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It was a triple Wham!-y for George Michael 20 years ago on the UK charts, as
Freedom nestled in the #1 spot for a second week. 1984 had already seen Wham!
top the charts with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go in May, and then Michael had
ventured out on his own to release Careless Whisper during the summer.
Another chart-topping smash was the result. Freedom completed the hat-trick with
ease, knocking Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You - the single
which dethroned Carless Whisper - off #1 in the process.
Moving up 2 places to #2, No More Lonely Nights continued Paul McCartney's
hot streak of Top 3 hits that had begun 12 months earlier with the Michael
Jackson collaboration Say Say Say and would later continue with We All Stand
Together. No More Lonely Nights was taken from Macca's full-length feature Give
My Regards To Broad Street; a critical and commercial failure, the
accompanying album did however top the UK chart.
Another film-related hit was at #3;
Phil Oakey & Giorgio Moroder's Together In Electric Dreams, from the fluffy US
romantic comedy Electric Dreams. Oakey's 1984 had not previously been a happy
one; The Human League's long-awaited return woth the follow-up to 1981's
epochal Dare! album was underwhelming, greeted with mixed reviews and failing to
yield a Top 10 hit. Despite an inauspicious start, debuting at #39, Together
In Electric Dreams climbed steadily for a month to reach the Top 5.
The Best of Culture Club
Culture Club, who started the year as the biggest pop band on the planet,
were about to experience a major wobble; The War Song (down from #3 to #6)
hinted at the problems to come; a weak - some would say naff - record which only
prospered thanks to the group's briefly-omnipotent status. The album Waking Up
With The House On Fire was panned, its next single missed the Top 30
completely, and Culture Club never really recovered. For Spandau Ballet, 1984 was
also a disappointing one; true, the Parade album made #2 and first single Only
When You Leave hit the top 3, but subsequent releases failed to scale the
same heights.
Parade's third of four hits, Highly Strung (up from #25), had to
settle for a #15 peak. At least Paul Young managed to maintain his commercial
momentum from the previous year, as I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down
(falling from #9 to #11) had made it 4 Top 10 hits in a row.
The Very Best of Midge Ure & Ultravox
Some 6 years after her debut smash I'm Every Woman, Chaka Khan had returned
to the UK Top 40; first in tandem with Rufus on the evergreen (and much
covered) Ain't Nobody - a #8 hit in April 1984 - and then courtesy of the Arif
Mardin-produced cover of the little-known Prince song I Feel For You, which was
soaring 17 places to #5 on the chart of October 27th en route to the very top.
A strong Top 10 was completed by The Cars' Drive (going gently into reverse
at #7), All Cried Out by a newly-solo Alison Moyet (up 4 to #8, to follow the
#10 peak of her debut single Love Resurrection), John Waite's US #1 Missing
You (inching up from #10 to #9) and The Style Council's anthemic Shout To The
Top (falling from its high of #7 to #10).
The same year as his late father appeared on the UK Top 40 with
previously-unreleased material, Julian Lennon made his chart debut with Too Late For
Goodbyes, climbing 18 to #12 this week in 1984. Although further hits would
follow in America, it would be his last UK success until 1991's Saltwater reached
#6. There would be no more Top 10 hits for Ultravox, however; Love's Great
Adventure (moving #23-#13) - the one new track on their upcoming Greatest Hits
set The Collection - ultimately went as high as #12, but none of the singles
from 1986's swansong U-VOX progressed further than #30.
Rancho Texicano: Very Best of ZZ Top
Meat Loaf (rising 9 to #17 with Modern Girl) and Kim Wilde (up from #33 to
#29 with The Second Time) were both experiencing mid-80s blips, before periods
of renewed popularity - Meat Loaf's 1993 comeback sequel to Bat Out Of Hell
put him back on the map, while albums in 1986 and 1988 spawned no fewer than
five Top 10 hits in 7 releases for Wilde.
There were just 4 newcomers to the chart; Status Quo's cover of The Wanderer
(originally a hit for Dion & The Belmonts) debuted at #23, two places above
Billy Ocean's renamed US chart-topper Caribbean Queen (aka European Queen).
It was the UK soul star's first Top 40 entry of the decade, having scored a
run of major hits in the latter half of the 70s. Hirsute boogie men ZZ Top were
in at #34 with a re-issued Gimme All Your Lovin'; the classic opener from
the Eliminator album, it became the band's breakthough UK single and heralded a
renewed promotional campaign for the album and its other singles Sharp
Dressed Man and Legs that lasted well into 1985.
Bringing up the rear at #40,
Limahl's theme song for the children's fantasy film The Never Ending Story proved
to be the former Kajagoogoo frontman's final hurrah on the UK chart, going
as far as #4 but unfortunately (for him) failing to revive his
already-flagging solo career in the longterm.
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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.
