1983
Week 5
WEEK ENDING 29TH JANUARY 1983

TOP 40 SINGLES

TW ..... LW ......   ......  
1   2   Men At Work   Down Under
2   1   Phil Collins   You Can't Hurry Love
3   4   Eddy Grant   Electric Avenue
4   3   Wah   The Story Of The Blues
5   19   Belle Stars   Sign Of The Times
6   8   Joe Jackson   Steppin' Out
7   7   Maisonettes   Heartache Avenue
8   20   Laura Branigan   Gloria
9   5   Keith Harris   Orville's Song
10   33   Kajagoogoo   Too Shy
11   27   Echo And The Bunnymen   The Cutter
12   23   U2   New Year's Day
13   9   Stranglers   European Female
14   12   Incantation   Cacharpaya (Andes Pumpsa Daesi)
15   6   David Essex   A Winter's Tale
16   11   Malcolm McLaren And The World Famous Supreme Team   Buffalo Gals
17   24   Dire Straits   Twisting By The Pool
18   26   Fleetwood Mac   Oh Diane
19   28   Billy Griffin   Hold Me Tighter In The Rain
20   13   Renee And Renato   Save Your Love
21   10   Madness   Our House
22   25   Melba Moore   Mind Up Tonight
23   15   Dionne Warwick   All The Love In The World
24   NEW   Indeep   Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
25   31   Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes   Up Where We Belong
26   17   Culture Club   Time (Clock Of The Heart)
27   18   Ultravox   Hymn
28   14   Modern Romance   Best Years Of Our Lives
29   32   Beatles   Please Please Me
30   21   John Williams   Theme From E.T.
31   38   Sharon Redd   In The Name Of Love
32   16   Bucks Fizz   If You Can't Stand The Heat
33   22   Donna Summer   I Feel Love
34   NEW   Wham   Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)
35   35   Level 42   The Chinese Way
36   NEW   Jam   Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
37   NEW   Jam   Going Underground / Dreams Of Children
38   NEW   Jam   All Around The World
39   NEW   Jam   News Of The World
40   NEW   Central Line   Nature Boy


1   Men At Work   Down Under
I knew of these through their previous single, the number 45 peaking "Who Can It Be Now?" (much better single in my opinion). This one sounded as I imagine the Police would have sounded had they a sense of humour more often. We thought that they were taking the mick out of Australia, but they claimed that they were taking the mick out of our view of Australia, or was it the other way around ?
It gave them their sole top twenty hit anyway. Oh yeah, it spent three weeks at the very top of the pile. Hardly deserved, so I suppose that it was a trendsetter for what began to occur on a regular basis ten years and a couple of weeks later.


2   Phil Collins   You Can't Hurry Love
This cover of the Supremes hit surprisingly gave Phil the first number one single of his career. But rarely have four words rang more true than the four that make up the title of this song.
I was going out with (dating) Sue when she bought this. I'd first met Sue at the Legion Disco in November. She was the sister of Richard, who was the boyfriend of a girl from the village named Marcia. Sue was short, shy, very pretty, but never wore a skirt. I like women to look feminine, so she wasn't really my type. But I thought that she was really sweet, and liked her a lot. I'd sat and chatted to her and even indirectly asked her out when I had more than a little Dutch courage, but she'd declined, something to do with my hair being too long. So I thought that was that. Somehow on Christmas Eve, I'd found myself leaving the Legion Disco at the same time as Richard, Marcia and Sue. Marcia suggested going to church for midnight mass. It isn't something I would normally do, but I thought "Why Not ?"
I remember the church being packed with people, but not much more about it, except that we didn't stay long. After that the four of us walked down the road towards home. I decided to walk their way down Albert Grove and on to Stanley Grove where Marcia lived (Richard and Sue were staying there for the night). Somehow, Sue and myself ended up linking arms, just messing about really. But we were walking much slower than the other two and soon fell behind. We were laughing and joking as we got to Marcia's gate and I felt a little sad that the night was over. I said to Sue "I'll see you again sometime then, Merry Christmas". I didn't expect what happened next (remember I said that she was shy). She leaned forward and kissed me. A little shocked, I responded and we snogged for a few minutes. I then asked her if that meant we could start seeing each other, she replied "Yes, if you want to". So that was how it started. It was another significant moment, maybe THE most significant moment in my life. It diverted me from which ever road I was taking in life. Things were never the same after this. She lifted me out of the doldrums, made me happier than I'd ever been in my life, but I was left at my lowest ebb when it was over.


