First of all, I thought I should mention something I should have done for 1981, the chart debut of Duran Duran with "Planet Earth". As we have roughly 300 records per year in the charts around this period, it's inevitable that not everything will be covered in these review, but as Duran Duran were considered one of the so called "big four" pop groups of the early 80s its something which should be mentioned.
So with Spandau Ballet debuting in 1980 and Duran Duran in 1981, the other two groups of the so called "big four" debuted this year. There was Culture Club who became the first of these groups to score a number one, their debut hit "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me". Then there was Wham! who debuted with "Young Guns (Go For It)".
The success story of 1982 though was The Jam. In what was to be their final year as a band, they scored a number one with "Town Called Malice/Precious", then they scored a number eight on import sales alone with "Just Who Is the 5 O'clock Hero", then a number two with "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow", and finally a number one with their final hit "Beat Surrender".
The Jam weren't the only band from the 1977 explosion of Punk bowing out the charts this year. It also saw the Boomtown Rats have their final hit with "House On Fire". Meanwhile The Clash had arguably their two best known hits this year with "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go". This was the last we'd see of them with Mick Jones in the group and would be three years until their next hit which would be their last aside from re-entries.
We also had arguably The Stranglers best known hit this year "Golden Brown". Along with Elvis Costello, they would be the only ones from the 1977 explosion of Punk who would have several more hits beyond this year, although Elvis Costello failed to make the top 40 with five different singles this year.
The popularity of Blondie had seemingly lessened this year with both their hits "Island Of Lost Souls" and "War Child" failing to reach the top 10 and the latter just making 39. It would be 17 years before they would have another hit.
After a year away, Elvis Presley returned to the charts this year with his 101st top 40 hit with a live version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight". Cliff Richard have two hits bringing his total to 78. We now have a new act in third place. David Bowie had three hits this year bringing his total to 32. Then joining Frank Sinatra in fourth place with 31 was Stevie Wonder who like David Bowie, had three hits this year, with Lonnie Donegan now in sixth with 30, now 20 years since his last hit.
As well as taking third place in terms of number of hits, David Bowie now has the longest streak of hits every year going back to 1972 after Rod Stewart failed to score a top 40 hit this year. One of his hits was his collaboration with 1952 debutant Bing Crosby "Peace On Earth - Little Drummer Boy". Bing Crosby became the third 50s act to have a hit in the 80s, but as he failed to have a hit in the 60s its still just Elvis and Cliff who have had a hit in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s so far. This would be the last we'd see of Bing Crosby on the charts.
One of Stevie Wonders hits this year was his first number one "Ebony & Ivory" with Paul McCartney. This was not released on Motown, but Motown did have a number one this year which was "I've Never Been To Me" by Charlene. The only other Motown top 40 hit this year was "Truly" by Lionel Richie.
If disco music was killed off in 1979 then nobody told the record buying public over here. The likes of Shalamar, Odyssey, Donna Summer and several more disco acts would continue to have hits this year.
It did however seem to be the end of the road for Jazz Funk music, with Shakatak being the only Jazz Funk act to have hits this year.
This was the year Madness has their only number one with "House Of Fun", but aside from Madness, the only 2 tone we had this year was "My Girl Lollipop (My Boy Lollipop)" by Bad Manners and "The Boiler" by Rhoda.
The 50s style music was now heavily relying on Shakin Stevens this year with him have five his including a number one with "Oh Julie". It was the last year we'd see Showaddywaddy on the charts with "Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp-A-Bomp-A-Bomp)".
The medleys had also gone out of fashion, with just the one medley charting this year which was "Stars On Stevie" by Starsound.
From the hard rock/heavy metal scene we saw the final hits from Motorhead with "Iron Fist", Rainbow with "Stone Cold" and Gillan with "Restless", whilst Black Sabbath has their penultimate hit and last one for 10 years with "Turn Up The Night". It also marked the beginning of the Bruce Dickinson era Iron Maiden with their first top ten hit "Run To The Hills". The years also saw the only top 40 appearance for Joan Jett & The Blackhearts with "I Love Rock 'N' Roll".
Going strength to strength though was Synth Pop music.
The year marked the beginning of Depeche Mode after Vince Clarke had left. They had three hits this year with "See You", "The Meaning Of Love" and "Leave In Silence".
Vince Clarke was back in the charts himself with his new group Yazoo with Alison Moyet. They debuted with "Only You" followed by "Don't Go" and "The Other Side Of Love".
It would be the final year in the charts for Visage with their final hit being "Night Train". Midge Ure's other group, Ultravox, still had plenty more hits in them and had two this year with "Reap The Wild Wind" and "Hymn". We also saw the start of his solo career with the single "No Regrets".
There were other notable debutants this year including Simple Minds with "Promised You A Miracle", A Flock Of Seagulls with "Space Age Love Song", Talk Talk with "Today", Tears For Fears with "Mad World" and Blancmange with "Living On The Ceiling".
After 30 years and several different nationalities having hits, we have the first act from Zimbabwe have a hit. Alton Edwards had a hit with "I Just Wanna (Spend Some Time With You)" which was his only hit. At the time of writing, he is one of just two acts from Zimbabwe to have a UK top 40 hit. I'll give the other one a mention when their time comes.
After having the first two Rap/Hip Hop records chart in 1970, we saw none in 1980 and in 1981 we had three Punk/New Wave acts have Rap/Hip Hop hits plus a novelty act. This year we had someone else from the Punk/New Wave scene do one, Malcolm McLaren with "Buffalo Gals". We also had "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five chart this year, which some will say was the third proper Rap/Hip Hop record to chart.
So this was the year some scenes were dying down, Synth Pop was gaining momentum and Disco still refused to die. What will we see in 1983?
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