1981

487. Dave Stewart With Barbara Gaskin – It’s My Party (1981)

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The Intro

Look for this song anywhere online and the first thing you’ll read is ‘No, not that Dave Stewart’. Nonetheless this Dave Stewart, with Barbara Haskin’s version of the 60s teen classic It’s My Party by Lesley Gore is an interesting curio in the history of number 1s.

Before

It’s My Party had been written in 1962. The original was penned by John Gluck, Wally Gold and Herb Weiner, who were staff writers at Aaron Schroeder Music. However, the lyrics actually came from Seymour Gottlieb, a freelance songwriter, who had worked with Weiner (oo-er). He had been inspired by his daughter Judy’s tears over her grandparents being invited to her 16th birthday party.

The writers took the song to Barbara Jean English, the receptionist at their firm, who cut the demo version. However, Musicor, the label owned by Schroeder, wasn’t interested.

It could have, potentially, become Helen Shapiro’s third number 1 single. The young British star, who had scored two chart-toppers with You Don’t Know and Walkin’ Back to Happiness in 1961, recorded a version for her Helen in Nashville LP in 1963. Unfortunately for her, she was beaten to the punch by 16-year-old US singer Gore. Her version, produced by the legendary Quincy Jones, was huge and is rightly remembered as a pop great from the early 60s, becoming number 1 in many countries – but, surprisingly, not in the UK, where it peaked at nine.

Stewart, who was born in Waterloo, London on 30 December 1950, would have been 12 at the time. He was still at school when he joined his first band. The Outsiders were a local covers band. From there, he joined Uriel as their organist at the age of 17, a group that also featured future progressive rock icon Steve Hillage. When university called for Hillage, Uriel continued as a trio, renamed as Egg. They recorded two albums for Decca, and stayed on good terms with Hillage, who briefly rejoined them in 1969 to record together under the name Arzachel.

Egg broke up (hahaha) in 1973, and Stewart joined upcoming Canterbury progressive rock band Hatfield and the North. When they split two years later, Stewart briefly joined Hillage’s Gong before forming National Health, which largely consisted of former Hatfield and the North bandmates. When National Health disbanded in 1980, Stewart quickly formed Rapid Eye Movement (not to be confused with the far better known and longer-lasting REM in the US).

In 1981, Stewart moved in a different direction, becoming interested in new, electronically led versions of classic pop tunes. The first of these was a cover of Jimmy Ruffin’s Motown classic What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, featuring vocals by former member of The Zombies, Colin Blunstone. Stewart had clearly hit upon a good idea, but I’d bet even he didn’t think his next single would make it all the way to number 1. This time around, he enlisted Gaskin, who had provided backing vocals in Hatfield and the North.

Gaskin, born 5 June 1950, was actually born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. In 1969 she moved to Canterbury to study at university, but quickly fell into the Canterbury scene, becoming the singer in folk-rock group Spirogyra. She met Hillage, who was also a Kent University student, as well as the band Caravan and Stewart. Through this friendship she sang backing vocals occasionally for Hatfield and the North, but when Spirogyra split up, Gaskin left England to travel around Asia.

Upon her return almost three years later, Gaskin was invited to join the all-female group Red Roll On. Soon, she became reacquainted with Stewart and after working together on an album by Bill Bruford, they collaborated on It’s My Party.

Review

Stewart and Gaskin’s prog background is very much apparent on this single, in spite of it sounding like a New Romantic track due to the use of then-futuristic early 80s synths. It’s like a mini-symphony, in which Stewart initially makes his bank of keyboards mirror Gaskin’s trauma over her missing Johnny (stop sniggering), with lots of seemingly random drum machines sounding out.

Gaskin’s vocal is, to be honest, pretty irritating, particularly the way she wines ‘you!’ at the end of each line. She reminds me a little of Toyah, here, which might explain why this single did so well – Toyah was huge at this point, thanks to singles such as It’s a Mystery. Her stuff sounded great to me as a boy, and so did this record. Not so much as a middle-aged music snob… There’s an element of high-camp irony to It’s My Party, sure, but the spoken-word section is annoyingly over-the-top, and I don’t really understand how it then switches to a finale that sounds the most like the Gore version, all bubblegum pop and kitsch jollity.

It’s certainly not your average cover, but perhaps the end section appealed to parents and grandparents who loved the original, whereas the kids liked the modern sounds and incredibly of-its-time video? An interesting chart-topper, certainly – and for four weeks, to boot. But a bit of an annoying mess, too. I’d imagine the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart would have come up with a more commercial-sounding version, and Annie Lennox could have done a very good job with the vocal.

I have more time for the video than the song itself, I know that. But I’ve no idea why there are two kendo fighters battling, other than the Japanese martial art was popular at the time. And why is Stewart wearing – what is it, a face protector used by boxers? And I definitely don’t know why his face is replaced by neon light at the end, but it reminds me of the spooky kids with lights shining from where their eyes should be in the video to Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 chart-topper Total Eclipse of the Heart – and I like it. There’s lots of very 80s angular-faced mannequins scattered around the party, and yes, that’s Thomas Dolby playing Johnny.

The sleeve of the single used to mesmerise me as a child, I recall, with Gaskin wearing stupendously long nails and Stewart brandishing a sword.

After

Further Dave Stewart With Barbara Gaskin singles followed this UK and Germany number 1. They recorded an album’s worth of material but chose to release two tracks a year for the next three years. But nothing, including covers of Busy Doing Nothing in 1983 and The Locomotion three years later, managed to chart, let alone get in the top 10.

Stewart reformed National Health in 1981, and used his hippy days as inspiration for Neil’s Heavy Concept Album in 1984. The ‘Neil’ in question was Nigel Planer’s character in The Young Ones, and the LP featured his brilliant cover of Traffic’s Hole in My Shoe, which missed out on number 1 by one place. He had also composed the theme tune to BBC Two’s revamped Whistle Test in 1983. In the 1990s, he worked with cult TV critic Victor Lewis-Smith, creating the music for his two series Inside Victor Lewis-Smith (1995) and Ads Infinitum (1999).

The Outro

Gaskin continued to work with Stewart on albums and gigs sporadically through the years and in 2021, 40 years after It’s My Party, they married.

The Info

Written by

Herb Wiener, John Gluck Jr & Wally Gold

Producer

Dave Stewart

Weeks at number 1

4 (17 October-13 November)

Trivia

Births

25 October: Footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips
31 October: Physician Kate Granger
7 November: Footballer George Pilkington
13 November: Racing driver Tom Ferrier

Deaths

19 October: Footballer Johnny Doyle
22 October: Conservative MP David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter
24 October: Archer Inger K Frith
27 October: Army major-general Sir Randle Feilden
30 October: Writer Denys Rhodes
5 November: Cricketer Sir Harold Vincent
6 November: Physician Douglas Vernon Hubble/First World War nurse Beryl Hutchinson
8 November: Jockey Tim Brookshaw/Conservative MP Lionel Heald

Meanwhile…

19 October: British Telecom announces the discontinuation of the telegram in 1982, after 139 years in use.
Also on this day, Scottish Celtic footballer Johnny Doyle is accidentally electrocuted while building his new home.

22 October: The case of Dudgeon vs United Kingdom is decided by the European Court of Human Rights, which rules that laws in Northern Ireland that criminalise consensual gay sex are in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights. Ooo, those pesky woke Europeans.

23 October: A MORI poll puts the Liberal-SDP Alliance on 40%, ahead of Labour on 31% and the Conservatives on 27%.

24 October: A CND anti-nuclear march in London brings together more than 250,000 people.

29 October: A patient dies of pneumocystis pneumonia in London, making him the first patient to die in of an AIDS-related illness in the UK. In 2021, ITN identified patient zero as John Eaddie of Bournemouth.

30 November: Nicholas Reed, the chief of euthanasia charity Exit, is jailed for two-and-a-half years for aiding and abetting suicides.

1 November: The island Antigua and Barbuda becomes independent of the UK.
Also on this day, British Leyland’s workers begin a strike over pay.

13 November: Queen Elizabeth II opens the final phase of the Telford Shopping Centre.

486. Adam and the Ants – Prince Charming (1981)

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The Intro

1981 was the year of Adam and the Ants. No sooner had Ant and co. hit the top spot with Stand and Deliver! than they were at number 1 again with another early 80s classic.

Before

Following the success of Stand and Deliver!, Adam and the Ants spent most of the summer in continental Europe on tour. Upon their return they headed to London’s Air studios to record what became their last album.

Prince Charming, which became the title track, was an unusual sound for a number 1. Gone were the Burundi beat stylings of previous LP Kings of the Wild Frontier, and even the pop of Stand and Deliver!. Although Prince Charming is imperial Antmusic, it’s fair to say that, had this song been released by a total unknown, it wouldn’t have had the impact it did. Weirdly, it kind of already had been.

In 2010, Rolf Harris, still a national treasure at that point, claimed on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Danny Baker Show that a musicologist had found Prince Charming to sound identical to War Canoe, a 1965 release by Harris. You only have to hear 10 seconds of this (which is 10 seconds more than Harris deserves) to hear that they are indeed exactly the same.

However, Ant never denied it, and in fact showed Harris to be the devious bastard that he proved to be, when he noted that he owned a large collection of ethnic recordings, and War Canoe was in fact an old Maori folk song. Harris subsequently withdrew his complaint ‘with a bit of a giggle’. The prick.

