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"It was twenty years ago today...." that Paul McCartney showed us how to play
the Pipes Of Peace.
The ex-Beatle was celebrating a first solo #1 in the UK,
as the title track from his October 1983 album topped the chart for a second
week having taken full advantage of the New Year lull to move up from #9 to the
very top.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Twelve Inches
1984 would belong to Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and their debut hit Relax was
on the threshold of #1, climbing 6-2 and destined for the summit one week
later.
The infamous BBC Radio 1 ban, initiated by Breakfast DJ Mike Reid, was
slapped on the record once it had already entered the Top 40 and had been played
on the chart rundown the Sunday before its spectacular rise to #6.
The Best Of The Icicle Works
There were several big climbers on the chart. Up 14 places to #4, That's
Living Alright - theme tune to a then-new ITV programme called Auf Weidersehen Pet
- took one-hit-wonder Joe Fagin into the Top 5 with indecent haste. Lionel
Richie's Running With The Night - the second single from Can't Slow Down - rose
13 places to #9. Love Is A Wonderful Colour, the first (and sadly biggest) hit
for Liverpudlian outfit The Icicle Works, soared to #15 but would progress no
further.
Another band from Merseyside, China Crisis, had the week's highest
climber with the gentle Wishful Thinking going from #36 to #16. The single
would eventually peak at #9 and be their most successful hit. The final hit for
The Police (re-issues and remixes notwithstanding) was also peaking on its
second week having climbed from its debut position of #32 to #17; King Of Pain was
the follow-up to Every Breath You Take in the US but had to wait until after
Wrapped Around Your Finger on this side of the Atlantic.
Eurthymics: Touch (Deluxe Digipack)
New to the Top 40 on this week were Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again at
#20 (soon to be their fifth Top 10 hit in a row and the catalyst for parent
album Touch's spell at #1 a fortnight later, which is to be re-released
on March 29th along in a deluxe digipack, as are several other of their albums),
Wonderland by Big Country at #13
(a brand new song that wouldn't feature on any regular album) and highest of
all at #11 came John Lennon's Nobody Told Me. In the aftermath of his death on
8th December 1980 many Lennon tracks hit the UK chart but this was the first
not to be taken from an album released in his lifetime; it would make #6 but
nothing else from Milk & Honey (the accompanying album of unreleased recordings
which quickly followed) did much at all.
Also making their introductory splash on the chart were Cyndi Lauper (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun at #22) and Madonna
(Holiday bringing up the rear at #40). Lauper would win the first round, the
singles peaking at #2 and #6 respectively, but Madonna of course became by far
the more successful of the two, not to mention of all-time.
Paul Young: No Parlez
On the album front, the Pretenders' third effort Learning To Crawl entered at
#11 while the Top 10 still included many big selling chart-toppers from late
in 1983; No Parlez (Paul Young) and Thriller (Michael Jackson) had been
swapping places at the top for several weeks, but the first Now That's What I Call
Music temporarily returned to #1.
Until the BPI banished compilations to their own chart at the start of 1989,
EMI/Virgin's NOW! series dominated the UK album listings with only Volume 4
missing the top spot... held off by its CBS/WEA rival The Hits Album in
December 1984.
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Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
