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”The woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks!” Chartbusters of the 1980s revisited.

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Hats off to Dai for kicking off that thread about the best albums of the 1980s.
What an extraordinary decade it was!
Fascinating though it was to look though all those lists of remarkable albums, I want to know about your 45 rpm favourites.

So many excellent songs! Here are some of my favourites. Some of them are deliberately obscure. I wanted to list some tunes that I enjoyed rather than mega-hits.…

Night nurse – Gregory Isaacs
Radio Africa – Latin Quarter
Luka – Suzanne Vega
Caught up in the Rapture – Anita Baker
Venceremos – Working Week

Stoolpigeon – Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Ängeln i rummet – Eva Dahlgren
I’ve seen that face before (Libertango) – Grace Jones
Each and every one – Everything but the girl
Yeke Yeke – Mory Kante

Fisherman’s Blues – The Waterboys
Un ramito de violetas – Manzanita
Don’t you want me , Baby – Human League
Tutta ‘Nata Storia – Pino Daniele
Under the Milky Way – The Church

Smooth Operator – Sade
Where did your heart go? – Was (Not was)
Levi Stubbs’s Tears – Billy Bragg
Blue Monday – New Order
Enola Gay -OMD

Please share your memories of the 80s with us!

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Comments

  1. I saw Latin Quarter as part of anti-apartheid festival in Birmingham. The Pogues and Half Man Half Biscuit also on the bill. Elvis Costello walked around the public bar area hand-in-hnd with Cait O’Riordan. The headline act was Love & Pride hitmakers, King.

    I remember the 80s having many chart hits with social commentary or anti-Government leanings. This has pretty much disappeared. Yes, we scoffed at the earnestness sometimes but it’s a shame it’s not there at all now.

    • Very true @black-celebration. Let’s hope the selections on this thread reflects that.
      That festival sounds remarkable. King! Not heard them for a few decades.

      Heaven 17’s first single in 1981 was banned by the BBC due to the reference to US politics.

      “Brothers, sisters, we don’t need this fascist groove thang
      Democrats are out of power
      Across that great wide ocean
      Reagan’s president elect
      Fascist god in motion
      Generals tell him what to do
      Stop your good time dancing”

    • Latin Quarter did Radio Africa on Whistle Test and I was so much in awe I bought the album. Put it this way, it could feature in one of the other recent threads, so direly wimpy were all the other tracks. One other reasonably passable song.

  2. Really, there are far too many, but what springs to mind is those bes-value singles, the ones which I played both sides of repeatedly because of great B-sides. This is probably a different thread.

    All three acts had previous form in this regard.

    The flip of In Between Days was The Exploding Boy:

    (Keep Feeling) Fascination was backed with Total Panic.

    And Thieves Like Us had Lonesome Tonight, arguably New Order’s best “song”.

  3. Avoiding singles from albums I already named on the other thread

    Teardrops – Womack and Womack
    I Found Lovin’ – Fatback Band
    Say I’m Your Number One – Princess
    Nothing Going on but the Rent – Gwen Guthrie
    Cars – Gary Numan
    Messages – OMD
    Borderline – Madonna
    Push It – Salt and Peppa
    Paid In Full (Seven Minutes of Madness Coldcut mix) – Erik B and Rakim
    E=MC2 – BAD
    Absolute Beginners – Bowie

    There’s a lot more I could pick.

  4. If we are going to talk about political singles of the 1980s, the Redskins and Billy Bragg must be mentioned.

    I’ve just been reading Wiki about The Miners Strike.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984%E2%80%931985_United_Kingdom_miners%27_strike

    Did you know that ….

    “The setting for the 1986 anime film Castle in the Sky was inspired by the Welsh strikes. Director Hayao Miyazaki was visiting Wales at the time, and was impressed by the way the Welsh miners fought to save their way of life, and their sense of community.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984%E2%80%931985_United_Kingdom_miners%27_strike

  5. Ultravox – Sleepwalk. The 80s begin …
    Haircut 100 – Fantastic Day. Nick Heyward playing this live is a proper “moment”
    Style Council – Walls Come Tumbling Down. Jazzy soul noodling reined in. Weller is sounding angry again. Could’ve been in The Jam set list
    Wonderstuff – Don’t Let Me Down Gently. Wonderful stuff.
    They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul. Earworm!

  7. I absolutely loved Radio Africa – Latin Quarter.

    But in response to the title of your post I had myriad different versions of Out come the freaks by Was(not was) . Each was good in its own right and was fascinated that they could make so many entirely different versions of the same song.

    Also impressed that Working Week get a mention . I had the album at the time and it got significant airplay. I bought the extended reissue more recently and I am not sure it stood the rest of time as well as I had hoped.