3   Eddy Grant   Electric Avenue
It was a real street you know, a street where Eddy grew up in Brixton or something. We have an Electric Avenue here in Nottingham, it leads to Toys'R'us !
All of Edward's previous singles sounded pretty much the same (or maybe that's just a problem that I have with reggae), so this was a nice change and gets my vote for his best ever effort. It also included his original version of the recent Rocker's Revenge hit "Walking On Sunshine" on the flip (but RR's version was better). It reached number two and his next hit came along five years later. And, the one after that was a remix of this one in 2001.


4   Wah   Story Of The Blues
I wasn't sure about this to begin with, but it eventually grew on me and sounds even better today. Still don't think much of the B side though. It was part 2, and was a daft talking over the music thing, not really a rap, just, a talky thingl, OK ?
After entering at number 34, it climbed to number 6, then 3, and then fell for the remainder of it's eight chart weeks.


5   Belle Stars   Sign Of The Times
The biggest of the four hits enjoyed by this girl group. They were only around for a year as far as the top forty was concerned, but what they did in that time was fairly good, I really liked the album. They had been around since their debut single "Hiawatha" had flopped in 1981, but before that, they had been members of the Bodysnatchers. They hadn't actually left the Bodysnatchers, it was Rhoda & Nicky that had left after the others refused to sing politics. So, they just recruited a few more members, changed their name to the Belle Stars and made the best music of their career.


6   Joe Jackson   Steppin' Out
This WAS a surprise. Three years previous, Joe released two excellent singles that both became major hits. But he seemed to ahve faded away since that time. He hadn't stopped recording, in fact a new Joe single could be heard on the radio every now and then. They just hadn't been commercial enough, nothing there to catch the public's imagination. But this one did it and reached number six.
Now I don't know whether it's down to the happiness in my life at that time, but I thought this was a really good single.
This was the last hit for Joe apart from the odd uncredited appearance on other act's singles.


7   Maisonettes   Heartache Avenue
This band sort of evolved from City Boy (remember "5705" & "What A Night" ?). The singer 'Lol Mason' had a brother (twin I think), acting in the soap Crossroads at the time. The song was a very pleasant one with a sixties feel to it and it spent a couple of weeks at number seven. Nice follow up "Where I Stand" too, but that failed to chart.


8   Laura Branigan   Gloria
This was a continental foreign language hit for someone. Then Jonathan King got hold of it, wrote his own English lyrics, and failed to have a hit with it. Laura then recorded a completely different English version, and she DID have a hit. Great voice, great song and a lot of fuss was made over Laura's tight outfit, especially when she appeared on Noel Edmond's 'Late Late Breakfast Show'. It was the first of only two top forty hits for her, but we live in a far from perfect world anyway. It peaked at number six.
Personally, I think that Mr King's lyrics were just as good.


9   Keith Harris & Orville   Orville's Song
Too late to be a big Christmas hit, we had surely been saved. But alas no, this Bobby Crush written ditty shot up the chart in the new year and peaked at number four. For those of you lucky enough not to know anything about Orville, let me explain. Orville is a green duck wearing a nappy (diaper). I hate him. Keith Harris' other famous puppet Cuddles the monkey also hates him.
Many years later in the late Summer of 1995, I met Keith Harris. I was in the Blackpool nightclub at a special function where many celebrities were in attendance. Those twins from Neighbours were there (very nice they were too), Joe Pasquale, Les Dennis, Su Pollard, quite a few actually. Alex Higgins literally bumped into me and we chatted with him for a long time, great character, even let us take photos. Keith had done a bit of his act on the stage with Orville, but it was different than usual as he made the duck say things that he wouldn't normally say (and wouldn't be allowed to on kids TV). I eventually got to speak with Keith and we chatted for quite a while. He was quite an interesting person and once more I had my photo taken that night. But when he asked me what I thought about Orville's performance that night, I replied, "I like your monkey, but I can't stand that duck". I wasn't being serious (well, not much), but I don't think that he was very pleased. He went off to find someone else to talk to.


