Birthday Number 1s: 1981 - Green Door

I have a choice for the first time. I can visit the Ghost Town or open the Green Door.

I choose

Green Door - Shakin' Stevens

which hit Number 1 on 1st August 1981 and stayed there for four weeks.

I've realised I simply never loved Ghost Town as much as I thought I did. I put it on many playlists but usually skip over it. I wouldn't do it justice, and it's had enough written about it. It's a great song, but I've got nothing to offer on it.

Shakin' Stevens had four Number 1s. He was the most successful singles artist of the 1980s in the UK. More so than Michael Jackson, more than Madonna. His prime lasted until about 1986, when I was eight. After that, he was not really famous. He has been, since then, about as famous as Paul Nicholas or Nick Heyward, less famous than Rick Astley or Chesney Hawkes.

Apart from Merry Christmas Everyone, I've never heard a song of his on the radio. Not on Capital, Virgin, Radio 1, 6, Magic, Heart, nowhere.

We had the cassette of Shakin' Stevens Greatest Hits and I must have listened to it a great deal in 86 and 87 because I remember pretty much all the songs on it - Hot Dog, Cry Just a Little Bit, This Ole House, Green Door etc. I haven't listened to any of them (well, maybe, This Ole House) in more than 35 years but I still remember them

I don't know why Shaky was such a phenomenon, but it is interesting that his hits were not Unchained Melody and Jailhouse Rock etc. They were somewhat more obscure songs that he could really take ownership of. It is also worth noting that he wrote some of his hits and also that he has released a couple of fairly acclaimed singer-songwriter albums in recent years, so clearly, as with Alvin Stardust, there was a pretty sharp musical sensibility underlying it all.

Green Door is a pretty good song - it was written by Bob Davie and Marvin J Moore and was a hit in 1956 - it's about some exclusive member's club the singer can't gain access to. I've just watched the video, so I guess this is the first time in 35 years I've listened to the song. Shaky was very handsome and had great moves. I'm sold. His enormous success is entirely understandable.

I remember my 3rd birthday, or rather I remember remembering it. I had a cake at my grandmother's which was a pick-up truck with a back bit full of Smarties. Can't top that, can you?

There are some decent Number 1s in 1981, including Prince Charming and Stand and Deliver. Prince Charming is the first song I was aware of, though I think that was in 1982. My memory is ... shaky. My mother is .... Stevens.