It's 25 years ago this week that I became a Top 40 chart anorak. I was in a suburb of Paris at the time, enduring the second week of a French exchange, and I was very bored. I'd been mismatched avec un garçon qui s'appelé Pascal, with whom I had very little in common. His papa smoked smelly Gitanes, his maman served up ham in semolina as a main course, and the whole family were extremely good at organising not very much to fill my time. And that's why I hid myself away in their attic room for much of my three week exile, tuning into UK radio on the giant wireless set, keeping in touch with home. One particular Tuesday lunchtime I sat there and, for the first time, scribbled down the latest Top 40 countdown on a scrap of paper. I hoped that I could use my exclusive knowledge that the Detroit Spinners had toppled The Jam from the number 1 slot to impress all my fellow banished schoolmates, but alas they weren't quite interested. But I continued my chart-scribbling habit every week for the next two decades, so at least my stay in the French capital wasn't a complete disappointment.
In honour of my musical awakening I'm planning to take a monthly look back at the top singles of 25 years ago every month, monthly. Maintenant appréciez la musique!
The three best records from the Top 10 (1st April 1980) The Jam - Going Underground: Entering the Top 40 at number 1 used to be incredibly rare - nobody managed it between Slade in 1973 and the Jam with this, their first chart topper in 1980. Going Underground was one of the first records to be released on a Monday, rather than the more usual Thursday or Friday, which must have helped its first week sales no end. But it was Paul Weller's seductively hooky tune that propelled the record to the summit, and it was only when you listened carefully to the lyrics that you realised this was in fact a supremely angry protest song. Work of genius.
"You choose your leaders and place your trust, as their lies wash you down and their promises rust, you'll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns, and the public wants what the public gets, but I don't get what this society wants, I'm going underground" The Vapors - Turning Japanese: A perfect pop record with an oriental slant, also performed by three Mod lads from Surrey. Rumours surfaced that the song was actually an anthem to self-abuse, a euphemistic reference to uncontrollable climactic face-pulling, but lead singer Dave Fenton now refutes this. The song was a major New Wave hit in America, reached number 1 in Australia and I adore it.
"I want a doctor to take your picture, so I can look at you from inside as well. You've got me turning up and turning down and turning in and turning 'round, turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so." UB40 - King/Food For Thought: The first hit for Birmingham's most unlikely reggae superstars, an accomplished multi-racial octet with Brummie accents. They reached the top 5 on an independent label, unheard of at the time, with this double A-side tribute to Martin Luther King coupled with a cryptic rant about world hunger. UB40 then proceeded to write more great stuff for a few years until they suddenly went all MOR and metamorphosed into Simply Red.
"Ivory madonna dying in the dust, waiting for the manna coming from the west, barren is her bosom, empty as her eyes, death a certain harvest scattered from the skies."
My three favourite records from April 1980 (at the time) Billy Joel - All For Leyna: Not a particularly hip and trendy choice of artist I know, but I was still getting into this new popular music lark at the time so please forgive me. But it is still a fine tune and one of Mr Joel's rockier numbers too, which I well remember humming round the streets of Paris - I must have been very understimulated at the time. Rick Wakeman - I'm So Straight I'm A Weirdo: Please, don't despair of my emerging musical taste. Rick may have been a rock dinosaur even back then, but this was a quirky choral gem about suburban ordinariness with a sort of Reggie Perrin feel. Honest, though you'd have to hear it to believe me. Not that I can find it anywhere online to download now, alas. New Musik - This World Of Water: This is more like it - the second (minor) hit single from one of my favourite bands of all time. You probably know this synth quartet better for 'Living By Numbers' but this was better, even if the lyrics sounded like the band had got a copy of Roget's Thesaurus and linked together every word with a watery meaning. The band split after three albums with lead member Tony Mansfield then becoming a successful record producer, behind such diverse hits as Captain Sensible's Happy Talk, A-ha's Hunting High And Low, Mari Wilson's Just What I Always Wanted and Aztec Camera's Walk Out To Winter. For which I also salute him.
20 other hits from 25 years ago: Dance Yourself Dizzy (Liquid Gold), Stomp (Brothers Johnson), Poison Ivy (Lambrettas), Sexy Eyes (Dr Hook), Turn It On Again (Genesis), Echo Beach (Martha & The Muffins), Nightboat To Cairo (Madness), January February (Barbara Dickson), All Night Long (Rainbow), My World (Secret Affair), Another Nail In My Heart (Squeeze), Happy House (Siouxsie & The Banshees), Spirit Of Radio (Rush), Kool In The Kaftan (BA Robertson), Talk Of The Town (Pretenders), Hands Off - She's Mine (Beat), My Oh My (Sad Cafe), No One Driving (John Foxx), Toccata (Sky), Clean Clean (Buggles)
Silver discs (April 1980)
The Jam - Going Underground: Entering the Top 40 at number 1 used to be incredibly rare - nobody managed it between Slade in 1973 and the Jam with this, their first chart topper in 1980. Going Underground was one of the first records to be released on a Monday, rather than the more usual Thursday or Friday, which must have helped its first week sales no end. But it was Paul Weller's seductively hooky tune that propelled the record to the summit, and it was only when you listened carefully to the lyrics that you realised this was in fact a supremely angry protest song. Work of genius.