Review

At least Ant and co-writer/guitarist Marco Pirroni made it interesting, adding the trademark Ant wailing alongside the guitar. Ant’s lyrics covered similar ground to Stand and Deliver!. That song concerned a dandy highwayman, whereas Prince Charming was lyrically inspired by Beau Brummel, the 18th-century dandy fashion leader, as well as the extravagance of men during the French Revolution. This tied in perfectly with the emerging New Romantic scene that Ant found himself in.

Much like David Bowie and Marc Bolan had encouraged men to not be afraid to wear make-up and experiment nearly 10 years previous, Ant made himself the voice of his generation, extolling the virtues of being flamboyant in 1981 – ‘Don’t you ever, don’t you ever, stop being dandy, showing me you’re handsome’ and the classic line ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’.

Musically, yes, Prince Charming is far less adventurous than previous material, never changing from that War Canoe strum. But it is a true earworm that buries its way into the consciousness, and with Adam and the Ants, it’s more a case of taking note of the whole multimedia package, which means factoring in the video.

This Cinderella spoof is the strongest element of Prince Charming. Ant portrays the male version of Cinders, left at home while his drag queen evil stepsisters get to go to the ball and ‘dance the Prince Charming’. In one of her final roles, Diana Dors (Ant had personally appealed to her to take part) appears as Ant’s Fairy Godmother and dances iconically with five topless men. Ant becomes a Regency era dandy, goes to the ball and gets to do the dance himself, which went down in history as an essential element of this song. You simply cannot hear Prince Charming without picturing the dance, which is barely even a dance. The video ends with Ant in various guises, including Clint Eastwood, Alice Cooper and Marlon Brando, which he pulls off surprisingly well.

Prince Charming is perhaps Ant’s definitive statement on being a pop star, a love letter to his fans and the high watermark of his band’s popularity, and still sounds great today. But if I’ve spoiled it for anyone by linking it to Harris, I apologise.

After

In November, a few weeks after the single had began to slip down the charts, came the parent album, which surprisingly failed to hit number 1. Despite that, Adam and the Ants were one of the UK’s biggest-selling acts of 1981. In early 1982, Ant Rap peaked at number three. It was to be their final new release, as in March 1982, Ant disbanded his group. Pirroni, who was tired of touring, continued to work with Ant in a songwriting capacity. Bassist Gary Tibbs and drummer Chris ‘Merrick’ Hughes formed a short-lived duo.

The Outro

When Ant shot to number 1 as a solo star with the excellent Goody Two Shoes, it seemed to be a wise move. He was, after all, the star. However, his popularity began to wane soon after.

The Info

Written by

Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni

Producer

Chris Hughes

Weeks at number 1

4 (19 September-17 October)

Trivia

Births

21 September: Singer-songwriter Sarah Whatmore
23 September: Field hockey defender Helen Richardson
29 September: Hear’Say singer Suzanne Shaw
1 October: Journalist Deborah James
9 October: Actor Rupert Friend/Labour MP Jess Phillips
10 October: Journalist Stinson Hunter
13 October: Footballer Ryan Ashford/Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke

Deaths

19 September: Writer Ruth Tongue
21 September: Actor Nigel Patrick
23 September: Disc jockey Sam Costa 
24 September: Actor John Ruddock
27 September: Physician Sir Stanley Davidson
28 September: Conservative MP Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth
29 September: Historian Frances Yates/Football manager Bill Shankly (see ‘Meanwhile…‘)
30 September: Welsh rugby union player Roy John/Conductor Boyd Neel
1 October: Conservative MP Sir Graham Page
8 October: Labour MP Arthur Allen
12 October: Political analyst Robert McKenzie

Meanwhile…

21 September: Belize was granted independence.  

25 September: Ford announced it was to discontinue the Cortina model, which would be replaced by the Sierra.

29 September: Liverpool mourned former football manager Bill Shankly after he died of a heart attack, aged 68.

1 October: 24-year-old Bryan Robson became Britain’s most expensive footballer when he moved from West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United for £1.5 million.

3 October: The hunger strikes at Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison came to an end after six months.

10 October: The Provisional IRA bombed the Chelsea Barracks, killing two people.

12 October: Granada Television’s Brideshead Revisited began transmission on ITV.

13 October: Opinion polls revealed Margaret Thatcher was still unpopular as Prime Minster, largely due to her anti-inflationary economic measures.

15 October: Norman Tebbit’s famous speech in which he told fellow Conservative MPs, how his father didn’t riot when he was unemployed during the 30s. ‘He got on his bike and looked for work’ etc. Whoop-de-do, Norman.

485. Soft Cell – Tainted Love (1981)

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The Intro

It’s rare for a cover version to be better than the original. But by slowing down the tempo, stripping the elements back to sparse synthesisers, and adding a big dollop of sleaze, Soft Cell’s Tainted Love became one of the best number 1s of the early 80s.

Before

Tainted Love had been written back in 1964 by Ed Cobb, a former member of US folk-pop act The Four Preps, for Gloria Jones, the young soul singer he had discovered while she was still a teenager. With lead guitar by the then-unknown Glen Campbell, it became the B-side of her flop single, My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home.

Despite great lyrics detailing a toxic relationship (Cobb later said he wrote it from the point of view of his girlfriend), a driving riff and catchy horns, this original version was mid-level 60s soul at best, missing that Motown magic, and would have most likely been forgotten about.

However, in 1973, UK club DJ Richard Searling bought a copy of the single while in the US, and thought Tainted Love had all the ingredients needed to become a Northern Soul stomper back home. He was right, and Jones’s original became one of the most popular songs played at Wigan Casino.

In the meantime, Jones had joined the writing team at Motown, before become a backing singer in T Rex, and subsequently, Marc Bolan’s girlfriend. In 1976 they co-produced her third LP, Vixen, and among the tracks was a new version of Tainted Love. Jones and Bolan sped the song up, hoping to ramp up the coked-up feel that had helped it become so popular in clubs. But despite this – and the addition of the classic hook that comes in before ‘run away’ in the first line – Northern Soul was on the wane by then, and the remake also failed to chart. A year later, Jones was driving the car that crashed into a tree, killing Bolan. She survived, after fighting for her life.

That same year, students and occasional DJs Marc Almond and Dave Ball met at Leeds Polytechnic University. In 1978 they became the synth duo Soft Cell, combining Ball’s mix of industrial, new wave, electro and pop on cheap synths, with the camp shock aesthetics of Almond. They gained local notoriety for their shocking, surreal shows, in which Almond could be seen smearing his body with cat food, simulating sex with himself in a full-length mirror, or dragging up. A very Yorkshire mix of Suicide, Throbbing Gristle and David Bowie.

Using a £2,000 loan from Ball’s mother, they recorded debut EP Mutant Moments on a two-track recorder for Big Frock Records in 1980. The following year, they gave the track The Girl with the Patent Leather Face to Some Bizzare Records (backed by Phonogram Records). It featured on their compilation Some Bizzare Album, which also featured other tracks by unsigned artists including Blancmange, Depeche Mode and The The.

Soft Cell signed to the label and released debut single Memorabilia, produced by Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records. It was popular in clubs, but when it failed to chart, Phonogram let the duo know that, should the follow-up do the same, Soft Cell would be dumped.

Ball was a Northern Soul fan, and had introduced Almond to the 1976 version of Tainted Love. Almond was a big T Rex fan (hence ‘Marc’ Almond), and fell in love with it too. They decided to rework it with a view to using it as an encore track for their live shows. When performed live, Ball used a tape recorder for backing, while he played a keyboard and bass synth, while Almond performed in a padded cell.

Phonogram decided Soft Cell should add bass, guitar and drums to a recorded version, as they found the demo too odd. However, producer Mike Thorne had been working on a number of unusual singles at the time, and the trio decided to keep it faithful to the live version.

Soft Cell joined Thorne at London’s Advision studio, where they decided to incorporate another cover into the 12-inch version – The Supremes’ 1964 hit Where Did Our Love Go. As DJs, Almond and Ball were well versed in mixing appropriate songs together, which was more than obvious here – with the Where Did Our Love Go section sounding like Almond questioning the end of his torrid relationship.

For the Thorne borrowed a drum machine from singer Kit Hain as the duo’s own had broken, and Thorne added Synclavier sounds to Ball’s keyboard. It was Almond’s idea to add the immortal ‘Beep-beep’ ringing sound that makes the intro so memorable.

Almond’s performance is incredible. He sounds angry on Tainted Love – he’s had all he can take and is determined to get out. But by the second half of the 12-inch, he’s had time to reflect. Despite five vocal takes, they decided to keep the very first take, even if Almond was occasionally off-key. It didn’t matter that he was, because he adds humanity to the cold precision of the backing.

Review

Soft Cell’s Tainted Love is both very much a product of its time, and yet timeless. It’s aged incredibly well, despite the primitive electronica on display, much like their beloved Kraftwerk. Like Hutter and co, it’s a brilliant example of how the melding of man and machine can make for truly magical pop. In fact, Ball’s atmospheric backing actually creates more humanity than either of Jones’ versions.

It’s not just the change of key and pace that makes this version better than the original. It’s the added dimension of the fact it’s being sung by an overtly gay man. It was nearly 10 years since David Bowie made his iconic appearance on Top of the Pops where he placed his arm around guitarist Mick Ronson. Since then, glam rock continued to be camp, but more often than not, it was simply a case of laddish rock band members dressing up.

Almond was real, and caused a stir himself when Soft Cell debuted on the BBC’s flagship music show. Compared to his shocking behaviour on stage, the sight of Almond in eyeliner and wearing bangles doesn’t seem that surprising in 2024. But in 1981, it was still shocking, and the BBC asked him to wear neither. Almond refused to budge, and sales of mascara and bangles went through the roof as Tainted Love climbed the charts. Culture Club were just around the corner.

