982.

Stranglers

Golden Brown

Change of sound from the Stranglers, but was it really OK for the Stranglers to release singles that my Dad liked ?
There was in fact a sinister underlying side to this. The song was about heroin, but no one said anything at the time, and the BBC completely missed it (as did the rest of it). Had they known, this wouldn't have had a cat in hells chance of ever getting airplay. But it became the Stranglers' biggest ever hit spending two weeks at number two.

Kool And The Gang

Get Down On It

Another Kool And The Gang single that hardly impressed me. The vocals were good (as usual), but the song didn't do it for me. It became their biggest hit to date by reaching number three.

Human League

Being Boiled

Eight months since they'd made their commercial breakthrough, and the league had turned into a synth bersion of Abba. But before the girls had joined the band, they had a totally different sound about them. It could have been viewed as a very adventerous sound, but much as I've tried to like it, most of it comes across as pretentious claptrap. There were a few exceptions though, and both sides of this single came into that category. "Being Boiled" is better than any track on the 'Dare' album and I find it very surprising that it hadn't been a hit in the first place. The B Side "Circus Of Death" was even better, and could very easily have been stretched into a concept album. All round, it was one of the best singles of 1982, it reached number six.

Jon & Vangelis

I'll Find My Way Home

'The Friends Of Mr Cairo' was the name of the album, and this was the outstanding track on it (ok, there was another one, but I won't go into that now). The music had a kind of 'nice' quality about it, and the vocals, well, they wouldn't have sounded right had they been by someone with a deep voice. All in all, a perfect single. It gave them a number six hit.

Dollar

Mirror Mirror

Good single, but I didn't rate it as highly as "Hand Held In Black And White". In fact I was quite surprised when it peaked at number four in the middle of January.

Meat Loaf

Dead Ringer For Love

Meat Loaf had little success in the singles chart before this was released. We all know about the huge success of the 'Bat Out Of Hell' album. His follow up was supposed to be 'Bad For Good', but he lost his voice and Jim Steinman recorded that instead. Then Jim came up with a new (not quite as good) set of songs and Meat recorded the 'Dead Ringer' album. A few weeks after the album release, the first track to be lifted as a single was "I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us". I wasn't convinced of it's pedigree, neither were the public, it only reached number 62. Then, come November, Tiswas showed a short clip of Meat Loaf and Cher performing this one. I was surprised because I'd not previously read anywhere that it was to be released.
So, it entered the chart in the first week of December at 36, but didn't move the following week. Two weeks after that, it had only got as far as number 30 for Christmas, and after seven weeks in the forty, it stood at number 26. Then came the the big climb to number seven, followed by a drop to nine and another climb to five in it's tenth week on the chart. It eventually dropped out in the middle of March after 14 weeks in the forty.
Incidentally, the drop from 7-9 followed by the climb to 5 can be attributed to a change in the sample period used by BMRB in compiling the chart. They began using the period Saturday-Friday, instead of Monday-Saturday. This meant that most of the sales generated by TOTP appearances did not figure until the chart two weeks later. Many singles had strange chart movements in early 1982 because of this. BMRB soon reverted back to the old way of doing things, but lost the chart contract to Gallup at the end of the year after 14 years of compiling it.

Christopher Cross

Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)

Chris Cross (also the name of a member of Ultravox) had enjoyed massive stateside hits with "Sailing" and "Ride Like The Wind", but we hadn't been interested. The parent album didn't do that well over here and none of knew anyone who owned a copy. It would be five years or so before you noticed a copy in someone's collection with a "Sale- 99p" sticker still attached. Even this single had failed to make the top 40 when originally released in October 1981, settling for a number 56 peak.
Now, it had re-entered following the release of the film "Arthur" starring 'Dudley Moore' and 'Liza Minelli'. It gave the Mike Batt lookalike his only major hit and attained a number seven peak.

Foreigner

Waiting For A Girl Like You

Another late in the year release that seemed to be around forever in the early months of 1982. They'd been having minor hits for over three years, never rising above number 24. That number 24 peak was achieved by their first classic "Cold As Ice". Here was their second. In the States, this spent ten weeks at number two. It didn't do quite as well over here, peaking at number eight, but it's parent album 'Foreigner 4' sold by the bucketload.

Human League

Don't You Want Me

Funny that the fourth single to be lifted from an album was the most successful, it spent five weeks at number one. Also, I didn't think that this sounded as 'modern' as their previous hits. I'd even go so far as to say that this had a Seventies feel about it. Then again, I've never been convinced that the Eighties happened as far as music is concerned. The Seventies seemed to carry over until around the end of '79, then the Nineties began. You're probably confused, but at least I know what I mean (honest).

