As I suspected, these are much better. Much much better than the Number 1s of the 1990s. Much harder to separate. Even a lot of the quite bad ones are fun and silly, rather than cynical and grotesque. I guess a part of that is I didn't experience most of the 80s in the same way as I did the 90s, actively invested in music and resenting the music that I had to hear over and again, clogging up the charts. But there are definitely various big shifts for the worse in chart music in the 1990s.
Take a band like Duran Duran, who I've always thought of as a band I don't like. Well, there's nothing wrong with them. There's nothing objectionable about the way they went about their work, I just don't particularly like the sound they created ...they had two Number 1s in the 80s and they're both ...ok. But they'll be pretty low down this list. Sorry, Duran Duran.
So, let's enjoy the hits of this relative golden age. Again, these are in order of my favourite, not any particular kind of historical judgement.
191. Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas? Perhaps fitting that the worst Number 1 of the 80s is the first Number 1 of the 90s. I don't really have anything against it, it's just a truly terrible-sounding record with a comically underwhelming parade of passing stars.
190. UB40 and Chrissie Hynde - I Got You Babe. Well, one thing this has told me is how much I do not like the sound of Ali Campbell's voice.
189. UB40 - Red Red Wine. Indeed.
188. Johnny Logan - What's Another Year. Do you know, I'd basically never heard this, and I think I always thought it would be grandiose, but I was underwhelmed ...
187. St Winifred's School Choir - There's No One Quite Like Grandma. First record I listened to was St Winifred's School Choir sing the hits ... so maybe I should be more forgiving ...
186. Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind of Love. Actually, my loathing for this is purely because i remember looking at the charts in the newspaper and a sibling asking "what's Number 1?" and i found this a really icky title to say, so froze up and blushed ...
185. Bucks Fizz - My
Camera Never Lies
184. Duran Duran - Is
There Something I Should Know?
183. Julio Iglesias - Begin the Beguine (Volver a Empezar). Not a good version
182. Aneka - Japanese Boy
181. Dave Stewart with Barbara Gaskin - It's My Party. Not a good version
180. Spitting Image - The
Chicken Song. I guess it was funny at the time.
179. Captain Sensible - Happy
Talk
178. Stevie Wonder - I Just
Called to Say I Love You
177. The Firm - Star Trekkin'. I guess, at the time, it was funny.
176. Glenn Medeiros - Nothing's
Gonna Change My Love for You
175. Nicole - A Little Peace
174. Shakin' Stevens - Oh
Julie
173. Aretha Franklin and George Michael - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me). I'm always a little taken aback at how little I like Aretha Franklin's singles of the 80s and 90s.
172. The Crowd - You'll Never Walk Alone. There were three (3!) Liverpool-related Charity tragedy Number 1s of the 80s. This one was after the Bradford stadium disaster.
171. Madonna - Who's
That Girl
170. David Bowie and Mick Jagger - Dancing in the Street. The thing is, though it's funny and silly in retrospect, this record, at the time, made me think David Bowie was lame, Mick Jagger and the Stones must be rubbish, and Dancing in the Streets was a rubbish song, and it took a decade for me to realise I was wrong about all of those.
169. Sonia - You'll Never
Stop Me Loving You
168. Rod Stewart - Baby
Jane
167. Fern Kinney - Together
We Are Beautiful
166. Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers - Let's Party. I know these are rubbish, but I enjoyed them at the time. It was the first time I'd heard the songs they sampled...
165. Kenny Rogers - Coward of the County. Well, i didn't really know this, and i listened to it, and it's darker than i thought.
164. Shakin' Stevens - Green
Door
163. Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall (Part II). Think i actually hate this. Think i'm doing a gross disservice to Sonia and Shaky by placing it above them.
162. Culture Club - Do You
Really Want to Hurt Me
161. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two
Tribes
160. Bros - I Owe You
Nothing
159. Philip Bailey and Phil Collins - Easy Lover. This is actually a really good record, and the only reason I hate it is my neighbour two doors down is the drummer in a wedding band and they rehearse in his garage, and one summer I was hearing them bash through Easy Lover about five times every Saturday ...
158. Chris de Burgh - The Lady
in Red
157. USA for Africa - We Are the World. Well, i watched a whole documentary about the recording of this one song, so i can't hate it that much ...
