The S19 contemporary music thread.

[Stephen Morgan]

Here we go again, a new season, a new era, and time to look at the charts of early 1982.

As we begin a new year we see some of the Christmas novelty hits hanging around in the charts. Holly and The Ivy's with Christmas on 45 ( a pastiche of all the Stars On, beat handclap, beat handclap, singles that were in vogue throughout '81) Chas and Dave also cover this genre with their hit Stars over 45 which in the first week of the year is at its peak of #21. We also find re-issues of Slade and John Lennon's Christmas hits at 31 and 28 respectively. Undoubtedly though the biggest novelty hit comes from The Snowmen with Hokey Cokey which reaches a high of #18.
The Christmas #1, and for the first two weeks of January, comes from The Human League with Don't You Want Me.

I give you now the top twenty for the w/e 9th January 1982.

20 Diana Ross Why Do Fools Fall In Love?
19 Kim Wilde Cambodia
18 Imagination Flashback
17 The Tweets The Birdie Song
16 Duran Duran My Own Way
15 Police Spirits In The Material World
14 Rod Stewart Young Turks
13 Status Quo Rock n Roll
12 Foreigner Waiting For A Girl Like You
11 Godley and Creme Wedding Bells
10 Altered Images I Could Be Happy
9 Jon and Vangelis I'll Find My Way Home
8 Dollar Mirror Mirror
7 Kool and The Gang Get Down On It
6 Cliff Richard Daddy's Home
5 Abba One Of Us
4 Madness It Must Be Love
3 Adam and the Ants Ant Rap
2 Bucks Fizz The Land Of Make Believe
1 Human League Don't You Want Me

A couple of singles of note just ouside the top twenty this week include Phil Lynott's Yellow Pearl which will reach #14 in a couple of weeks time. This track was used as the new theme for Top Of The Pops for a little while.
At # 31, and after three weeks on the chart, we find Brown Sauce with I Wanna Be A Winner. Brown Sauce were of course Noel Edmonds, Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin from Swap Shop. The song was written by B A Robertson and eventually reached # 15, it was written as a theme for the "Eric's", awards Edmonds gave out to various personalities, it became popular with Swap Shop viewers who clamoured to buy it when it was released as a single.

[Rob McCow]

Ah, this is more like it! I can almost remember some of these - mainly the magnificent 'The Birdie Song'. Absolute masterpiece that one! It appeared at many a pre-teen birthday party along with 'Knock Three Times' (if that's what it was called), 'Superman' and 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'.

[Stephen Morgan]

Ah, this is more like it! I can almost remember some of these - mainly the magnificent 'The Birdie Song'. Absolute masterpiece that one! It appeared at many a pre-teen birthday party along with 'Knock Three Times' (if that's what it was called), 'Superman' and 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'.

The Birdie Song was one of those things that was popular on the continent, people brought it back from their summer holidays and it hung around the charts for months reaching number two back in October '81, only kept off the top by Adam and the Ants Prince Charming. Annoyingly, as it was dropping down the charts Christmas gave it an extra impetus and it kept jumping back into the twenty.
There were also a few variations of it which reached the very lower reaches of the charts and which turned up on a couple of K Tel compilations, one I have is by The Waders called The Qwaka Song which is quite hilarious as it's played as duck calls. Believe me, it has to be heard to be believed.

[SiHart]

That's a fantastic chart there- I remember them all very well indeed. The Top 5 is a really strong set of songs. One of Us remains my favourite ABBA song to this day, and their last really big hit, sadly.

[Stephen Morgan]

Here's the top twenty for w/e 30th January 1982. Due to the quick turnaround on Dr Who meaning a new story every two weeks, there's not much change in what's in the charts, but here we go.