Tainted Love‘s lyrics have added poignancy when sung by a gay man in a world in which homosexuality was still considered dirty and seedy by the mainstream. That this version was released four months after the first newspaper article about AIDS adds even more meaning.

After

Tainted Love was mixed to just over two-and-a-half minutes for the single version that everyone knows and loves, but hearing the 12-inch back in my uni days really blew my mind. I love the way the switch from one song to the other takes place and Almond’s breathless, yearning vocal is just glorious. What a voice.

The single was huge, becoming the second-biggest-selling 7-inch of 1981. It became one of the flagship songs of the Second British Invasion, spending a record-breaking 43 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

Despite the success of Tainted Love, Soft Cell’s debut album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, was also recorded on a shoestring budget. Which suited the music perfectly. The LP was a very Soft Cell combination of sleaze, melodrama and innovative synth-pop. Two further singles, Bedsitter and the beautiful Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, were also hits, the former reaching four and the latter peaking at three the following year.

1982 also saw Soft Cell release a video version of their first album. Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Exotic Video Show featured a bizarre promo for Tainted Love, in which Almond, dressed as a Roman emperor, angrily shouts the lyrics at a smiling little girl, watched on by Ball in cricket whites.

Also that year, the duo released the single Torch, which stalled at two, and the mini-album Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing, which featured number-three hit What, which was another Northern Soul cover.

It was highly appropriate that their third album was called The Art of Falling Apart, as by that point, Almond and Ball were weary of Soft Cell, and it seemed the audience were feeling similar, as sales dwindled. The singer, who was struggling with drugs, formed the offshoot Marc and the Mambas.

In 1983 their single Soul Inside made it to 16, but Soft Cell announced they were to split after the release of final LP, This Last Night in Sodom.

Almond started a solo career, and unexpectedly scored a number 1 in 1989 with his duet cover of Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart with Gene Pitney. A new version of Soft Cell’s biggest hit, Tainted Love ’91, peaked at five that year.

Ball became part of experimental group Psychic TV, where he met Richard Norris. Together they became dance duo The Grid in 1988, and are best known for their 1994 hit Swamp Thing.

Soft Cell reformed in 2000 for live dates, and released a new album, Cruelty Without Beauty, two years later. Over the next few years came compilations of demo tracks and a remix album, Heat, in 2005.

Despite an announcement they would play one final gig in 2018, another album followed in 2022. Happiness Not Included featured a collaboration with one of the other most important electronic pop duos of the 80s – Pet Shop Boys.

The Outro

Marilyn Manson’s rock version of Tainted Love from 2001 was a decent stab, but the title has proved sadly ironic following allegations made against the controversial star.

The Info

Written by

Ed Cobb

Producer

Mike Thorne

Weeks at number 1

2 (5-18 September)

Trivia

Births

7 September: SNP MP Natalie McGarry
11 September: Singer Mark Rhodes
15 September: Field hockey defender Richard Alexander
16 September: Field hockey defender David Mitchell

Deaths

5 September: Writer Emery Reves
8 September: Football manager Bill Shankly
14 September: Painter Mary Potter

Meanwhile…

8 September: Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp is set up by protesters of the plans to site US nuclear missiles there.
Also on this day, 16 Labour councillors in Islington join the SDP, and a sitcom called Only Fools and Horses starts on BBC One.

14 September: Cecil Parkinson is appointed the chairman of the Conservative Party.

16 September: Children’s TV series Postman Pat is first broadcast on BBC One.

18 September: Liberal Party leader David Steel overoptimistically tells delegates at conference to ‘go back to your constituencies and prepare for government.’

484. Aneka – Japanese Boy (1981)

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The Intro

In some ways, early 80s pop was progressive. New romantics were blurring the gender lines and make up was worn by many men in music videos. But then you have this example of cultural appropriation set to an admittedly very catchy tune. But understandably, Scottish folk singer Mary Sandeman, AKA one-hit wonder Aneka, would rather forget Japanese Boy.

Before

Sandeman, born 20 November 1948 in Edinburgh, had released her first record on Thistle Records in 1965. Memories of the Mod wasn’t a Who-inspired record – it was a short selection of traditional Gaelic ballads, that she most likely sang at The Royal National Mòd, which was a Celtic version of the Welsh Eisteddfod.

A few more singles followed, and in 1979 Sandeman released her first album, Introducing Mary Sandeman, on Fleet. Sandeman was working with songwriter and producer Bob Heatlie, and expressed an interest in recording a commercial pop song. Heatlie was sceptical that Sandeman was suited to this, and so he put off the idea, despite constant reminders from Sandeman. Eventually, the frustrated singer told Heatlie she had set up an appointment to record a demo of his non-existent song. Heatlie cobbled together an oriental-sounding chorus with snippets of lyrics from previous material.

The demo of Japanese Boy was rejected by Berlin-based Hansa Records several times, but eventually they were signed. The duo figured Sandeman would need a new look, more in keeping with the song, and so they dressed her in a kimono and wig. And she would need a more fitting name, too, so they leafed through a German telephone directory. They liked ‘Anika’, but Sandeman insisted she became ‘Aneka’, as a link to her surname. The fact that this was a German name, not Japanese, didn’t seem to matter to them – or record buyers, for that matter.

Japanese Boy was released in July and soon climbed the charts, eventually toppling Green Door at the end of August.

Review

Conflicting feelings here. The politically correct me thinks Japanese Boy is a terribly dated song that should be consigned to history – which may well be how Aneka feels, considering she’s never attempted to go back to it. A Scottish folk singer, dressed up as a geisha, pretending to be Japanese, is really not a good look in 2024. The lyrics are pretty poor too – they read like something a teenager writing their first song might come up with.

But, but, but. It really is catchy as hell. Incredibly so. There’s hook upon hook here – however cliched they might be. The production is also great, sounding surprisingly modern for a 1981 potboiler. This is one of the most infectious number 1s of 1981 so far, which is amazing really, considering its up against some of the greatest chart-toppers of the decade. Both my daughters, 12 and nine, also now love it, despite the eldest understanding how tacky and dated the concept is. I would argue Japanese Boy deserves to be better known – but it’s incredibly obvious why it isn’t in this day and age.

The video to Japanese Boy is a bit of a disappointment, as I’d have hoped for some kind of terrible Carry On-style short film based around Aneka searching far and wide for her guy. Instead, it’s simply Aneka stood against a primitive backdrop. This Top of the Pops appearance, featuring backing dancers waving around Japanese paper parasols.

After

Japanese Boy was only number 1 for a week, but Hansa Records tried to capitalise, by commissioning an album. However, nothing else from the LP charted, including the unusual follow-up, Little Lady, for which Aneka dropped the oriental look and became an aristocratic lady. This clip is an interesting watch. Then came Ooh Shooby Doo Doo Lang, a total change of tack, in which Aneka sang from the point of view of a singer permanently relegated to backing vocals. It drops the early electro styles of the last two singles, and sounds more like a comedy song from The Two Ronnies. Although both Little Lady and Ooh Shooby Doo Doo Lang did quite well around Europe, they sank in the UK.

Sandeman, a mother of two young children at the time, was smart and continued to perform traditional material, performing at the Edinburgh Festival the night she went to number 1. Two more Aneka singles followed – Heart to Beat and Rose, Rose, I Love You, over the next two years, but Sandeman then dropped the name. She gave up music for good in the 90s.

In 2006, Justin Lee Collins tried to get Sandeman to take part in a performance of one-hit wonders for Channel 4, but she refused. She was interviewed by The Daily Record in 2011, who reviewed she was working as a tour guide in Stirling.

The Outro

Japanese Boy was rejected in Japan for sounding too Chinese. Heatlie went on to write for Shakin’ Stevens, and was the man behind his 1985 festive number 1, Merry Christmas Everyone.

The Info

Written by

Bobby Heatlie

Producer

Neil Ross

Weeks at number 1

1 (29 August-4 September)

Trivia

Births

2 September: Cricketer Chris Tremlett
3 September: Television presenter Fearne Cotton

Deaths

29 August: Billiards player Joyce Gardner/Radiologist James Ralston Kennedy Paterson
30 August: Actress Rita Webb
31 August: Motorcycle racer Dave Potter
3 September: Novelist Alec Waugh

    Meanwhile…

    1 September: Filling stations started selling motor fuel by the litre.

    483. Shakin’ Stevens – Green Door (1981)

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    The Intro

    Ghost Town had spent three weeks at number 1, soundtracking the country’s dissent over rising unemployment. What did it take to reunite the country? It took the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles II and Lady Diana Spencer, and the retro rock’n’roll of Shakin’ Stevens, who was at the peak of his fame with Green Door.

    Before

    Shaky-mania was a very real thing back then. Grandparents and parents loved the Welsh pop star, who had filled in the sizeable gap left by the death of Elvis Presley, boys thought he was cool, and girls swooned.

    Stevens’ cover of This Ole House had topped the hit parade in the spring, and so it was a case of striking while the iron was hot. Work began on his fourth album, the imaginatively titled Shaky. Adopting the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ methodology, it featured a mix of self-penned Stevens numbers and covers of 50s rock’n’roll tunes. The first fruits of Shaky to see the light of day was the original track You Drive Me Crazy, which was a strong track and rushed out hot on the heels of This Ole House. It was brand new, but could easily have been mistaken for a 50s or 60s hit. It very nearly became Shaky’s second number 1, but it was kept off the top spot by Stand and Deliver!, by the UK’s other hottest pop star of 1981.

