80's UK & US Charts.

I had 32 singles in the top 40. Best chart ever possibly?

 

Quite a UK-centric chart too.

 

Wikipedia says the show was in competition with BBC Radio One's Top 40 chart show. It used a different chart; one compiled by M.R.I.B. (the Media Research Information Bureau) which factored in airplay as well as sales (unlike the official Gallup chart which was all sales, no airplay component). So it looks like I dedicated hours of my life to avidly following a UK chart that wasn't even the official one. So if I think a certain 80s song was a UK No. 1 and it wasn't, that's my excuse.

 

Come to think of it, there was a TV show in the 80's called The Chart Show. It ran for years. Used to be on a Saturday morning, IIRC. It was a great show but didn't feature the 'proper' charts. I never bothered with the charts in NME and the like as they weren't the ones used on Top Of The Pops.

Was in the same in the States where Billboard was the (I assume) the proper charts. Did anyone follow Cashbox and others or were they not considered 'right'?

 

American Top 40 (with Casey Kasem, and later on Shadoe Stevens) used the Billboard Hot 100. I also listened to the Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40, which used the Radio & Records chart. I know Billboard is the 'official' chart, but I always liked the Radio & Records chart too. They could be quite different. For example: interestingly, "Physical" didn't make it to No. 1 on the R&R chart (it peaked at No. 2). But "Make A Move On Me" did. If you want to see Olivia's chart stats for the Radio & Records chart...:
http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/onewtonjohn.html

 

Then Number One Magazine in the UK started publishing a chart, and ITV launched The Roxy in an attempt to rival TOTP. I think that used the No 1 mag chart. Bananarama did the theme tune for that show with SAW (of which the previously unreleased 7" mix "Amnesia" is coming out on their singles box set in a few weeks).

 

I think that chart is worthy of framing. Aside from the acts mentioned before, Odyssey were there, as was Junior,Bananarama, Steve Miller Band, Macca, Wavelength, Donna, CHERI (!), Imagination, Cliff & David Essex with their best ever singles, Shalamar and Leo Sayer. WOW. Just WOW.

 

Oh yeah, I remember Number One now that you mention it... we had that here in NZ. I was an avid reader of that and Smash Hits. I wonder if my parents kept them. I wouldn't think so, but if they did... wow, that would be brilliant.

 

I kept a few of my Smash Hits from the early to mid-80's. I loved it, even though I was probably a bit old for it at the time.

I have to try and put some of the album reviews up on here.

 

I freely admit I don't remember some of the singles from that chart. Including Cheri.

I think this must have been one of my 'US' periods...

Shocked to see the Dollar record peaked at #17.. I could've sworn that made the top 10.

 

The Smash Hits I read was the Australian edition, which had articles they wrote, plus articles from the UK edition. I'm certain I didn't keep them. My parents would have asked if I wanted them to hang on to them, and I would have said, no, toss 'em. What was I thinking. It's almost as bad as trading in my vinyl in the 90s... it's not so much the LPs, but all my 45s!!!

 

I know, but you just can't keep everything, can you?

There are loads of old Smash Hits on eBay. I re-bought some myself a couple of years ago.

 

MTV in the US played the hell out of that Tony Carey track, and they did spin the Van Stephenson track a bit (there's a "dirty" version of the video as well that is hilarious - because it's totally not titillating in any way whatsoever) - but both are great songs! Tony Carey found some airplay on US AOR radio and also MTV in 1983 with his band Planet P Project and their song "Why Me?"; there was another cool video from that album called "Static."

Van Stephenson wrote hits for a variety of country artists such as Kenny Rogers, Restless Heart, and Crystal Gayle (1979 top 10 Country hit "Your Kisses Will"). His solo stuff was more rock oriented; he had a great single in 1986 called "We're Doing Alright" that's worth hunting down if you like catchy AOR pop. He went on to more success on the Country charts as a member of the band BlackHawk but died of melanoma in 2001.

I can find many, many songs to love from each year of the '80s. For me, 1983 has the best in terms of quality, 1984 was probably the most diverse hits-wise, but 1985 holds special sentimental memories for me...and I'm not sure why. A lot of the music that year wasn't as "cool" ("new wave" died in 1984) but I'm just so attached to so many songs from that year. "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," "When Love Breaks Down," "Alive And Kicking," "When Your Heart Is Weak" (by Cock Robin)...the list goes on and on!

