Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jul 24, 2011 14:23:18 GMT 1
19TH JULY- EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (1 week)I can't give this a bad review as my mother would quite literally disown me, and to be honest I wouldn't without that threat in any case. As a Scotsman Rod had me at the point when he said "Lonely Jacobite" Seriously though, no decade quite did the ballad like the 80s in my opinion, and this is Stewart's attempt to pull on the heartstrings, now it doesn't entirely succeed, there are some cliches involved in the compositon but on the whole it's pulled of- just. Maudlin in mood, the subject (displacement and longing for home) is a relatively rare one in the pop world, and indeed Stewart had a history of unusual themes ("Killing Of Georgie" for instance) which had helped keep him a star since the late 60s. This was indeed his last appearance in the chart this high up (with the exception of that 1994 hit "All 4 love" with Sting & Bryan Adams) and post 1993 he stopped being any kind of chart force singles wise. As anthemic rock goes it does the job, the trademark raspy performance is of course present and it's a plesant if uninspiring addition to our No 2 countdown but things are about to get very interesting indeed.....
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 24, 2011 14:37:30 GMT 1
The Nu Shooz song irritated me at the time. It was "breakthrough" in some way to the new style R&B but given I hate that style it makes me perhaps hate this song even more.
With Rod Stewart's song it was in some ways a one-off hit for him in a barren period as between "What Am I Gonna Do" in 1983 and "Downtown Train" in early 1990, this was his only significant hit. Assuming we count "All 4 Love" he has a run in the early 90s of 4 years with many top 10 hits, the highest actual solo one "Rhythm Of My Heart" spending 3 weeks at #3 but failing to break the top 2. Of course it should have been above that awful Stonk record so perhaps more "rightfully" a #2 at least.
During the quiet period he was releasing but just not doing well, e.g. Love Touch was just 2 months earlier and peaked at just #27.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 24, 2011 19:34:21 GMT 1
I bought Tony Jasper's top 40 book not long after it came out in 1988. I remember flicking through it in the shop first and seeing the Nu Shooz listing, and thinking "what the heck is THAT?" It totally passed me by at the time.
Ironic, given that there was some good stuff in the top ten at the same time - Dr & The Medics, Amazulu, Housemartins and the best Bucks Fizz song ever.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 24, 2011 19:42:02 GMT 1
I would say Happy Hour and Sledgehammer was the most notable song in the top 10 around that time. Dr & The Medics and Amazulu were both covers albeit ok ones, although at the time I had a 7-year-old song at #1 with the B-52's reissue of Rock Lobster.
In my mind Bucks Fizz's best ever song was "Now Those Days Are Gone".
Anyway, I guess we're done for now with the great ones, bring on Sinitta, Jermaine Stewart and Five Star. I wonder what you'll make of Status Quo that follows that lot.
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Post by evansabove on Jul 24, 2011 21:29:05 GMT 1
I bought the Nu Shooz 7" but havent listened to the song in full for a long time. It doesnt seem quite as great as it did then but i guess thats true with a lot of 80s songs.
Agree with the comments about Bucks Fizz too - my second favourite after Mamba Seyra
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Post by iant21 on Jul 24, 2011 21:48:12 GMT 1
Loved Nu Shooz at the time, didn't much care for Rod. A very mixed year, but some great songs like Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Big Audio Dynamite, Communards, Janet Jackson, It Bites (!)... As for Earl Purple's I would say Happy Hour and Sledgehammer was the most notable song in the top 10 around that time Which? x
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Post by Whitneyfan on Jul 24, 2011 21:58:06 GMT 1
Every beat of my heart is my favourite ever Rod Stewart song. I absolutely love it!!
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Post by evansabove on Jul 24, 2011 22:12:31 GMT 1
Every beat of my heart is my favourite ever Rod Stewart song. I absolutely love it!! Until i clicked on the youtube link i can't say i could even recall how it went. Not one of his all-time greats for me
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Post by iant21 on Jul 24, 2011 22:16:33 GMT 1
^ I'm with you, evans x
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jul 25, 2011 19:23:26 GMT 1
9TH AUGUST- SO MACHO- Sinitta (2 weeks)Sometimes the story of a song is far more interesting than the song itself- "So Macho" is one of those songs. Of course Sinitta was at the time girlfriend of one Simon Cowell, and the hit was the first big hit for the Fanfare Label that gave Cowell his break in the music business. Sinitta meanwhile had been in Hot Gossip (the dancers on the Kenny Everatt Show), as well as an entrant in song for europe (though she failed to get to the Eurovision Song contest and had pretty much been a failed popstar since 1983 (as an aside she also appears in the video for Forrest's 1983 top 10 hit "Rock The Boat") so that's where we're at come 1986. Now Cowell approached writer George Hargreaves to write a record for Sinitta and "So Macho" was the result. What is interesting in watching Sinitta perform this at TOTP is the about face that appears to have taken place in the UK between 1984 and 1986- this, I conjecture, is due to AIDS. Witness the line "Or a boy who thinks he's a girl" Sinitta does the famous "Limp Wristed" movement which, as we all know for our childhood days, is the universal sign for a gayer. From the gay friendly, and obviously gay anthems of 84 we seem now to have done a full 180 degree about face- now it is heterosexual sex which has reclaimed the centre place, promiscuity, straight culture (and whilst never exactly being out of fashion) is now re-asserting it's muscle on the pop landscape, it mocks the stars and the themes of only 24 months earlier. Hargreaves, the writer, is now a religious minister and political spokesman for the christian Party (UK) and has made rather outspoken negative remarks on the subject on hiomosexuality during the 00s. "So Macho" is therefore a record of deep contradictions, it's HI-Energy (A medium associated with gay clubs), it clearly references the Village People's "Macho Man" from 1978, and considering Sinitta's future productions with S/A/W for the remainder of the 80s, it was from the gay market that she sustained much of her career, but in 1986 it was perfectly acceptable to mock homosexuality in a place like TOTP that only recently was a showcase for it's talent, and what allowed that was the emergence of AIDS, stright culture's ultimate revenge on gay culture (or at least that's how it was seen back in 1986) For all those reasons "So Macho" is a much more interesting record than I ever deemed it to be, of course as a song it's a piece of camp fun, throwaway pop that is unashamed of what it is, and for that I can't fault it, but all is not what it appears! In theme "So Macho" is not that distant from "It's Raining Men" for example, same theme (sexual avarice and promiscuity) same medium (Hi- Energy) and both sung by female acts, but don't you notice that deep difference down under the surface? In the year of Sam Fox's Chart emergance also, sexual promiscuity, provided it's straight, is the now back in the camp of the righteous....