Altered Images

I Could Be Happy

Well I was when I listened to this. Not quite as good as "Happy Birthday", but damn good anyway. Full of nonsensical lyrics about being in a tree and going on holiday, but that's why it still sounds good today. A reminder that music doesn't have to be serious, political or suicide invoking, it can also be full of fun. It should have shot straight to number one for Christmas. Instead, it reached number seven in January.

Mobiles

Drowning In Berlin

This was a good one. A little like Toyah in places, but it also had that unusual section that sounded as though it came from the film "Cabaret". The video still gets shown on VH1 from time to time and it still sounds good today. It reached number nine and was their only top forty hit.

Brown Sauce

I Wanna Be A Winner

This was Noel Edmonds, Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin from Multi Coloured Swapshop. A fun single about winning awards that couldn't really fail to become a hit. The video was quite amusing in places, particularly the part where Noel did his take on pretentious synth wizards. It peaked at number 15 at the end of January.

Four Tops

Don't Walk Away

The best single that the Four Tops had released since the classic "Reach Out I'll Be There" back in 1966. This slowly climbed until peaking at number 16 in it's sixth week.

O.M.D.

Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc)

THIS is the one that went "Joan Of Arc had a heart", not that other one, you know, th one that was actually called "Joan Of Arc". It was the third of a trio of excellent singles form the "Architecture And Morality" album, and it peaked at number four.

Madness

It Must Be Love

The Ninth successive top ten hit for Madness was a cover version of Labi Siffre's 1971 number 14 hit. They even persuaded Labi to appear in the video. Unfortunately, TOTP refused to play the video on account of it featuring members of the band playing electric guitars in a swimming pool. Apparently, it may have influenced children so much that they may have taken to swimming with a toaster or something. It reached number four this time around, and then number six ten years later.

Shakatak

Easier Said Than Done

The Status Quo or Beach Boys of dance music, everything they did sounded more or less the same. But, it was ok to like them even if you didn't normally go for this sort of thing. This was because piano player Bill Sharpe was a mate of John Peel and the girl singers (also known as the UK Sluts) were very pleasing on the eyes, especially Jill Saward. This single followed the pattern of the others, it seemed as though it was going to be a nice jazz-funk instrumental and then just when it seemed too late, the pleasant vocals came in.
I've been thinking, maybe that was the trouble with Shakatak, they were too pleasant. Jill Saward was wasted doing this, she should have been in a raunchy female metal band.

Alton Edwards

I Just Wanna (Spend Some Time With You)

Disco single that just seemed to go on without getting anywhere. I don't even remember hearing this being played in clubs at the time. It reached number twenty.

Phil Lynott

Yellow Pearl

Funny how both new entries in the first chart of the year had been around for quite a few months before belatedly making an impact. This one had only made number 56 the previous March, but after TOTP began using it as the theme to the show, it finally became a 'real' hit. Very different from what we normally expected from Phil, this was a collaboration with Midge Ure and vocals were scarce. It reached number 14.

Abba

One Of Us

As one reviewer commented at the time, it sounds as though Benny & Bjorn have been listening to Two Tone. Good job they made of it though, one of Abba's best songs lyrically. It spent three weeks at number three, and marked the occasion of their very 19th and last top twenty hit (save re-issues).

Adam & The Ants

Ant Rap

Some were disappointed with us, but I liked it. In fact I liked it much more than his recent four week number one "Prince Charming". It came in a strange picture sleeve where bits pulled away like an advent calendar. It also had a highly entertaining video starring Lulu and Mary Stavin. It also ended with the rat tat with a drum that began "Ant Music". After debuting at number nine, it eventually peaked at number three in it's fifth week. It was the last new single by Adam & The Ants.

E.L.O.

Here Is The News / Ticket To The Moon

Two for the price of one from the 'Time' album. Just like the previous "Twilight" single, both of these tracks did sound better when listened to on the album. Myself, I liked both because I was a fan. But I don't think they would have done anything for anyone indifferent to E.L.O. It reached number 24.

Rod Stewart

Young Turks

Rod certainly was back in form, this made it two great singles entering the chart in eight weeks. I didn't think that it was quite as good as "Tonight I'm Yours", but it was thereabouts. It peaked at number 11 in only it's second week, but it held on to chart status for a total of eight weeks.

George Benson

Never Give Up On A Good Thing

One of his better ones I suppose, but not too remarkable. It reached number 14.

Status Quo

Rock 'N' Roll

This was a strange state of affairs. Over a year previous, the Quo had released "What You're Proposing" followed by "Lies", both from the "Just Supposin' " album. They had since released another album "Never Too Late" and it's offspring single "Something 'Bout You Baby I Like". But now, they had lifted another single from the one year old album "Just Supposin' ". It was a good choice though, this was the best Status Quo single for some time and peaked at number eight.