 

My father is a hoarder. It's possible he still has a box of them. My peak Smash Hits reading was 1985/86, which is exactly that period I most want to read about. Madonna, Wham!, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Go West, Thompson Twins, Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones etc.

 

1985 was when I began following the charts (by listening to Casey Kasem and Rick Dees), so I'm extremely sentimental about it. I love 1985, 1986 and 1987 particularly. I was 12-14 then, and I listened to the radio constantly, taping songs and then listening to them on my tape deck. After that, I was still a pop nerd, but I developed more of my own taste (whereas before I just enthusiastically lapped up what was on the radio). In 1985 it was all so cool and exciting; I never stopped to think how lame a song was. I even liked hits like "Just A Gigolo" by David Lee Roth and "Lovin' Every Minute Of It" by Loverboy, songs which today I know are pretty terrible.

 

Mine would be 1983/86. Although I know for sure I have their reviews of Bad, True Blue and Like A Prayer.

 

An NZ Top 20 dated April 21 1985, which was just about when I was began following the chart:

1 (4) We Are The World: USA For Africa
2 (1) Shout: Tears For Fears
3 (2) One Night In Bangkok: Murray Head
4 (3) Solid: Ashford & Simpson
5 (7) Material Girl: Madonna
6 (16) Don't Go: Left, Right & Centre
7 (46) Night Shift: The Commodores
8 (18) Guardian Angel: Masquerade
9 (36) Centipede: Rebbie Jackson
10 (8) Just Another Night: Mick Jagger
11 (17) Sex Crime (1984): Eurythmics
12 (--) World Destruction: Time Zone
13 (12) This Is Not America: David Bowie/Pat Metheny Group
14 (5) Easy Lover: Philip Bailey and Phil Collins
15 (11) Like A Virgin: Madonna
16 (31) Some Like It Hot: Power Station
17 (19) Neutron Dance: The Pointer Sisters
18 (9) Magic (What She Do): DD Smash
19 (29) Lay Your Hands On Me: Thompson Twins
20 (6) I'm Tuff: George Smilovici

Except for a few anomalies/unexpected hits, a nice top 20. I don't remember "Don't Go" but it was a protest song, protesting a proposed tour to apartheid South Africa by the NZ rugby team. Don't know the song, but Time Zone was Afrika Bambaataa and Joe Lydon (debuting at No. 12!) DD Smash were a popular NZ pop band (founded by Dave Dobbyn, who is a pop legend in NZ). George Smilovici was evidently an Australian comedian (don't remember him or "I'm Tuff"). Can't believe Masquerade and Rebbie Jackson were in the top 10.

 

Another UK singles chart from 1982. Still your favourite, @Alan1074?

Who the hell are Pinkees???

 

Couple of review from Smash Hits in the summer of 1986.

Told you Tom Hibbert was a bastard, @Alan1074!

 

Another classic album gets a good kicking from Record Mirror.

 

Like A Prayer gets a track by track review. Smash Hits. March 1989.

 

I only heard Rebbie Jackson when FTG reissued the album. It was a good song, and I was surprised it wasn't a UK hit. I think the title was both a blessing and a curse.

Pointer Sisters deservedly in the top 20. It didn't even make the top 30 here, although it's a well known song. Most people had the album by then.

 

Of the 37 I can see, I had 33 of them. The Pinkees, "Danger Games" peaked at #8 I think, and was their only hit. It's uncommon on CD. A nice guitar pop song, nothing particularly memorable. CHERI, now "Murphys Law" was a great record, with a Pinky & Perky type hook "Got it all together told ya baby". They were a North American duo (probably a vehicle for a production team). Their main US success was "Anything Is Possible".

Can I shout out for Sharon Redd in this chart. My 3rd favourite song of all time, and also "Zambesi" which is still not on CD.

 

Why was he working for Smash Hits?! Leave my Sammy alone! Her long term partner, Myra Stratton, passed away on Sunday. She was a really tough cookie but also a complete sweetheart when it came to Sam and I really liked her. Am very sad for her loss.

 

I only have 8 of these.

I remember the Barry Manilow single. Suddenly doing sexy songs was in. Olivia's Physical. Diana's Muscles. Sheena did Strut a couple of years later. Barry's might have been the least convincing, though.