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The Top 40 of 19 years ago was a hive of activity with no fewer than five
singles experiencing double-figure climbs, all of them within the Top 20. The new
#1, however, had been around for a while; Dead Or Alive's You Spin Me Round
appeared on the surface to have wasted little time in reaching the summit -
having entered at #40 before moving #19-#5-#2-#1 - but the track had been
released way back in October 1984 and already spent no less than 10 weeks between #41
and #75 prior to scraping into the main chart during the traditional New Year
shakeup. It was the first of seven UK chart-toppers for the
Stock-Aitken-Waterman production team, but the sole #1 for Dead Or Alive who subsequently
failed to manage another Top 10 hit.
As one singles dynasty began to establish itself, another was entering its
final throes. Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, better known as one half of
ABBA, had penned a series of #1s between 1974 and 1981 for their band, but the
last time they were at the top as writers was in league with lyricist Tim Rice on
I Know Him So Well. Taken from the musical Chess, the Elaine Page & Barbara
Dickson single had spent four weeks at #1 before making way for Dead Or Alive.
King: Love and Pride
The first release by the Commodores without former lead singer Lionel Richie
was proving an unexpected smash. Nightshift, an evocative and atmospheric
tribute to a number of Motown legends, now stood at #3 having climbed another 3
places. Unfortunately it would also prove to be their last brush with the UK Top
40; the follow-up Animal Instinct was a clunky uptempo workout which duly
bombed out at #74 and no further hits were forthcoming.
There were five re-issues among this week's hits; the highest-placed was a
1985-style makeover for Kiss Me by Stephen "Tintin" Duffy, up 18 to #4 on only
its second week on the chart. A flop first time around in 1983, the new version
gave the track a contemporay Art Of Noise-style feel and the result was the
first of two sizeable hits for Duffy in 1985 and the biggest success of his
whole career. The other re-releases were King's Love & Pride (a #2 smash now down
to #8), Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark (falling to #9, its original #28 peak in 1984
having been bettered by 24 places) and a remixed version of ZZ Top's Legs up 10
to #16 some 12 months after reaching #8 in America.
Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain
1985 would end up Madonna's year in terms of singles. It began with her
second major hit Like A Virgin, which peaked at #3 in December 1984, hanging around
throughout January and February (selling half a million copies in the
process) and ended with a seventh hit of the year (Dress You Up) in the Top 10. The
follow-up to Like A Virgin, the Cyndi Lauper-sounding Material Girl, soared
from #24 to #5 on its way to the Top 3 to become her biggest single to date,
although that first #1 wasn't far away.
Prince wasn't having too bad a time of it, either. His autobiographical
album/film Purple Rain had provided his real UK breakthrough and made him a bona
fide superstar in the US in 1984, and the project was still churning out the
hits almost a year later. The album's opening two songs, Let's Go Crazy and Take
Me With U, were paired for the last single from Purple Rain in Britain but
released separately Stateside at very different times - the former hit #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in September 1984 while the latter was only a modest hit at
around the same time the UK double-A side was charting. Let's Go Crazy/Take Me
With U moved up 2 more places to its peak of #7 on the chart of March 9th
1985 while another AA-sided entry, a re-release of two minor pre-Purple Rain UK
hits - 1999 and Little Red Corvette - which had made #2 in January, was still on
the Top 40 at #28.
Don Henley: Building The Perfect Beast
The week's biggest mover was the 23-place climb from #34 to #11 by The Last
Kiss, a comeback single from 70s heartthrob David Cassidy. Much was made of the
presence of George Michael on backing vocals, and the Wham! man's general
patronage of the onetime Partridge Family star. The Last Kiss eventually reached
#6, but the accompanying album Romance failed to yield another hit and
Cassidy's second coming was shortlived.
By far the best single on the chart, and indeed of 1985 overall, was Don
Henley's magnificent The Boys Of Summer (DVDfever Dom
adds: And you haven't lived until you've heard the same album's "Sunset
Grill"). The US Top 5 hit inched up 1 place to
#12, its highest position both on this initial chart soujourn and also when
re-issued 13 years later. Henley has still to enjoy solo UK Top 40 success with any
other track; his only other entry being the 1992 duet with rock chick Patty
Smyth (not to be confused with iconic punk figure Patti Smith) on Sometimes
Love Just Ain't Enough which reached #22.
More oustanding AOR came in the shape of Run To You (the debut hit for Bryan
Adams) dropping 6 places from its high of #11, and Foreigner's erstwhile #1 I
Want To Know What Love Is (down to #30 on its 12th week). Daryl Hall & John
Oates, officially the biggest duo in US Chart history, were making an
all-too-rare UK chart appearance with Method Of Modern Love (up 8 to #25). Their
previous two singles Say It Isn't So and Out Of Touch, both American #1s, had missed
the Top 40 in this country. Method Of Modern Love rather perversely only made
#5 across the Atlantic.
The Best of Go West
A song written by Daryl Hall in the 1970s would give Paul Young his last
major UK hit single and his only US chart-topper. Everytime You Go Away was a new
entry this week at #26. Just ahead was another future US #1, Easy Lover by the
two Phillips - Bailey and Collins - in at #20. The track, featured on
Bailey's solo album Chinese Wall but not on Collins' mega-selling No Jacket Required,
would also top the UK chart two weeks later and remain there for a month. The
Genesis vocalist/drummer was also at #33 courtesy of outgoing hit Sussudio,
one of his umpteen US #1s but only a #12 success in the UK.
Michael Jackson didn't have any solo hits in 1985, but his elder brother
Jermaine kept the family name in the UK charts with his Do What You Do leaping 21
places to #18. Meanwhile Mick Jagger, the man who teamed up with The Jackson
clan for State Of Shock (a one-off Top 20 single in 1984) was launching a
sporadic solo career away from the Rolling Stones. However, Just Another Night -
the first single from his album She's The Boss - found the going extremely
tough, rising just 3 places to #32 despite an avalanche of publicity.
New arrivals included Go West at #31 with We Close Our Eyes (backed by a
superb Godley & Creme video, it would go on to reach #5), seminal Britsoul outfit
Loose Ends at #37 with the classic Hangin' On A String, and Prince protege
Sheila E. at #39 with The Belle Of St Mark. Her debut single, The Glamourous Life
had inexplicably failed to emulate its US Top 40 status on this side of the
pond in late 1984, and the next one - A Love Bizarre (#11 in the US early in
1986) - suffered the same fate.
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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.
