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The record at #1 in the UK this week 18 years ago was also the
biggest-selling single of 1986 overall. Don't Leave Me This Way, climbing a notch to the
top, gave the Communards their one and only chart-topper. Originally recorded
by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, it provided simultaneous Top 20 hits for
Melvin and a rival cover version by disco queen Thelma Houston in early 1977.
The Communards' ascent to the summit ended the 3-week reign of Boris
Gardiner's lovers rock classic I Want To Wake Up With You, which swapped places with
Jimmy Somerville's new band by falling to #2. Jermaine Stewart's anthem of
restraint We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off, subtly shortened to We Don't
Have To... so as not to offend anyone (!), was stuck at #3.
The Best Of Cutting Crew
Frankie Goes To Hollywood had blazed a trail through 1984's pop landscape,
dominating the UK Top 40 with a trio of #1s. Then came the slight
disappointment of a #2 with fourth single Welcome To The Pleasuredome, before an 18-month
hiatus ensued while the band wrote and recorded their second opus outside of
the UK for tax reasons (a common practice for the 80s popstar). Rage Hard was
the first single to be taken from the upcoming Liverpool album; a typically
brazen tour-de-force but lacking the killer appeal of their breakthrough
hits, it debuted at #6 and now moved up to its peak of #4. Barring a glut of
crass remixes in the 1990s, it would be the last time FGTH reached the Top 10.
Aside from seminal eighties soft-rock classic (I Just) Died In Your Arms
Tonight by Cutting Crew up to #8
(DVDfever Dom adds: "...and taken from the very underrated
'Broadcast' album") and The Human League's poignant Jam &
Lewis-penned Human falling to #10, the rest of the Top 10 was occupied by the likes of
Modern Talking, Peter Cetera, Sinitta and, soaring 17 places to #6, MC Miker
G & DJ Sven's wretched mauling of Madonna's Holiday entitled Holiday Rap.
The Voicce of Michael McDonald
Moving on quickly, at #11 was the first record from the emerging Chicago
House scene to crack the UK chart; Love Can't Turn Around by Farley Jackmaster
Funk featuring the vocals of Darryl Pandy. A little further down at #15 was the
equally groundbreaking collaboration between Hip-Hop masters Run DMC and
has-been rockers Aerosmith, Walk This Way (up from #37). The track became a huge
US smash and effectively ressurected Aerosmith's career, but the album from
whence it came - Raising Hell - proved to be Run DMC's finest hour. Another
of 1986's cutting edge releases was Word Up by funk veterans Cameo, climbing
15 to #13 on the chart of September 13th.
Bon Jovi's debut Top 40 hit You Give Love A Bad Name was moving up 8 to #14
at the same time as Eurythmics' last major UK hit single Thorn In My Side was
on its way towards the Top 5, advancing 13 places to #16. Sweet Freedom,
taken from the film Running Scared, provided Michael McDonald with his first solo
hit on these shores by entering at #27. McDonald had previously sung on the
Doobie Brothers' What A Fool Believes (#31 in 1980) and duetted with James
Ingram on Yah Mo B There (#12 in 1985), but his US Top 5 success with I Keep
Forgettin' in 1982 had failed to translate into UK chart action.
The The: Infected
Hollywood also
had a helping hand in finally taking the Pyschedelic Furs'Pretty In Pink
into the Top 40; re-recorded for the John Hughes movie named afer the song, it
surpassed the #43 peak of the 1981 original and was moving #38-25 en route to
the Top 20. Also moving in the right direction were Genesis (In Too Deep up
2 to #23), Huey Lewis & The News (Stuck With You likewise to #24) and
Samantha Fox (Hold On Tight rising from #39 to #26). The The's Heartland was in
temporary decline, slipping from #34 to #35, but a week later it would rebound to
a high of #29.
New to the chart were Five Star with future #2 hit Rain Or Shine, Timex
Social Club with the salacious Rumors at #34 (they would soon be forced to drop
the Timex part of their moniker), O.M.D. at #38 with Forever Live And Die, and
at #39 the unlikely combination of Meatloaf in tandem with St. Elmo's
Fire-man John Parr on the rowdy Rock'n'Roll Mercenaries.
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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.
