Silver discs(October 1980)
A monthly look back at the top singles of 25 years ago
The three best records from the Top 10 (7th October 1980) Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me: Sting has long denied that this song about an obsessive schoolgirl crush is in any way autobiographical - but then ex English teacher Mr Sumner would have to say that, wouldn't he? This was nigh-perfect white reggae from the Police's middle album Zenyatta Mondatta (which was the first album I never bought because I realised I could tape all my favourite tracks off the radio). Rightly the best selling UK single of the year, and also the first to break the band in the US (no doubt they'd slap a 'parental advisory' sticker on the cover if it were released over there today).
"Young teacher, the subject of school girl fantasy. She wants him so badly, knows what she wants to be. Inside her there's longing, this girl's an open page. Book marking, she's so close now, this girl is half his age" Specials - Stereotype: Lager-fuelled New Lads and ASBOs are nothing new - Terry Hall and his 2 Tone mates were singing about them 25 years ago. Coventry ska may have been big at the time, but this track spent just one week in the Top 20 (at number 6) - smashing up and crashing down the chart in consecutive weeks. Low-key, harmonious and acutely-observed, but still unerringly shambling and bloke-ish.
"His mum's waiting up, she hopes he's alright but he's wrapped round a lamp post on Saturday night. He's just a stereotype, he drinks his age in pints, he has girls every night, but he doesn't really exist" Ottowan - D.I.S.C.O.: OK, so this wasn't one of the best records in the top ten 25 years ago, but I wrote about Masterblaster and Baggy Trousers last month so you'll have to make do with T.H.I.S. One of those tacky summer Euroanthems which returning holidaymakers bought in their thousands and whose brainsucking emptiness hypnotised all who heard it. The song was D (depressing) I (inexcusable) S (super sicky) C (crassy crassy) O (oh so awful), but it's still right up there with the very best of the very worst.
"She is D (delirious), she is I (incredible), she is S (superficial), she is C (complicated), she is O (oh, oh). She is disco"
My three favourite records from October 1980 (at the time) Kate Bush - Army Dreamers: A haunting indictment of war's toll on young soldiers, whose lyrics are as timeless as the fighting they condemn. Ah, that golden era when the goddess Kate used to release a single every eleven weeks rather than every eleven years. That musical drought ends one month from today with the loooong-awaited release of Ms Bush's new album, Aerial, which should be mighty fine if chugging new single King of the Mountain is anything to go by (video debut next Saturday, Channel 4, 10:40pm).
"What could he do? Should have been a father. But he never even made it to his twenties. What a waste" XTC - Towers Of London: Precisely 25 years ago (tomorrow) the BBC screened a fascinating hour-long documentary called XTC at the Manor which purported to show this track being recorded in Richard Branson's country studios (although apparently it was all a sham put on for for the cameras). I loved this London-centric record so much that I nearly bought it... but instead I borrowed the 7 inch single off my mate Andrew at school and recorded it via some dodgy cable onto a poor-quality cassette. A year later, when Andy's musical taste had moved on, he offered to sell me the single for tenpence - then offered it for free - but I turned him down because I already had it on tape. Twat.
"Towers of London, when they had built you, Victoria's gem found in somebody's hell" High Society - I Never Go Out In The Rain: You probably don't remember this whimsical curio, although it did reach number 53 in the charts and was even played in the background during one particularly thrilling episode of Shoestring. Until ten minutes ago I firmly believed that this musical homage to a typical British summer's day was sung by a bunch of toffs in bowties and boaters, probably accompanied by a wind-up gramophone. But a brief spell of Googling has revealed that High Society were in fact an offshoot of 70s prog-rockers The Strawbs(you don't get me, I'm part of the union), that their inspiration was 1930s wit and elegance, and that they're still touring! I'm still charmed.
"Some people go out in the rain - to me it seems almost insane. There's nothing quite so boring, to go walking when it's pouring, that's why I never go out in the rain. One feels such a silly fellow, putting up that old umbrella"
15 other hits from 25 years ago: Amigo (Black Slate), My Old Piano (Diana Ross), If You're Looking For A Way Out (Odyssey), Killer On The Loose (Thin Lizzy), Air Supply (All Out Of Love), Et Les Ouiseaux Chantaient (Sweet People), Trouble (Gillan), When You Ask About Love (Matchbox), Casanova (Coffee), You're Lying (Linx), Gotta Pull Myself Together (Nolans), What's In A Kiss (Gilbert O'Sullivan), Love × Love (George Benson), Johnny and Mary (Robert Palmer), Passing Strangers (Ultravox) ...which one would you pick?
Silver discs (October 1980)
Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me: Sting has long denied that this song about an obsessive schoolgirl crush is in any way autobiographical - but then ex English teacher Mr Sumner would have to say that, wouldn't he? This was nigh-perfect white reggae from the Police's middle album Zenyatta Mondatta (which was the first album I never bought because I realised I could tape all my favourite tracks off the radio). Rightly the best selling UK single of the year, and also the first to break the band in the US (no doubt they'd slap a 'parental advisory' sticker on the cover if it were released over there today).
