Jason’s Jukebox Volume 2

Jason Maloney reviews

JASON’S JUKEBOX
V o l u m e # 0 2 Chart Date: Week Ending 31st January 1981 Online Date: 27th January 2004

John Lennon: Imagine “That music’s lost its taste, so try another flavour….”. Antmusic ruled the roost for much of 1981, clocking up a still-unrivalled 92 chart weeks in the calendar year, but their temporary domination of British pop was slightly delayed by the murder of John Lennon.

The former Beatle began 1981 with not one but two back-to-back chart toppers. The first was the title track from his second solo album Imagine, originally released a full decade earlier (and which had belatedly been a UK hit before in 1975). Imagine had risen to #1 on the first new chart week of the year and would be replaced by Woman, the second single from then-new Double Fantasy set, which was already at #2.

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Adam & The Ants:
Kings of the Wild Frontier Lennon was not the only act with more than one hit in the Top 10 on the chart of 23 years ago. The aforementioned Adam and (his trusty) Ants were at #4 with Antmusic (falling from its peak of #2) and at #9 with Young Parisians. The latter was an old recording re-issued by their previous label; the archetypal cash-in, and one of many during the year.

Their 1980 debut for CBS, Kings Of The Wild Frontier, was at #1 having finally dethroned ABBA’s Super Trouper. It would be the biggest-selling album of 1981, eclipsing even their own Prince Charming which appeared later in the year.

(For a recent compilation, check out the Antbox Box Set)

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Phil Collins: Hits The track that a newly-solo Phil Collins would later come to deprecatingly refer to as “that bloody song”, the ubiquitous In The Air Tonight, was another classic-in-the-making which was denied #1 status by the understandable Lennonmania. It had soared #36-#4 but then only inched up a place to #3, eventually peaking at #2.

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Blondie: Greatest Hits Blondie’s star was beginning to wane as Rapture, the outstanding moment from November 1980’s Autoamerican release, could only climb as high as #5. It thus ended a run of three consecutive UK number ones for the band, although the groundbreaking single went all the way in the US. They wouldn’t appear in the British Top 10 again for 18 years.

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Ultravox: Vienna This meant nothing to them, but Vienna was in the process of making the Midge Ure-fronted Ultravox a household name and chart regular during the first half of the 80s. In their early John Foxx days, they had never made it anywhere near the Top 20; once his replacement came in, their fortunes changed dramatically.

Rising purposefully from its entry position of #16 up to #6, Vienna the single was taken from their album of the same name released the previous year, which enjoyed renewed and greater success as a result. Ure also had a behind-the-scenes role in Visage, a studio-bound project given a strong visual identity by Steve Strange. Fade To Grey, their breakthrough hit, climbed 13 places to #12. Several Top 20 singles followed in the next 18 months, but Fade To Grey’s #8 peak would never be bettered.

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David Bowie:
Scary Monsters After a phenomenally creative and commercially successful decade in the 1970s, Stevie Wonder was still coming up with the goods as the 1980s arrived; I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It (up 2 places to #10) would however prove to be one of his last great singles.

David Bowie, meanwhile, lifted a third hit from Scary Monsters & Super Creeps but after reaching #1 and #5 with the album’s first two singles (Ashes To Ashes and Fashion respectively), the title track rose no higher than a modest #20.

At #16, Dire Straits were enjoying a rare brush with the upper reaches of the Singles chart with Romeo & Juliet (climbing from #25 the previous week). It would be one of just four Top 10 hits for Mark Knopfler and co. in their 15-year existence between 1977 and 1992.

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Madness: The Lot The week’s highest climber was Madness‘ latest opus The Return Of The Los Palmas 7, which had made a muted entrance at #38 but now soared to #18. A unique symmetry was achieved by former hit Embarrassment falling to #38 as it came towards the end of its 11-week run.

New to the Top 40 were Spandau Ballet with The Freeze at #24 (before they became blue-eyed soul boys), XTC at #34 with one of their most notable singles Sgt Rock Is Going To Help Me (it would ultimately reach #16 and become their second-biggest hit) and, at #40, erstwhile chart champs The Boomtown Rats with The Elephant’s Graveyard. The Rats’ appeal had definitely lost its taste. The Ants were the new flavour.

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