156. Doctor and the Medics - Spirit
in the Sky
155. Shakin' Stevens - Merry
Christmas Everyone
154. Billy Ocean - When
the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
153. Tight Fit - The
Lion Sleeps Tonight. Number 1 on the first TOTP I ever watched.
152. Wham! - I'm Your Man
151. Boy George - Everything
I Own
150. Jason Donovan - Sealed
with a Kiss
149. Aswad - Don't Turn
Around
148. Phil Collins - You
Can't Hurry Love
147. U2 - Desire
146. Boris Gardiner - I Want
to Wake Up with You
145. The Jam - Start! Always my least favourite Jam hit. I've never really been able to get anything from it.
144. Goombay Dance Band - Seven Tears. One of the least cool records ever, but quite a nice tune.
143. Falco - Rock Me
Amadeus
142. Wet Wet Wet / Billy Bragg and Cara Tivey - With a Little Help from My Friends /
She's Leaving Home. Nice that Billy Bragg had a Number 1, but ...
141. Renée and Renato - Save Your Love. From this point, I think, I like most of the songs, even when they're a bit silly.
140. New Kids on the Block - You
Got It (The Right Stuff)
139. Michael Jackson - One
Day In Your Life. I remember they played this one the radio they day Michael Jackson died.
138. John Lennon - Imagine. Presumably they played this on the radio they day John Lennon died.
137. The Detroit Spinners - Working
My Way Back to You – Forgive Me Girl
136. Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers - That's What I Like
135. Kajagoogoo - Too
Shy
134. Jennifer Rush - The
Power of Love
133. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder - Ebony and Ivory
132. Shakin' Stevens - This
Ole House
131. Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra - Xanadu
130. Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up
129. Cliff Richard and the Young Ones featuring Hank Marvin - Living Doll. Think we had this single. Pretty funny.
128. Jackie Wilson - Reet
Petite
127. Jim Diamond - I Should Have Known Better. I associate Jim Diamond with crabapples, but that's another story ...
126. Kylie Minogue - Hand on Your Heart. Probably the least of Kylie's Number 1s, but still, nice enough.
125. Odyssey - Use
It Up and Wear It Out
124. Joe Dolce Music Theatre - Shaddap
Your Face
123. ABBA - Super Trouper
122. The Timelords - Doctorin'
the Tardis
121. Nick Berry - Every Loser Wins. Every single one.
120. Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers - Swing the Mood. Everything i know most surely about morality and obligation, i owe to Swing the Mood by Jive Bunny
119. John Lennon - (Just
Like) Starting Over
118. Cliff Richard - Mistletoe
and Wine
117. Pet Shop Boys - Heart
116. Ferry Aid - Let It Be. Should be higher, really, because of the Norwegian comedy celebrity mimealong, one of the greatest things ever ...
115. Phyllis Nelson - Move
Closer
114. Steve Silk Hurley - Jack
Your Body
113. Duran Duran - The
Reflex. Might actually be my favourite of theirs ...
112. Berlin - Take My Breath
Away
111. Foreigner - I
Want to Know What Love Is
110. MARRS - Pump Up the Volume
109. Madonna - Papa
Don't Preach
108. Robin Beck - First
Time
107. Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind
106. Nena - 99 Red Balloons
105. Paul Hardcastle - 19
104. The Special A.K.A. - Too Much Too Young - The Special A.K.A. Live! (EP)
103. Simple Minds - Belfast
Child. Pretty weird that this was a Number 1 single
102. Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett - I Just Can't Stop Loving You
101. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan - Especially for You
100. Fairground Attraction - Perfect
99. Roxy Music - Jealous Guy. Bryan Ferry is up there with Ali Campbell in terms of vocalists i can't abide, but he can't ruin Jealous Guy.
98. Chaka Khan - I Feel
for You
97. Rick Astley - Never
Gonna Give You Up
96. Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now. A great song, this. The powerpop Rubinoos version slightly spoilt the Tiffany version for me.
95. Kylie Minogue - I
Should Be So Lucky
94. George Michael - Careless
Whisper
93. Ben E. King - Stand by Me. I began writing a blog 16 years ago because of thinking about Dock of the Bay, what an immensely good song it is, and how it is just kind of "there", and I suppose Stand by Me is the same thing ... just "there", but when you really listen to it, a wonderful thing to listen to.
