UK Charts Best Year Search: 1986

What's this all about?

Top 40

Best Song: Queen - Friends Will Be Friends

Back when Freddie Mercury died and Queen became my favourite band for a year or so, I acquired their 2nd greatest hits album and this was probably my favourite one on it, certainly one of them. I loved the guitaring on it and where "it's so easy now" is sung.

Worst Song: Samantha Fox - Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)

In 1970 my pick for worst song was "Spirit in the Sky" because it's always annoyed me. With the Dr & the Medics cover in this Top 40 it seemed inevitable it would be worst song in 1986. That was until I got to this record, page 3 model has pop career. The fact it's worse that an inferior cover of a record I can't stand shows just how bad this record is.

Top 40 Review

Queen weren't the only old timers to deliver the goods on this Top 40. We have "Can't Get By Without You" by Real Thing re-enter the charts. We also have "Invisible Touch" by Genesis which let's be honest could have just as easily been a Phil Collins solo record. We also have former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel in there with "Sledgehammer".

Sticking with former band members, we have Patti LaBelle of LaBelle and Michael McDonald of Doobie Brothers collaborate on "On My Own". Then there's Midge Ure from numerous bands going back to the 70s with "Call Of The Wild". Both records get the thumbs up.

Pet Shop Boys make the first of no doubt many appearances in these Top 40s to be reviewed with "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)" and will no doubt get full marks more often than not like they do here.

By 1986 standards we have 3 good records that are future sounding. They are "Paranoimia" by Art Of Noise With Max Headroom, "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz and "Jump Back (Set Me Free)" by Dhar Braxton, the latter being a Paradise Garage record.

It does seem like a chart in transition, the fact the final Wham! hit "The Edge Of Heaven" may have something to do with it. There's also the final Top 40 hit for Bucks Fizz which is ironically titled "New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)". Neither of those records are to my liking.

There are 2 rap records in there. We have "Amityville (The House On The Hill)" by Lovebug Starski which is OK and "(Bang Zoom) Let's Go" by Real Roxanne With Hitman Howie Tee which is crap.

Overall the good stuff is coming from the past or the future but little is coming from the present as it was. The final score is one that is fast becoming the 80s score.

Score: 14

Table

That's four 80s years with a score of 14, that's pretty consistent:

Bonkers Part 1

 

Today is 25 years since the first Bonkers album was released. I've been planning to write something about it for some time and keep thinking of more and more to write, to the point where a single post would be ridiculously long so I'm going to do it in weekly installments instead.

At the time you still had the likes of United Dance, Hardcore Heaven and Helter Skelter putting out compilations. It was Bonkers though that lasted the rest of the decade and then came back in the 21st century so in terms of popularity and longevity, Bonkers is the biggest Happy Hardcore compilation series.

It was both a blessing and a curse to the Happy Hardcore scene. The fact it was out there in record stores being bought by the masses was proof that Happy Hardcore had it's place in the dance music world. At the same time the name Bonkers and the cartoon covers meant the music was almost playing up to the negative stereotype it had been given.

Whilst Hixxy and Sharkey are both big names is the history of the scene, at the time Hixxy had only just played his first Helter Skelter the month before and Sharkey was an MC who had only just started DJing. What they were best known for though was the record "Toytown".

"Toytown" was also a blessing and curse to the scene. It was such a massive tune at the time, there was no getting away from it. But it's an undeniably cheesy record which in turn inspired other cheesy records that helped Happy Hardcore get it's reputation as being a bit of a joke. It divides opinion, personally I'm not a fan of "Toytown".

My introduction to Bonkers came via a friend who told me he'd just bought a compilation mixed by Hixxy and Sharkey and then gave me a copy of it.

Unsurprisingly the opening track on the Hixxy mix is "Toytown". It's a vocal mix with a bit of screeching over the top. As someone who doesn't like "Toytown, this wasn't a great start but I totally understand why this was done. Next up was the nearly as cheesy "Party Time" by Dougal & Eruption, but it's a cheesy record I like. 