Cliff Richard

Daddy's Home

This single had flopped when recorded by 'Jermaine Jackson' in 1973, just as it had when recorded by 'Shep And The Limelites' 12 years before that (though both hit the US top ten). So it hardly had the pedigree to become a hit by Cliff or anyone else. But it was an enormous hit that was only kept from the top by the 'Human League' during it's four week stay at number two.

Olivia Newton John

Landslide

I hadn't been too impressed with "Physical", but this was much better. In reaching number 18, it became Olivia's final top forty hit as a solo act. Her only later hits were re-issues and mega mixes of her previous duets with John Travolta, and a 1995 duet with Cliff Richard.

Elkie Brooks

Fool If You Think It's Over

Chris Rea was still virtually unknown in the UK despite having a minor (#30) hit with his original bersion of this in the Autumn of 1978. Elkie on the other hand, had plodded along with a few semi-major hits between 1977-1978 before seemingly running out of steam. So it was a little surprising to see her back in the top 40 amongst the Synth and New Romantic boys. Due to the crazy nature of the chart at that time, she entered at number 30, dropped out of the top 40, and then re-entered at number 29. She followed that with a couple of climbs to peak at number 17.
It was almost five years before she next bettered that position, but the single in question "No More The Fool", gave her her biggest ever hit with a number five peak.

Lindsey Buckingham

Trouble

Good solo debut from the Fleetwood Mac man. I'm amazed that this wasn't a much bigger hit. Sadly it peaked at number 30.

XTC

Senses Working Overtime

They'd been gaining momentum for a couple of years and finally reached a commercial peak with this single. It just scraped into the top ten at the anchor position to give them their highest charting single ever. Surprisingly, it was to be ten years before they entered the top forty again, and that was with the number 33 peaking "The Disappointed". I bet they were !

Japan

European Son

Here I am, European son, sometimes a passenger !
What was all that about ?
Nails screaching down a blackboard
An instrumental version (or someone else on vocals) may not have been so bad.
Number 31.

Stiff Little Fingers

Listen

Another farewell to the 40 single. This one was actually an EP that also featured "That's When Your Blood Bumps", "Two Guitars Clash" & "Sad-Eyed People", but "Listen" was the best track. This number 33 peaking single is my favourite of all their top 40 hits (all 3 of them ! ), but alltime favourite single by them was the one that had preceded this, the number 68 peaking "Silver Lining" from the previous Summer.

Tweets

Birdie Song

If you know someone who bought the 1997 hit "Tubthumping" by 'Chumbawamba', look at their parents (or maybe their older brother/sister). You are now looking at someone who probably bought this single, helping it to spend two weeks at number two and a total of twenty weeks in the top 40. They probably spent their Summer holiday in Spain that year and did the stupid dance to this record every night of their holiday. They probably woke up every morning and spent time practicing the said dance, so that they would be sure of getting it right that evening. They probably spent the following six months forcing people to view their holiday snaps. They probably got nowhere in life.

Haircut 100

Love Plus One

This I did like, and still do. I'd rather not see them performing it, just listening can raise happiness levels very nicely thank you. It was their second and biggest hit peaking at number three, though it did falter a little on the way. After entering at number 36, it didn't move the folowing week, then shot up to number 12, up one to 11, two weeks at number four before peaking in it's seventh week.

Diana Ross

Mirror Mirror

No, this wasn't Diana's version of the current Dollar hit, but Diana Ross singles seemed to be coming at us from all directions at this point in time. She'd recently signed to Capitol, and now not only were Capitol milking her latest album for all it was worth, but Motown were also plundering her back catalogue and their vaults for single releases. This had been released just a week after Motown's latest release, the number 75 peaking "Tenderness". This didn't do too well though, it peaked at number 36. It was ok in a kind of "Thanks I've heard it, what was that one you did last year ?" kind of way.

Rhoda With the Special A.K.A.

The Boiler

This was originally earmarked for the Bodysnatchers to record, but most of them wanted to sing nice happy songs and formed the Belle Stars instead. So, serious Bodysnatcher Rhoda teamed up with the Specials to record this nasty little tale about an attempted rape. Considering the subject matter, it wouldn't seem right for anyone to say that they enjoyed this single, or even to say that it was good. It was, interesting. Reached number 35.

Mike Post & Larry Carlton

Theme From 'Hill Street Blues'

Quite a nice piece of music, but it's biggest fault was that it sounded like exactly what it was, a TV theme. It reached number 25.

Daryl Hall And John Oates

I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Over five years after they'd first entered the lower reaches of the UK chart, and they finally achieved a 'real' hit with this one. As far as I'm concerned, it's nowhere near Hall & Oates at their best, but I like it anyway. It reached number eight.

In the top 50 this week, but failing to reach the top 40.

Joan Armatrading

No Love

Boring, she was capable of better. Reached number 50.

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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BACK TO THE 1982 INDEX
THE REMEMBER WHEN ARCHIVES
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Email: nige@innotts.co.uk

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