    Perhaps sensing that Stevens could repeat the success of his last number 1 by releasing a song the old folks would remember from their youth, Philips Records released his cover of Green Door.

    Green Door had been written by US orchestra leader Bob ‘Hutch’ Davie, with lyrics by Marvin J Moore, in 1956. The original version was recorded by Jim Lowe, a singer-songwriter and radio presenter. The green door in question refers to the entrance to a private club, that Lowe is desperate to enter. He can hear laughter, an old piano which is being played ‘hot’, and can see smoke coming through the keyhole. Lowe’s recording, which became number 1 in the US and eight in the UK, is an interesting production, on which Davie played piano, that he sped up to give it a honky tonk sound.

    In the UK, Lowe’s version was eclipsed by Frankie Vaughan’s, which reached number two. Vaughan, known as ‘Mr Moonlight’, was hugely popular in the UK, and in time he would have two number 1s. However, Lowe’s version is the superior one.

    Review

    I don’t know if it’s age or nostalgia, but here I am bigging up Shaky, whose version of Green Door is better than Lowe’s and Laine’s. It is very similar to the latter, but where normally I’d prefer an authentic primitive 50s production over a glossy 80s take, that isn’t the case here.

    Producer Stuart Colman gives it sheen but also some oomph. It’s catchy as hell and to be fair, the country must have been ready for a party after all the civil unrest that had been going down that summer. And yet, it’s only a few months since I reviewed This Ole House, and I marked that down considerably, despite both singles being very, very similar. Perhaps Stevens caught me on a good day, this time.

    Or perhaps it was the silliness of the video that made me warm to Green Door. Shaky’s videos are always good for an easy laugh, and this is no exception. Just like This Ole House, the director is taking things very literally (possibly the same director?). Stevens jumps around in front of some, yes, green doors in much the same way he jumped off the old house (yes, really). There are repeated shots of an eye looking through a keyhole, a piano… you get the message. Then he finally gets inside the club and gets the chance to do some Elvis-style gyrations on the piano. It’s ridiculous, but in a good way, and I can totally see why he must have seemed so cool to me as a little lad.

    After

    After spending nearly all of August 1981 at the top of the singles chart, the parent album Shaky was released, and went on to be his most successful LP ever, also reaching number 1. It’s Raining, also from the album, peaked at 10, but he would soon be back at pole position.

    The Outro

    Green Door is obviously squeaky clean and upbeat. But it also took on a more sinister meaning for me, thanks to its reworking for a 1976 public information film, that continued to be shown well into the 80s. Looking at it now, it’s really not scary, but it did its job when I was a boy, as after seeing it I’d be too scared to answer the door to anyone. Cheers, Central Office of Information!

    The Info

    Written by

    Bob Davie & Marvin J Moore

    Producer

    Stuart Colman

    Weeks at number 1

    4 (1-28 August)

    Trivia

    Births

    8 August: S Club 7 singer Bradley McIntosh
    11 August: Scottish singer-songwriter Sandi Thom
    17 August: Conservative Party MP Johnny Mercer/Actor Chris New
    20 August: Ben Barnes
    27 August: Comedian Olivia Lee
    28 August: Scottish Labour Party leader Kezia Dugdale

    Deaths

    5 August: Poet Molly Holden/Clarinettist Reginald Kell
    9 August: Landowner Ralph Bankes
    10 August: Civil servant Sir Alan Lascelles/Anglican clergyman James Parkes
    12 August: Royal Navy captain Howard Bone
    15 August: Lawyer Sir Humphrey Waldock
    16 August: Cinematographer Denys Coop
    18 August: Second World War pilot Athol Forbes
    19 August: Actress Jessie Matthews
    21 August: Journalist JRL Anderson
    22 August: First World War nurse Mairi Chisholm
    24 August: Physician Margery Blackie
    26 August: Television producer Peter Eckersley
    28 August: Record producer Guy Stevens

    Meanwhile…

    1 August: Kevin Lynch became the seventh IRA hunger striker to die.

    2 August: Less than 24 hours later, Kevin Lynch became the eighth.

    8 August: Thomas McElwee became the ninth.

    9 August: Broadmoor Hospital is criticised when double murderer Alan Reeve became the second prisoner to escape there in three weeks. 

    17 August: An inquiry opened for the Moss Side riots.

    20 August: Michael Devine was the 10th IRA hunger striker to die in prison.
    Also on this day, Minimum Lending Rate ceased to be set by the Bank of England.

    25 August: Britain’s largest Enterprise Zone was launched in Tyneside.

    27 August: 31-year-old Moira Stuart was appointed to be the first black newsreader on the BBC. 

    482. The Specials – Ghost Town (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    Few number 1s have captured the zeitgeist like The Specials’ Ghost Town. This classic state of the nation address was released and climbed the charts amidst mass rioting that had spread to most cities in the UK. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s politics had resulted in rising unemployment and disaffected youth. Ghost Town was one of the finest chart-toppers of the decade and spoke volumes to Thatcher’s Britain.

    Before

    Following the success of their number 1 EP, Too Much Too Young – The Special A.K.A. Live!, The Specials hunkered down to record their second album, More Specials. However, it wasn’t a happy experience, as Jerry Dammers became the 2-Tone band’s leader and producer, and added Muzak sounds to the mix of pop, ska and reggae. This didn’t go down well with guitarist Roddy Radiation, who wanted to steer the group in a rockabilly direction. Singer Terry Hall also began contributing his own material. In the meantime, they released hit double A-side single Rat Race/Rude Buoys Outa Jail, which peaked at five.

    More Specials was released in September 1980, and the first single, Stereotypes, reached six. The follow-up, Do Nothing/Maggie’s Farm, was their most successful single to date, reaching four.

    However, the accompanying tour was fraught with the growing tensions within the band, as well as audience violence. As The Specials drove around the country, Dammers was haunted by the effects of recession. Shops were closing, unemployment was spiralling, and people were starting to riot in protest. Using ‘weird diminished chords’, as he said in a 2011 interview for The Independent, Dammers began to put his thoughts into music, working on a tune that conveyed ‘impending doom’, matched to sparse lyrics.

    In March 1981, Dammers asked reggae writer and producer John Collins to produce Ghost Town, opting for a small 8-track in a house that had been recommended by bassist Horace Panter. The Specials had recorded their last album in a large 24-track professional space, with room for the whole band to play live. For Ghost Town, Collins built the song out of asking each member to perform their piece, one at a time. This didn’t help improve the general mood within the band, who recorded the three-track single over 10 days that April. Dammers, who had spent a year meticulously working out the song, stormed out of the sessions more than once. Radiation kicked a hole in the studio door, singer Neville Staple refused to do what Dammers wanted, and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Lynval Golding ran into the studio insisting the recording was going wrong.

    Collins liked the idea of Ghost Town sounding like an authentic roots reggae song, and brought the Sly and Robbie-produced What a Feeling by Gregory Isaacs to the studio for drummer John Bradbury for inspiration. Collins also suggested the Hammond organ rhythm played by Dammers throughout. The shortage of tracks available to record on added to the old-school recording techniques used by Collins, who recorded every instrument in mono, then added stereo reverb over the top. The backing track was almost finished when Dammers insisted on adding a flute, played by Paul Heskett from the band King, which led to a very nervous Collins in danger of accidentally wiping the brass section (Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez) from the entire recording.

    Collins took the tracks away and mixed at his home for three weeks. Hall, Staple, Golding and Dammers, who had performed backing vocals, all visited Collins at various points at this time to add further vocals. All that was left was for the producer to add the synthesiser that created the ghostly whistle at the start and end of the song.

    Review

    Pop, art and politics combine to spellbinding effect on Ghost Town. As a song, it’s unique. As a number 1, it’s incredible. Although written in response to riots in Bristol and Brixton in 1980, it landed at number 1 the day after rioting in cities across the country. Yes, chart-toppers had summed up the public mood in song before – A Whiter Shade of Pale, for example. But that was a blissful psychedelic record in keeping with the Summer of Love. Ghost Town was the polar opposite. The only comparison at the top of the hit parade would be God Save the Queen, if you were to be controversial.

    The lyrics to Ghost Town are blunt and concise. Thatcher is never mentioned, but the results of her politics are laid bare. It was six years before the Prime Minister famously said ‘There’s no such thing as society’. However, pre-Falkland War, she was immensely unpopular for plunging the country into recession, with unemployment figures reaching new highs – a 70% rise in two years. ‘All the clubs are being closed down’ was a direct reference to the Locarno in Coventry, which was often frequented by Staple and Golding. The ‘Too much fighting on the dancefloor’ was a sadly familiar sight to The Specials, whose music was popular with skinheads. Despite the 2 Tone act’s admirable attempts to urge their fans to embrace unity, race was a sadly inevitable issue in a divided Britain.

    The verses are so on the ball, the chorus needs no words. The wailing that is in its place is at once scary, horrible, ridiculous and histrionic. And the brief blast of nostalgia to the good old days ‘before the Ghost Town’ is a great piece of music in itself, timed perfectly so you long for more before we’re all too quickly returned to 1981. Dammers has later claimed that it was obvious to him that Hall, Staple and Golding were planning to leave the group, and that Ghost Town is also referring to the current mood within the band. Which makes the upbeat section sounding so much like classic Specials that much sadder. The rest of the band weren’t keen on Dammers’ experiments with muzak, but it’s used to great, unsettling effect on Ghost Town – not sure I’ve heard muzakal reggae before or since. So great is this track, it makes it hard to sympathise with the rest of the band. Dammers’ ego may have taken over, but how could you argue against his genius vision here?

