UK Top 40 w/e 29th January 1983

Funny that "Down Under" and "Our House" were ever in close chart competition -- I always think of these songs as having pretty similar tones/purposes, to the point where I guess I never imagined they could ever share a chart

Torn, incidentally, between "Down Under" and "Stepping Out"

http://www.worldofkitsch.com/celebrity/images/holness_bob002.jpg
3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 24, 33, 34, 35, 40

http://www.taggart-fanclub.co.uk/images/Mark%20McManus%20-.jpg
4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 39

http://www.childofthe1980s.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/roland-rat-and-kevin-the-gerbil.jpg
1, 2, 13, 14, 19, 23, 25, 27, 36, 38

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/presenters/images/presenters_b/frankboughnw74-01.jpg
10, 15, 17, 20

dammit

http://www.worldofkitsch.com/celebrity/images/holness_bob002.jpg
3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 24, 33, 34, 35, 40

http://www.taggart-fanclub.co.uk/images/Mark%20McManus%20-.jpg
4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37, 39

http://www.childofthe1980s.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/roland-rat-and-kevin-the-gerbil.jpg
1, 2, 13, 14, 19, 23, 25, 27, 36, 38

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/presenters/images/presenters_b/frankboughnw74-01.jpg
10, 15, 17, 20

i have heard two of these songs (though i know how a couple of others go).

'our house' is dreadful, 'last night a dj...' is great therefore wins.

oh whoops i just saw donna summer there. uh is the patrick cowley remix...different? good?

I'm going through exactly that dilemma and your posts keep pre-empting mine ... 'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life'

best actually is 'Steppin Out' bah

one thing I do genuinely love about the Lex's posts is that they make me imagine him spending his entire life in an abject state of dread/nausea/horror/repulsion/etc over all the common music he's exposed to and finds dreadful/nauseating/horrific/repulsive/etc

My god, if it weren't for Keith and Orville and the surfeit of Jam songs, I'd be tempted to call this the best UK top 40 ever. It might actually be that.

oh whoops i just saw donna summer there. uh is the patrick cowley remix...different? good?

way longer (15 mins or so), with added hyperspace synth overdub breakdown sections. rules.

I am voting for the Belle Stars, as everyone should, because it's fantastic, but there's some serious competition here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdH0nIsd-B4

one thing I do genuinely love about the Lex's posts is that they make me imagine him spending his entire life in an abject state of dread/nausea/horror/repulsion/etc over all the common music he's exposed to and finds dreadful/nauseating/horrific/repulsive/etc

it's actually quite the opposite

haha yeah I think the thrust of that may have been missed!

My god, if it weren't for Keith and Orville and the surfeit of Jam songs, I'd be tempted to call this the best UK top 40 ever. It might actually be that.

The Jam songs are OK, it's Incantation that worries me. People bought music by those annoying pan-pipe twats that stealth-rule the world! What's WRONG with these people? (it was on one of the pre-Now!/The Hits Album compilations, which I have a copy of somewhere)

Why are the Beatles in there?

Ah, so much stuff I remember in there - this was kind of at the height of my chart-following preadolescence, so of course there's a lot of stuff that means a lot to me, but I think The Cutter remains the Bunnymen's finest single, so of course that gets the vote.

I think Keith & Orville and the Jam are comfortably less toe-curling than "Twisting by the Pool", and I speak as someone with less hatred for Dire Straits and more for anything Weller-related than most former-indie-kid music snobs of my age.

And I might abandon that former-indie-kid snob-shame entirely and vote for Kajagoogoo for being such a blast of JOY whenever it comes on a jukebox unexpectedly when I'm pissed, though it does feel kind of wrong not to vote for "I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley mix)" or "Last Night a DJ...", but I'm sure ILM have those two covered.

Voted Level 42 unironically and with very litte hesitation.

My eyes wide open
I feel a breeze
Words softly spoken
In cantonese

The chinese way
Who knows what they know
The chinese legend grows

Think they drafted bernard sumner in for those lyrics.

buffalo gals

Sometimes I hate nebulous lyrics but there's something v. breezy and almost ambient and just generally Summer about the Level 42 track.

I read that as "Sumner about the Level 42 track"

haha yeah that too

"words softly spoken/in Cantonese" is pretty lol

Voted "Too Shy". First 7" I bought with my own money.
Great top 40. I loved the ET theme! Asked it for my birthday that year but people were unable to find it and bought me a truly horrible 7" of a young dutch boy recalling a dream about ET. The sleeve is pretty funny though - they weren't allowed to use a photo of ET to make a fake duo shot with the singer so they used ET's silhouette instead. With dollar signs for eyes and mentioning $teven $spielberg's representatives refused approval for using the photo :)

Bought on single at the time: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 16, 21, 24, 33, and the original 12" release of 34 from 6 months earlier.

There's so much in this chart that I LOVE LOVE LOVE, but the final shortlist reads: Steppin' Out, Buffalo Gals, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, Time (Clock Of The Heart), In The Name Of Love and the super-awesome Cowley remix of I Feel Love.

And the winner is... Sharon Redd, for sheer gut-punching emotional impact.

David Essex by a mile. Most underrated Christmas song ever.

Malcolm McLaren, just ahead of Wah! and Wham!

tons of great songs. gonna go with "electric avenue" because someone should.

My old employers moved me from nice city centre premises to out-of-town retail hell. The address: Electric Avenue. The date: when the remix charted in 2001. I've never been able to enjoy that song since.

Discounting re-releases: "Our House".

These are all stone cold classics though:
02. Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love
03. Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
05. The Belle Stars - Sign Of The Times
13. The Stranglers - European Female
21. Madness - Our House
26. Culture Club - Time (Clock Of The Heart)
27. Ultravox - Hymn

I voted for Electric Avenue, easily. I like so many of these songs - Buffalo Gals, Sign of the Times, Gloria, Our House, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, The Jam songs, others too. I request an explanation, in simple terms, of how anyone who reads this board could possibly think of
Phil Collins' version of You Can't Hurry Love as a 'stone cold classic,' or even endurable? I like some Phil Collins songs but I am now agitated and unnerved just thinking about this. I would like to go to sleep soon, so kindly consider this request.

I'll rep for the Phil Collins cover! The gender switch somehow brings different aspects out of the song, and I like the clenched desperation that he brings. And I also like the break.

Long live this thread. By the way, Mike T-Diva, you still owe me a mix of tracks chosen by your good self.

Ah yes. There is that. I am a bad person.

XPOST

ALSO YOU MENTIONED FUCKING PHIL COLLINS AND I JUST LISTENED TO A BIT OF HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM THIS EVENING BY COINCIDENCE SO I'M PROBABLY NOT HANDLING ANY OF THIS RIGHT NOW AND WHEN IS MY FRIEND GOING TO COME BACK FROM THE STORE...

Anyone who wants to talk to me about Phil Collins in the late 70's/early 80's can definitely be my bitch.

Strange there was ever a time when a song like The Cutter could get high in the charts.

My god, if it weren't for Keith and Orville and the surfeit of Jam songs, I'd be tempted to call this the best UK top 40 ever. It might ctually be that.

The following week is arguably even better as it loses the Jam reissues and features new entries 'Billie Jean' and '1999'. As well as 'Change' by TFF, 'Africa' by Toto, 'Christian' by China Crisis and lesser tracks from Rockers Revenge, Hayzi Fantayzee and the Thompson Twins.

It's a fairly short argument.

"Love On Your Side" is not "lesser" in any way.

Asked it for my birthday that year but people were unable to find it and bought me a truly horrible 7" of a young dutch boy recalling a dream about ET.

WTF :)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Proven by science, then.