REMEMBER WHEN - 20TH FEBRUARY 1982

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1982
Week 8
WEEK ENDING 20TH FEBRUARY 1982

TOP 40 SINGLES

TW	.......	LW	.......		.......
1		1		Jam		A Town Called Malice / Precious
2		2		Stranglers		Golden Brown
3		18		Soft Cell		Say Hello Wave Goodbye
4		6		O.M.D.		Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc)
5		4		Kraftwerk		The Model / Computer Love
6		8		Tight Fit		The Lion Sleeps Tonight
7		3		Shakin' Stevens		Oh Julie
8		7		Christopher Cross		Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)
9		5		Meat Loaf		Dead Ringer For Love
10		17		XTC		Senses Working Overtime
11		12		Haircut 100		Love Plus One
12		11		Daryl Hall & John Oates		I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
13		22		AC/DC		Let's Get It Up
14		23		George Benson		Never Give Up On A Good Thing
15		13		Shakatak		Easier Said Than Done
16		10		Mobiles		Drowning In Berlin
17		26		J. Geils Band		Centrefold
18		32		Olivia Newton John		Landslide
19		9		Bucks Fizz		Land Of Make Believe
20		14		Kool And The Gang		Get Down On It
21		29		Elkie Brooks		Fool If You Think It's Over
22		20		Alton Edwards		I Just Wanna (Spend Some Time With You)
23		16		Human League		Being Boiled
24		39		Toni Basil		Mickey
25		19		Jon & Vangelis		I'll Find My Way Home
26		NEW		Madness		Cardiac Arrest
27		21		Four Tops		Don't Walk Away
28		NEW		Jets		Love Makes The World Go Round
29		NEW		Earth Wind And Fire		I've Had Enough
30		NEW		D-Train		You're The One For Me
31		40		Depeche Mode		See You
32		30		Mike Post & Larry Carlton		Theme From 'Hill Street Blues'
33		NEW		Iron Maiden		Run To The Hills
34		25		Brown Sauce		I Wanna Be A Winner
35		NEW		Kraftwerk		Showroom Dummies
36		NEW		Fun Boy Three & Bananarama		Tain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It
37		27		Altered Images		I Could Be Happy
38		24		Dollar		Mirror Mirror
39		15		Foreigner		Waiting For A Girl Like You
40		RE		Theatre Of Hate		Do You Believe In The Westworld

Jam

A Town Called Malice / Precious

This did shock me. After the two very disappointing singles they released the previous year, the last thing I expected was for the Jam to enter the chart at number one with their first release of 1982. "A Town Called Malice" was nowhere near as good as 1980's "Going Underground" and what had come before it, But it was 'almost' worthy of it's number one position anyway. The other track must have helped to keep it there for three weeks. "Precious" introduced a dance element to the Jam's music, and was a much better track in my opinion. One historic week, they performed both tracks on Top Of The Pops.
The 1993 re-issue reached number 73.

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.

Soft Cell

Say Hello Wave Goodbye

Different tempo to the first two, but another good single. Strange that the object of Marc's affection seemed to be a woman all things considered. It reached number three.
The very unexciting David Gray covered this in 2001.

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.

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.

Tight Fit

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

I thought that we'd seen the last of these after their two medleys of Sixties hits had charted the previous year. But now they were back with a whole song, a song that had reached number 11 for the Tokens in 1961, number 34 for for Dave Newman in 1972, and a bigger number four hit for Karl Denver in 1962 under it's other title "Wimoweh". But this version was even bigger, it unbelievably spent three weeks at number one for Steve Grant and two scantily clad women. Scantily clad women or not, Steve appreciated the more mature woman and took up with Eartha Kitt.

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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.

AC/DC

Let's Get It Up

Oh, innuendo in the title, how clever !
I don't usually have a problem with AC/DC. They did some good stuff when Bon Scott was handling the vocals, but they made some music that was just as good with Brian Johnson. But this was the start of a short period when I couldn't seem to get into anything that they released. It was unusual that this single debuted on the chart at such a high position as number 14. They were not exactly prolific when it came to reaching the upper chart positions, they have never reached the top ten in over two decades of releases. It didn't go much higher though, only one more place actually.

George Benson

Never Give Up On A Good Thing

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

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.

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.

J. Geils Band

Centrefold

Not bad, but the video wasn't as sexy as they thought it to be. It reached number three.
Now, if those young women had been dressed as St. Trinians schoolgirls instead of American schoolgirls, then that would have been a different matter.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Toni Basil

Mickey

Previously recorded by Racey on their album "Smash And Grab", this was a big number two hit for Toni. Much was made of the fact that Toni had taught David Bowie to dance, and also that Toni released a video of her album with promos having been made of all the tracks. It was shown on TV very quickly, but stopped a long way short of being thoroughly entertaining. The only other song I can remember is the track "Nobody", a much better song than "Mickey" but a failure as a single.
The 'Lolly' woman took this to number four in 1999.

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.

Madness

Cardiac Arrest

Madness suffered a major setback due to the chart compiling cock up that was present for the first few months of 1982. After entering at number 26, the extremely entertaining video was shown on TOTP, but the single then dropped to number 28. It climbed to number 14 the following week, dropped to 15 and then back to 14. Had the charts been running properly, it would undoubtedly been their tenth successive top ten hit, and their final total would have been 16 in a row.

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.

Jets

Love Makes The World Go Round

Unbearable. Entered at 28, dropped out of the 40 (Hurrah !), Re-entered at 26 (Groan), climbed to 21 (winge), and then spent it's final two weeks falling (Ah, sanity prevails). But why did they have to do it ?

Earth Wind And Fire

I've Had Enough

Many had. Another slight victim of unrational chart behavior, it spent just this one week in the forty, but it was hardly a classic track anyway. This was the beginning of the 'For Fans Only' era for EWF. This was their very last week in the 40 save for a re-mix of September over 17 years later.

D-Train

You're The One For Me

A great dance track, though I don't remember actually seeing anyone getting up to dance when it was played at the Legion, Wynnstay, or Community Centre discos. It peaked at it's number 30 debut position.
Paul Hardcastle later informed the world that it was his favourite single ever, and he remixed it in 1985 and it reached number 15. Paul looked very pleased with himself when he appeared on TOTP with them.

Depeche Mode

See You

Slightly different, a cleaner sound than their previous two, looked as though they may survive without Vince Clark after all. Sure enough, it became their highest charting single to date when it reached number six. They only bettered that position three times in the remainder of the 20th Century, but at least they did survive into the 2000s.

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.

Iron Maiden

Run To The Hills

At last, I liked an Iron Maiden single. This was the first of four successive singles that I liked by them. It was also their first top ten hit and reached number seven. Their second top ten hit didn't come until 1988.

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.

Kraftwerk

Showroom Dummies

More like "Computer Love" than "The Model" and not very good at all. It reached number 25.

Fun Boy Three & Bananarama

Tain't What You Do It's The Way That You Do It

Fun Boy Three's second single and our introduction to Bananarama. Good catchy single that didn't seem to suffer from the chart disturbances as it shot up to a number four peak.

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.

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.

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.

Theatre Of Hate

Do You Believe In The West World

Not a bad single at all, I wish I'd bought it. It entered at number 40, dropped out, re-entered at 40 and then disappeared. That was the last we saw of them in the top 40.

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

Human League

Holiday '80 EP

This was originally released in 1980 when it reached number 56 and was a double single. A certain hit singles book lists this re-issue as also being a double single, but my copy isn't, it's just one disc. Still wasn't a hit anyway, reached number 46 this time.

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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Email: nige@innotts.co.uk

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