10   Kajagoogoo   Too Shy
Discovered/Produced/whatever by Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, this debut single by the band shot quickly up the chart to spend two weeks at number one. Though they have been much derided in later years, this was a great pop single and fully deserved it's success. After two further hits, lead vocalist Limahl left for a solo career and Nick Beggs took over the vocals. But they only managed two hits without Limahl and exactly a year after their debut hit fell out of the chart, their final hit was spending it's last week in the chart.
Now, about what I said above: I may have only liked it because Sue liked it, so it may not have been that great a pop single.


11   Echo And The Bunnymen   The Cutter
Didn't like this one bit, I would have put it in the pile with Orville, total annoyance. But I quite like it now, not a bad track at all. It reached number eight.


12   U2   New Year's Day
U2's big breakthrough, after this single there was no looking back. They'd spent a couple of years on the fringes of success with 1981's "Fire" being their biggest success with a lowly number 35 peak. But this one went all the way to number ten and helped it's parent album 'War' to enter the album chart at the top.
If you're anywhere near a radio at a couple of minutes after midnight on New Year's Eve/Day, flick through the stations and you'll find this playing somewhere. As mentioned in the commentary for "E.T." (number 30), I was nowhere near a radio that night, I was in the lounge of the Great Western Inn with Sue. But this song reminds me of that New Year's Day all the same.
Early that afternoon I got on my Kawasaki KC 100 and rode the short distance to Marcia's house. A few minutes later, Sue, Marcia & Richard got into Marcia's Dad's (Dennis) car and I followed them to Sue's home. It seemed a hell of a long way on that freezing cold day, but it was only about six miles to that cottage up in the mountains. I met just about all the (very nice) family (loads of siblings), and there was that nice aroma that you get from those wood stove things. I stayed until about 9pm and we then said our very long goodbyes outside.
We saw each other every day after that (while it lasted). By a week or so later we'd got into a routine. On Monday and Wednesday, I would go to her house and spend the evening there with her and her family until about 10:00pm. That wasn't as bad as you may think, her Dad John, was a really nice man with a good sense of humour. For some reason he liked to call me "Harry Fenton", never quite sure why. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would pick her up approx 5:30pm, take her to my house and then take her home about 10:00pm. On Fridays I would pick her up and we'd spend the weekend together until I took her back home on Sunday evening. So we spent a hell of a lot of time together in this particular New Year.


13   Stranglers   European Female
After going into easy listening territory with "Golden Brown" and "Strange Little Girl" the previous year, I did expect the Stranglers to revert back to their noisy selves in 1983. But no, they kept with the smooth kind of sound that wouldn't have seemed out of place on 'then unfashionable' Radio Two. It was the first of three acceptable singles from the 'Feline' album. The album was better than the previous 'La Folie' album, but it can't really be compared with the previous albums, as they had a totally different sound and could easily have been recorded by a totally different band.
The single hit number nine to become their sixth top ten hit. They had to wait five years for the seventh.


14   Incantation   Cacharpaya (Andes Pumpsa Daesi)
I don't care what they were catching, I hated it and it seemed to be around for much longer than the eight weeks it actually did spend in the chart. It peaked at number 12, and I believe that "Andes Pumpsa Daesi" means "Music Of The Andes". What I find odd is that the band were British, I thought they were from Peru or somewhere like that.


15   David Essex   A Winter's Tale
This often appears on Christmas compilations, but I've never regarded it as a Christmas song. For a start, it didn't peak at number two until the middle of January. And another thing is that it reminds me of my relationship with Sue, that really was "A "Winter's Tale".