    The video to Ghost Town is an early classic of the medium. Graphic designer Barney Bubbles filmed Panter driving the band around the deserted streets of London in a Vauxhall Cresta, which was achieved by filming in the early hours of a Sunday morning. The shots of the band miming along were enabled by a camera attached to the bonnet via a rubber sucker – which you can see fall off at 1:18. The eerily lit shots of the band at night deeply unnerved me as a child, as did Staple’s demeanour. Though now I’m older, his pointed interjections of ‘Why must the youth fight against themselves?/Government leaving the youth on the shelf’ are the soul of the song.

    After

    The inevitable split happened very quick. Hall, Staple and Golding announced to Dammers at their triumphant Top of the Pops appearance after reaching number 1. Soon after they formed Fun Boy Three, who became best known for their excellent collaborative covers of It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It) and Really Saying Something with Bananarama in 1982.

    The Specials reverted to their previous name, The Special AKA, with a revolving line-up. Their first post-Ghost Town release in 1982 couldn’t have been more different. The Boiler, credited to Rhoda with The Special AKA, was a disturbing new wave tale of date rape that only reached 35. The next single, Jungle Music, was credited to Rico and The Special AKA, and failed to chart. Neither did War Crimes or Racist Friend, their first release of 1983.

    However, their 1984 LP In the Studio, featured the number nine anti-apartheid carnivalesque track Free Nelson Mandela, which was their last charting single. Following the release of What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend, Dammers announced The Special AKA was disbanding.

    In 1993, producer Roger Lomas was asked by Trojan Records to find a new group to back ska superstar Desmond Dekker. Lomas approached everyone from The Specials, and Radiation, Staple, Golding and Panter took up the offer. With the addition of various session musicians, the album King of Kings was credited to Desmond Dekker and The Specials. Buoyed by the experience, this version of the band went on to record two LPs, Today’s Specials in 1996 and Guilty ’til Proved Innocent! in 1998. Two more albums, Skinhead Girl (2000) and Conquering Ruler (2001) followed, but minus Golding.

    In 2007, Hall and Golding teamed up for the first time since Fun Boy Three split up in 1983, to perform Specials songs with Lily Allen and Damon Albarn at the Glastonbury Festival. The following year, Hall and Golding were joined by Staple, Panter, Radiation and Bradbury to perform at Bestival, and announced they were to tour the following year to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary. This made many a rude boy happy, but not Dammers, who was quoted saying Hall and co’s actions amounted to a takeover. In 2012 The Specials performed at the Olympic Games closing ceremony in London.

    2013 saw the departure of Staple, and Radiation left the following year, to be replaced on guitar by Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock. In 2015, Bradbury died, aged 62. He was briefly replaced for live dates by Gary Powell of The Libertines, before PJ Harvey’s drummer Kenrick Rowe took over.

    In 2019, Hall, Golding and Panter were joined by Cradock and Rowe and session musicians to record Encore, the first Specials release to feature Hall since Ghost Town and their first chart-topping album since 1980. Buoyed by its success, one final album, Protest Songs 1924-2012 was released in 2021.

    Another album was planned, but the comeback was derailed permanently by the shock death of Hall due to pancreatic cancer in 2022. Soon after, Panter confirmed there was no point continuing without their much-loved vocalist and songwriter.

    The Outro

    The Specials were one of a kind. In their original incarnation, they combined pop, ska, reggae and political commentary better than the rest. Their fanbase were and are rightly devoted to them. Their live shows were legendary, and they released some of the most exciting and interesting material of the early 80s.

    It’s a shame egos and differences in direction broke up that first line-up, but some acts only burn brightly for a while. Dammers may have been too weird for the group to have continued scoring mainstream pop success, but Ghost Town was mostly his doing, and what an amazing feat to accomplish. With its righteous anger, it’s one of the best pop singles of all time, let alone one of the best number 1s of the 80s. If your only issue with this 7-inch is that it doesn’t go on long enough, check out the extended version.

    10 years after its initial release, Ghost Town Revisited packaged the original mix with Ghost Dub ’91, credited to Special Productions. It’s superfluous.

    The Info

    Written by

    Jerry Dammers

    Producer

    John Collins

    Weeks at number 1

    3 (11-31 July)

    Trivia

    Births

    14 July: Singer Lee Mead

    Deaths

    11 July: Liberal Party politician John Beeching Frankenburg
    17 July: Footballer Sam Bartram
    23 July: Welsh Labour Party MP Goronwy Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts
    25 July: Journalist Alice Head

    Meanwhile…

    11 July: More rioting – this time in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

    13 July: Martin Hurson is the sixth prisoner to die in the IRA hunger strike.
    Also on this day, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces police can use rubber bullets, water cannons and armoured vehicles on rioters.

    15 July: Police battle black youths in Brixton after police raid properties in search of petrol bombs, which are never found.

    16 July: Labour narrowly hold on to the Warrington seat in a by-election, fighting off former member Roy Jenkins, now with the new SDP.

    17 July: The Humber Bridge is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and my Dad helped supply the cement that built it.

    20 July: Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine tours recession-hit Merseyside to examine the area’s problems.

    27 July: The British Telecommunications Act separates British Telecom from the Royal Mail, with effect from 1 October.
    Also on this day, the two-month-old daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips is christened Zara Anne Elizabeth.

    28 July: Margaret Thatcher blames IRA leaders for the hunger strike deaths.

    29 July: The ‘fairytale’ wedding of Prince Charles II and Lady Diana Spencer takes place at St Paul’s Cathedral. More than 30 million view the event on television, making it the second highest TV audience of all time.

    481. Michael Jackson – One Day In Your Life (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    By 1981, Off the Wall turned Michael Jackson into a bona fide solo star. And he became so popular that One Day In Your Life, a song that dated back to 1975, earned him the first of his seven UK number 1s. Here’s how one of the biggest celebrities of all time started on the path from precocious childhood talent to deeply troubled ‘King of Pop’.

    Before

    Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on 29 August 1958. He was the eighth of 10 children raised by musical parents – Katherine had wanted to be a country and western performer, and Joe played guitar in a rhythm and blues band.

    In 1964, aged only six, Jackson and elder brother Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers, which was Joe’s first attempt at grooming his children for stardom. Jackie, Tito and Jermaine were already there when Jackson took up the congas.

    Joe was a tough taskmaster, and Jackson suffered particularly. His father would ridicule his ‘fat nose’ and he was more sensitive than his brothers when it came to disciplinary whippings. However, Joe could see Jackson had great potential, and in 1965 he teamed up with Jermaine as a vocalist in the newly christened Jackson 5. The group started winning talent shows, and performed on the Chitlin’ Circuit, opening for great acts including Sam & Dave, Gladys Knight and Etta James.

    As covered in my review of The Jacksons’ sole number 1, Show You the Way to Go, the Jackson 5 released their first recording in 1968 and the same year, singer Bobby Taylor was so impressed by Jackson, he got the group an audition with Motown Records. The Jackson 5 became sensations, releasing four US number 1s, but it was child prodigy Jackson that really captured the public’s imagination. He became their lead singer.

    In 1972, aged 14, Jackson released his first two solo albums – Got to Be There and Ben. The title track of his first LP was his first solo single, reaching five in the UK, and Rockin’ Robin followed closely after, peaking at three. A cover of Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine was a number eight hit.

    The title track to Jackson’s second album was the title track to a film of the same name, and perhaps the first example of Jackson’s weirdness, as it was a love song for a rat. Nonetheless, it was his first solo number 1 in the US, and reached seven on these shores.

    The Jackson 5 continued to perform and record in this time, but the initial success had dampened somewhat, and Jackson’s solo career soon followed suit. He had no artistic control, and his albums mostly contained a mix of run-of-the-mill Motown production line tunes and average covers. To make matters worse, Jackson could see labelmates Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye doing extremely well since they had wrestled control from Berry Gordy Jr, but his father wouldn’t help. Not a single release from third LP Music & Me charted.

    Jackson’s fourth album, Forever, Michael, was to be his last on Motown and was released in 1975. A year previous, the Jackson 5 had made a comeback of sorts with the disco smash Dancing Machine in the US. But Forever, Michael consisted of the usual average soul and light funk material. One Day in Your Life was track three.

    Review

    It’s fair to say that had One Day in Your Life been released as a single back in 1975, it wouldn’t have become Jackson’s first number 1. It’s a pretty unremarkable Philly soul-style track, apart for one element – Jackson’s soaring vocal. Here was a unique talent, waiting to be set free by his label and allowed to work with the best songwriters and producers. It took just that to make demand for his material so high, this track would top the charts while fans waited for one of the biggest albums of all time.

    One question remains – what with this and previous number 1 Being With You, why was there such an appetite for tepid soul in the summer of 1981?

    After

    In 1975, the Jackson 5 (bar Jermaine, who was replaced by Randy) left Motown behind and signed with Epic Records as The Jacksons. They released their eponymous album a year later, which showcased a more sophisticated sound, courtesy in part to Philly hitmakers Gamble and Huff. Seven years since storming the UK charts, The Jacksons finally scored a number 1 with the charming Show You the Way to Go.

    Jackson starred in 1977 musical fantasy The Wiz as the Scarecrow, and although it bombed, he did at least work with Quincy Jones, who would be instrumental in his imminent success. Now 21, Jackson frequented hip nightclub Studio 54, immersing himself in the latest disco, funk, and even early hip-hop.

    In 1978, the third Jacksons’ LP, Destiny, was a smash, featuring two of their best tracks, Blame It on the Boogie (number eight) and Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)(number four). Jackson grew increasingly unhappy with his looks, and had a nose job.