A couple of Hixxy tracks followed before another Dougal track alongside Hopscotch, "Steam Train". This is the only record on there I dislike more than "Toytown". It's definitely amongst the worst Happy Hardcore records of all time.

Fortunately there isn't really a bad record for the rest of the mix. A bit cheesy yes but great fun to listen to. There's a good variety of artists in there too including Highlander and Bass D & King Matthew from Holland. It ends with a fantastic remix of "Now Is The Time" by Scott Brown.

Having owned this on a copied tape it was straight into the Sharkey mix which begins with the excellent "Truth" by Marc Smith & Sharkey followed by "All Systems Go" by Force & Styles. This trio of tunes was the most listened to part for me.

It was before trancecore/freeform was a thing, but its fair to say the Sharkey mix is a lot more serious sounding than the Hixxy one. It wasn't completely free of cheese though with tunes like "Bonkers Anthem" by Druid & Sharkey. 

Around the first half of the Sharkey mix was on one tape and the second half on another. The second half didn't get as much of a listen. I thought the best tunes in the second half were "Techno Round The World" by A Sense Of Summer and "Wonderland" by Force & Styles, but I'd got these tunes on many tapes. The chunk of Druid & Sharkey compositions didn't really do it for me.

It's difficult to choose which is the best mix as both have their good and bad points. Hixxy's mix is a cheese fest, no two ways about it. But when you're best known for a record like "Toytown", and are mixing an album called "Bonkers" for the first time it would be a bit of a let down if it was any different. Sharkey's mix more or less makes the point that it's not all cheesy, but the downside is it gets a bit boring at times.

In what was an era of a number of one off happy hardcore compilations I wasn't expecting there to be a Bonkers 2. But there was and there will be more on that next week.

25 Years Of Spice Girls

It was 25 years ago today that we'd been getting used to life without Take That, but then Gary Barlow topped the charts with his solo debut "Forever Love" which was the first solo hit for any Take That member. It certainly seemed the big news on the day, Take That were finished but now we're going to get Take That x 5 dominating the charts via solo careers.

Little did we know it was the record entering the charts at number 3 that was a sign of what was to come. That record of course was "Wannabe" by Spice Girls. I listened to that Top 40 countdown and it wasn't the first time I'd heard the record, but it was the first time I found out who it was and what it was. Some blurb was given about "girl power" and how they all have their individual styles etc. 

The record itself was dreadful, but I wasn't really that surprised when it topped the charts the following week. I never expected it to stay at number one the rest of the summer though, nor did I expect them to be back with other records.

Looking back at the history books though there was a pretty obvious gap in the market that was yet to be filled until the Spice Girls came along.

Female vocal groups were nothing new and there was no shortage of successful female R&B groups from America such as En Vogue, TLC and SWV. In the UK Eternal were basically the UK answer to those groups. In terms of pop groups who weren't trying to be anything other than pop, there hadn't been anyone since Bananarama who themselves pretty much had a monopoly on British female vocal groups for most of the 80s.

At school in the early to mid-90s there was a clear gender divide when it came to music tastes, the males would listen to more specialist genres like grunge, rave etc and the females would listen to pop music. There were some exceptions, but that was the general rule.

With a large audience looking for their next favourite group now Take That were no more, filling that gap with another boy band may have been more difficult because a like for like replacement would never be as good as the original. With the Spice Girls though the message to the largely female potential audience was that the cheesy pop box would be ticked, but this time it's girl power and an opportunity to defeat all these other boy bands trying to be Take That. It worked.

It didn't stop at that though. Many female Take That fans had a Take That member who they fancied. This time it was the turn of the males to pick a Spice Girl they fancied. Obviously fancying someone doesn't mean you're going to go out and buy there music, but they'd taken care of this by also selling merchandise such as posters of the Spice Girls in Baywatch swimsuits. 

A countless number of girl groups have come and gone since with varying degrees of success. We are back to the monopoly of Little Mix now though and I suspect once they call it a day that will be the end of the British girl group.

