Jason’s Jukebox Volume 16

Jason Maloney reviews

JASON’S JUKEBOX
V o l u m e # 1 6 Chart Date: Week Ending 8th May 1982 Online Date: 06th May 2004

Paul McCartney:
Tug of War Side by side on their piano keyboard, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were at #1 with Ebony & Ivory for a third and final week. The track was taken from Macca’s Tug Of War album (also a UK chart-topper), but he would have to wait until January 1984 for that first solo Number One in Britain. Ebony & Ivory saw off the challenge of the United Kingdom entry for Eurovision in 1982, One Step Further by Bardo (now down from #2 to #6), but the eventual Winner – Nicole‘s A Little Peace – was the week’s highest debutant at #8 and would take top slot 7 days later.

No fewer than three Football-related singles were charting on this week 22 years ago. The 1982 World Cup was about to get underway, and the two Home Nations that qualified – England and Scotland – both released records to mark the occasion. This Time (We’ll Get It Right)/We’ll Fly The Flag took En-ger-land all the way to #2 but just like the team itself failed to go the distance. The Scotland World Cup Squad climbed 11 places to #13 with We Have A Dream and would ultimately reach #5 with the song. On the domestic front, Tottenham Hotspur were once again in the FA Cup Final, having won the competition the previous year and scored a memorable Top 10 hit with Ossie’s Dream. Spurs – with Ardiles, Villa and Hoddle still in the team which had lifted the trophy in 1981 – went on to beat QPR after a replay, while the self-explanatory Tottenham Tottenham (new at #30) just scraped into the Top 20.

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Only Yazoo One-hit wonder status would befall the acts at #3 and #4, PhD and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts respectively. I Won’t Let You Down had rocketed #34-#13-#3 but that was as high as it ever reached, although lead singer Jim Diamond would return to the Top 40 in late 1984 with even greater success; his excruciating ballad I Should Have Known Better topping the charts for a week. I Love Rock’n’Roll (up 13 to #4) was the only release to take Joan Jett into the UK Top 40, although a follow-up single made the lower reaches of the Top 75.

Several songs on the chart would be covered or sampled on future hits; Monsoon‘s Ever So Lonely (rising 4 to #12) would be appropriated by Jakatta for the Top 10 single So Lonely some 20 years later, Only You by Yazoo (up 17 to #14) gave The Flying Pickets a UK #1 in December 1983, the Patrice Rush classic Forget Me Nots formed the basis for both George Michael’s Fastlove (#1 in 1996) and the Men In Black theme by Will Smith (#1 in 1997), Radio 1 DJ Richard Blackwood used his uncle Junior‘s seminal Mama Used To Say (new at #31) for his Top 3 smash Mama Who Da Man?, and Roxy Music‘s More Than This (falling to #28) took Emmie to #5 in 1999.

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Kim Wilde:
The Gold Collection Haircut 100, Bananarama (in tandem with the Fun Boy Three) and Shalamar were all in the Top 10, while Kim Wilde climbed 2 places to #16 with View From A Bridge and Spandau Ballet‘s Instinction moved up 5 to #17. Promised You A Miracle became Simple Minds‘ biggest hit to date as it advanced another 4 places to #15, and a Live version of the track would make the Top 20 again in 1987.

The unstoppable Shakin’ Stevens was experiencing the first of his lesser Top 10 hits as Shirley went into sharp decline just a week after peaking at #6. The single would spend a mere 6 weeks on the Top 75. Elton John‘s Blue Eyes was also going down, dropping from #10 to #19, but the track had given him a Top 10 hit for the first time since 1978. Moving in the opposite direction, Hot Chocolate were yet again on the hit trail with Girl Crazy climbing 8 to #18. 1982 was not a good year for Queen, none of the three singles from Hot Space reached the Top 10 and its first single – Body Language, up 8 from its debut position of #33 – could only manage a disappointing #25. Las Palabras D’Amour fared slightly better, but Back Chat almost became the only Queen single to miss the Top 40.

Technically, the first release from Hot Space had been the David Bowie collaboration Under Pressure, a #1 in November 1981, and Dame David was also charting in the lower regions of the chart with Cat People (Putting Out Fire), the theme to the film of the same name, finding the going rather tough at #29.

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The Associates: Sulk There were debuts in the mid-30s for Depeche Mode‘s The Meaning Of Love at #34 and Club Country by The Associates at #35. Both singles would go on to peak exactly 22 places higher than their respective entry positions.

The latest Blondie opus Island Of Lost Souls was the week’s lowest entry at #39. Some 5 weeks later it would reach #11; a comedown from the achievements of their heyday, but #39 would be the actual peak position for their next single War Child.

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