  8. I was doing my Saturday washing in the tvättstuga this morning and felt obliged to ask the other scrubber about Swedish pop singles of the 80s, particularly the political stuff

    My washmate mentioned Imperiet. I arruved in Stockholm in the mid 80s and they were the band that all the hipsters were crazy about.

    Last year a new documentary about them came out.

    The director, Balsam Hellström, came to Bio Reflexen and talked about searching all over the world for film clips. A very amusing chap.

    I saw them live once: their farewell gig in a grubby rock club under Medborgarplatsen Metro station. They were excellent.

    Imperiet emerged from the ashes of one of Sweden’s greatest punk bands, Ebba Grön.

    This song is Sweden’s answer to Anarchy in the UK.

    An absolute guaranteed floorfiller at pensioners’ parties in 2025.

    Here’s a doc about them.

    Oh the nostalgia!

    Tant Strul (Aunty Trouble) were also mentioned in the washroom this morning.

    They’d broken up by the time I’d reached Stockholm sadly but I’m a big fan anyway.

    Kajsa Gtytt, the singer, was the first pop star our son ever met. I’ve a photo of him and her at an outdoor gig. He was about 8 months old. He’s been a babe magnet ever since.

  10. I can’t believe we’ve got his far without mentioning Earth, Wind and Fire and this ginormous hit.

    It brings back many memories of happy hours spent at the roller disco in Benidorm.

    That opening has a Pavlovian effect on me. I want to get my skates on and groove with a bevvy of Costa Blanca cuties!

  11. A few singles I owned and still love:

    Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster (Jammin’) (The first single I bought for myself)
    Junior – Mama Used to Say (king of the dancefloor in -82)
    The Smiths – This Charming Man, What Difference Does it Make? (made me a Smiths fan)
    Ubangi – The little cat and the dirty dog (Swedish banger, see video)

    • Was it difficult to get hold of the singles you craved in Sweden in the 80s @locust? My repeated experience in Dublin, certainly in the early 80s, was trekking to our nearest record shop which had numbered compartments for the chart hits up on high shelves and, knowing the charts by heart and which numbers I intended to buy, already being crestfallen by the time I got to the counter by the empty spaces where no singles were to be seen (even including the number one, as in the case of Geno).

      • Hmm…I don’t know how to answer that, because I rarely wanted to buy any singles at all, and certainly never “craved” any chart hits! I was an album buyer from the start. I thought it was a waste of money to buy singles, when they were comparatively expensive and albums were so cheap. To only get two tracks – well, one actually, because I hardly ever found a single that had a B-side I wanted to listen to more than once (confession: often I didn’t even listen to the B-side a single time…not if it was an artist that I only bought for one song only).

        The only reasons for me to buy a single back then were:

        1: If it was the musical equivalence to a one night stand; a “novelty hit” that I shamefacedly enjoyed, or a band/artist I didn’t like but had one really good song.

        2: If it was a single that had an interesting sleeve/title/band name, or I didn’t know what they sounded like and just wanted a sample.

        3: If it was on sale in the bargain bin final destination, thus worth a punt.

        4: As a souvenir from a holiday.

        The ones on my list above all fit into these categories, apart from Stevie Wonder, but that was my very first single, so I had yet to be disillusioned about them! I was a fan of his music, I loved that single, and I didn’t have the patience to wait for the album to be released.
        Junior was a souvenir (reason no.4) from Torquey, summer of -82.
        The Smiths fits reason no.2; they had interesting sleeves and titles (I knew about the band, and I think I’d heard something before that as well, but not been smitten enough to buy an album – after these singles I bought their debut album and hated it, but bought and liked the next one and then the rest in the years to come until the end).
        Ubangi I’d class as a “novelty hit” (reason no.1) – not that it was much of a hit, really.

        But since I rarely was bothered to look for singles, I can’t recall if the record stores had a lot of them or not, I was too busy looking through the albums!
        But I doubt that our shops had the singles displayed by chart placement; the actual sales chart was not a thing in Sweden, really. Other than to the record companies/artists that is.
        But we didn’t have a chart show, not on TV and not on the radio either. Well we did, but our “chart shows” were the kind where the audience voted for their favourites, and the votes were counted every week and a chart made!
        I never voted myself, so I can’t remember if it was still done through voting by postcards in the 80s, or if there was a phone number you could call by that time…but it had nothing to do with the sales, except (I guess) in the opposite direction: if a single became popular on a chart show, people would go out and buy it, and it would advance in the sales chart as well!

      • I only liked that cat and dog song…and I could never stand Orup!
        Shite songs that somehow managed to become hits…IMO. 😀

        Cia Berg (the female singer in Ubangi) went on to sing in 90’s one-hit-wonders Whale alongside the comedian Henrik Shyffert – which is even weirder! She worked in television in between those two bands, but later married an Italian and the last thing I heard she was running a bookshop in rural Italy somewhere.