16   Malcolm McLaren & The World Famous Supreme Team   Buffalo Gals
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.


17   Dire Straits   Twisting By The Pool
It actually sounded as though the band were standing up when they recorded this track, quite different from the usual laid back stuff. It was also surprising that they had released this instead of taking a second single from their 'Love Over Gold' album. There again, the said album only contained five tracks (all better than this one). This was the last new Dire Straits track we'd hear before April 1985, so it's a pity that it was a little disappointing, reached number 14.


18   Fleetwood Mac   Oh Diane
After "Hold Me" and the magnificent "Gypsy" had failed to make the top forty, there was no way that this weak effort was going to do it. But after appearing on various TV shows, including a live satellite link-up on 'The Late Late Breakfast Show', it went all the way to number nine. It was only their second top twenty hit with the classic Rumours line up.


19   Billy Griffin   Hold Me Tighter In The Rain
Former singer with the Miracles with his sole UK top 40 solo hit. Well at least it was a good one, worthy of a top ten place in my opinion, though it only reached number 17. Billy also had a good single out in early '84 titled "Serious", that should have been a hit too.
Billy also said that he likes my website, so he's an all round good bloke !


20   Renee And Renato   Save Your Love
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.


21   Madness   Our House
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.


22   Melba Moore   Mind Up Tonight
Nothing special, but neither was her previous one. There was still a little in the way of good stuff to come from the disco stable, but it was getting harder to find. Melba had given us her lot in the Seventies with "This Is It", "The Greatest Feeling" and "Pick Me Up I'll Dance". This final top forty hit for her reached number 22.


23   Dionne Warwick   All The Love In The World
Another track from the Gibb produced "Heartbreaker" album, and I preferred this to the title track. It peaked at number ten in January.


24   Indeep   Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
I liked this one. Yes, I know that it was wrong and I ought to be thoroughly ashamed of myself, but I did. It was just a simple disco song with a bit of a rap in there, but I found it highly infectious. Not only that, but the 12 inch had an a cappela version and also the isolated sound effects of a car screeching, a phone ringing, and a toilet flushing !
This nice little compendium of sounds reached number 13.
There were fairly unsuccessful covers of this by Cold Jam (1990 #64) & SYLK 130 (1998 #33). Boyband 5ive more or less covered it with their 1999 number two hit "If Ya Gettin' Down" (even covered the rap). Finally, Mariah Carey covered it on her 2001 album 'Glitter' and it will no doubt see single release sometime in 2002.


25   Joe Cocker And Jennifer Warnes   Up Where We Belong
As most of us know this number seven peaking single was from the movie 'An Officer And A Gentleman'. It was Joe's first hit since 1970, and only his third top ten hit overall. What I remember most about this song though is the performance where Joe's arms were more animated than I've ever seen them, and I'm sure that watching his limb movements sent Jennifer cross eyed.


26   Culture Club   Time (Clock Of The Heart)
And I thought that this classy follow up to "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" sounded like a Shalamar track. It looked set to repeat the success of it's predecessor when it climbed from number 34 to number nine, but instead had to settle for a week at number three.


27   Ultravox   Hymn
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.


28   Modern Romance   Best Years Of Our Lives
This moved slowly up the chart, but it ultimately become their biggest hit. An alternative version complete with a Christmas feeling helped it to peak at number four in it's eighth week on the chart. Yet another different version appeared on their 1983 album 'Trick Of The Light'.


29   Beatles   Please Please Me
In January 1963 this was the second official release by the Beatles and the last one not to hit number one for four years when it peaked at number two. It did top some charts, but in the chart now recognised as the official one, it didn't.
It was now re-released on picture disc on it's Twentieth Anniversary, but fell short of expectations by only reaching number 29.