    1979 was the year Jackson broke new ground. As The Jacksons, he sang on the epic number six single Can You Feel It. But eclipsing that was his first solo album with Epic. The award-winning Off the Wall, produced by Jones, was massive, eventually selling more than 20 million. Two of the greatest disco singles of all time – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and Rock with You – both deservedly made it to the top of the Billboard chart in the US, but peaked at three and seven respectively in the UK. The title track also reached seven here, and She’s Out of My Life climbed to three. And yet, Jackson felt Off the Wall could have done better, and was determined to prove this with his next LP.

    The Outro

    In the meantime, Motown decided on a cash grab, plundering the back catalogues of the Jackson 5 and their lead singer. One Day in Your Life concentrated on their later years, and the title track whetted the appetites of Jackson’s ever-growing army of fans. It would be a while longer yet, but was certainly worth the wait.

    The Info

    Written by

    Sam Brown III & Renée Armand

    Producer

    Sam Brown

    Weeks at number 1

    2 (27 June-10 July)

    Trivia

    Births

    27 June: Actor Sam Hoare
    28 June: Field hockey midfielder Joanne Ellis 
    30 June: Actor Tom Burke

    Deaths

    27 June: Author Paul Brunton/Publisher Gordon Fraser/Businessman Charles Jewson
    4 July: Cricketer Herbert Blagrave
    6 July: Guide leader Alix Liddell
    9 July: Golfer Leonard Crawley

    Meanwhile…

    2 July: Four members of an Asian Muslim family (three of which were children) are killed by arson at home in Walthamstow, London. The attack is suspected to have been racially motivated.

    3 July: Hundreds of Asians and skinheads riot in Southhall, London. This follows disturbances at the Hamborough Tavern public house, which is severely damaged by fire.

    5 July: When the Toxteth riots break out in Liverpool, CS gas is used for the first time by British police. Riots also occur in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, Wolverhampton city centre, parts of Coventry, Leicester, Derby and High Wycombe.

    7 July: 43 people are charged with theft and violent disorder following rioting in Wood Green, North London.

    8 July: Yet more rioting, as more than 1,000 people besiege Moss Side, Manchester police station.
    Also on this day, Joe McDonnell becomes the fifth IRA hunger striker to die, and British Leyland ends production of the Austin Maxi.

    10 July: Widespread riots break out in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Ellesmere Port, Luton, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Derby, Southampton, Nottingham, High Wycombe, Bedford, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Reading, Chester and Aldershot. The two-day rioting in Moss Side ends.

    480. Smokey Robinson – Being With You (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    11 years after Smokey Robinson and The Miracles had a UK number 1 with the classic The Tears of a Clown, their frontman was a solo star and perhaps surprisingly became a chart-topper once more with Being With You.

    Before

    Robinson had been ready to quit The Miracles back in 1969 and concentrate on being Motown Records vice president and a family man. But the unexpected release and success of their 1967 recording The Tears of a Clown caused him to hang on a few more years.

    Although he eventually retired in 1972, and The Miracles continued, Robinson couldn’t stay away for long. A year later he released his debut solo LP, Smokey, featuring contributions from former Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin. In 1974 the track Just My Soul Responding became his first solo hit in the UK – but it only reached 33. Next to the likes of former collaborators Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, who were releasing great records, Robinson looked a little old-fashioned. And he was still Motown vice president, too, so perhaps too busy to do his own material justice.

    In 1975, Robinson’s Baby That’s Backatcha reached 26 in the US, but other than that, most of his 70s material was poorly received critically and commercially. His fortunes finally changed when Tarplin presented him with Cruisin’. Robinson wrote some lyrics, and this smooth and sexy single took him all the way to four in the US.

    Robinson was impressed by the singer Kim Carnes’ cover of the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ track More Love, and penned her the ballad Being With You. However, Robinson didn’t know that Carnes’ and her producer George Tobin had parted ways. When Tobin heard Robinson’s demo, he told him he should keep it for himself, and Tobin would produce it. Good idea. Tobin wasn’t actually much of a producer, but got guitarist Mike Piccirillo to help out.

    Review

    There’s no denying Robinson is a musical legend, blessed with the voice of an angel that you can hear on a number of classics such as You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me, The Tracks of My Tears and The Tears of a Clown. Not only does Being With You come nowhere near to these hits, it’s also the least memorable chart-topper of 1981 to date. It’s silky smooth and well-produced, and Robinson’s voice is as great as always – but the tune is bland and insubstantial. Being With You washes over you in the same way as buying milk in a supermarket does. The most interesting aspect is the video, in which Robinson hangs around a beach house.

    Actually, it’s also interesting to note that Being With You was kept from the top of the Billboard chart in the US by Kim Carnes’ far superior Bette Davis Eyes – and both featured the synth work of Bill Cuomo.

    After

    Gordy wasn’t very keen on Being With You, and probably even less keen on a Motown release being produced by somebody who wasn’t on his label. But as Being With You began to climb the charts, he started throwing money at the single, and it paid off.

    Robinson and Tobin continued to work together for several albums, but to little success. He duetted with Rick James in 1984 on Ebony Eyes, but his hits dried up.

    In 1987, Robinson made another comeback with the album One Heartbeat, which saw a return to commercial form, scoring top 10 hits with the title track Just to Hear. That same year, Sheffield pop band ABC paid tribute to the great man with When Smokey Sings, which peaked at 11 in the UK.

    The following year, there was some controversy when Robinson found himself inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – minus The Miracles. Robinson didn’t take kindly to this, considering it an affront to his group. It took 24 years before he was able to introduce Tarplin, Bobby Rogers, his ex-wife Claudette Rogers Robinson (they divorced in 1986) and Ron White.

    Motown was sold to MCA Records in 1988 too, so Robinson resigned as vice president. A year later he made his final appearance in the UK top 40, recording Indestructible with the Four Tops. Robinson left Motown as an artist in 1991 for SBK Records, but returned in 1999 for the album Intimate.

    He left Motown once more in 2003, this time for good. Three years later came his album of standards – Timeless Love – for Universal Records. In 2009 he released Time Flies When You’re Having Fun on his own label, Robso Records. It was his most successful in 22 years.

    Robinson experienced something of a comeback over the next few years, with each album charting higher than the last, peaking with Smokey & Friends in 2014, which featured Elton John and Linda Ronstadt.

    As a singer best known for romantic, often slushy material, Robinson shocked many with his most recent album, called, er, Gasms. This concept album dealt primarily with, surprise surprise, sex! Behind the scenes, Robinson was known as a bit of a ladies man, indulging in many affairs while with Claudette, including Diana Ross.

    The Outro

    For a much better example of later period Motown Robinson, try Cruisin’, not Being With You.

    The Info

    Written by

    William Robinson Jr

    Producers

    George Tobin & Mike Piccirillo

    Weeks at number 1

    2 (13-26 June)

    Trivia

    23 June: Blue singer Antony Costa
    25 June: Actress Sheridan Smith

    Deaths

    13 June: Actress Joan Benham
    15 June: Author Philip Toynbee
    17 June: General Richard O’Connor/Welsh rugby player Ike Fowler
    18 June: Rugby player Stan Brogden/Actor Richard Goolden/Novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson/Conservative MP Robert Taylor
    20 June: Labour MP Gordon Lang

    Meanwhile…

    13 June: Marcus Sarjeant shoots six blank cartridges at Queen Elizabeth II as she enters Horse Guards Parade.

    13–14 June: 80 people are arrested when fighting breaks out between white power skinheads and black people in Coventry. 

    15 June: Lord Scarman opens an enquiry into the Brixton riots.

    16 June: The SDP-Liberal Alliance is formed.

    17 June: War hero Sir Richard O’Connor dies shortly before his 92nd birthday.

    20 June: The HMS Ark Royal is launched.

    21 June: One person is killed and 16 are injured due to a fire at Goodge Street tube station.

    23 June: Unemployment reaches 2,680,977.

    479. Adam and the Ants – Stand & Deliver! (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    Adam and the Ants captivated children of the 80s – myself included. Adam Ant was my first ever musical hero, and where my love of music began. Here’s how a new wave band with niche appeal became a sensation and shot to number 1 for the first time with Stand and Deliver!.

    Before

    Adam Ant was born Stuart Leslie Goddard in Marylebone, London on 3 November 1954. Goddard’s grandfather on his mother’s side was Romanichal, which planted the seed of protecting minorities that would become a common theme in Goddard’s music.

    His parents divorced when he was seven, and his mother worked as a domestic cleaner to make ends meet. In 1967, she briefly cleaned Paul McCartney’s house, and her son later vividly recalled going round there after school.

    Goddard was educated at Robinsfield Infants School, where he got into trouble by throwing a brick through the headmaster’s office on two consecutive days. Ironically, this proved to be a wise move, as he was placed under the supervision of a teacher who encouraged his creative side.

    At Barrow Hill Junior School, Goddard enjoyed boxing and cricket. He passed his A-plus and went to St Marylebone Grammar School, an all-boys school, where he became a prefect and gained three A-levels. Next was Hornsey College of Art, where he studied graphic design. But before he could complete his BA, he was swayed by a growing love of music, and he dropped out.

    Goddard joined the pub rock band Bazooka Joe in 1975 as their bassist. Although the band also featured John Ellis, who became one of The Vibrators, they are most famous for being the headliners of the first ever Sex Pistols gig, at Central St Martins College of Art and Design on 6 November. Goddard was fascinated by the Pistols, while the rest of Bazooka Joe disagreed so strongly, he decided to leave the group and an idea began to form.

