Jason’s Jukebox Volume 32

Jason Maloney reviews

JASON’S JUKEBOX
V o l u m e # 3 2 Chart Date: 9th September 1989 Online Date: 9th September 2004

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Tears For Fears:
The Collection
A cursory glance at the top 5 of the chart for this week in 1989 reveals the twin evils of Black Box and Jive Bunny at #1 and #2 respectively, and all of the other 3 positions at the business end of the Top 40 hailing from the rampant SAW conveyorbelt; Jason Donovan‘s Every Day the highest entry at #3, Big Fun‘s Blame It On The Boogie peaking at #4 and the evergreen Cliff Richard down to #5 with his 101st UK single I Just Don’t Have The Heart.

As a result, Sowing The Seeds Of Love – the much anitcipated return of Tears For Fears after a four year absence – had to settle for a #6 peak. The single, a kitchen-sink pastiche of Beatles-esque psychedelia, had debuted strongly at #9 a week earlier, but it would be the only one of four singles from the accompanying Seeds Of Love album to even crack the Top 20.

Tears For Fears had been one of the most successful chart acts of the early-to-mid 1980s, but the rest of the Top 20 from 15 years ago consisted of primarily new names on the scene. The sadly short-lived careers of Betty Boo and Martika were just beginning; Boo’s guest appearance on the Beatmaster‘s Hey DJ (still at #7) made her name, while Martika’s US #1 Toy Soldiers was the first in a brief run of hits that lasted until early 1992. Meanwhile, Alyson Williams and the rather scary Adeva were crossing over from clubland to the main chart with I Need Your Lovin’ (up to #11) and Warning (down from #17 to #19).


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The Best Of
Shakespear’s Sister
Bon Jovi (at #18 with Lay Your Hands On Me), Guns ‘N’ Roses (up 9 to #17 with Night Train) and a rejuvenated, MTV-friendly Alice Cooper (down to #8 with the shock – or should that be shlock? – #2 smash Posion) flew the Heavy Rock flag in the top 20. Poison came from the pen of Desmond Child, co-writer of Bon Jovi’s big-haired hits from the Slippery When Wet and New Jersey albums. More big hair came in the shape of Richard Marx, the obscenely successful US songsmith whose much-deserved UK breakthrough had finally happened with the ballad Right Here Waiting (climbing 17 to #15 on its way to #2), and the unstoppable Tina Turner, back with The Best – the first single from yet another multi-platinum monster album, Foreign Affair – and soaring to #16 after just 2 weeks on the chart.

The big summer movie was Tim Burton’s bold take on the Batman comics starring Michael Keaton as the caped crusader and Jack Nicholson as his meglomaniacal nemesis The Joker. Soundtrack duties were performed by none other than Prince, but Party Man (new at #20) was one of the few Prince tracks from his Batman album to actually feature in the film. Perhaps because most of the tracks weren’t really up to much. Batdance had somehow reached #2 in May on the back of the publicity surrounding the film, but Party Man – despite being superior – only made #14 in the end.

Shakespear’s Sister, the new project for ex-Bananarama girl Siobhan Fahey, were now falling out of the Top 20 down to #21 with their debut hit You’re History, but – eventually, give or take the odd flop or three – they would be back for even greater success. For all-American 80s teenpop queen Debbie Gibson, We Could Be Together (up 5 to #22) would prove her final brush with the British Top 40 as a solo artist; there was just the matter of a duet with Craig McLachlan to come in the mid-90s thanks to the stage production of Grease – The Musical.


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Eurythmics:
We Too Are One
The most startling record of the week was Depeche Mode‘s Personal Jesus, in at #25. To casual observers, their metamorphosis into purveyors of dirty blues-guitar licks and neo-religious lyrical subject matter might have come as something of a shock, but in truth the band had been touring extensively in America’s Deep South through 1988 and early 1989, with the earthier style first aired on a cover of Route 66 for the B-side to their 1988 hit Behind The Wheel. Many years later, the great Johnny Cash would record a brilliantly minimalistic version of Personal Jesus for his final album American IV: The Man Comes Around in 2003 and, along with its AA-side Hurt would reach #39 at the second time of asking (having just missed the Top 40 when first issued).

Janet Jackson had been no stranger to the UK Top 10 during 1986 and 1987 with three of her singles from her Control album reaching the upper echelon. Strangely, however, not one of the seven releases taken from the 1989 follow-up Rhythm Nation 1814 managed to progress higher than #15 but all of them made the Top 30; a sequence unlikely to ever be repeated, not least because the era of so many singles from one album has long since passed. Miss You Much, Rhythm Nation’s introductory hit, was starting its modest ascent to #22 with a 5 place rise from #30.

Eurythmics were also languishing mid-chart with their latest effort Revival, up 4 to #26. Again, the chart performance of all the singles from its parent album (in their case, the #1 We Too Are One) were consistently underwhelming; the other three would reach #25, #29 and #23 to leave We Too Are One with the dubious honour of being the first Eurythmics album not to produce a UK Top 10 single since 1981’s debut In The Garden.


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Rolling Stones:
Forty Licks
After parting company with charismatic frontman Fish, recently seen in ITV’s drama Quite Ugly One Morning, after 1987’s Clutching At Straws album, Marillion brought in a new vocalist and hit the Top 40 with their first Steve Hogarth-era single, Hooks In You. New at #32, the rather self-conscious rocker was merely a taster for what was to come, as the band comprehensively reinvented themselves with a series of sophisticated, compelling albums in the 1990s.

A trio of future US Billboard Top 5 hits also arrived in the 30s; The Cure‘s Love Song (in at #33) fared much better across the water, where it went all the way to #2, while Aerosmith‘s raunchy anthem Love In An Elevator entered close to the chart’s ground floor but ultimately rose as high as #13. Finally, debuting at #39, The Rolling Stones rolled on, announcing their comeback after 3 years of bitching and so-so solo projects with the lauded Steel Wheels album, from whence came Mixed Emotions. The album sold more than respectably; the single peaked at a disappointing #36.

Page Content copyright © Jason Maloney, 2004.


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