20 Alton Edwards I Just Wanna (Spend Some Time With You)
19 Shakatak Easier Said Than Done
18 Madness It Must Be Love
17 Joan Of Arc (The Waltz Joan of Arc) Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark
16 Four Tops Don't Walk Away
15 Brown Sauce I Wanna Be A Winner
14 Mobiles Drowning In Berlin
13 Altered Images I Could Be Happy
12 Human League Don't You Want Me
11 Foreigner Waiting For A Girl Like You
10 Christopher Cross Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)
9 Meatloaf Dead Ringer For Love
8 Dollar Mirror Mirror
7 Jon and Vangelis I'll Find My Way Home
6 Human League Being Boiled
5 Kool and The Gang Get Down On It
4 The Stranglers Golden Brown
3 Kraftwerk The Model/Computer Love
2 Bucks Fizz The Land of Make Believe
1 Shakin' Stevens Oh Julie

A few notable entries in the lower reaches of the top 40 come from Hall and Oates with I Can't Go For That (No Can Do), Mike Post with the Theme From Hill Street Blues, a popular American police show, Rhoda and The Specials aka with a grim track about date rape called The Boiler, believe me, the track starts off quite innocently but builds up to a terrifying climax. If you've never heard it I urge you to check it out.
Also making their mark are Nick Hayward and Haircut 100 with Love Plus One, the latest boy band trend with a pretty good album in Pelican West, Love Plus One was their second single, following Favourite Shirt into the top five. Hayward later aimed for a mediocre and disappointing solo career.
In this week's top ten we find The Human League with Being Boiled, It's actually a reissue of an early track following the success of Don't You Want Me. It's a dark track condemning seri-culture, the act of boiling silk worms alive.
The number 3 sound from German Band Kraftwerk is also a reissue, first time around in mid 1981 the track got to number 36, this time around it gets to number one, that's after Shakey's 7th hit and 3rd of 4 number one's, Oh Julie.

[SiHart]

I always liked Love Plus One, though it wasn't as good as Favourite Shirt.

[Dirk Gently]

Some great songs in there. Season 14 on-wards had some great music running along side them. Although Computer Love is a bit of a weird song.

[Jeff]

My dad used to watch Hill Street Blues all the time.

[Jon Masters]

My dad used to watch Hill Street Blues all the time.

"Let's be careful out there "

[Jeff]

I didn't watch it. Just my Dad. I remember the theme song though.

[Dave Tudor]

It's a dark track condemning seri-culture, the act of boiling silk worms alive.

Not the most obvious subject for a top ten single....

I'm not a great fan of 80s music, despite this being the decade in which I grew up, and for me, I think that after the highs of 1980 and 1981, musically, 1982 was where the rot began to set in. However, there were still some great singles around and I can remember most of these - although I have no idea who Alton Edwards and The Mobiles were!

[Stephen Morgan]

....I have no idea who Alton Edwards and The Mobiles were!

Well!!!!!!! now you mention it.

All I can find out about Alton Edwards is that he was a Zimbabwean, and I Just Wanna was his one and only UK hit. He did however write and record a song called Thank You From Africa to thank the Western artists for their help in fund raising for Africa, mainly Ethiopia.
Apparently Edwards is still active on the UK circuit working frequently with Angelo Starr and Alexander O'Neal. (information depending on how up to date Wikipedia is on this artist)

The Mobiles were a synth pop band from Eastbourne. Drowning In Berlin (whose intro always reminds me of the music from Logopolis) was their biggest hit reaching # 9 early in '82. The follow up, Amour Amour only reached # 45. Further singles did not chart and they quickly faded into obscurity, although The Best of The Mobiles is available from archive specialist label Cherry Red.

[Jon Masters]

Great stuff, Steve.

BTW, does anyone else hear the Pick of The Pops music in their heads when they're reading one of Mr Morgan's informative posts ? (not half )

[Stephen Morgan]

Great stuff, Steve.

BTW, does anyone else hear the Pick of The Pops music in their heads when they're reading one of Mr Morgan's informative posts ? (not half )

Just call me Fluff, 'cos after all that's just what this stuff is, fluff and ephemera. All good fun though. Not half.

[Nyder]

I can sing ALL those songs. Luckily for Planet Skaro, no-one will be able to hear me.....

[SiHart]

I remember my Mum being upset that The Goombay Dance Band were number 1 when my brother was born that she refused to have the song played for him on hospital radio!

[Stephen Morgan]

I remember my Mum being upset that The Goombay Dance Band were number 1 when my brother was born that she refused to have the song played for him on hospital radio!

No more upset than I was. I had just bought the Japan single and the Derek and the Dominos 12" and expected one of those to be number 1.