January Charts: 1987

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Steve 'Silk' Hurley - Jack Your Body

2. The Blow Monkeys - It Doesn't Have To Be This Way

3. UB40 - Rat In Mi Kitchen

4. China Crisis - Best Kept Secret

5. Billy Ocean - Love Is Forever

6. Mental As Anything - Live It Up

7. George Michael And Aretha Franklin - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

8. The Christians - Forgotten Town

9. Eric Clapton - Behind The Mask

10. Julian Cope - Trampoline

11. Sam Moore And Lou Reed - Soul Man

12. The Mission - Wasteland

13. Rosie Vela - Magic Smile

14. Siouxsie And The Banshees - This Wheel's On Fire

15. The Bangles - Walking Down Your Street

16. Swing Out Sister - Surrender

17. Europe - Rock The Night

18. The Style Council - It Didn't Matter

19. Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

20. Carly Simon - Coming Around Again

21. Dead Or Alive - Something In My House

22. Pepsi And Shirlie - Heartache

23. Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish - Male Stripper

24. Michael Crawford And Sarah Brightman - The Music Of The Night/Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

25. Jets - Crush On You

There have been a few years so far that have started out really good but than the crap has come in subsequent weeks to ultimately bring the score down. This time it's been the opposite, it was looking bleak to begin with but got better.

1987 was the first year I properly remember music and the charts but that was part way through the year so this pre-dates that. Saying that, I'm sure I remember "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" by George Michael & Aretha Franklin being a new record and that nostalgia helps it into a respectable position.

Wham! had broken up in 1986 and backing singers Pepsi & Shirlie kicked off their brief Top 40 career with "Heartache". You can tell why it was brief. We also had Dee C Lee, the woman Pepsi replaced in Wham! as part of The Style Council showing why they're not so fondly remembered either.

The clear winner is Steve 'Silk' Hurley with "Jack Your Body" which was the first house number one. I gave it a score of 4 rather than 5 though because house was yet to fully develop as a genre and there would be better house records that would follow.

Nothing screams 80s to me more than synth pop but I wouldn't class any of these records synth pop. It was by no means finished as a genre, there were Pet Shop Boys number ones still to come for example but even they jumped on the acid house bandwagon at the end of the decade.

We do however have several records that have what I would call that 80s sound. One such example is 2nd placed "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way" by The Blow Monkeys which has been retrospectively classified as sophisti pop and there can be many debates as to what does or doesn't fit that description.

UB40 had arguably their best known original hit with "Rat In Mi Kitchen" proving they were more than just a reggae covers band. China Crisis is very much that 80s sound. Billy Ocean does a ballad but does it well. 

In the British Hit Singles book one band name that stood out to me was Mental As Anything. Once I had the ability to listen to anything on the internet I gave their 1 Top 40 hit a listen and realised I knew it all along.

Down the bottom we have "Crush On You" by The Jets. I like freestyle music and appreciate some of it is a bit cheesy but this is too much. To me it's not a million miles away from Five Star who had the worst Jan 1986 record.

Finishing 2nd from bottom for the 2nd year in a row is Sarah Brightman with more crap from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. This sort of music really isn't my thing, I find it quite painful to listen to.

Finishing 3rd bottom is "Male Stripper" by Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish which I just find cringeworthy and over the top.

After initially thinking we may be on for the lowest score yet we end up with one that's respectable.

Score: 40

We're 10 years old

Well that soon went. 10 years ago I was a 30 something obsessed with music who had stopped liking modern music and stopped following the charts but fascinated by the history of the charts.

I wanted to explore more into the history of the charts and came up with the idea of also picking a record of the year for every year. Then I thought I should find somewhere to document this so decided on a blog. Then I thought I could write other things across the music spectrum too hence the name My Random Music Blog.

Now I'm a 40 something still obsessed with music, still fascinated by the history of the charts and have got back to vaguely following them though can't be doing with the music in them. I know that Taylor Swift is currently at number one but have never heard the song in my life and would like to keep it that way.

Over the last 10 years I've spent countless hours writing posts and doing my research. I've come up with several ideas of themes to my posts, some a series that would take a few weeks and some that would take a few years.

The longest running of these is the UK number 40s which I started back in 2019 and in theory this could go on for as long as the charts are around. By the end of the year I will reach the end of 2024 after which I will stop because there's still the possibility of newer number 40s climbing the charts.

Moving forward I'm going to take a different approach. Instead of a certain series of posts falling on a certain day I'm going to move quicker with a theme of posts and try and incorporate more "random" posts. The latter has been somewhat lacking because I come up with an idea of a one off post but am too busy with the regular posts and end up either forgetting it or going off the idea.

The next new series of posts I'm going to do is revisit the record of the year. In the last 10 years I've learned more of the music but my tastes change over time too. Singling out one record is tough. I might be in the mood for some banging techno or might want something more ambient. There will be records that have grown on me and others that I'm now sick to death of.

Then again maybe I got it right 10 years ago. I'm yet to do the revisiting so don't know how different it will be but I can guarantee some will be different. Also being as long as 10 years ago I've since forgotten what some of them are and I'm not going to look back at what I picked until I've made my pick this time.

UK Number 40s: Central Cee - LA Leakers Freestyle (2022)

 

By the time you read this Central Cee could either have clocked up over 50 Top 40 hits or he may not have added to his current total at all. It took him just 3 years and 11 months to clock up his first 30 Top 40 hits. The only other chart acts to reach that milestone quicker at the time of writing was Elvis Presley in 3 years and 9 months and Glee Cast in 1 year and 10 months. The former ended up with more Top 40 hits than anyone else whereas Glee Cast had no further hits.