92. Feargal Sharkey - A
Good Heart
91. Charlene - I've Never Been to Me
90. Kelly Marie - Feels Like I'm in Love
89. The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden and Stock Aitken Waterman - Ferry 'Cross the Mersey. A bit like with the Dunblane Number 1, this was genuinely moving and part of something that profoundly affected the country. I also think this is a really nice song ...
88. The Bangles - Eternal
Flame
87. Whitney Houston - Saving
All My Love for You
86. Madonna - La
Isla Bonita
85. Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. Quite bad, really, but I do love "let'em say we're crazy"
84. Don McLean - Crying. I used to have a Don McLean tape and I confess i thought his version of Crying was great, so there we go.
83. New Edition - Candy
Girl
82. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax
81. Yazz and the Plastic Population - The Only Way Is Up. I owned her follow up single 'Stand Up for Your Love Rights', which i heard in the Co-op recently, and that's a right-on record!
80. Smokey Robinson - Being with You. Well, not his greatest song, obviously, but quite good really.
79. Blondie - The Tide Is High. Blondie's covers were always so good, that they're barely covers at all.
78. Madonna - True Blue
77. George Michael - A
Different Corner
76. Culture Club - Karma
Chameleon
75. The Mash - Theme
from M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless)
74. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
73. Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
72. KC and the Sunshine Band - Give It Up
71. Midge Ure - If I
Was
70. The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me. There was a version on a Police Greatest Hits my brother used to have which was slower, and i liked that a lot better ...
69. Mel and Kim - Respectable. We are generation "tay-tay-tay-tay-tay-tay-ta-tay-tay-tay-tay"
68. Kraftwerk -The Model / Computer Love. Apparently some people like this band.
67. T'Pau - China in Your
Hand
66. The Police - Every
Breath You Take
65. Dead or Alive - You
Spin Me Round (Like a Record). This really is all the stuff students danced to badly, isn't it ...
64. The Flying Pickets - Only
You
63. Enya - Orinoco Flow
62. S'Express - Theme
from S'Express
61. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
60. The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris - Don't Leave Me This Way
59. Men at Work - Down Under. I think probably for a while I thought it was the coolest, most quotable thing in the world
58. Billy Joel - Uptown
Girl
57. The Specials - Ghost Town. Like not love
56. Lionel Richie - Hello. Although this is a silly song with a famously comical video, the bit where we sings "cos i wonder where you are and i wonder what you do" is one of those tunes (Woman in Love is another one) that absolutely haunted me during my childhood. I didn't know exactly what it was, but it was in my head, and it was magical ...
55. Sister Sledge - Frankie
54. Survivor - Eye
of the Tiger
53. Europe - The Final Countdown. Amazing that someone (Joey Tempest) wrote the synth intro to this, and it hasn't just existed for ever.
52. Whitney Houston - One Moment in Time. Probably thought this was the best song in the world for a while. I do love sport, after all.
51. The Housemartins - Caravan
of Love
50. Paul Young - Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home). Slowed down white boy soul covers, these ..
49. John Lennon - Woman. A very nice John Lennon song this - the best of the three that hit Number 1 after his death.
48. Madonna - Into
the Groove
47. The Jam - Beat Surrender. Used to love Beat Surrender. Was probably my favourite for a while. Have you seen the TOTP performance? Such a weird set-up. Weller at the back on a platform with a backing singer, no guitar, dancing incredibly awkwardly - Bruce and a keyboardist in the middle, Rick Buckler on drums on the front.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BSpvQnbXAY&ab_channel=Jellyfan
46. Paul McCartney - Pipes
of Peace
45. Bonnie Tyler - Total
Eclipse of the Heart
44. Bucks Fizz - The Land of Make Believe. Pleasingly, a piece of scathing capitalism satire disguised as a pop song.
43. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - The
Power of Love
42. Diana Ross - Chain
Reaction
41. David Bowie - Let's Dance. I heard this when i was walking through Hyde Park a couple of summers ago. That summer when the grass turned white from the drought. Chic were playing BST, and Nile Rodgers was playing this, which he co-created ... quite a cool little thing to eavesdrop on ...
40. Wham! - The Edge of
Heaven
39. A-ha - The Sun Always Shines on T.V. I used to listen to the Hunting High and Low album a lot, as my sister had it. That is a an album packed with tunes. I think that could easily be rediscovered as a lost classic. Even the non-singles are great tunes.