30   John Williams   Theme From E.T.
Didn't like it much. When played on the top 40 countdown, it was time to go and put the kettle on. It reached number 16.
As for the film, there was all that business about pirate videos doing the rounds a couple of months before it came out. It didn't exactly harm business though, everyone seemed to want to see it after that hit the media. I wasn't that bothered myself, but I do have a little story loosley connected to it.
When I woke on Christmas Day, I felt a little sore from my beating of the previous evening. Then I remembered that Sue was now my girlfriend and felt pleased with myself. I didn't have her phone number, neither did I know where she lived (except that it was somewhere up in the mountains near Minera), but I knew that wouldn't be a problem as I could contact her through her brother Richard and his girlfriend Marcia. And that's what I did and through them we arranged to meet on New Year's Eve. So after spending most of the week between Xmas & New Year in the pubs, hanging around with my good friend Claire and explaining to my Dad about the broken window, the night finally came.
I was really nervous waiting in the Legion, but finally Sue walked through the door with R & M. After one drink in there, we went along to the Community Centre. Richard & Marcia had tickets for a New Year's disco in there, we were going to try and get in too. We failed, so bid our goodnights to R & M and walked back towards the Legion. I asked her if she'd like to go into the Vaults, she said ok, so we went in there and had one. After that we walked down to 'The Great Western Inn' commonly known as 'The Nant'. That was ok and we spent the rest of the evening in there. I can't remember what we talked about, but I do remember her telling me that her favourite singer was Shaky, it didn't put me off her though. We left about 1:30am and I walked her back to Marcia's house where she was staying the night.
When we arrived, she asked if I wanted to come in for a while, so I did. Marcia and Richard were already in bed, as were Marcia's parents. So we went into the living room, sat down and smooched. We must have been there together for near an hour and during the course of that time, I did ask at one point if she'd like to go and see E.T. (see, I said there was a connection). She said OK (she seemed very agreeable on everything). I also remember that I fell asleep for probably less than a minute, I just felt so comfortable and relaxed with her. I remember her cute voice saying "You're not falling asleep are you ?". I replied "No, not quite".
But, I left soon after that. As I was leaving, I asked when could I see her again (expecting the reply to be next weekend or something like that). I was pleasantly surprised when she said "Tomorrow if you like, come to my house". So that's what I did, and we saw each other everyday after that until March 4th. This story continues with the commentary for U2's "New Year's Day" (number 12 this week).


31   Sharon Redd   In The Name Of Love
It wasn't "Never Give You Up", but it was pretty good all the same. Another classic for the dance floors. Only number 31 though.


32   Bucks Fizz   If You Can't Stand The Heat
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.


33   Donna Summer   I Feel Love
Five years after spending four weeks at number one, this was remixed and extended to 15 minutes by Patrick Crowley. It was a job well done and is one of my favourite 12 inch singles ever. It eventually reached number 21 and spent eight weeks in the top forty.


34   Wham   Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)
Much better than "Young Guns", it seemed lyrically quite good at the time. I'm not so sure these days though. Still catchy all the same and still gets my vote as a better than average single. Reached number eight.


35   Level 42   The Chinese Way
I thought that this was very boring. There was nothing here to suggest that they were going to be very successful for the remainder of the decade. Biggest hit to date, reached number 24.


36   Jam   Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
The Jam had split a couple of months ago, so just like when they finally had a number one three years previous, Polydor decided that it would be a good idea to re-issue all of their singles. So, I'm going to also re-issue my commentaries from when these songs were hits the first time around.
For many (myself included), this was the Jam's finest moment. Prior to this, it seemed that most could take or leave them, but this one made people sit up and take notice of Paul Weller's songwriting ability. This was the first of 12 consecutive top twenty hits (up until they disbanded), but only reached number 15. When re-issued in 1983 it charted again and peaked at number 30.