    Under his new guise, Ant (named ‘Adam’ after the first man and ‘Ant’ after a creature that would survive a nuclear explosion) formed the B-Sides, featuring lead guitarist Lester Square and Andy Warren. On 23 April 1977, with drummer Paul Flanagan, they became The Ants, holding their first band meeting at a Siouxsie and the Banshees gig at the Roxy in Covent Garden. Ant was in the right place at the right time, as the punk scene was exploding, and he became close friends with Jordan, who worked at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s SEX boutique. She soon became his band’s manager.

    Square only lasted a month before leaving to concentrate on his course at art school, though he later formed The Monochrome Set. He was replaced by Mark Ryan, and The Ants began performing regularly around London. Flanagan was replaced in early June by Dave ‘Barbe’ Barbarossa, and The Ants entered a studio for the first time, recording Deutscher Girls and Beat My Guest. These two songs featured in Derek Jarman’s drama Jubilee (1978), in which Ant made his acting debut as The Kid. The Ants sacked Ryan, replaced him with Johnny Bivouac, and became Adam and the Ants.

    The leather-clad, post-punk Adam and the Ants had a penchant for controversial fetishist imagery, and were unpopular with the music press, but they gained a cult following. 1978 was a big year, as they made their radio debut, recording a session for John Peel in January. Jordan featured on vocals for their final track Lou, which she used to do regularly at their gigs, but she quit as their manager in May and a day later, Bivouac left the band, to be replaced by Matthew Ashman.

    Adam and the Ants recorded a second Peel session in July and at the end of the month they signed a two-single deal with Decca Records. Young Parisians was released in October, but plans for a follow-up were shelved by Decca.

    A third Peel session was recorded in March 1979, and the band signed with independent label Do It Records. Second single Zerox was released in July and a month later they began recording their debut album, written and produced by Ant. Soon after, he sacked Ashman and Warren, and the latter joined The Monochrome Set, but Ashman was allowed back. Warren was replaced by Lee Gorman. The LP, Dirk Wears White Sox ( a reference to actor Dirk Bogarde), was released in November. It’s an interesting album, but don’t expect any of the brilliant pop that was around the corner. It did however make it to number 1 on the fledgling UK Independent Albums Chart that launched in early January 1980.

    Ant asked Malcolm McLaren to take over as manager of the band, and the former Sex Pistols manager proved to inadvertently have a positive effect on Ant’s career. How? By dropping him and stealing his band. By the end of January, McLaren had persuaded Ashman, Gorman and Barbe to jump ship and join his new group, Bow Wow Wow. Their lead singer was 13-year-old Annabella Lwin, who was briefly joined by George O’Dowd before he became better known as Boy George. Whether Ant

    Undeterred, Ant went looking for new Ants. Marco Pirroni, who had been one of Siouxsie’s Banshees, became the new guitarist. They were briefly joined by future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss (using the name Terry 1+2) to remake Dirk Wears White Sox opener Cartrouble as a contractual obligation for Do It, with Pirroni also on bass. The single was produced by Chris Hughes, who Ant subsequently asked to become his new drummer.

    Kevin Mooney picked up bass duties, and unusually, there were now two drummers as Terry Lee Miall also joined the band. Ant was to co-write the new material with Pirroni and they signed a publishing deal with EMI. They worked on new material at Matrix Studios and went on the Ant Invasion tour while Ant took the new material to prospective record companies.

    The change in direction was startling. Ant and Pirroni used Hughes (now known as Merrick) and Miall to create Burundi-style African drumming to underpin a new sound that was a commercial yet unique mix of pop and new wave. They ditched the leathers and instead of a monochrome look they added tons of colour, dressing as pirates with Native American make-up, and looking and sounding not unlike Johnny Kidd and the Pirates.

    Whether these ideas were stolen from McLaren (as their former manager claimed) or vice versa, Ant, who was always incredibly handsome and charismatic, now looked and sounded like a real pop star. It wouldn’t take long to persuade the public he was, either.

    Kings of the Wild Frontier was their next single, and what a call to arms it was. Over that soon to become familiar Burundi beat and Pirroni’s rockabilly guitar, Ant began his mission statement by chanting ‘A new Royal family, a wild nobility, we are the family’. He also sang about Native American suffering and declared ‘Antpeople are the warriors, Antmusic is our banner!’ Tremendous stuff, that somehow only scraped into the charts at 48 that summer.

    In October came their next single, Dog Eat Dog, which streamlined the formula into a more chart-friendly format. This song, about bands in competition with one another and inspired by a phrase used by Margaret Thatcher, deservedly went all the way to number four.

    The following month saw the release of their first hit LP. Kings of the Wild Frontier proved Adam and the Ants weren’t going to be a one-hit wonder. Released as the New Romantic movement was exploding, it contained another mission statement in Antmusic, which peaked at number two in January 1981, being held off the top spot by Imagine in the wake of John Lennon’s death.

    Adam and the Ants were so popular, Decca and Do It rushed to plunder their earlier material for a cash grab. Incredibly, Young Parisians climbed to nine. In February the band performed on The Royal Variety Show in a spellbinding performance that caused Ant to shout at Mooney at the close for seemingly going off script. It would be Mooney’s last performance with the Ants, and Gary Tibbs, who had starred in Breaking Glass (1980), took his place. A re-release of the single Kings of the Wild Frontier soared to two.

    The band set to work on what was to be the final Adam and the Ants album. Prince Charming‘s lead single was to be Stand and Deliver!, in which Ant adopted a new image as ‘the dandy highwayman that you’re too scared to mention’. Ant was a history buff and loved the Georgian era of bawdy flamboyance. He saw it as a perfect vehicle for ‘looking flash and grabbing your attention. And it definitely worked.

    Inspiration may have come from several places, including the film The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), the Monty Python’s Flying Circus 1973 sketch ‘Dennis Moore’, Carry on Dick (1974) – the final entry in the series to star Sid James – and the London Weekend Television series Dick Turpin, that was running on ITV at the time.

    Review

    It was inevitable that Stand and Deliver! should become Ant’s first number 1, after several near misses. The drums are toned down from previous singles, now providing an exciting underpinning to pure brilliant pop, and Pirroni’s guitar is more modern than the rockabilly sounds of what came before.

    There’s memorable vocal hook after hook here, too. If it’s not the opening line, or the triumphant chorus, or the ‘HUH’ after the drums in the chorus, it’s the nonsensical but suitably camp ‘Fa diddley qua qua’ as the song draws to a close.

    While you can argue Adam and the Ants were too retro or rock to be New Romantics, this song fits the template, as Ant bemoans the lack of colour and fantasy in pop music. The Blitz Kids may have preferred more electronic sounding music, but they’d have totally agreed with lines like ‘The way you look you’ll qualify for next year’s old-age pension’. And the idea of using fashion as a weapon – ‘Not a bullet or a knife’ will have greatly appealed. It certainly did to little young me, and boys across the country. Ant was already cool, but mutating into a Dick Turpin-style character was bloody genius. In the early 80s I thought Sid James in Carry on Dick was cool. Ant as similar? Simply mind-blowing.

    To change from edgy S&M stylings to cartoon childhood heroics is quite a transformation, but Ant more than pulled it off. As a child, he was just amazing. Incredibly handsome, charismatic, flamboyant and fun, Ant was a cartoon hero brought to life. I may have missed out on Beatlemania and Flower Power, glam rock and punk, but I feel proud to have been a young boy when Ant was at the height of his fame.

    In theory I was too young – I was only two when this was number 1. But I can remember leaping from chair to settee in our living room to Adam and the Ants’ videos, and there’s a photo of me proudly holding an Ants’ single. So the band must have already split by the time I was in love with them, so brief was their fame. But listening to this and watching the video now, it’s clear that Adam and the Ants could only ever be huge for a short time – in a similar way to early T Rex. But what a time!

    Ashes to Ashes may have heralded the start of the rise of music videos in the 80s, but with Stand and Deliver!, Ant grabs the torch and gallops away with it. Ant worked with director Mike Mansfield to create ‘a Hollywood movie in three minutes’, and they certainly succeeded. Ant is going round holding up mirrors to his victims – including a man who looks scarily similar to Boycie from Only Fools and Horses, which started this same year. The video, which also features Ant’s then-girlfriend Amanda Donohoe, climaxes with our hero about to be hanged before escaping with the rest of the Ants, and then ends with a topless Ant staring at himself in the mirror, alone. What did this mean? Was it Ant contemplating his own lyrics? Was it his true self, behind the mock heroics? Or was it just a chance to look hot and make his female fans swoon? Whatever it was, it hinted at the title track of their last LP, and next number 1.

    After

    Stand and Deliver! was an instant smash, debuting at number 1 and staying there for five weeks. It was the third biggest-selling single of 1981, and solidified Ant as a household name that year.

    The Outro

    20 years later, a troubled Ant made a well-meaning but ill-advised new version of his first number 1, called Save the Gorilla. Ant was trying to raise awareness of the plight of mountain gorillas in Central Africa, and the production is decent enough, but an overweight Ant trying to squeeze his new lyrics into one of his classics just seemed a bit silly. Pirroni helped to block its release.

