January Charts: 1988

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Jack 'N' Chill - The Jack That House Built

2. Public Enemy - Bring The Noise

3. INXS - New Sensation

4. Depeche Mode - Behind The Wheel

5. Deacon Blue - Dignity

6. The Stranglers - All Day And All Of The Night

7. Two Men, A Drum Machine And A Trumpet - Tired Of Getting Pushed Around

8. Terence Trent D'Arby - Sign Your Name

9. Luther Vandross - Give Me The Reason

10. Billy Idol - Hot In The City

11. Bourgeois Tagg - I Don't Mind At All

12. The Screaming Blue Messiahs - I Wanna Be A Flintstone

13. Sharpe And Numan - No More Lies

14. Joyce Sims - Come Into My Life

15. Motley Crue - You're All I Need

16. Black - Paradise

17. Eddy Grant - Gimme Hope Jo'anna

18. Jermaine Stewart - Say It Again

19. The Fall - Victoria

20. Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Jennifer She Said

21. AC/DC - Heatseeker

22. Robert Plant - Heaven Knows

23. Elton John - Candle In The Wind (Live)

24. T'Pau - Valentine

25. George Michael - Father Figure

26. Aztec Camera - How Men Are

27. All About Eve - Wild Hearted Woman

28. Bananarama - I Can't Help It

29. Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky

30. The Beatmasters - Rok Da House ft The Cookie Crew

31. Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

32. Sweet Tee - I Got Da Feelin'/It's Like That Y'All

33. Debbie Gibson - Shake Your Love

34. Taylor Dayne - Tell It To My Heart

35. Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

Well this was a tough batch to get through. 35 records when the most we've had previously is 28. I certainly remember several of these charting the first time but to be honest it's not really given me the nostalgia I thought it would.

The top record this month is one I have fond memories of from Now 11. "The Jack That House Built" by Jack 'N' Chill was an acid house record, not something I knew anything about at the time but perhaps even back then there were signs I'd go on to be a raver.

Another acid house record was "I'm Tired Of Getting Pushed Around" by Two Men, A Drum Machine And A Trumpet which was also on Now 11 which I liked but not to the same extent. The "Two Men" were the Fine Young Cannibals members who weren't Roland Gift.

There was also what was said to be the first hip house record in the charts in "Rok Da House" by The Beatmasters ft The Cookie Crew, also on Now 11. That ones not so good, more to do with the rapping and The Cookie Crew themselves have said they don't particularly like it.

Similarly on an actual rap record I find the voice of Sweet Tee irritating on both of the tunes on her double a-side which finds itself near the bottom. Public Enemy on the other hand have an excellent record in "Bring the Noise" which comes in 2nd.

The bottom 3 records really are the worst of the worst from around this time. Even my young self couldn't stand Tiffany, Taylor Dayne or Debbie Gibson at the time. The order I've put them in more or less reflects how many times I've heard them since 1988, Tiffany gets played all the time, Taylor Dayne gets played often enough but fortunately you don't really hear the Debbie Gibson record anymore.

Back to the top and in 3rd place we have the INXS debut "New Sensation" and they were very much a band I was into as a kid. Depeche Mode on the other hand never made a big impression on me until later on in life and "Behind The Wheel" is an excellent record.

Deacon Blue made their debut with "Dignity", certainly a record I've known since the late 80s but it wasn't until "Real Gone Kid" later on in the year that they had a real impact on me. Take nothing away from "Dignity" though, a great record.

The Stranglers did a great cover of "All Day And All Of The Night" and I'm pretty sure this was the first version of this record that I'd heard. 

Being the late 80s we inevitably have Stock Aitken & Waterman records. There's the Kylie Minogue debut "I Should Be So Lucky" which even my young self thought was a bit naff. Then we have "I Can't Help It" by Bananarama which was the final Top 40 hit them before Siobhan left the group. Again even my young self wasn't a fan.

As I was discovering music for the first time there are certain cheesy pop records I'll always like as a result. Not in this batch though, the records near the top would have got their higher scores regardless.

Score: 41

UK Number 40s: Juice Wrld - In My Head (2022)

 

Juice Wrld was a rapper who's had a more successful chart career since he died than when he was alive. He died in December 2019 just after turning 21. At this point he had 3 Top 40 hits to his name that reached 10, 39 and 33 respectively. Then a month after his death he topped the charts in collaboration with Eminem with "Godzilla". 

This was his 10th posthumous Top 40 hit. He had finished recording it by August 2019 but didn't get released until 3 years later. 

Whether we'll see future hits from Juice Wrld remains to be seen. Given his young age when he died there's only going to be so much of his work that exists that the general public are yet to hear.

UK Number 40s: Lil Nas X - Star Walkin (2022)

 

Lil Nas X topped the charts with his Top 40 debut "Old Town Road" in 2019. Depending on what criteria you want to use it could be said that was the biggest Billy Ray Cyrus hit as he featured on it, though not credited. 

This was Top 40 hit number 7 for Lil Nas X and was the theme to the 2022 League of Legends World Championship. What's that? I hear you ask. It's an esports tournament, so basically a video game competition. Quite how popular esports are I don't know, but it didn't really seem to help this record for chart success.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 49

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:

30. Lustral - Everytime

More trance music from 1999. This was the only Top 40 hit for Lustral but they were the same people as The Space Brothers. This one is trance with a breakbeat and I do like a bit of breakbeat. That's what makes this record really.

Verdict - Good

27. Gouryella - Walhalla

The 2nd and final Top 40 hit to date for Gouryella which was one of many aliases of Ferry Corsten. I will admit this one is a bit on the cheesy side and probably inspired some pretty dreadful trance records that came out in the 21st century. I like it though, I guess this is the way to make it.

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 10/30, or 33%. Not long to go now.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 49

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

Paul Elstak - Don't Leave Me Alone

Although this record never topped the Dutch Top 40 it gives a good indication of how big happy hardcore was in the Dutch charts at the time. Most records entered the Top 40 and climbed their way up but this entered at number 10 in it's first week. It was the 4th Top 40 hit of the year for Paul Elstak, all Top 10s and this and "Love You More" were both number 2s. 

Dune - Can't Stop Raving

A reminder it wasn't just the Dutch who were pumping out happy hardcore hits, the Germans were at it too. This is the record I'm most likely to think of when I hear the name Dune. It featured on lots of tapes well into the late 90s and I have a memory of listening to this on a Vinylgroover tape whilst driving up the A1.

Army Of Lovers - Give My Life

From a UK Top 40 perspective Army Of Lovers are a Swedish one hit wonder with their only hit being "Crucified" in 1992. They made it to 3 Top 40 hits in Holland with this being the last one of them. This was the record where band member La Camilla returned to the group. It would be short lived though as they broke up the following year. Until the reunion of course.

Frans Bauer - Verloren

I'll be honest, these male Dutch pop singers singing in Dutch are starting to merge into one now. It inevitably happens when you get much of the same thing.

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.