I will be 50 soon. I can scarcely believe it. To mark the passing of time, and all of its sickening crimes, I'm going to be counting down (or, rather, up, I suppose) the tracks that were number 1 in the charts on my birthday, starting from the day I was born and working up to the present.
What will be #1 on my 50th? I don't care really - chances are I'll loathe it anyway. Anyway, here goes - part two:
- Feels Like I'm In Love - Kelly Marie: complete with pew-pew percussion
- Tainted Love - Soft Cell: love this... but not as much as Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
- Eye of the Tiger - Survivor: I pity the fool who doesn't think this is the best thing about Rocky III
- Red Red Wine - UB40: ubiquitous ever since. Not a patch on the original, of course...
- I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder: I know he's a genius but, controversy alert, this is pap, isn't it?
- Dancing in the Street - David Bowie and Mick Jagger: noble, but this begat the worst video in history
- Don't Leave Me This Way - The Communards: oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, baby!
- Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley: Christ, this series has been Rick-rolled
- Groovy Kind of Love - Phil Collins: almost as great a crime as the train robbery (see what I did there?)
- Ride on Time - Black Box: colossal. I didn't like it
Amazing how unrepresentative this is of my 80s. Where's The Jam and The Style Council? The Smiths? The Wedding Present? Billy Bragg? It's almost like me and the charts don't correlate ... something to be proud of, eh? Here's the best track of that sorry lot, just pipping The Communards to the right to be embedded. Enjoy. Part three next week.
Source: officialcharts.com
Things did get a bit whiffy from 1987 onwards. Not just your list, but in general. The biggest selling single of the week far removed from my record collection.
ReplyDeleteWhiffy is about right, I reckon.
DeleteMy comments from last time stand. The biggest hits of the day never represented what was really going on in music but some memorable tunes there and the soundtrack to my 20s. Think for me the Communards would have just pipped Soft Cell, but a close thing. Tainted Love by Gloria Jones of course one of the most popular Northern Soul records played at many an all-nighter.
ReplyDeleteYes to the Gloria Jones original!
DeleteThe worst video in history just get a whole lot better
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/BHkhIjG0DKc
Genius! Clickable link: https://youtu.be/BHkhIjG0DKc
DeleteThat is just brilliant - Made my day.
DeleteBloody hell, apart from a few as you say, it's a dire selection. How unrepresentative of my '80s too, although very familiar at the same time as right in the middle of it (1983 - 1987) I was standing behind the counter handing over far too many copies of those very records to those undiscerning members of the public (wishing I could secretly switch them inside the bag with a New Model Army or a Jesus and Mary Chain!)
ReplyDeleteDire indeed. And next week, with the 90s, well, don't get me started...
Delete