            • I really liked it as a single and the album was quite enjoyable. I think it gained some fame because the video was featured in Beavis and Butthead with Butthead announcing that he’d just seen his girlfriend or had fallen in love with her or something. It must’ve been a UK hit because I think they were on TOTP.

  13. These two must’ve come out at the same time. Suddenly there was new music in the charts that sounded like nothing that came before to my teenage ears and I went to my first non-school disco/club. I remember dressing up and hoping I’d be let in. I also remember waiting for these two tracks to be played so I could express myself through the medium of dance. A welcome side effect was that curly mops of hair suddenly were cool. Blancmange Head was one of my nicknames in school until their star faded. I still really love these songs.

  15. Announced on Top Of The Pops as “good to see a return to real instruments”.
    I thought they never went away – still a great track though
    (so shut … shut your mouth)

  16. A few country singles would be a welcome addition to our list.

    Lyle Lovett – I married her just because she looks like you

    Rodney Crowell – I couldn’t leave you if I tried

    Lucinda Williams – Passionate Kisses

    Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt – Telling me lies

  17. I am having a whale of a time remembering and revisiting obscure old favourites. Please forgive some shameless self-indulgence!

    Swing out Sister – Breakout

    La Union – Lobo-Hombre en Paris

    Luis Eduardo Aute – Sin tu latido

    Manzanita – Un Ramito de Violetas

    Tøsedrengene – Indianer

    Pablo Milanes – EL BREVE ESPACIO EN QUE NO ESTÁS

    Ruben Blades – Pedro Navaja ( that’s Mack the Knife to you)

    Kari Bremnes – Folk i Husan

    Gal Costa – Baby

  18. Gives me an excuse to post this……

    “Coming Up Close” by “Til Tuesday which was the second single from the Welcome Home album (in my 80’s top 10). I don’t think it troubled the charts in the UK, but did make the Billboard Top 100 in the US of A.

    • Excellent choice @chrisf. I’m very keen to explore Aimee Mann’s back catalogue.

      What a hair-do she had in those days! She gave Robert Smith a run for his money.

      It actually gets mentioned in the video for Voices Carry.

      • I remember that I bought the ‘Til Tuesday album on the strength of the 5 star review in Q Magazine – when Mssrs Ellen & Hepworth were still in charge.

        It’s still a favourite album of mine (and this an all time favourite track) that continues to get played regularly. And of course, the exemplary solo career of Aimee Mann afterwards shows it was a good choice.

  20. On the politics theme, one group actve in the 80s who still sounds authentic and powerful today would be Sweet Honey In The Rock. Protest matches would be amazing if everyone could chant along so musically to something like this:

  21. Fascinating to look back and see how the 80s were for my favourite artists.

    Sparks put out several albums but had very few hit singles. But I did find this catchy tune.

    By contrast, Peter Gabriel had hit after hit.

    He also did a lot to put world music on the map, not least the formidable Youssou N*Dour.

    Youssou’s live shows are always amazing. Here’s a single from him.

    Meanwhile, over in Paris, Salif Keita released the astonishing Soro in 1987. A real game-changer.

    Record shops now had a World Music section with lots to choose from.

  22. So many great country tunes from the 80s, with lovely melodies and clever, sharp and often witty lyrics. It was the point at which my previous blinkered viewpoint that all C&W was simply unlistenable, whiney rubbish about moonshine and dead dogs crumbled to dust. These bangers still kick it for me:

  23. Do you remember when Soca was “the new reggae”? The compilations Soca Train and This Is Soca 84 were so exciting. Hot Hot Hot was the only hit, there were lots of tracks which should have been.

    Explainer – Notting Hill, with its nod to DJ Charlie Gillett as thanks for his support “even Charlie Gillett he come out for it”

    Gypsy – Soca Train

    David Rudder should have been a star. He was hugely charismatic. I took a mate of mine to see him, and rightly, after his first song decided that he needed to own his entire catalogue!

  24. I mentioned salsero Ruben Blades above. His album Escenas from 1985 was an attempt to reach a crossover audience and featured both Joe Jackson and Linda Ronstadt

    Here’s his rather gorgeous duet with Linda.

    He visited the Brixton Academy when touring the album and that gig was a real ear-opener for me and my pals. One of them actually went on to become a salsa DJ and visited Cuba several times.

    A couple of clips to give you a taste. The first is in English and gives an idea how literate his lyrics are.

    Just stumbled across this TV programme, Session At West 54th St, all .about Rubenand presented by John Hiatt.

    Looks well worth a listen.

  25. The term “world music” as a marketing tool came into being in 1987 after a meeting at a London pub, The Empress of Russia.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/29/popandrock1

    A game-changer which helped a lot of musicians but irritated others who did not wan to to be ghettoised.

