Best Song: Queen And David Bowie - Under Pressure
Regular readers of this blog will have no doubt read me saying I've never got the fuss about David Bowie and that almost everyone has one good record in them. Well this is the one good David Bowie record in my opinion. It's also one of the best Queen hits and I liked it enough to sing at the Cubs Christmas Concert when I was a kid.
Worst Song: Kim Wilde - Cambodia
Kim Wilde already had the worst song in the Top 40 in 1986 and she's done it again in 1981. It was Kim Wilde trying to take a more serious direction in her music and failing spectacularly before resorting to cheese to revive her career.
Top 40 Review
The Christmas number one in 1981 was "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League which is one of the best Christmas number ones but is only good enough for half marks.
There were 3 Christmas records in the Top 40. Slade and John Lennon were back in the Top 40 with their big Christmas hits whilst just scraping into the Top 40 was "Christmas On 45" by Holly And The Ivys which is carrying on the 1981 tradition of medleys.
Also carrying on that tradition was Chas and Dave who did "Stars Over 45". A record that was Christmas related in that it was by the Snowmen was "Hokey Cokey". Other novelty records in the Top 40 were "The Birdie Song (Birdie Dance)" by Tweets and "I Wanna Be A Winner" by Brown Sauce who were the presenters of the TV show Swap Shop. All these records get zero.
The highest charting song to get full marks was "It Must Be Love" by Madness, one of those classics that's hard not to like.
The duos Jon & Vangelis and Godley & Creme both consisted of members who had previously charted in other bands and both had records in this Top 40 which were pretty good.
We also had the 70s disco groups turned 80s post-disco pioneers in Earth Wind & Fire with "Let's Groove and Kool & the Gang with "Get Down On It". I like the former but the latter has always irritated me for some reason.
The soul music came from who were by this point former Motown acts. The Four Tops had "Don't Walk Away" which I'm not going to pretend is as good as their older records because it isn't, but still decent enough. Then there was Diana Ross with her cover of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" which is alright.
A lot more records get full marks than half marks in this Top 40 but that's due to there being a lot of crap in the Top 40. We at least reach double figures though.
Score: 11.5
Table
The consistency from the 80s is now gone, though at least 1981 is better than any year in the 21st century:
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