38. Black Box - Ride
on Time
37. Jason Donovan - Too Many
Broken Hearts
36. Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance. Aah, because this hardly ever gets played, it's quite a blast of nostalgia just to think of it.
35. Los Lobos - La Bamba. Well I found out recently that Dylan used this somewhat as the basis for Like a Rolling Stone, so there you go ...
34. Adam and the Ants - Prince
Charming. It did turn out that ridicule was very much something to be scared of, but it gave us all hope for a while
33. Irene Cara - Fame
32. Madness - House of Fun
31. Barbra Streisand - Woman
in Love. What a tune!
30. David Bowie - Ashes
to Ashes
29. Dexys Midnight Runners - Come
On Eileen. I have had phases of loving this, phases of loathing it, but it's always been a very nicely made song.
28. The Human League - Don't
You Want Me
27. The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. This is Sting's most joyous song, right? There are other good Police songs, even in his more maligned solo cannon, but there's nothing else so purely fun as is this one ...
26. Wham! - Freedom.
25. Pet Shop Boys - It's a
Sin
24. Blondie - Atomic. All of these songs are just classics.
23. Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well. Whereas this, I'm not so sure, but I love it.
22. Pretenders - Brass in Pocket. Chrissie Hynde is just one of the greatest. I saw a clip of the Pretenders doing Don't Get Me Wrong on, like, Wogan, from the mid-80s a few weeks ago, and it was like watching Elvis or something. Pure rock star.
21. ABBA - The Winner
Takes It All
20. Spandau Ballet - True
19. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls. A lot of people feel like this, i think, exactly the same way I feel about what will be Number 1. Just new and unique and perfect.
18. Soul II Soul - Back
to Life (However Do You Want Me)
17. The Hollies - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. I'm quite interested in the Hollies. I always loved Allan Clarke's voice - just a lovely, flexible, English pop-soul-country voice, but Nash is a real fascinating character. The most groovy-baby guy in rock, you can kind of tell he's a bit of a volcano too. Wrote some lovely songs. When he's interviewed, he always calls people something they're not usually known as, to show that he and they were great mates. Art Garfunkel is Arthur Garfunkel, David Crosby is always just Crosby, Joni Mitchell is always Joan. Anyway, the Hollies were more experimental than given credit for, Nash left because it wasn't enough, then the band reverted to the basics with this beautiful country cover. Anyway, saying all that ... i just love this song so much.
16. Bee Gees - You
Win Again
15. Wham! - Wake Me Up Before
You Go-Go
14. Blondie - Call Me. Especially in American Gigolo. Just one of the best bits of music in film. Richard Gere in 1980 - a handsome man, i think one would say ...
13. Lisa Stansfield - All
Around the World. Not as perfect, but a wonderful record in the same way that Would I Lie to You is.
12. Queen and David Bowie - Under Pressure. Quite a strange record. Has some slightly cringey moments, but the best bits really are as good as you'd hope.
11. Marc Almond featuring Gene Pitney - Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart. Scowlets for me, scowlets for you.
10. Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth. Thinking about the fact that I first heard this in Going Live 38 years ago is really something. 38 really is a lot of years.
9. Musical Youth - Pass the
Dutchie.
8. The Jam - Town Called Malice / Precious. Funny the different relationship Weller has with this and his other biggest hit song. As a solo artist, he's played this over 350 times. The other one, well, setlist says Zero, but it's not zero, he definitely played Going Underground once or twice for special occasions in the early 2000s... but Town Called Malice has become a Weller singalong but the Motown rip-off single is still where it's best. Precious is pretty good too.
7. Whitney Houston - I
Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
6. Dexys Midnight Runners - Geno
5. Adam and the Ants - Stand and Deliver. Dexys and Adam and the Ants are twin bands, for me. Just marvellous stuff. Like Richard Gere, Adam Ant was handsome in the early 80s.
4. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean. I wonder if more people have danced to this song than any other. People never are not dancing to Billie Jean. Ignition was not big enough not be cancelled, but this can't be cancelled.
3. Eurythmics - There
Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart).
2. Madonna - Like
a Prayer. Blissful.
1.The Jam - Going Underground / Dreams of Children. I suppose I could have made it something else. This song no longer thrills me, but it did for over 20 years. I don't think there was a Number 1 like this before - so unglamorous, so spiky. Still blows my mind that it was meant to be the b-side to Dreams of Children. Dreams of Children is decent, but this is the one, the song of Weller's life.
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