UK Number 40s: Holly & The Ivy's - Christmas On 45 (1981)

 

Every wondered what a collaboration between Pink Floyd and Dream Academy would sound like? Well this should give you an idea.

Holly & The Ivy's was a one off collaboration between Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Nick Laird-Clowes of Dream Academy. It's basically a medley of traditional Christmas songs.

Apparently the way this collaboration came about was from a conversation between them about all the terrible medleys that had been in the charts that year, such as Stars on 45. That led them to the idea they should jump on the bandwagon and hence this record was made.

Chas & Dave also jumped on the medleys bandwagon and that same week they peaked at 21 with "Stars Over 45".

Top 30 in 1991 Reviewed - Week 28

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

Here is the Top 40 in full.

Obviously some of the records will be the same as last week so therefore the review will be the same for these. I've indicated which ones are new so you can skip the others if you read last weeks post.

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 top 30 from this week in 1991 with my verdict on each record:

30. INXS - Bitter Tears (New)

I'm surprised this one only made number 30. It was the final Top 40 hit from their "X" album, the fact the album had been out a while by this point probably explains it's lack of chart success. A good record nonetheless.

Verdict - Good

29. Whitney Houston - My Name Is Not Susan (New)

I've got no recollection of this record existing. It's the final Top 40 hit from her "I'm You Baby Tonight" album and is an LA Reid/Babyface produced new jack swing record. It sounds very watered down to me, like someone jumping on the new jack swing bandwagon because that's what's in without it sounding very convincing as a new jack swing record.

Verdict - Rubbish

28. DJH ft Stefy - I Like It (New)

The second and final UK Top 40 hit for DJH ft Stefy. It doesn't sound that different to their first, the main riff is basically the same but on a different instrument. The samples are different too, "Cloud 9" by The Temptations is one that stands out. I liked the first hit and given its similarities without sounding like an exact clone, I like this one too.

Verdict - Good

27. Billy Bragg - Sexuality (New)

For some reason I remember this record being out around the same time as "Room at the Top" by Adam Ant, but this came nearly 18 months later. He's joined by Kirsty MacColl and Johnny Marr on this record. It's not a bad record, nothing I'd go out my way to listen to though.

Verdict - OK

26. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Pandora's Box (New)

Another Top 10 hit for OMD with just Andy McCluskey in the group. The lyrics are described as dealing with the less glamourous side of celebrity which is quite ironic from the man who introduced the world to Kerry Katona. I won't let that fact cloud my judgement of this record though.

Verdict - Good

25. Kim Appleby - Mama (New)

The final Top 40 hit to date from Kim Appleby which once again is co-written by former Bros bassist Craig Logan. Whilst her first 2 hits were dance orientated, this ones a slower number. I vaguely remember it and actually sounds better than I remember it, but still lacking a little something.

Verdict - OK

24. Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - Sheriff Fatman

With both Color Me Badd and Latour having hits with the word sex in the title, here's a band with the word sex in the name. What a name for a band and what a name for a song for that matter. On the music front it's pretty good too.

Verdict - Good

23. Driza Bone - Real Love

I do remember this being in the charts at the same time as the Omar record. The fact they were both British soul records perhaps had something to do with it. This is definitely the better of the two, it's a lot more uplifting.

Verdict - Good

22. Amy Grant - Baby Baby

This was another song I played a lot when I started using YouTube. I loved this record at the time and I loved Amy Grant too. I had no idea she was a Christian singer who was controversially crossing over to pop music. It seemed such an innocent song.

Verdict - Good

21. Cubic 22 - Night In Motion

The only Top 40 hit for Belgians Cubic 22. I feel this record made way for several Happy Hardcore records, you have "Take Control" by DJ Pooch. It was also sampled for "U Sure Do" by Strike, which itself was sampled in "Kick Your Legs In The Air" by Illogik & DNA. Then you had "Party Time" by Dougal & Eruption which used the same sample. I like all records mentioned as well as this one.

