Entertainment For Lively Minds
Number One
As a kid in the late seventies and early eighties, I used to listen to the chart rundown most weeks. It mattered. And as one slightly obsessed with chart statistics, (as well as cricket and football statistics) I loved the Book of Hit Singles that came out every other year. I even used to go through it page by page ticking off with a pencil the songs I knew well enough to sing. It was a rare page that didn't have twenty small ticks.
As a lover of pop music (which I remain to this day) I've always derided the lazy consensus that damns decades and eras as being musically worthless, maintaining that even in fallow periods, there were always great hit records that had the strength to redeem the time.
That was until I happened to stumble over the wikipedia page UK Number Ones of 1982.
Bucks Fizz - Land Of Make Believe
Shakin' Stevens - Oh Julie
Kraftwerk - The Model / Computer Love
The Jam - A Town Called Malice / Precious
Tight Fit - The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Goombay Dance Band - Seven Tears
Bucks Fizz - My Camera Never Lies
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder - Ebony And Ivory
Nicole - A Little Peace
Madness - House Of Fun
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Charlene - I've Never Been To Me
Captain Sensible - Happy Talk
Irene Cara - Fame
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie
Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance
The Jam - Beat Surrender
Renee and Renato - Save Your Love
There are a couple of decent pop songs, Dexys and Culture Club, an ok-ish late Jam number (Malice), but the rest? Seriously, has there ever been a worse year for chart toppers?
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Enlighten me
As to your difficulty with Mr Weller, and the Madness?
No difficulty with either
But I doubt you'd find a Jam or Madness fan that ranked these particular songs anywhere near the peak of their output. Competent songs, not great ones.
I'd argue that 'Malice' was the best thing The Jam ever did.
Beaten to the punch
^^^^
Ob I'm not so sure
For me there are 9 pretty good pop songs out of 21. Not a bad hit rate.
Given that I was 7 in 1982
That all pretty much all reads like musical heaven. Seriously.
Beat Surrender is a fooking TUUUUUUUNNNNEEE!
Stonking brass section, an impassioned vocal from Mr W and a great lyric. Turn the bugger UP!!!! Town called Malice = ok-ish. Does it, me arse.
"And a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts, hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry"
Thats up there with the best a British songwriter has ever produced
And House Of Fun - subversive Carry On type lyrics about buying condoms masquerading as kiddies pop songs. Its everything pop music should be.
I feel I must throw Mr Weller's words back at yer "That bullshit is bullshit, its just goes by different names"
And don't get me started on 'Goody Two Shoes'
Good day, sir..........I said, good day!
I have one word for you
Succum-beh?
Looks fine to me. How about 1992:
Wet Wet Wet "Goodnight Girl"
Shakespears Sister "Stay"
Right Said Fred "Deeply Dippy"
KWS "Please Don't Go"/"Game Boy"
Erasure "Abba-esque EP"
Jimmy Nail "Ain't No Doubt"
Snap! "Rhythm Is a Dancer"
The Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode"
Tasmin Archer "Sleeping Satellite"
Boyz II Men "End of the Road"
Charles and Eddie "Would I Lie To You?"
Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You"
Ah, Shakespears Sister.
When I was 13, this just about made me die.
As for the OP, that looks no worse than any year you could pick at random. Obviously there are some stinkers, but there are some great tunes too.
The records by
Boyz II Men and Charles and Eddie are absolute gems.
KWS however, well...
1992 - The Worst year ever for UK music
Obviously there are some good tunes but as a whole that year was the bottom of the tank.
There was something funny going in 1982
The charts were all over the place. I remember Haircut 100 coming in at No 32 with Love Plus One - they got on TOTP - and then stayed at No 32 the following week. Heeere comes the Dumper! But no! The following week it went to Number 4.
The Jam, Culture Club, Musical Youth, Eddy Grant, Adam Ant, Madness and especially Kraftwerk. All really good songs.
I think 1977's roll of honour is far, far worse. Fank gawd fer punk!
http://www.number-ones.co.uk/1977-number-ones.html
Music before
format radio and TV.
Fact: you could go to a nightclub (prolly called a 'disco' then) and hear, in sequence, The Cult, Sinitta, Iron Maiden, Kylie, Talking Heads, and Depeche Mode played back to back.
Something for everyone, perhaps. No pills required.
If you own 1982 Cult records get 'em on ebay now
Very Rare Cult
Have a friend with a
Southern Death Cult tattoo on his arm. What's the going rate?