    “Iain Scott The engine driving the phenomenon was Africa. But the Disques Afriques guys [then responsible for the highly successful Bhundu Boys] were against it.

    CG The two guys from their record label tried to stop whatever it was we planned to do. They preferred the Bhundu Boys to be next to David Bowie. They didn’t want them put into this bloody world-music box.”

    Time for a tune from them!

    Joe Boyd:

    “In world music, it’s people like Cesaria Evora, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares and Buena Vista Social Club that are the big successes. It’s acoustic records of live performances in studios that make money, not fantastic productions with sequencers and French bass players on them. Now, though, I see people spending huge amounts of effort and money trying to chase a youthful audience for dance-oriented records, and for slick, highly produced products. That makes no commercial sense. The primary audience for what we call world music is not youthful: it is the middle-class, middle-aged, coffee-table-record audience that buys Buena Vista Social Club.”

    Talk about a cue for a song!

    • But why should these musicians pander to a small, often rather po-faced 1st world audience, seeking bogus authenticity? When they can have great success in their own locality with people like themselves, by absorbing 1st world popular styles and instrumentation and putting their own spin on them?

      I’ve become more than a bit disillusioned with “World Music” as a concept and category.
      “Songlines” magazine and BBC Radio 3’s “Music Planet” are all very well but a bit stuffy. I think the approach favoured by NPR’s Afropop Worldwide is more interesting.

      • Excellent question @Mike_H. I think there are considerable advantages for world musicians to play in Europe. Every case is distinct but let’s take the late, very great, Toumani Diabate.

        In an interview I read he was comparing himself very amusingly to his son who plays rap music and fills football stadiums home in Mali. He seems himself as a” classical musician”, continuing in the griot tradition. Playing abroad he is an ambassador for Malian culture.

        And also, when selling out major European venues, he was earning far more money that he would do at home.

        “Po-faced” and “stuffy” ! That certainly describes the vibe of Songlines. Initially I was a keen reader but I got bored. If only they had the wit, banter and panache of the contributors to the Afterword!

        • It always amuses me thet Songlines are the official sponsor (i.e. give him an advert) of the Andy Kershaw podcast. They might discuss the same things, but their approach is such that chalk and cheese doesn’t even begin to cover it.

          I’m reasonably fluent in Western music, and the AK pod has probably had me buying more music in the last few years than any music mag, or even the AW.

            • His last episode was October so he’s a little overdue, but keeps us all aware of progress.

              I sponsor the 2-hour show at $5 per month, which is bugger all by comparison to the amount I spend on new music as a result of hearing it during each episode.

              Even then he only gets 75% of the sponsorship he needs. I’ve considered sponsoring him twice…

      • “I’ve become more than a bit disillusioned with “World Music” as a concept and category.”

        Agreed.

        It seems to me (but what do I know) that “World Music” is just a sloppy, lazy categorization of any music that isn’t sung (generally) in English, American, Canadian or (maybe) Australian, and / or uses uncommon – to us – instruments and musical scales.

        Ludicrous.

        Here’s some lovely music that should be known and described as Pakistani, not World. It has reached many million listeners on Spotify.

        I like Songlines magazine. Yes it’s a bit po-faced but it’s doing a good job and I subscribe to help keep it going.

    • This is my issue with the term “world music”.

      In the early 80s, King Sunny Ade was on the front cover of the NME, who also published African charts. Rough Trade and Virgin were releasing African records. Soca was getting exposure, Hugh Masekela had a chart hit. I discovered Manu Dibango from friends who were clubbers. The Jazz Juice compilation series included the likes of Tito Puente, Gilberto Gil and Sergio Mendes. This was all before the “world music” label was invented.

      The audience for these different genres was much wider than Joe Boyd’s description. The application of the “world music” label meant that the marketing became limited to those who fitted his description.

  26. This site is an example of an approach to “World” music that I favour, these days.
    https://afropop.org/articles/afropop-top-videos-2024-year-end-special

    The best of the young artists in these places aren’t just blindly copying the American rappers, they’re putting a distinct local slant on it, blending their traditional music with what they see as the best bits of European and American music.
    It’s not a new thing. That’s what previous generations did as well.

    • That Afropop site look very tempting, Mike. Short and sweet descriptions of the artists and then a video to get a taste.

      A new singer from Cap Verde! Yes, please.

      Lucibela hit the spot very nicely.

      • Yes. I enjoyed that one a lot.
        In fact I think I’ll watch it again.

        Site reloaded very slowly after, though.
        Slower even than our clip-heavy threads here.

        • Clip- heavy! That is very true., Mike. Time to close this thread down before it crashes the Internet.

          Here’s my playlist: full of your suggestions and my own ideas. Enjoy!

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