37   Jam   Going Underground / Dreams Of Children
IN 1980, this was the first single to enter the chart at number one since Slade had done it in 1973 with "Merry Xmas Everybody". With the exception of the very first number one in 1952, this was the very first time that a new entry at the top had been by a band that had achieved no previous number ones at all. Having said that, this was only the tenth single to enter the chart at the top since the UK charts began, and the Jam were only the seventh act to do it. The first eight Jam singles had all failed to reach the top ten, while the ninth had made number three, this was the tenth.
So why did it go straight into number one, after all there always used to be a very good reason when a single did that ?
The popular theory would be that the Jam were loved by the 'new mods', and so were hugely popular enough to get all those mods running to the shops at the weekend to send it soaring straight to the top (the extra disc with the live recordings may have helped too). This would be partly true, but there is a bigger reason. It was common practice for singles to be released towards the end of the week, Thursdays & Fridays. So, they only had 2-3 days sales in their first chart week. That's why so many big hit singles entered at a low chart position and then took a massive climb the following week, look at how many of Abba's top five singles entered below number 20.
Polydor normally released all of their singles on Fridays, but switched to Mondays at the time of this release. This ensured optimum first week sales and a higher chart debut debut. I doubt that they expected a debut so high though. At the time, Music Week, BMRB, Polydor, and the daily newspapers and TV all reported that this single was the first to enter at number one since Gary Glitter's "I Love You Love Me Love" in November 1973. Very embarrassing for Polydor considering that the Slade single in December 1973 had been released by them !
These events seemed to be quickly forgotten about, but I assure you that they are true, even down to Record Mirror (who got their facts right) predicting that Monday releases would become standard procedure.
Anyway, it spent three weeks at number one, which was still at that time the minimum number of weeks that any number one debuting single had stayed on top.
So, three years later it was back with a more modest debut at 37. It reached number 21 this time.


38   Jam   All Around The World
This was their big breakthrough hit. It climbed to number 13 and spent eight weeks in the forty in 1977. It also boasted a decent b side in "Carnaby Street" (as most singles did in those days). Check out the box set 'Direction Reaction Creation', it includes all of their studio work from 1977 to 1982, an essential purchase for lovers of late 70's/early 80's music.
On it's 1980 re-issue it reached number 43, and now in 1983, it reached number 38.


39   Jam   News Of The World
Not one of the best singles that the Jam ever released. But, they had already built up a fan base strong enough to ensure at least a minor hit with every release. This one reached number 27.
The 1980 re-issue made number 53, while in 1983 it made number 39.


40   Central Line   Nature Boy
This was quite a good cover and it gave them their only top 40 entry. Reached number 21.


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

Jam   David Watts / 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street
"David Watts" was an excellent 1978 cover of a Kinks song that was even better than the original. It seemed to be a really popular song of the day (especially on jukeboxes). Quite odd then that it only peaked at number 25.
I remember listening to this as I was hooking grass down the Gwenfro Riverside Walk, studying every word that came out of the radio. To be honest, I was quite disappointed to discover that it was a cover version.
The other track 'A Bomb In Wardour Street' wasn't bad either.
The 1980 re-issue reached number 54, in 1983 it was number 50.


Jam   In The City
First hit for the Jam, and it spent just one week in the top 40 in 1977. Three years later, it spent another week at number 40. Now another three years down the road , it reached number 47. But in 2002 (25 years after it's original release), it reached it's highest chart position of number 36.

Once the opening couple of lines are out of the way, I can take it or leave it.


Jam   Strange Town
The Jam were still unable to crack the top ten as this seventh single peaked at number 15 in 1979. It was an ok song, but they'd already done much better.
One year later it reached number 44 when all the Jam singles were re-promoted. Then, after the 1982 split, it was re-issued in early 1983 and peaked at number 42.


In the top 75 this week, but failing to reach the top 40.


Jam   The Modern World
In late 1977, this wasn't as good as their previous single "All Around The World", but still a gem of a single. Speaking of 'gems', I think that it's parent album 'This Is The Modern World' is one very under-rated album. The single peaked at number 36, and the Jam would never peak that low again except with re-issues. The re-issues of this single peaked at number 52 in 1980, and 51 in 1983.


Jam   When You're Young
Still chasing that elusive first top ten hit, the Jam peaked at number 17 with this single in 1979. Good track, but the B Side "Smithers-Jones" was much better.
It reached number 53 when re-issued in 1983.


Jam   That's Entertainment
This was actually a German import and not intended for British release. This would explain it only reaching number 21 in early 1981. 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'.



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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