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jul 25, 2011 19:34:15 GMT 1
20TH SEPTEMBER- WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF- Jermaine Stewart (2 weeks)It is with grim apropos that Jermaine Stewart is next on this list. The singer of course has since died of AIDS, at the point at which straight culture is jumping into bed with everything gay culture is now keeping it's clothes on! WDHTTOCO is a great record, the opening line "Not a word from your lips" is instantly arresting, it's almost like a response record to "So Macho" in more than one way obviously. Stewart's voice is on fine form, and it's a shame his UK career didn't last that long in the UK, but in the list of 1986's No 2 records this is decidedly one of the better ones, optimistic in tone, and uplifting in spirit, it's all that good pop music should be...
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 25, 2011 19:48:28 GMT 1
What is interesting in watching Sinitta perform this at TOTP is the about face that appears to have taken place in the UK between 1984 and 1986- this, I conjecture, is due to AIDS. Witness the line "Or a boy who thinks he's a girl" Sinitta does the famous "Limp Wristed" movement which, as we all know for our childhood days, is the universal sign for a gayer. From the gay friendly, and obviously gay anthems of 84 we seem now to have done a full 180 degree about face- now it is heterosexual sex which has reclaimed the centre place, promiscuity, straight culture (and whilst never exactly being out of fashion) is now re-asserting it's muscle on the pop landscape, it mocks the stars and the themes of only 24 months earlier. Might be, two of the most controversial records of the time were "All I Wanna Do" by Heart for its message of casual sex (although what's miraculous is that anyone could listen to it for long enough to get to that bit), and "Digging Your Scene" by The Blow Monkeys, a bitterly sardonic take on the idea of AIDS being God's revenge, and which people took literally.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jul 25, 2011 19:54:13 GMT 1
"All I Wanna Do" wasn't about casual sex it was about getting pregnant, her man couldn't deliver the goods so she found a guy who could "he planted a tree", she never sees him after that one time until her baby has grown up and the man realises its his when "he sees his own eyes"
I was a massive Heart fan in the eighties hehe
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Gezza
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Post by Gezza on Jul 25, 2011 19:59:02 GMT 1
"All I Wanna Do" wasn't about casual sex it was about getting pregnant, her man couldn't deliver the goods so she found a guy who could "he planted a tree", she never sees him after that one time until her baby has grown up and the man realises its his when "he sees his own eyes" I was a massive Heart fan in the eighties hehe Is that Hanson meant in "MMMbop"? "Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a rose You can plant any one of those Keep planting to find out which one grows" Those boys are smutty!!
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jul 25, 2011 20:25:57 GMT 1
"All I Wanna Do" wasn't about casual sex it was about getting pregnant, her man couldn't deliver the goods so she found a guy who could "he planted a tree", she never sees him after that one time ... Sounds fairly casual to me.
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Post by evansabove on Jul 25, 2011 20:39:17 GMT 1
So sad that Jermaine Stewart succumed to AIDS, somewhat ironic given the nature of his biggest hit.
Never been a big fan of Sinitta as she always comes across as pushy and desperate. I do like Hi NRG though and So Macho is a particularly commerical example of it
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Jul 25, 2011 21:55:04 GMT 1
"All I Wanna Do" wasn't about casual sex it was about getting pregnant, her man couldn't deliver the goods so she found a guy who could "he planted a tree", she never sees him after that one time ... Sounds fairly casual to me. ok I guess but its not about that, she loves her guy she just needs a baby
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 25, 2011 22:37:17 GMT 1
At the same time as those we had Gwen Guthrie in the chart with "Ain't Nothing Going On But The Rent". And only a short time before the Pet Shop Boys singing "Opportunities" with the lines "I got the brains, you got the looks, let's make lots of money".
so which is it to be, the muscle or the cash?
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Post by PurpleCareBear on Jul 26, 2011 15:35:37 GMT 1
On My Own - this passed me by,and only got to know it in the last few months. It was on some vh1 countdown of the best ballads,and I've heard it on the radio since. I really like it.
So Macho - love love love this song. Cruising is even better (her finest moment) ! James George Hargreaves wrote 5 Star's debut single too. I can't stand Sinitta but love her music.
I wish more of Jermaine Stewarts songs had been hits. I can't choose between We Don't Have To or Say It Again as his best song.
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Jul 26, 2011 19:12:51 GMT 1
I was a big fan of Heart too Best band of the 80s hands down but if I remember well, the song was written by some guy (think the one who went on to produce Shania Twain's Come on Over and ended up marrying her): ) and was originally written for a male perspective and was intended for Don Henley or someone like that... so I'm pretty sure that the initial meaning was totally sexual, doubt it was about a guy having one-night stand to father babies ... then the song might have ended on Heart's lap and they added the last verse and changed the meaning but I think the sexual meaning was there in the beginning...
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