    The Info

    Written by

    Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni

    Producer

    Chris Hughes

    Weeks at number 1

    5 (9 May-12 June)

    Trivia

    Births

    13 May: Labour Party MP Luciana Berger
    15 May: Equestrienne Zara Phillips
    16 May: Actor Joseph Morgan/Actor Jim Sturgess
    17 May: Footballer Leon Osman
    20 May: 5ive pop star Sean Conlon
    22 May: Comedian Sara Pascoe
    26 May: Broadcaster James Wong
    29 May: Rugby union player Rochelle Clark
    9 June: Backstroke swimmer Helen Don-Duncan/Scottish football plater Alex Neil/Musician Anoushka Shankar
    11 June: Scottish field hockey goalkeeper Alistair McGregor

    Deaths

    9 May: Footballer Ralph Allen/Socialite Doris Harcourt
    10 May: Conservative Party MP Geoffrey Stevens
    15 May: Liberal Party MP Margery Corbett Ashby
    17 May: Classical scholar WKC Guthrie
    18 May: Novelist Verity Bargate
    19 May: Ornithologist Collingwood Ingram
    23 May: Radio producer Rayner Heppenstall
    24 May: Actor Jack Warner
    27 May: Scientist Kit Pedler/Philologist Anne Pennington
    28 May: Archaeologist John Bryan Ward-Perkins
    29 May: Organist John Dykes Bower
    31 May: Economist Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth
    10 June: Welsh journalist Sir Trevor Evans

    Meanwhile…

    9 May: The 100th FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium ends as a 1-1 draw between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. 

    11 May: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats debuts at New London Theatre.

    12 May: 25-year-old Francis Hughes becomes the second IRA hunger striker to die in Northern Ireland.

    13 May: The New Cross fire inquest returns an open verdict on the thirteen people who died as a result of their injuries in the New Cross fire.

    14 May: Spurs are victorious in the FA Cup final replay with a 3-2 win. It’s the sixth time they’ve won the trophy.

    15 May: The Brixton riots inquiry opens.

    19 May: Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of 13 charges of murder, and a further seven attempted murders.

    21 May: The IRA hunger strike claims two more deaths – Raymond McCreesh (24) and Patrick O’Hara (23).

    22 May: Peter Sutcliffe is sentenced to life imprisonment.

    27 May: Liverpool FC becomes the first British team to win the European Cup for the third time, defeating Real Madrid 1-0 at Parc des Princes in Paris.

    30 May: More than 100,000 people march to Trafalgar Square in London for the Trade Union Congress’s (TUC’s) March For Jobs.

    3 June: Sherman wins the Epsom Derby.

    11 June: Queen Elizabeth II opens the NatWest Tower.

    478. Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up (1981)

    / robbarker1979

    The Intro

    One of the most enduring pop images of the early 80s is the skirt-ripping routine of 1981 Eurovision Song Contest winners Bucks Fizz. This is the story of how their entry, Making Your Mind Up, brought about their creation and became their first of three number 1 singles.

    Before

    Allegedly, songwriter Andy Hill wrote Making Your Mind Up in 1980 with a view to entering it in the UK’s Eurovision qualifying contest, A Song for Europe. Hill’s girlfriend, singer Nichola Martin, suggested Hill team up with a musician called John Danter, who she could sign up to her publishing company, which would enable her to own half the rights to the song, as Hill was signed elsewhere. Hill had been a member of Rags, a group who failed to win the 1977 A Song for Europe.

    That October, Hill and Martin recorded a demo with the singer Mike Nolan, who had worked with the latter before. Nolan had been in the boyband Brooks, who were put together by Freya Miller, who became Shakin’ Stevens‘ manager. Another original member of Brooks was Chris Hamill, later known as Limahl.

    Two months after the demo was recorded, Making Your Mind Up was selected out of 591 submitted entries to be one of the eight finalists. Martin had decided to name the performer as ‘Buck’s Fizz’, in honour of her favourite drink, so when she discovered the song had been picked, she needed to act fast and create a group featuring Nolan.

    In January 1981, Martin contacted Cheryl Baker, who she remembered from the 1978 Eurovision group Co-Co. Baker had previously been in the band Bressingham Spire, which also featured the soon-to-be Radio 1 DJ Mike Read. Worried that Baker, disillusioned after Co-Co’s loss, may say no, Martin also auditioned for another female vocalist, plus a second male singer. The winners were Jay Aston and Stephen Fischer. When Baker agreed to take part, Martin decided to keep Aston anyway, as her vocal complemented Baker’s well. Aston had trained to be a dancer and actress, as well as a singer, and had taken part in the 1978 Miss England contest, where the act during the interval had been Co-Co.

    Fischer threw a spanner in the works when it turned out he was contracted to appear in the musical Godspell, so he was out. A year later Fischer was the male member of the duo Bardo, who came seventh in Eurovision with the song One Step Further (a number two hit).

    Martin found a replacement in Bobby G, a singer/guitarist/actor who had impressed in previous editions. On 11 January 1981, Bucks Fizz (what happened to the apostrophe?) met for the first time and Jill Shirley, who had been in Rags with Martin, agreed to be their manager. This meant Martin and Hill could now concentrate on their own entry for A Song for Europe, Have You Ever Been in Love?.

    During rehearsals for Making Your Mind Up, the attention-grabbing skirt ripping routine during the lyric ‘see some more’ was hit upon. But by who, remains a mystery. It could have been routine choreographer Chrissie Wickham, formerly of Hot Gossip, who spent two days with the group. Martin, Baker and Aston have all laid claim to the concept too. I’d personally go with Martin, as the Top of the Pops performance that Rags made in 1977 when promoting Promises Promises has something rather similar as they remove their, er, rags.

    Martin and Shirley scored a recording deal for Bucks Fizz with RCA Records, and Hill went with the group to record Making Your Mind Up at Mayfair Studios in London. The record, featuring Alan Carvell on backing vocals, was done and dusted in a week.

    Review

    I have a lot of time for Making Your Mind Up and I feel no shame. It’s pure cheese of course, but it’s so bloody charming and fun. The lyrics are mostly nonsensical – aren’t most Eurovision entries? But, there is some meaning in there – it seems to be about someone playing the field that might have found someone to stick with, but they need to stop being indecisive.

    Not that the words really matter when you have a tune like this on your hands. Making Your Mind Up is so sugary sweet, it was always going to go down well at home, and abroad – and the latter is helped by what sounds like an accordion in the latter half.

    This is one of those songs that defies analysis, really. It’s pure pop and if you can’t enjoy it, you may be dead inside. It’s leagues ahead of the other UK winners before this point, and I prefer it to Waterloo, too. And Bucks Fizz were the perfect vehicle to promote this song. You’ve got the Ken dolls, Nolan and G, for the girls, Baker has mumsy appeal for the mums and grans, and Aston was very popular with the dads – as was the skirt-ripping when they sing ‘If you wanna see some more’ the last time.

    That routine of course featured in the official video for Making Your Mind Up, which starts with the group cheekily waving their arses for an adoring crowd before breaking into song and dance. There’s no bells or whistles here – it’s for all intents and purposes a Top of the Pops or Eurovision performance, really.

    After

    On 11 March, Bucks Fizz won A Song for Europe, beating even Liquid Gold, a popular act at the time. A Top of the Pops performance followed, which helped the single enter the charts at 24, before soaring to five a week later.

    Eurovision was held at the RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin on 4 April 1981. Bucks Fizz performed 14th that evening, and despite a rather off-key performance (which may or may not have been down to nerves or a mic mix-up), they became the fourth winners from the UK, after Sandie Shaw, Lulu and Brotherhood of Man. Two weeks later, Making Your Mind Up became the third UK winner to then become number 1. The record eventually sold four million worldwide, and Bucks Fizz were one of the hottest groups of 1981.

    The Outro

    In 2013, BBC Radio 2 listeners voted Bucks Fizz’s debut the best Eurovision entry of all time. The skirt-rip routine was spoofed endlessly, has appeared in numerous Eurovision entries since 1981, and was even copied by Mick Jagger and Tina Turner at Live Aid in 1985.

    The Info

    Written by

    Andy Hill & John Danter

    Producer

    Andy Hill

    Weeks at number 1

    3 (18 April-8 May)

    Trivia

    Births

    23 April: Actress Gemma Whelan
    25 April: Paralympian sprinter John McFall
    3 May: Charlie Brooks
    5 May: Singer Craig David

    Deaths

    19 April: Labour Party MP Colin Jackson
    21 April: Antiques caretaker Dorothy Eady/Pianist Ivor Newton/Electrical engineer Lesley Souter
    22 April: Liberal Party politician Philip Rea, 2nd Baron Rea
    23 April: Olympic rower Sir James Angus Gillan
    24 April: Mathematician JCP Miller
    25 April: Indologist Isaline Blew Horner
    26 April: Robert Garioch
    28 April: T Rex bassist Steve Currie/Educationalist Marjorie Rackstraw/Businessman Bernard Mason
    1 May: Actor Barry Jones
    2 May: Unionist politician Joseph Foster
    4 May: Zoologist Alan William Greenwood
    5 May: IRA member Bobby Sands (see ‘Meanwhile…‘)
    6 May: Film director Gordon Parry

    Meanwhile…

    20 April: Steve Davis, 23, wins the World Snooker Championship for the first time.
    Also on this day, skirmishes break out in Finsbury Park, Forest Green and Ealing in London. 100 people are arrested and 15 police officers are injured.

    23 April: Unemployment passes the 2,500,000 mark.

    29 April: Peter Sutcfliffe admits to the manslaughter of 13 women, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

    5 May: 27-year-old republican and Provisional IRA member Bobby Sands died following his hunger strike in Northern Ireland’s Maze Prison, one month after becoming MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
    Also on this day, Peter Sutcliffe’s trial begins at the Old Bailey in London.

    7 May: Labour’s Ken Livingstone becomes leader of the Greater London Council.