This was the 14th Top 40 hit for Central Cee and is pretty much what it says on the tin. It was a freestyle that Central Cee did that was recorded and made the Top 40. Given the nature of this record it was unlikely to trouble the top of the charts. 

UK Number 40s: D-Block Europe - Man in the Mirror (2022)

 

For many years AC/DC held the record for most Top 40 hits without a Top 10. This ended in 2012 when they finally scored a Top 10 and the record went to Super Furry Animals and Thunder who both still hold that record at the time of writing with 18.

They did look like sitting ducks with D-Block Europe quickly clocking up lower charting Top 40 hits. Then when they reached their 18th Top 40 hit they finally made the Top 10.

This was Top 40 hit number 23 which sees them back in more familiar territory. Although credited to D-Block Europe it's actually a solo effort from D-Block Europe member Young Adz.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 48

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.

So this is the records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

27. The Lightning Seeds - Life's Too Short

Dance music was so big in 1999 that it seemed like everyone was jumping on the bandwagon. This included The Lightning Seeds with this record, a departure from their more guitar orientated sound from a couple of years earlier. It's actually a decent record and was their final Top 40 hit to date.

Verdict - Good

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 10.5/30, or 35%. I feel I was right in predicting the last week that was above 50% would be the last one.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 48

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Andre Van Duin - De Buurtsuper

As we head towards the end of the year one of my observations of the Dutch Top 40 in 1995 is the sheer quantity of novelty records. I know we have our fair share in the UK but it feels like the Dutch had many more. Here's another example, it's from a comedian in Dutch but you can tell from the lack of proper singing that it's a novelty record.

Extince - Spraakwater

We've had all sorts in the Dutch Top 40 in 1995, from happy hardcore to Eurodance, from novelty records to carnival music. One thing we're yet to have is Dutch hip hop, until now. This was the Dutch Top 40 debut for Extince and his biggest hit. Given rap has a lot to do with lyrics it's going to be extra difficult to score a hit in Dutch outside of Holland.

T-Spoon - A Part Of My Life

One thing I've learnt about T-Spoon is that you don't really know what way the record is going to go. This is very much going in the Eurodance direction, almost bordering on happy hardcore but being a bit too soft. Perhaps a bit more predictable is the male rapped verse and female sung chorus.

January Charts: 1986

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Dire Straits - Walk Of Life

2. James Brown - Living In America

3. Feargal Sharkey - You Little Thief

4. The Alarm - Spirit Of '76

5. Billy Ocean - When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)

6. Kurtis Blow - If I Ruled The World

7. King - Torture

8. Belouis Some - Imagination

9. Fine Young Cannibals - Suspicious Minds

10. Latin Quarter - Radio Africa

11. Talk Talk - Life's What You Make It

12. Double - The Captain Of Her Heart

13. Clannad - In A Lifetime ft Bono

14. Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper/La Vie En Rose

15. AC/DC - Shake Your Foundations

16. Ruby Turner - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) ft Jonathan Butler

17. Audrey Hall - One Dance Won't Do

18. Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Cut Me Down

19. Arcadia - The Promise

20. Diana Ross - Chain Reaction

21. Nana Mouskouri - Only Love

22. Eurythmics - It's All Right (Baby's Coming Back)

23. Su Pollard - Starting Together

24. Whitney Houston - How Will I Know

25. Madonna - Borderline

26. Sarah Brightman And Steve Harley - The Phantom Of The Opera

27. Five Star - System Addict

January is widely regarded as the most depressing month of the year, a time when the days are short, the weather is cold and we're broke after Christmas. A significant number of these records feel like they reflect that January mood.

It was a close contest between the Top 2 for the best record but I decided "Walk Of Life" by Dire Straits just about pips it. It's the first record that springs to mind when I hear the name Dire Sraits and I love that intro.

Just missing out was James Brown with "Living In America". Surprisingly this was his only UK Top 10 hit. It was also the only one of his UK Top 40 hits that he didn't write himself but he's on good form performing it.

In 3rd place we have "You Little Thief" by Feargal Sharkey which was the lesser known follow up to his chart topper "A Good Heart" and musically at least is one of the more uplifting records this month.

The Alarm are ever reliable with "Spirit Of 76" and although "When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)" by Billy Ocean is overplayed I still find it a fun record to listen to.

Rap music first hit the UK Top 40 in 1979 but it never really got going in terms of consistent hits until 1986. The first of these was "If I Ruled The World" by Kurtis Blow who'd previously had the 2nd rap Top 40 hit in 1979 with "Christmas Rapping".

Down the bottom of the table we have Five Star with "System Addict". They had quite a sizeable number of Top 40 hits in a short period and all the ones I've heard are really cheesy and rubbish.

Just above we have "The Phantom Of The Opera" by Sarah Brightman & Steve Harley which is just your typical musical record that I don't like.

Madonna and Whitney Houston are also examples of crap from the 80s and find themselves near the bottom as a result.

We have TV theme "Starting Together" down near the bottom too but to it's credit it's supposed to be a rubbish record.

1976 goes down in history as the year music lost its way and whilst 1986 wasn't as bad there was definitely a blip thanks to the rubbish records bringing down the score.

Score: 39