Verdict - Good

20. Natalie Cole - Unforgettable

This is actually a collaboration with her father Nat 'King' Cole. Or more accurately, a Nat 'King' Cole recording that Natalie Cole added some vocals to, given Nat 'King' Cole died in 1965. It would be the last time we'd see Natalie in the Top 40. I find it rather boring.

Verdict - Rubbish

19. Bette Midler - From A Distance

It had been less than a year since Cliff Richard was torturing us with this record. Now here's Bette Midler back to do the same.

Verdict - Rubbish

18. C&C Music Factory ft Freedom Williams - Things That Make You Go Hmmm... (New)

There are some records that I really cannot stand, ones that just irritate me and make me angry. This is one of those records. I don't know what it is, maybe the stupid lyrics has something to do with it.

Verdict - Rubbish

17. Rod Stewart - Motown Song

Oh dear, this is dreadful. After doing a poor cover of a Motown record with "It Takes Two" in 1990, Rod Stewart is back with a song about that very label. It's actually from the same album though. Unsurprisingly given it's Rod Stewart, this is a cover. The original was by Larry John McNally.

Verdict - Rubbish

16. Divinyls - I Touch Myself

Every Wednesday at the students union when I first started university was a 70s and 80s night and almost every week this record would get played. Being the music snob I am this used to annoy me because I knew this was from 1991 not the 80s. I was much more appreciative when it got played at cheese night on a Saturday.

Verdict - Good

15. Omar - There's Nothing Like This

The Top 40 debut for Omar. It would be another 6 years before we'd see him in the Top 40 again. I kept changing my mind throughout listening to it. On one hand its got a good bassline and sounds a decent soul ballad, but at the same time it was a bit boring.

Verdict - OK

14. Anthrax ft Chuck D - Bring The Noise

A rap/metal crossover record that's a cover of a Public Enemy record and featuring Public Enemy themselves. This was the biggest hit for Anthrax and charted higher than any Public Enemy record at the time. I like it.

Verdict - Good

13. Lenny Kravitz - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

Although not his debut, this was the breakthrough hit for Lenny Kravitz in the UK. This is one I didn't really appreciate until later, I hated it at the time. When Lenny Kravitz returned to Top 40 a couple of years later with "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" I couldn't believe it was the same person who did this. Then came the day when I realised that it's possible to like both songs despite them being completely different to each other.

Verdict - Good

12. Bros - Are You Mine? (New)

I remember this first time I encountered this record. I was at a family barbeque and the Top 40 countdown was on the radio. A few seconds into the song, my uncle turned the radio off because it was Bros. I think he did us a favour there.

Verdict - Rubbish

11. Salt-N-Pepa - Do You Want Me

I'm just remembering watching a Channel 4 programme where they had a count down of the 10 best rap acts of all time and in 2nd place was Salt-N-Pepa. I thought how? but then number one was Will Smith. I think they were taking the piss.

Verdict - Rubbish

10. Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up

Like many kids my age, I found it hilarious at the time that there was a song with the word sex in the title. It wasn't the first Top 40 hit to have this, but I guess the way it was used played a part too. I did like it at the time but when I heard it on the music channels for the first time in years I realised it's actually a pretty poor record.

Verdict - Rubbish

9. Heavy D And The Boyz - Now That We've Found Love

This is one of a number of records Bryan Adams stopped from topping the charts. It's American rap music, but it doesn't sound out of place amongst the British dance records that were coming out at the time. 

Verdict - Good

8. Cola Boy - 7 Ways To Love

This is Saint Etienne under a different name. It was before Saint Etienne had a Top 40 hit, but they decided it wasn't appropriate to release this style of record under the Saint Etienne name. It's perhaps a bit on the cheesy side, but still a decent enough record.

Verdict - Good

7. Paula Abdul - Rush Rush

I remember the video for this appearing on Top of the Pops and the presenter saying that Ian Rush would be in the video, but he wasn't. This was 30 years ago say I may have misremembered or misunderstood what was said. It's not a bad record.