How about
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
Or 1990-1999
In the OP I found 4 pretty good songs, in the list 1990-1999 I also found 4. For a whole decade.
How could we forget 1976, what
with TOTP on at the moment. Truly horrendous.
http://www.number-ones.co.uk/1976-number-ones.html
That's a bad list?
The following are absolute pop gems and I'd follow up with an individual argument for each if I didn't have to go for that job promotion interview this morning which is now more important than the charts. I'm not 12 anymore. Arse.
Bucks Fizz - Land Of Make Believe
Kraftwerk - The Model / Computer Love
The Jam - A Town Called Malice / Precious
Madness - House Of Fun
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Captain Sensible - Happy Talk
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie
Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance
The Jam - Beat Surrender
Kraftwerk at number 1 for god's aake!??!
Agree
Except please remove Survivor and Eddy g from your list and add Irene. Thanks ;-)
Well 4 of them are
4 out of 21 isn't too bad - it's also a bit of a skewed year as there are several that sat at the top spot for ages (IIRC)
My 4 from the original list ?
Kraftwerk - The Model / Computer Love
The Jam - A Town Called Malice / Precious
Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance
The Jam - Beat Surrender
Eddy Grant - he's a god, isn't he ?
Strikes me as a nice lively playlist
I want it on in the background, now! (Although I might skip through Renee and Renato)
Surely Some Mistake?
You can't mean that about Renee and Renato can you? These were true genre-busters, introducing back into the mainstream pop charts that light operatic romatic sound that for so long had been confined to advertisements for ice cream.
From Wikipedia
Renato was a fan of Aston Villa F.C. and during the early 1990s was asked by manager Ron Atkinson to sing "Nessun dorma" at half time following a particularly poor first half performance by the team. On completion of his performance Atkinson told the players "Now that is passion! Go and show me some of that in the second half"! When Atkinson appeared on the TV show Room 101, Atkinson claimed that only Luciano Pavarotti could sing "Nessun Dorma" better than Renato.
If it's good enough for Big Ron then it's good enough for me.
"Save your love" stayed at number one in the charts for four weeks. Not bad at all. In fact it took the fingernails-on-a-blackboard Phil Collins remake of "You Can't Hurry Love", (which was for a very long time impossible to avoid even by people wo lived in underground bunkers) to finally dislodge the duo from the chart topping spot.
Question: if this song was performed by, say, Elvis Costello, or The Smiths, would it attract the same level of scorn? I think not. Let's face it, the real reason for our comtempt is Renato's Italian accent, reminiscent as it is of the excruciating Shaddup your Face.
I think it's time for a critical reappraisal.
I conceed that
this is the second thread in the space of a week that the Spanish Cultural attaché for the early 1980's has appeared in. Their star is clearly in the ascendency.
I still think the song would have been better received if the record companies original choice of artists was allowed to stand. Ironically this was originally intended to be a duet consisting of the afore mentioned Ron Atkinson (which explains his strong emotional outburst) and Anna Karen best known for playing the character Olive from On the Buses.
It was only the threat of court action that has avoided the song being used as another attack on the Christmas number one for this year. England’s world Cup hero Martin Peters expresses his disappointment on the FA’s website that his planned debut single singing alongside Dianne Lee (formally of Peter’s and Lee) has been postponed until the issue of band naming rights has been settled amicably with the estate of the band’s former lead singer Lennie.
Mulls ...
... No, it's still horrible; not quite as bad as Joe Dolce, but it's on the same playlist in Hell.
!
The thought that my ridiculous question might have caused even a moment of mulling has cheered up an otherwise rather dull day!
My work here is done
Joe Dulce!
What's a madder you? Have you gotta no respect?
They've all got their merits
No doubt the Massive can find some Guilty Pleasures there.
I love 1982
It is my absolute favourite year for pop music ever. Without a doubt on my part. I have not changed my mind on that since 1982. 1981 and 1983 are close behind, but that one.
16 of those get a regular listen on the Pod, along with hundreds of other songs from that year.
And as far as Bucks Fizz goes, My Camera Never Lies is a brilliant brilliant single. SO na na na na na etc etc
I like the Fizz so much I wrote this once:
http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/2009/05/merry-month-of-may-day-14-my...
Kraftwerk
Any year with Kraftwerk in the charts has to be a good one doesn't it?