Verdict - OK

6. Incognito ft Jocelyn Brown - Always There

The Top 40 debut for Incognito who formed in 1979. When I saw Incognito at their 35th anniversary concert their main man Bluey said that this record allowed them to make a living from the band. I've only recently discovered this is a cover, it was originally by Side Effect in 1976. 

Verdict - Good

5. Kenny Thomas - Thinking About Your Love

The second Top 40 hit for Kenny Thomas and his only Top 10. This is the song he's best known for. I must have seen this on The Chart Show at some point because it's making me want to watch an episode. I'd also say the fact this reminds me of the good old days of 1991 and watching The Chart Show means I quite like it.

Verdict - Good

4. Erasure - Chorus

Not sure I learned the title of this until later on in life. I didn't think the word chorus appeared in the song but it does once. I always remembered this one as the fishes in the sea song. Like with most Erasure records, this ones pretty good.

Verdict - Good

3. Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine (New)

The first Top 40 hit from the "Use Your Illusion" albums, this one coming from the second one. If you love screaming your head off at karaoke like I do then this is a great one to sing. The bit at 4 minutes 15 seconds into the song is particularly good to sing.

Verdict - Good

2. Jason Donovan - Any Dream Will Do

The final number one for Jason Donovan. It was taken from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" which he was starring in at the time. By the time I saw it a couple of years later he'd been replaced by Phil Schofield. Anyway, like pretty much every other song from a musical it's shit.

Verdict - Rubbish

1. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You 

Summer holidays are on the way, this so reminds me of the summer holidays of 1991 where it was number one the whole time and beyond. Quite remarkable for a 31 year old 80s singer who'd failed to even make the Top 40 with most of his prior singles. I got pretty sick of this at the time like most people, but I actually quite like 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 19/30, or 63%. New entries were a mixed bag, but a slightly improved score from last week.

UK Charts Best Year Search: 1985

What's this all about?

Top 40

Best Song: Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy - Icing On The Cake

Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy was the original singer of Duran Duran. I can't say I particularly like Duran Duran, but what little I've heard of Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy is pretty good. This is his lesser known 2nd and final Top 40 hit and better than the one he's best known for in my opinion.

Worst Song: Five Star - All Fall Down

Five Star are best known for their appearance on "Going Live" when someone phoned in asking "Why are you so fuckin crap?". This record no doubt inspired that caller. They were a truly awful group.

Top 40 Review

Synth pop once again is the main genre in the Top 40 and there isn't a bad record that appears under that genre. On the other hand, when it comes to music that's simply pop there isn't a good record to be found.

A couple of stand out records in this Top 40 are ballads from acts around in the 70s. They are "Cherish" by Kool & the Gang and "Suddenly" by Billy Ocean. 

We also have a couple of reggae inspired records that I also quite like. They are "The Word Girl" by Scritti Politti and "Live Is Life" by Opus.

The latter is one of four acts from the continent with records I like. Opus are from Austria and the others I like are "History" by Dutch group Mai Tai, "Duel" by German group Propaganda and "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer, also from Germany.

Overall it does seem like a better Top 40 than the ones in 1981 - 1983 and from the final score I find that it is, but only just.

Score: 15

Table

1985 becomes the first year to score 15:

UK Number 40s: Blue Rondo A La Turk - Me And Mr Sanchez (1981)

 

We've had UK number 40s that were American number ones, but here we have a UK number 40 which was a Brazilian number one. They weren't a Brazilian group though, they were British.

This was the only Top 40 hit for the group. It is a Latin sounding record and may have been influenced by Azymuth, an actual Brazilian group who had their only UK hit the year before. The likely reason it was number one in Brazil though was that it was used as the theme tune to the 1982 World Cup over there.

Their follow up failed to make the Top 40 and a further two singles failed to chart at all and their only album didn't sell particularly well either. By 1984 they had called it a day.

It wasn't the end of the charts for some members though as 3 of them went on to form Matt Bianco who had a number of Top 40 hits in the 80s.